Private Residence
Corte Madera, California
Perched on a site overlooking the San Francisco Bay and Mt. Tamalpais this house integrates energy and material conservation, land stewardship and regenerative living systems. The house incorporates earth construction to reduce cement use - a major source of carbon dioxide.
Through a collaborative effort between the owner, architect, builder and consultants, we added to the growing body of knowledge about the design, testing and construction of new earth building technologies. The south face is designed to allow a majority of the rooms to be naturally daylit and passively heated by allowing the sun to penetrate the building envelope at appropriate times of the year. The sun’s heat is absorbed by the thermal mass of the floors and walls and radiates out during the cool nights.
The owner requested that only reclaimed or certified sustainably harvested woods be used for framing and finishes. Sources include reclaimed wood from the original house on the site, from military buildings dismantled at the Presidio of San Francisco and from a variety of certified sustainable mills in the United States.
