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Location: Healdsburg, California
Project size: 648 square feet

Program: The new owners of a Healdsburg house previously completed by Swatt + Partners asked the firm to return to design a home office remote from the two-story main house, an award-winning, off-the-grid structure overlooking a dense forest of Douglas fir, madrone, and oak trees. Out of respect for the beauty of the nine-acre rural site in Healdsburg’s Dry Creek Valley, one of the firm’s goals, as with the main house, was to keep the new structure light on the land.

Design Solution: The new home office structure is a single-purpose, one-room studio space placed west of the main house, partially above a narrow level pad and partially over a steep decline. The design is simple and elemental: two vertical cores have a weight that feels grounded, in contrast to the lightness of a floating glass box. The cast-in-place concrete cores support the crisp wood-framed box that hovers just above the flat ground then soars above the down-sloping topography at the south-west corner of the building. As in the main house, the floor and roof planes are clad in horizontal Western red cedar boards. Except for the concrete vertical elements, all walls are constructed of floor-to-ceiling glass, creating strong indoor-outdoor connections.

The project also includes new landscape improvements, including an infinity edge pool, a new spa located down the hillside to the northwest, decks, terraces, and multiple rustic water features. Taken together, the space allows the owners to work from home in an environment fully immersed in and surrounded by forests.

Photo © Jason Liske

Structure and Materials: The structure is physically lifted off the ground above a narrow level pad and partially over a steep decline, spanning between two concrete core elements. Lifting the entire floor above the ground allows the land and nature to remain relatively untouched. In addition to supporting the new structure, the vertical concrete elements frame contrasting wood casework and shelving inside the studio. The exterior walls are transparent, with a combination of floor to ceiling, frameless glass, and stacked horizontal awning windows for ventilation. The office is sited and designed to maximize daylight and natural ventilation while being naturally shaded and protected by the canopies of the existing trees. A trap door inside the new studio provides access to the pre-existing water tank.

Additional Information
Completion date: February 2019
Site size: 9 acres
Total construction cost: Withheld
Client/Owner: Sharon and Mike Matas

Photos © Jason Liske

Images courtesy Swatt + Parters; click to enlarge