Loma Road
San Carlos, California
Project Outline
- New Residence and Site Development.
- Capturing critical family and environmental imagery
- Preservation of a beloved site
The Iowa farmhouse is an important American typology that addresses traditional relationships with land and family. It evokes the importance of both shelter and exposure, privacy and neighborhood.
Loma Road ends at the only remaining plot of historic California Oak Uplands farmland in an otherwise suburbanized neighborhood. The property had remnants of old farm buildings quietly decaying in one corner. The house is placed where it will change the land the least: on the site of the existing buildings.
The house is rendered in three parts: the Main House, the Master Cottage and the Carriage House. It touches the landscape on every side, is sculpted to fit the hillside and reduce visual impacts from far and near.
Project Features
- Cohesive plan of public realm joins kitchen, dining and great rooms in direct yet zoned manner to both join and separate as uses warrant.
- Family kitchen as work shop, project room and family room.
- Master Cottage providing escape and privacy for adults with teenage kids.
- Dignified kids quarters: bedrooms in "defensible" second floor offer dignity and responsibility to teenagers.
Sustainable Design Features
- Site planning minimizes heat gain. Critical shading components for heat management and creation of viable exterior living spaces.
- Live work functionality for both adults, reducing trips.
- Careful orchestration of natural light and ventilation.
- Planning for wind management.
- High efficiency radiant heating
- Photo Voltaic electric generation providing majority of electrical needs.
