Five
Faux Chimney’s (currently under construction) is an 1,800sf off-grid house overlooking vineyards of Sonoma County, California. It is designed to have two front facades; a west-facing facade visibile from the public road below that is illuminated by evening light and which captures views of the vineyard valley, and a more private east-facing facade visible only from property itself that is lit by the rising sun, filling the primary bedroom, kitchen, office, and eastern porch with morning light. The near-symmetry of this double-sided house are linked by a wrap-around-and-thru porch, yet they differentiated by five chimney’s and different column treatments.
These five chimneys give the house its primary expression while deep
porches, wide patios & decks, and a breezeway cater to year-round indoor / outdoor living. By
re-distributing the typically centralized chimney to the
perimeter, the chimney’s are simultaneously part of enclosure yet retain their domestic association as discrete & expressive elements. Each chimney is stragecially used to mark edges and corners in a rythmic sequence oscillating between mass / void and recess / protrusion that subtly reveal the composition of the house to be a collection of programmatic volumes.
Five Faux Chimney’s is an off-grid, non-mechanically ducted house that utilizes solar, geothermal, and passive strategies to minimize its environmental impacts.
The
interior spaces are a series of warm-toned, open volumes and intimate nooks organized around natural light and views of the surrounding landscape. A semi-detached guest room and home office anchor
the south side while on the northern side the ground slopes down to a walkout
basement game room, wine cellar, and safe room.
Dusk
Below are a series of abstract paintings, collages, and drawings exploring the relationships between chimney, architectural expression, and site.
Stone planks on the deck promote an indoor-outdoor lifestyle as it wraps both around and ‘through’ the house. The interior is a series of open rooms and small nooks all organized to capture views of the surrounding landscape as you move through and occupy the house.
Located in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fire zone, this house uses fire mitigation strategies in its materials, material assemblies, site design, and ventilation systems as an off-grid house with passive colling strategies and radiant heating.
Located in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fire zone, this house uses fire mitigation strategies in its materials, material assemblies, site design, and ventilation systems as an off-grid house with passive colling strategies and radiant heating.
CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS
May 7,2024
Project Team
Architect: Endemic Architecture
Structural Engineer: Hewitt Consulting Group
General Contractor: Sawyer Construction
Interior Design: Caitlin Jones Design
Landscape Architect: Monica Perrone Landscape Architecture
Civil, Survey, & Septic Engineer: Huffman Engineering
Septic Installer: Machado Brothers
Geotechnical: Miller Pacific Engineering
Status: Under Construction (Design Start: November 2022; Construction Start: March 2024; Anticipated Completion: September 2025)
Construction is underway and scheduled to complete in fall, 2025.