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This highly sculptural home is deeply integrated with the landscape, creating a dynamic space that enriches the senses. The architecture blurs the lines between the home and the natural world, and plays with circadian shifts of light and shadow: windows, skylights, and lightwells maintain views of the landscape throughout the house; grasslike gestures dance visually across the structural elements; a koi pond slips under a glass bridge within the main living area.
While enamored with the grove of large heritage oaks on the site, the client originally felt that the site lacked vertical interest due to its flatness. The design strategically addresses this by creating vertical movement within the residence,engaging the trees, and gnetly sculpting the land.
The architecture, at every level throughout the home, brings its occupants into connection with nature. Framed views to the heritage trees in tandem with interior-exterior spaces, create moments for the occupants to have a sense of place, whether witnessing the ever-changing play of light, or listening to the meditative sounds of the water feature that terraces down to the lower level. From the initial goal to locate the house without removing any heritage trees through the execution of the design details and systems, this project strove to create a residence integrated with and responsive to its environment.
The design celebrates the landscape, while mitigating local environmental hazards. Rooftop PV provides the main source of electricity. Energy use is minimized through: natural ventilation, passive facade optimization, and radiant heating throughout; a limited HVAC is isolated to the bedrooms. Native planting provides micro-habitats for local fauna and pollinators. Drought tolerant planting comprises 70% of the landscape. An existing well on-site is the source for irrigation, eliminating any potable water usage in landscaping. Adapting to newly-prevalent atmospheric rivers, the permeable site design promotes stormwater dissipation, and shapes the topography so water flows to a culvert, and feeds back to the aquifer.
The architecture is a canvas for the interplay of light and shadow throughout the day. The poured-in-place concrete walls that anchor the façade sponsor a bas-relief inspired by the surrounding flora, adding movement to the structural elements. The koi pond that slips under a glass bridge within the main living area, dapples the light around it. A two story solar screen at the main stair allows indirect light to enter the space. Partially-translucent, custom resin stairs gently diffuse the light, transforming the circulation into a captivating place. Skylights bring light deep within the house while providing views of the trees overhead. Throughout the house, material continuity on both sides of windows increases the sense of porosity and connection to the outside. Local craftspeople and specialized suppliers contributed to achieving the desired effect of each element and creating a building that will stand the test of time. The building exterior is primarily composed of three distinct materials: cast-in-place concrete walls, cedar wood-clad enclosures and steel frames. These materials both advance the tectonic language of the building form and provide a durable, low maintenance enclosure.
Since occupying the house, the family has discussed their appreciation for having the outdoors as an extension of their home where the children explore, and they believe that this home will inspire them to become good stewards of the land. This highly sculptural home inspires the family physically, psychologically, and creatively. Designed with reverence for the land, he L|J Residence, at every level, engages the family with the surrounding landscape in a meaningful way.
In 1998, co-founders Joshua Aidlin and David Darling began the studio around a woodshop, developing a hands-on practice driven by a reverence for resources. Today, this passion for making anchors the studio’s collaborative process. Our approach to each project is client and site specific, and includes open communication among clients, consultants, fabricators, and builders to achieve unexpected results.
We pursue architecture that is restrained, engages the senses, and connects us to place and to ourselves. In a world increasingly dominated by the visual and virtual, we practice multisensory design, one in which the way something feels, smells, and sounds is as important as how it looks.
Since its inception, the studio has garnered over 300 regional, national and international awards. In 2013, the firm was bestowed a Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award honoring design excellence, innovation and the enhancement of the quality of life.
