This stunning hillside home in Kentfield, California, by Turnbull Griffin Haesloop Architects is a study in what I would call “dynamic resistance” It occupies a narrow seat on a steep oak-studded slope with spectacular views west and south toward Mount Tamalpais and San Francisco Bay and manages to feel both suspended and anchored to the website. In addition, it makes judicious usage of concrete, glass, salvaged wood, recycled rock and planted roofs to observe nature.
As you can see at the floor plan, the home wraps around three sides of a very long, narrow pool courtyard.
The curving lines signify the retaining wall and stairway — expressing the website’s contours as a physical area of the design.
Driveway, entrance and garage are at the far right; the living room and kitchen/dining area edge the extended side of this courtyard; along with the master suite occupies the keeping wall at bottom left.
Pictures by David Wakely except where noted
Within this view looking toward the entrance, you can observe how wall and stair stabilize the mountain and anchor the home whilst providing the most important living spaces breathing room. The courtyard stones have been pavers recycled by a village in China that was slated to be underwater for the Three Gorges Dam.
A set living roof covers most of the home like an extension of this hillside, and it is punctuated by drop roofs climbing over the living space, kitchen/dining space and master bedroom. These are angled to catch the views, promote airflow and maintain photovoltaic and solar hot water panels.
Arrival is around a blind curve at the end of the road. Ahead is a blank entry facade beside the arch keeping wall, which proceeds behind the garage and into the pool courtyard. The mountain falls away to the right.
The surprise is indoors: The soaring living room reaches out to frame the view of Mount Tamalpais and inward to adopt the pool courtyard round the glassed-in gallery. It is a remarkable room because it frames such distinct views while at the same time pulling your gaze down the hall toward the kitchen and out the sliding door to the deck. The cinnamon-hued walls and floor are elm from salvaged tree trunks.
Interior design by Margaret Turnbull
The deck runs all of the way in the living room to the kitchen, where window walls slide away to open the space to the mountain vista. Again there is a stunning opposition: the airy void throughout the balcony juxtaposed against the solidity of this kitchen island surfaced in rock.
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The view of Mount Tamalpais framed by the window wall at the breakfast area acquires the majesty of Mount Fuji at a Japanese woodblock print. You’re at once grounded and in flight, and also the home becomes a landscape lens.
Turnbull Griffin Haesloop
The shed-roofed master suite is at the far end of the courtyard past the pine tree on the left side. The more drop roof is over the kitchen/dining place on the right side.
Photo by Wanderingeye.net
It is a private retreat with its own window climbing looking into the trees. Clerestory windows balance the light.
A complex water control system protects the incline by collecting surplus runoff at a cistern below the garage for quantified dispersal over time.
Photo by Dan Gregory
This distant view shows the way the home tucks into the treetops — like a wildlife viewing station in Africa. Which seems fitting because the proprietor, who took this shot, is a nice nature photographer.
The fantastic Bauhaus painter Paul Klee once said that “art does not reproduce the visible, rather it makes visible.” This home simply and elegantly brings the setting into sharper focus and makes it habitable: nature nurtured.
Photo by Wanderingeye.net
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