House beside a Kinglet Perch
This design is fundamentally a response to the site. From the outset, the project had two paths forward: the more typical conventional approach would be to blast the top of the site and build a road down to a flatter and easier-to-build area; the second approach was instead to perch the dwelling between a stand of ponderosa pines and the steep slopes that fall off toward the lake.
A long linear building form -typically suited for a flat site- is purposefully staggered and stepped to craft a shaded courtyard, position bedrooms within the pine canopy, and extend the living space to capture panoramic southern views. A transparent interstitial space fosters visual connectivity between the entry, courtyard, and the three distinct volumes.
The architectural narrative unfolds across these volumes: the first, firmly anchored atop the site, presents a modest facade to guests, guiding them toward the entry. The second volume, housing private quarters, intimately engages with the surrounding pine grove, evoking a sensation of sleeping amidst the trees. The third volume, comprised of living spaces, embraces the horizontal momentum of the building form and projects off the rocky slope with a dramatic cantilever. This sudden separation from the ground transforms the experience of being ‘in the landscape’ into one of rapt observation.
The strategy of using a steel understructure pinned to the rock had a dramatic reduction in the amount of concrete used in the project. The cross-laminated timber floor structure is both a local product (produced 60km away) and a fire-resilient material due to the charring nature of mass timber. A non-combustible ‘shell’ of stucco, weathering steel, and aluminum window frames protects the predominantly light wood frame structure within.
