Located at the vegetative gradient between the oak savannah and the redwood forests of Ross, the landscape at Spring road celebrates the meeting of these two quintessential Northern California ecologies. At the precipice of this gradient, the architecture both frames and reinforces this threshold. An expression of California Modernism traditions, the architecture opens up to the landscape and reinforces intuitive connections between indoor and outdoor rooms.

At the front yard, ferns and groundcovers amplify the redwood understory and create both a sensual stroll garden, as well as a sense of enclosure for the rooms that view into the garden. A series of basalt monoliths nestle into the entrance topography, creating a procession of thresholds that are themselves an abstraction of the dramatic geology of the site.

At the back patio, a reflecting pool is animated by shadows from the oaks below and the redwoods above. Inlays of basalt paving connect to the entrance features and reinforce architectural alignments. The raised spa and firepit punctuate the ground plane and foreground a panoramic view South to the mountains.

Location: Ross, CA

Status: Completed 2016

Project Type: Residential

Collaborators: EYRC Architects, Siteworks Landscape

Photography: Matthew Millman