A path leads from the garage to the guesthouse and then on to the main house further up the hill. Mark L. Donohue hopes to build the project using SIPs and cover it with a copper mesh skin.
Americo A. Diaz A path leads from the garage to the guesthouse and then on to the main house further up the hill. Mark L. Donohue hopes to build the project using SIPs and cover it with a copper mesh skin.

visible research office, san francisco The site for this northern California house begins in a meadow and continues up a wooded hill. To engage both of these aspects, architect Mark L. Donohue, AIA, divided the copper mesh-covered home into three stepped pavilions that torque to take in various views. “The house twists as it goes up and over the hill, like a pole-vaulter,” he says.

The judges admired the integration of the project's massing and mesh skin into its bucolic setting. Said one: “It's appealing the way they've morphed the landscape into the building.”

Americo A. Diaz

principal in charge: Mark L. Donohue, AIA, Visible Research Office
project designers: Americo A. Diaz and Aron Eisenhart, Visible Research Office
project team: Jose Brunner, Alecia Geno, and Michael Packer, Visible Research Office
structural engineer: David Strandberg, Yu Strandberg Engineering, Oakland, Calif.
project size: 4,295 square feet
site size: 1 acre
construction cost: Projected $404 per square foot
renderings: Americo A. Diaz

product specs
bathroom plumbing fittings:Grohe America; bathroom plumbing fixtures: Duravit USA, Kohler Co., TOTO USA; brick/masonry products:American Slate Co.; countertops: Cosentino USA (Silestone); dishwasher:Miele; entry and patio doors, windows: Blomberg Window Systems; exterior siding:Spantek;fireplace/wood stove:Buckley Rumford Co.; garage doors:Anaheim Door; garbage disposer:In-Sink-Erator; hardware:Baldwin Hardware Corp., Omnia Industries, Stanley Hardware; hvac equipment:Warmboard; insulation:Owens Corning; kitchen plumbing fittings:Hansgrohe; kitchen plumbing fixtures:Franke Consumer Products; lighting fixtures:Alkco Lighting, Cooper Lighting (Halo); oven:Bosch Home Appliances; paints/stains:Benjamin Moore & Co.; range:Thermador; refrigerator:Amana; skylights/roof windows:Royalite Manufacturing; trimwork:Fry Reglet Corp.