Entry number: UB06025
Project Name: Volcano View Retreat
Building Type: Residential
Completion Date: Fall 2007
Architect: JLS Design

Design team:
Interior Designer: JLS Design
Structural engineer: Gabbart + Woods
Mechanical engineer: Woods Energy Consultant
General contractor: Crocker Construction
Photographer: JLS Design
Computer modeling: JLS Design

Design Approach/Narrative:
The introduction of CMU towers, steel beams and floating horizontal planes, allows the residence to cascade down the steep slope. Cantilevered trays space ties the towers together and permit the residence to anchor itself to the steep hillside while conversely thrust the living area, bedrooms, and lakeside decks out over the lake. Simple, yet elegant, zoning of service/structural sandblasted towers, glass and cement panel infill walls, and spanning steel beams define the minimal separation from the natural environment. Comer glass further enhances the indoor/outdoor fusion. Material's inherent qualities clearly expressed, natural light, and structural purity compliment this lens of Mother Nature's. ground source geo-exchange hydronic floor heating and exposed CMU towers provide an abundance of thermal mass, particularly in the low sun angle winter months. Operable skylights tower supply a passive "stack-effect" during the few warm summer weeks. A living-green roof above the main living area creates an intimate foreground for the entry and the only mentionable yard on a 30 degree slope. Cumulatively each of the aforementioned elements lends themselves to establishing an observation nest elegantly suspended between towers on the steep shoreline of Lake Almanor.

Material in ASL Library: Form Core Boards, Project Description Form, Exteriors Photos, Location Map, Site Plan, Floor Plan, and Interior Photos