60 DIGS.NET
| 9.3.2021
P R O F I L E | O L S O N K U N D I G
to completion of construction, comprises two interconnected
parts. First, the public areas (including a kitchen and casual dining
room, formal dining room, living room and lounge) and the three
auxiliary buildings (which are perpendicular to the main house and
include a two-bedroom guest house, outdoor living and dining
pavilions, with an underground pub/bonus room and wine room)
are located on the cultivated portion of the site with its olive trees,
small vineyard and succulent garden. Second, the more "wild" half
of the plot, which is delineated by the infinity pool and a gentle
slope that opens into a meadow, is where the private areas are,
including the master suite, office and three children's bedrooms.
"City restrictions required the house to be low to the ground, which
suited the flat site and inspired the home to stretch out across it,"
explains Olson. "I often look back to examples of my previous work
for inspiration and for this project I looked at Earth House, which
I designed in the 1960s. It was a low-slung home countered by a
tall chimney. Now I think of Earth House as the great grandfather
of California Meadow House."
A
R
C
H
I
T
E
C
T
U
R
E
+
D
E
S
I
G
N
Highlighting the relationship between the house and its surround-
ings was something that the Olson Kundig team constantly had
in mind during this project. They installed retracting window walls,
creating an indoor/outdoor lifestyle and maximizing the natural
ventilation. Solar panels, as well as high-efficiency geothermal
and hydronic heating and cooling systems were incorporated.
"We set out to build this house to be sustainable, with the goal of
making it 'net zero', meaning that the house would generate as
much energy as it uses," Olson says. The earthy color and mate-
