Canyon Residence

Site area

21,061 square feet/1,956 square metres

Description: A series of vertical masses of coloured burnished stucco form a structural-ordering element that aligns in the north-south direction. These masses house elements that serve the adjacent spaces such as fireplaces, stair, mechanical core, and storage. They cascade through the house responding to need while forming a kinetic rhythm of colour and form. Counterpointing these vertical planes is a series of cascading copper-clad horizontal canopies. They protect natural wood, glass windows, and doors from rain and runoff and form a horizontal balance of floating planes that becomes part of the critical sculptural ordering system.

The ensemble of vertical coloured mass in conjunction with the copper horizontal planes, glass, and painted stucco mass dances harmoniously as indoor space fuses into the natural environment.

The L-shaped parti embraces the grandeur of the sloping site next to a creek. The house steps down following the site's slope and is never more than two stories at any location. An 18-foot-high (5.4 meter) living room area separates the two-story bedroom wing from the family-kitchen zone. The house strongly connects each indoor space to the verdant landscape beyond replete with native California trees around which the house has been designed. An amphitheater of stairs and floating decks facilitates this connection.