This Portola Valley home was carefully sited to take advantage of the area’s stunning 180-degree views, including Windy Hill and San Francisco. Hunkered into the hillside, the home is like an extension of the surrounding natural landscape. Its distinctive architectural style is modern, yet organic, characterized by its low pitch shed roof shapes and a warm composition of natural finish materials like stone, wood and steel. The siting and overall floor plan of the home is characterized by a strong curved axis mimicking the natural topography of the site. The spaces of the home are arranged along the axis, taking full advantage of the views and integrating the structure with the land.
Redberry Ridge
Portola Valley, CA
Before construction, 15 ancient native Manzanita plants on site were boxed, preserved, and successfully transplanted in commitment to the integrity and stewardship of the land.
square three exceeded our expectations. They have made a business of designing homes in towns like Palo Alto, Woodside, Portola Valley and Atherton. That means they have highly intelligent/highly demanding clients with many difficult approval processes and tough building requirements. Not only did they design our home, they helped us with contractor selection, project management and interiors. We get ongoing compliments on our home and it has been featured in a national magazine.
— Joy Elliott, homeowner
The clients were committed to incorporating sustainable design features into their home, however with a very sensible approach. Rather than blindly adopting the latest trends and technologies, they preferred to incorporate practical, time-tested sustainable design principles and systems, including motorized solar shades to control intense afternoon heat gain and extensive operable windows for natural day-lighting/ventilation. A highly insulated building shell and window glazing customized by solar orientation for passive solar design was constructed in order to minimize the need for an active cooling system. The house boasts a 5,000 gallon rainwater collection tank system and was pre-plumbed for a gray water system. Finally, it features a Photovoltaic system, which generates up to 100kWh during the summer.
Partners
- General ContractorGodby Construction
- Landscape ArchitectThuilot Associates
The home incorporates practical, time-tested sustainable design principles and systems, including solar shades to control intense afternoon heat gain and extensive operable windows for natural day-lighting/ventilation.
— Tom Carrubba, Architect