Modern Napa Rammed Earth Block Residence
       
     
Backlit evening view displays surrounding clerestories and floating roofs. Here the relationship of the rammed earth block to its site is clear. A building site like this, where excavation is required, can provide more than enough soil to make the
       
     
A soldier course of eight inch low cement rammed earth blocks with a linen club chair and hand woven Odegard rug. Just as natural rock is made up of a million individual grains of quartz, feldspar, and trace elements, Watershed Blocks celebrate th
       
     
Bronze anodized window frames, black Cesarstone countertops, natural birch cabinets and Watershed Blocks. Lighted from above as they are here, the color variations in each individual rammed earth block reveal the minerality of their composition.
       
     
French market basket of books, Chinese straw slippers, Afghanistani rug, Egyptian linen bed covers, and rammed earth blocks from the Napa Valley. Watershed Blocks are special in the way that they capture the character of the earth from which they
       
     
Folded steel half-flight stairs, barely visible behind the linen sofa, link the upper bedrooms bedrooms with the living room, where a floor of old redwood planks overlay a thin concrete slab with embedded radiant tubing. Image © Jacob Snavely
       
     
Eighteen foot high columns and walls on the downhill side anchor the building to its site. These tall wall sections experience the strongest forces during an earthquake and were put to the test on August 24, 2014, when Napa was hit by a 6.0 temblor.
       
     
Modern Napa Rammed Earth Block Residence
       
     
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Modern Napa Rammed Earth Block Residence

Napa, California home built entirely of low cement rammed earth Watershed Block, designed by Juliet Hsu, Architect. The view from the backyard shows the transparent living room and redwood deck that bridge the watercourse between two volumes of block anchored eight feet into the earth.

Image © Mark Luthringer

Backlit evening view displays surrounding clerestories and floating roofs. Here the relationship of the rammed earth block to its site is clear. A building site like this, where excavation is required, can provide more than enough soil to make the
       
     
+

Backlit evening view displays surrounding clerestories and floating roofs. Here the relationship of the rammed earth block to its site is clear. A building site like this, where excavation is required, can provide more than enough soil to make the blocks.

Image © Mark Luthringer

A soldier course of eight inch low cement rammed earth blocks with a linen club chair and hand woven Odegard rug. Just as natural rock is made up of a million individual grains of quartz, feldspar, and trace elements, Watershed Blocks celebrate th
       
     
+

A soldier course of eight inch low cement rammed earth blocks with a linen club chair and hand woven Odegard rug. Just as natural rock is made up of a million individual grains of quartz, feldspar, and trace elements, Watershed Blocks celebrate their unique composition. Unlike uniform concrete blocks, made of cement and dye, no two Watershed Blocks are exactly the same.

Image © Jacob Snavely

Bronze anodized window frames, black Cesarstone countertops, natural birch cabinets and Watershed Blocks. Lighted from above as they are here, the color variations in each individual rammed earth block reveal the minerality of their composition.
       
     
+

Bronze anodized window frames, black Cesarstone countertops, natural birch cabinets and Watershed Blocks. Lighted from above as they are here, the color variations in each individual rammed earth block reveal the minerality of their composition.

Image © Jacob Snavely

French market basket of books, Chinese straw slippers, Afghanistani rug, Egyptian linen bed covers, and rammed earth blocks from the Napa Valley. Watershed Blocks are special in the way that they capture the character of the earth from which they
       
     
+

French market basket of books, Chinese straw slippers, Afghanistani rug, Egyptian linen bed covers, and rammed earth blocks from the Napa Valley. Watershed Blocks are special in the way that they capture the character of the earth from which they are formed. In wine-growing terms, this is called “terroir”.

Image © Jacob Snavely

Folded steel half-flight stairs, barely visible behind the linen sofa, link the upper bedrooms bedrooms with the living room, where a floor of old redwood planks overlay a thin concrete slab with embedded radiant tubing. Image © Jacob Snavely
       
     
+

Folded steel half-flight stairs, barely visible behind the linen sofa, link the upper bedrooms bedrooms with the living room, where a floor of old redwood planks overlay a thin concrete slab with embedded radiant tubing.

Image © Jacob Snavely

Eighteen foot high columns and walls on the downhill side anchor the building to its site. These tall wall sections experience the strongest forces during an earthquake and were put to the test on August 24, 2014, when Napa was hit by a 6.0 temblor.
       
     
+

Eighteen foot high columns and walls on the downhill side anchor the building to its site. These tall wall sections experience the strongest forces during an earthquake and were put to the test on August 24, 2014, when Napa was hit by a 6.0 temblor. The first home built entirely of rammed earth Watershed Block survived the earthquake with no structural damage and no damage to any of the contents of the home.

Image © Jacob Snavely