I designed and hand-drew this house before the advent of computer drafting. All 28 sheets were hand drawn; over half of them construction details. It took me over a year to do the drawings. I also worked on the construction, from the 500′ of retaining walls in the terraced foundation to the furniture quality roof. The design was the feature house for an issue of Fine Homebuilding Magazine and later was chosen for the “cover house” of Fine Homebuilding’s Great Houses hard cover edition on “Energy Efficient Houses”.
This 28% grade on a western slope lent itself to terracing. There are 3 levels, all of which are on “ground” level. The entry and main living areas are on the middle (2nd) level. A reflection pool with wisteria laden pergola delineate the entry. The living room and dining room look out to the western view. Wide overhangs (4′) and highly insulated solar glazing solved the problem of afternoon solar gain while allowing a full view wall to the west. The kitchen is large and adjacent to the kitchen there’s a 250 sq.ft. root/ wine cellar built into the side of the hill.
The house was designed with both passive heating and cooling systems. There’s a 2′ diameter galvanized steel “cooling tube” buried behind the root cellar retaining wall, heading north for 100′ before daylighting in a grove of trees on the north side. The other end of the cooling tube comes into a plenum behind the fireplace. By opening vents in the top of the plenum warm air from the house is exhausted, drawing in the cool air from the underground cooling tube. The hotter the outdoor temperature the greater the suction drawing in the cool air. During the winter the cooling tube is blocked off and the plenum is used to distribute warm air from behind the fireplace. Energy for the house is supplied totally off the grid from solar panel arrays and a water turbine. The water is supplied by several large springs on the property. Water is solar heated with a propane fired back up heater.
On the entire south side of the house is a terraced green house which provides passive solar heat to the house in the winter. There are opening windows between the dining room/ kitchen and the greenhouse. The terraced greenhouse is the main entry from the carport/ sauna (1st) level. Top highest level of the greenhouse has a 20′ high translucent barrel vault allowing for tall tropical plants. There’s a great interior vista in the upstairs hallway, looking into the barrel vaulted greenhouse (where the stairs go from the kitchen to the bedrooms). The upper (3rd) level has 3 bedrooms an office and a sewing room. The bathroom has a handmade ferrocement Jaccuzi tub looking out onto a Japanese garden.
The old growth redwood was salvaged from felled trees left behind by loggers years ago. The logs were milled into lumber on a portable sawmill. The beams were then planed and finished on site. All the doors and windows were custom made in an on-site shop.
Project Cost: $1,000,001 – $1,500,000