40 DIGS.NET
|
7.26.2019
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P R O F I L E | F I E L D A R C H I T E C T U R E
An architectural duo let the
W R I T T E N B Y W E N D Y B O W M A N
PHOTOGRAPHS:
JOE
FLETCHER
F I E L D DAY
la ndscape spea k loud ly when designing this contempora r y,
farmhouse-st yle home set among a Wine Countr y vineyard.
W
hen father-and-son architect team
Stan and Jess Field of Palo Alto-based
Field Architecture set out to plan a
new contemporary, farmhouse-style home amid
a small Zinfandel vineyard in St. Helena for two
technology executives with a growing family
looking to escape the hustle and bustle of the city,
they took somewhat of an unusual design approach.
e pair started with an intense period of lying on
the ground to listen to the land—what they like to
call "groundscape"—and then went on to consider
the region's history, seasonal weather changes and
patterns of animals that inhabit the area. Finally,
they even went so far as to stack some old, scattered
crates found strewn around the site so they could
stand on them and examine the land from different
elevations. It took exactly three crates to reveal the
ideal altitude for the home, where there was both an
intimacy with the vines and a sense of having them
spread out like an endless carpet.
