Ross, California, USA
Located on a woody, green hilltop property in Ross, a small town close to San Francisco, Spring Road Residence has been created by Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects to serve as a peaceful gateway from urban busy life.
The project was recently awarded with a 2020 International Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The client is a successful entrepreneur and avid lover of design, who searched for years for land in Marin County to build an extraordinary home.
The site is surrounded by California oaks and old-growth redwoods, offering total privacy.
And from this lofty perch, the fog would roll in and never reach the house.
The client wanted a house worthy of its setting, melding modernist lines with a rustic Northern California sensibility.
The architects composed and stacked a series of boxes, calibrating proportions and optimizing views with precision.
Rich earthy materials in a neutral palette are used throughout.
The volumes are clad in terra-cotta clay tile that picks up the color of redwood bark, with Rheinzinkfascias and large expanses of floor-to-ceiling glass.
A redwood-lined driveway ascends to the house, where the architecture serves as backdrop and frame to the idyllic setting, a tranquil retreat from urban life.
Adjacent volumes house guest rooms, a gym, a spa, and an office, which face the concrete terrace and look out over the pool and spa toward spectacular views.
Next to a black-tile lap pool, a square spa hovers eighteen inches above the terrace.
With infinity edges on four sides, both pools capture the ever-changing reflections of the sky and Mountain Tamalpais.
The floating master suite occupies the entire second floor and pushes out over the main living volume, commanding gorgeous wraparound views.
Project: Spring Road Residence
Architects: Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
Client: Private
General Contractor: Plath and Company, Inc.
Landscape Architects: Surface Design
Photographers: Matthew Millman Photography