Buena Vista Residence - Pour In Place
       
     
One long, soft-curving wall anchors the house, beginning low at the auto court, rising as it enters the building where it separates the public and private spaces, then steps down in relation to the hillside and the bay beyond on the exposed eastern
       
     
Rammed earth and Cor-ten flank the entry and frame the view through the gallery. The walls are a blend of the Franciscan melange site soil, coarse sand, and 3/8” gravel, stabilized with 10% Colton Block cement. Variations between six-inch and eight-
       
     
Buena Vista Residence - Pour In Place
       
     
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Buena Vista Residence - Pour In Place

Net Zero residence designed by Noel Cross + Architects and built by Evans Construction Inc, located in the foothills above California's San Francisco Bay.

In the architect’s words: this "uber-green" net zero energy residence incorporates too many elements of sustainability and green building to count, yet it's the modern architectural style and design sensitivity to the site that really take center stage. Durable, low maintenance, and handsome materials such as rusted cor-ten steel, natural stone veneer, and integral color plaster are deftly combined with strong linear roof lines that emphasize the horizontal nature of the site, such that the house seems to grow out of the hillside.

Image © Frank Paul Perez

One long, soft-curving wall anchors the house, beginning low at the auto court, rising as it enters the building where it separates the public and private spaces, then steps down in relation to the hillside and the bay beyond on the exposed eastern
       
     
+

One long, soft-curving wall anchors the house, beginning low at the auto court, rising as it enters the building where it separates the public and private spaces, then steps down in relation to the hillside and the bay beyond on the exposed eastern facade.

Image © Frank Paul Perez

 

Rammed earth and Cor-ten flank the entry and frame the view through the gallery. The walls are a blend of the Franciscan melange site soil, coarse sand, and 3/8” gravel, stabilized with 10% Colton Block cement. Variations between six-inch and eight-
       
     
+

Rammed earth and Cor-ten flank the entry and frame the view through the gallery. The walls are a blend of the Franciscan melange site soil, coarse sand, and 3/8” gravel, stabilized with 10% Colton Block cement. Variations between six-inch and eight-inch lifts allowed the walls to mimic the complexity of the geology of the site.

Franciscan Assemblage or Franciscan Complex is a geologic term for a late Mesozoic terrane of heterogeneous rocks found throughout the California Coast Ranges, and particularly on the San Francisco Peninsula. It was named by geologist Andrew Lawson, who also named the San Andreas Fault that defines the eastern extent of the assemblage.

Easily identified by its red-green color (sometimes dark blue) and furrowed, twisted appearance, the assemblage is usually characterized as being primarily metamorphic in nature, its most well-known rocks being serpentine schists. However, the assemblage contains a wide range of different rocks in different stages of the rock cycle. A single outcrop may contain basalt, chert, and other rocks in addition to schist.

Image © Frank Paul Perez