"Don't Hurt the Boulders" | Creek House

Don't hurt the boulders was the owner's request to the architects when designing this remote retreat in a volcanic boulder field nestled in a pine and fir forest in California. The scientist, an AIDS researcher, lives in New York City but wanted a place to escape. After finding a rugged plot leading down to a ravine in Truckee near Lake Tahoe, he turned to locally based Faulkner Respect for the untouched natural setting was a priority from the outset, so the firm designed the residence over or around the largest boulders scattered across the plot. The creek house was built around each rock with respect for them. The house cantilevers over several boulders. There's a sense that it doesn't even touch the ground. The house is conceived in plan as three directional bars that slide between and alongside the boulders and trees. The largest bar houses the main living areas and bedrooms. A smaller bar houses the entry and support spaces connecting to the third bar which contains a tandem drive-thru garage. On the lower level, a meditation space can serve as a resting area when needed. The understated creek house is clad in concrete, wood, and dark panels, a sober palette that allows it to blend into its context. The main entrance is to the north where a 140 foot long insulated concrete wall runs the length demarking the spaces longitudinally. This provides privacy for the resident and helps shade the interiors from the intense summer sunlight. A hallway follows the main concrete wall leading to private rooms at the ends of the longitudinal house. An open plan kitchen, living, and dining room occupies the center of the house and overlooks the ravine below. The interiors were finished in soft tones respecting the home's natural context. Steel and rift sawn oak create shadows that contrast with naturally illuminated concrete, bluestone, and white gypsum walls. Marked by a series of outdoor garden spaces that add a sense serenity to the more contained interior and encasing architectural form, Creek House is imagined as an open embrace of place. Harmonizing built and natural elements, the deliberate design integrates the surrounding landscape carving out a sanctuary for the owners. It was designed as a long narrow rectangle oriented toward the sun with the thermal mass of the thick walls ensuring the residence is heated or cooled as needed throughout the seasons. The house is cooled by prevailing breezes that flow up and through from the west. Radiantly heated floors, solar-assisted domestic hot water, and LED lighting further reduce energy demands. The glazed floor in the hallway reveals the dramatic drop in topography and car-sized boulders. Stone gardens outside the house and occasional glass floors over the boulders serve as reminders of the owner's initial intention to leave the land undisturbed. Next to the main bedroom, an open garden aligns within a void framed by high concrete walls creating an ideal space for seclusion and intimacy. The gravel surface set with site-native basalt stones and framed with water can only be seen through a low three-dimensional glass box that allows the garden to enter the room. A rectangular basin captures snowmelt forming a protective and ephemeral pool around the most private area of the house. Above the main volume of the house, a single room serves as an office and also functions as a clear story window to bring light and ventilation into the home center. At the top of the slope, the single story horizontal form presents a closed and secure face to the northwest street exposure. Fire-resistant steel screens and tempered glass inhabit the areas defined by the concrete wall.