Version 1 [killed by the bank crisis of 2008]
2D
3D
Site
This project started with a bang - the bang of the backyard falling 80 feet down hill in a mudslide. The owners wanted to turn the disaster - in which no one was hurt - into an opportunity to create a sustainable house for them and their growing family. The project re-orients the site by aligning the house along the eastern side of the flat lot. This creates an outdoor room set back from the hill and thus enjoyable. The house engages the hill by extending out over it. Built to last, the house is superinsulated, generates enough electricity to feed itself and the grid, uses gray water for landscape irrigation, grows three green roofs, and is clad in materials that do not require finishes.