Project Team
Architect: Endemic Architecture
Structural Engineer: Daedalus Structural Engineers
Civil Engineer: Shedden Engineering, Inc. & Geomorph Design
General Contractor: A2Z Construction
Landscape & Interior Design: Endemic Architecture
Status: Design Development & Design Review
Bound to the north by a winding seasonal creek, and to the south by the imposed city grid, Sereno Springs, leverages tensions in the site boundary to inform architectural form and internal organization. Additionally, a sewer easement kinks halfway through the site, further contorting the buildable area. The inherent tensions between natural and urban systems are reflected through a series of loops, curves, radii, and orthogonal angles that translate contextual forces into architectural expression.
In this 5 bedroom (with an additional 2-bedroom ADU), 7.5 bath residence, a central three-story courtyard framed by rock walls and vegetation creates a tranquil void where nature and the architectural grid are layered in dialogue. At the bottom of this courtyard, near the basement theater and game room, the open courtyard terminates in a shallow pond and rock wall waterfall. On the main level large patio doors open to a swimming pool set within a carefully landscaped environment, blurring the boundary between the natural and built worlds while celebrating indoor-outdoor living.
In this 5 bedroom (with an additional 2-bedroom ADU), 7.5 bath residence, a central three-story courtyard framed by rock walls and vegetation creates a tranquil void where nature and the architectural grid are layered in dialogue. At the bottom of this courtyard, near the basement theater and game room, the open courtyard terminates in a shallow pond and rock wall waterfall. On the main level large patio doors open to a swimming pool set within a carefully landscaped environment, blurring the boundary between the natural and built worlds while celebrating indoor-outdoor living.
A series of reflecting pools are distributed throughout the landscape, creating small episodes of reflection and tranquility. A series of intersecting, smooth troweled stucco barrel vaults define the front porch while the upper facade of the home is a locally made, custom ribbed concrete tile.
Like many of our projects, we began with abstract site plan ‘paintings’. For this project, we explored linking the curvilinear site boundary - naturally formed by an ephemeral creek - on the north side of the property with both architectural form and organization. A series of ‘epicenters’ and cone-shaped loops - derived from the naturally formed northern edge of the site - intersect with the orthagonal, linear edges of the site - derived from the city formed southern side of the site. As a domestic space, the new house incorporates both of these peripheral conditions as a means for synthesizing the inherent tension between the seasonal creek and the city grid.
Work In Progress...Much more to come!