Cary Bernstein | Architect

This 3,900sf house is sited on a north-facing ridge overlooking the Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma, California. The clients sought to create a gathering place which is modest in scale and presence yet large enough to accommodate visits by an extended family of life-long friends and their children. The site and climate required an architecture that tempers the seasonally intense sun and wind while still engaging the spectacular landscape and views.  The form of the house is a riff on local agricultural (barn) and residential (ranch) typologies. The logic of the building envelope and its materiality relate to the accumulated wisdom of vernacular construction yet avoid imitation. Deflections in plan, section and elevation respond to the site topography and echo the rhythm of the ridge.