HEALDSBURG, CALIFORNIA

Nooks and Reveal

For this project, we partnered with Surround Architecture to re-envision a 1960s-era home with panoramic views of the Dry Creek Valley to create a seamless and immersive indoor/outdoor living experience that captures not only the primary views, but also the wonderful secondary views of the adjacent wooded hillsides. The redesigned home opens up to embrace the landscape, book ended by an outdoor dining pavilion that cantilevers out over the sloping hillside on one side, and a new pool and pool house on the other.

The landscape is a tiered, multi-layered space - a series of outdoor terraces that step down the slope, connected by a mixture of pavers and gravel, and laced with dwarf mondo grass, miscanthus, cape rush and yarrow. These pockets of experience - dining pavilion, a bubbling fountain, a fire pit surrounded by a set of casual chairs, a bocce court below that doubles as a flexible space for parties - are at once individual and part of a calming collective whole. They are this project’s secret sauce.

At the heart of the site, just outside the library, lies a defining place in the landscape, surrounded by redwoods and jack pine, that called out for something different. Here we worked with artist Evan Shively at Arborica to create a custom sculpture - a huge redwood that had been through a fire. Cleaned and polished, it now covers the retaining wall that supports it, provides seating and forms a dramatic focal point - a process that required precision and teamwork.

The Southern edge of the site is another magical spot, newly opened up to views of the adjacent forested hillside. A new pool settles into the land and catches the afternoon sun while all else is in shade. With no surrounding hardscape, we designed a deck cantilevered over the pool that accommodates poolside seating, provides a vantage point for taking in the secondary views, and feels a bit like a lakeside dock.