Miner Road

Project Details

Project Description

FROM THE ARCHITECTS:

The clients, a couple with two young sons, came into the 3-bedroom house project with a strong focus on an environmental ethic; they both work in sustainable fuels and transportation. They wanted to construct a house that was deeply ecologically site-specific; energy-efficient; and had a strong design identity.

The home, which recently won an AIACC Honor Award, is located on an ex-urban infill site that covers almost eight acres of a Bay Area suburb at the base of the Oakland Hills, draped in rich green foliage and native oak trees. Dense observation of the landscape, climate, culture, and existing uses and patterns of the site were worked out in conversation with the client’s mission to mitigate environmental challenges; Faulkner Architects brings together site and home both phenomenologically in the design and technologically through sustainable features and practices.

Technically a remodel, the house utilized the footprint of the existing house as a basis for a new floor plan. An existing fireplace was wrapped in concrete to serve as a major structural element anchoring the new architecture. This avoided additional grading and left the hillside open and natural. It also placed the new home directly under the shade of the old oaks, in intimate relationship with the trees surrounding it.

“Those big trees felt like refuge before we even built anything. They’re a free material that became part of the house.” - Greg Faulkner

This natural texture was reflected architecturally in a hyper-minimal material palette that includes unfinished white oak on the walls, ceilings, and floors of the home. The rhythm of the interior boards was conceived as a controlled representation of tree growth. Basalt flooring, white gypsum walls, and Cor-Ten steel provide a material counterpoint to the textured wood.

The marriage of sustainable practices and experiential gain is a key component of the selection of materials for the home, notable in that use of Cor-Ten steel, used as rain screen for a durable no-maintenance skin, and featured several times throughout the house. It is relatively affordable and requires practically no maintenance, but the architect sees something more in it: “These rusting masses of steel refresh every time it rains, just like the landscape.”

At the twelve-foot-wide opening for the living area to the garden, glass and screen panels slide into a pocket wall, opening the boundary between inside and outside. On the opposite wall, a closed Cor-Ten “fin” extends eight feet from the structure, shielding the house from the bright western summer sun. Perforated steel shades the “pacing deck” requested by one of the clients, which runs along the second floor, adjacent to the workspace.

This bridging between interior and exterior is major feature of the main living space, and an entire wall is devoted to connecting the two visually. Reynaers windows— large panes with thermally broken aluminum frames —both loosen the divide between being indoors and outdoors and insulate the inside of the home. They have a high rating for retaining heat and reflecting solar gain, lowering energy costs and moving toward that goal of sustainability.

Developed in close collaboration with the clients are a series of innovative features installed throughout the home. A heat-pump driven water heater or a rainwater collection system is used for toilets and laundry; greywater is reclaimed for landscaping/irrigation. An 8.1kW photovoltaic system provides energy. ECM motors and variable speed heat pumps are used to limit energy use and control heating and cooling. An energy recovery ventilator is used to provide the whole house with fresh air. All-in-all, the mechanical and electrical systems were designed at a 44.9% improvement over code, which results in lowered ongoing operational costs and a measurable environmental impact.