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The Case Study houses that made Los Angeles a modernist mecca

Mapping the homes that helped to define an era

Los Angeles is full of fantastic residential architecture styles, from Spanish Colonial Revival to Streamline Moderne. But the modernist Case Study Houses , sponsored by Arts & Architecture and designed between the 1940s and 1960s, are both native to Southern California and particularly emblematic of the region.

The Case Study series showcased homes commissioned by the magazine and designed by some of the most influential designers and architects of the era, including Charles and Ray Eames, Richard Neutra, and Pierre Koenig. The residences were intended to be relatively affordable, replicable houses for post-World War II family living, with an emphasis on “new materials and new techniques in house construction,” as the magazine’s program intro put it.

Technological innovation and practical, economical design features were emphasized—though the homes’ scintillating locations, on roomy lots in neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades and the Hollywood Hills , gave them a luxurious allure.

With the help of photographer Julius Shulman , who shot most of the homes, the most impressive of the homes came to represent not only new styles of home design, but the postwar lifestyle of the booming Southern California region.

A total of 36 houses and apartment buildings were commissioned; a couple dozen were built, and about 20 still stand in the greater Los Angeles area (there’s also one in Northern California, a set near San Diego, and a small apartment complex in Phoenix). Some have been remodeled, but others have been well preserved. Eleven were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

Here’s a guide to all the houses left to see—but keep in mind that, true to LA form, most are still private residences. The Eames and Stahl houses, two of the most famous Case Study Houses, are regularly open to visitors.

As for the unconventional house numbering, post-1962 A&A publisher David Travers writes that the explanation is “inexplicable, locked in the past.”

Case Study House No. 1

J.R. Davidson (with Greta Davidson) designed this house in 1948 (it was actually his second go at Case Study House No. 1). It was intended for “a hypothetical family" with two working parents and was designed to require "minimum maintenance.”

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Case Study House No. 2

Case Study House No. 2 was designed in 1947 by Sumner Spaulding and John Rex. Arts & Architecture wrote that the home’s layout “achieves a sense of spaciousness and flexibility,” with an open living area and glass doors that lead out to adjoining terraces.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samuel Dematraz (@samueldematraz) on Oct 28, 2018 at 1:07am PDT

Case Study House No. 7

Case Study House No. 7 was designed in 1948 by Thornton M. Abell. It has a “three-zone living area,” with space for study, activity, and relaxation/conversation; the areas can be separated by sliding panels or combined.

Eames House (Case Study House No. 8)

Legendary designer couple Charles and Ray Eames designed the Eames House in 1949 and even Arts & Architecture seemed kind of blown away by it. The home is built into a hillside behind a row of Eucalyptus trees on a bluff above Pacific Palisades. It's recognizable by its bright blue, red, and yellow panels. The Eameses lived in the house until their deaths. It’s now open to visitors five days per week, though reservations are required.

Entenza House (Case Study House No. 9)

The Entenza House was built in 1949 and designed by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen for Arts & Architecture editor John Entenza. According to the magazine, “In general, the purpose was to enclose as much space as possible within a reasonably simple construction.”

Case Study House No. 10

Case Study House No. 10 was designed in 1947 by Kemper Nomland. The house is built on several levels to mold into its sloping site. Recently restored, the home sold to Kristen Wiig in 2017.

Case Study House No. 15

Designed by J.R. Davidson in 1947, Case Study House No. 15 has south walls made of huge glass panels. Its flagstone patio and indoor floor are at the same level for that seamless indoor-outdoor feel. According to the magazine, the floorplan “is basically that of another Davidson house, Case Study House No. 11,” which has been demolished.

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Case Study House for 1953

Craig Ellwood’s Case Study House for 1953 is usually numbered as 16 in the Case Study series . It has a modular steel structure and “the basic plan is a four-foot modular rectangle.” But the interior walls stick out past the exterior walls to bring the indoors out and the outdoors in. The Bel Air house hit the market in November with a $3 million price tag.

Case Study House No. 17 (A)

Case Study House No. 17 (A) was designed by Rodney Walker in 1947. A tight budget kept the house at just 1,560 square feet, “but more space was gained through the use of many glass areas.” The house also has a large front terrace with a fireplace that connects the indoor living room fireplace. The house has been remodeled .

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Case Study House No. 17 (B)

Case Study House No. 17 (B) was designed in 1956 by Craig Ellwood, but “governed by a specific program set forth by the client.” Ellwood took into account the clients' collection of contemporary paintings and made the living room “purposely undersized” to work best for small gatherings. The house was extensively remodeled in the sixties by Hollywood Regency architect John Elgin Woolf and his partner, interior designer Robert Koch Woolf.

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West House (Case Study House No. 18 [A])

Case Study House No. 18 (A) was designed by Rodney Walker in 1948. The house is oriented toward the ocean, but set back from the cliff edge it sits on to avoid noise issues. As A&A says, "High above the ocean, the privacy of the open south and east exposures of Case Study House No. 18 can be threatened only by an occasional sea-gull." The house features a "bricked garden room" separated from the living room by a two-sided fireplace.

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Fields House (Case Study House No. 18 [B])

Case Study House No. 18 (B) was designed by Craig Ellwood in 1958. Ellwood didn’t attempt to hide that the house was prefabricated (the magazine explains that he believed “that the increasing cost of labor and the decline of the craftsman will within not too many years force a complete mechanization of residential construction methods”). The components of the house, however, are “strongly defined with color: ceiling and panels are off-white and the steel framework is blue.” According to A&A' s website, the house has been remodeled.

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Case Study House No. 20 [A])

This two-bedroom house was meant “to serve young parents who find they can afford just that much,” according to architect Richard Neutra’s description. He also wrote that he used several different kinds of natural wood in the house.

Bass House (Case Study House No. 20 [B])

The Bass House was designed in 1958 by Buff, Straub, and Hensman for famed graphic designer Saul Bass. It's “unique in that it was based upon the experimental use of several prefabricated Douglas fir plywood products as part of the structural concept,” including hollow-core plywood vaults that covered the central part of the house.

Case Study House No. 21

Pierre Koenig designed Case Study House No. 21 in 1958. It was originally completely surrounded by water, with a walkway and driveway spanning the moat at the front door and carport, respectively. The house was severely messed with over the years, but restored in the ’90s with help from Koenig.

Stahl House (Case Study House No. 22)

Pierre Koenig's Stahl House , designed in 1960, is probably the most famous house in Los Angeles, thanks to an iconic photo by Julius Shulman . The house isn't much to look at from the street, but its backside is mostly glass surrounding a cliff's-edge pool. Tours are available Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday—but book well ahead of time, as they sell out quickly.

Case Study House for 1950

The unnumbered Case Study House for 1950 was designed by Raphael Soriano. It's rectangular, with living room and bedrooms facing out to the view. However, in the kitchen and eating areas, the house “turns upon itself and living develops around a large kitchen-dining plan opening upon a terrace which leads directly into the living room interrupted only by the mass of two fireplaces.” According to A&A 's website, the house has been remodeled.

Frank House (Case Study House No. 25)

The two-story Frank House was designed by Killingsworth, Brady, and Smith and Associates in 1962 and it sits on a canal in Long Beach. A reflecting pool with stepping stones leads to its huge front door and inside to an 18-foot high courtyard. The house sold in 2015 with some unfortunate remodeling .

Case Study House No. 28

Case Study House No. 28 was designed in 1966 by Conrad Buff and Donald Hensman. According to the magazine, “the architects were asked to design a house that incorporated face brick as the primary structural material to demonstrate its particular advantages.” They came up with a plan for two symmetrical wings joined by glass galleries.

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SPOL Architects - escritório de arquitetura

HOUSE #1 - INTERNAL GARDEN   1/23

HOUSE #1 - LIVING ROOM   2/23

HOUSE #1 - INTERNAL GARDEN   3/23

HOUSE #1 - PLAN   4/23

HOUSE #1 - SECTION   5/23

HOUSE #1 TO #15   6/23

HOUSE #2 - SPACES IN-BETWEEN   7/23

HOUSE #2 - PLAN   8/23

HOUSE #3 - FAMILY VILLAGE   9/23

HOUSE #3 - LEVEL 2 PLAN   10/23

HOUSE #3 - LEVEL 3 PLAN   11/23

HOUSE #3 - SECTION   12/23

HOUSE #4 - BARN BUILDING   13/23

HOUSE #4 - PLAN   14/23

HOUSE #4 - SECTION   15/23

HOUSE #5 - ROOMS UNDER ROOF   16/23

HOUSE #5 - LEVEL 1 PLAN   17/23

HOUSE #5 - LEVEL 2 PLAN   18/23

HOUSE #5 - SECTION   19/23

HOUSE #6 - CLIMBING THE HILL   20/23

HOUSE #6 - LEVEL 2 PLAN   21/23

HOUSE #6 - LEVEL 4 PLAN   22/23

HOUSE #6 - SECTION   23/23

6 case study houses.

Chácara Santa Helena is an oasis in São Paulo. A large piece of the Mata Atlantica captured in the midst of the sprawling city. An abundance of trees and species makes a uniquely beautiful and rich site. Our house captures this image; at the heart of the house is nature.

Our design combines the contemporary life with traditions from Brazilian house building and an Scandinavian openness and obsession for details. The house is designed as continuous shared space; organized, separated and connected by the central garden.

The house is a reinterpretation of the traditional Brazilian Villa, with its open patio in the center for ventilation and light. The concept is expanded as the organizing element for the entire house.

It is a house for the contemporary family, where shared space is at the core of the house, and life evolves around the internal patio. The patio connects and separates living, kitchen, library, play room, office and private quarters. The garden is enclosed and can act as part of the house day and night. It is living with and in nature.

The exterior wall becomes a large furniture for storage, from books to wine to tools. Light materials and screens of wooden mesh-work form the exterior of the house. A strict exterior and a soft organic interior define the house and the life in the house.

Chácara Santa Helena; old Plantation in Alta Boa Vista, São Paulo

Plots in Chácara Santa Helena, total of 25.000m2, masterplan by Isay Weinfeld, landscape design by Renata Tilli

300m2-700m2

Design of private residences for Condominium Chácara Santa Helena

Partner in Charge

Adam Kurdahl

Visualizations

Adam Kurdahl, João Vieira Costa, Mariana Alves, Gabriel Spera, Fernando Páal, Diogo Madeira

Exhibited at Architectural Exhition in Chacara Santa Helena

Publications

Published in Revista Bamboo

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The case study houses forever changed american architecture.

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Scenes from the new showroom of Herman Miller which shows classic designs by Charles and Ray Eames, ... [+] in Culver City, Ca., Oct. 1, 2009. (Photo by Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The Case Study House Program’s vision belonged to Los Angeles-based Arts & Architecture magazine Editor John Entenza.

Entenza sponsored and publicized some design competitions in the magazine and emphasized modern, affordable, easily built houses.

He announced the Case Study House Program's launch in the January 1945 issue of Arts & Architecture magazine . He envisioned the program to solve the problem of housing shortages and anticipated the coming building boom that would follow War World II and the Depression.

The front side of the Eames House Case Study #8 designed by architects Charles and Ray Eames in ... [+] Pacific Palisades. June 30, 2005. (Photo by Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

A 1937 Harwell Harris house has a Streamline Moderne exterior with a white curved porte cochere in ... [+] front (wide enough for the original owner, powerful architecture magazine editor John Entenza s 1925 Ford) and a round bedroom wall in back overlooking Santa Monica Canyon. Peter Rabitz, a co–worker visiting from Germany, enjoys the view into the canyon on a recent visit. (Photo by Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

A 1937 Harwell Harris house has the porte cochere at left and entrance to house at right. (Photo by ... [+] Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The goal of the program was for each architect to create a home "capable of duplication and in no sense being an individual performance," Entenza said in his announcement.

"It is important that the best materials available be used in the best possible way in order to arrive at a good solution of each problem, which in the overall program will be general enough to be of practical assistance to the average American in search of a home in which he can afford to live in," he noted.

Architect Pierre Koenig designed two of the iconic Modernist houses in Los Angeles in the 1950s ... [+] known as Case Study House 21 and 22. Drawing of one of Koenig's designs. (Photo by Anacleto Rapping/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The Case Study House Program served as a model for post-war living, providing the public and the building industry an opportunity to access affordable, mid-century modernism and simple designs.

Floor-to-ceiling glass, steel frames, horizontal lines, modular components, open-floor plans and multi-purpose rooms were all elements of the Case Study’s take on modernism. The furnished projects provided places for owners to enjoy a family-friendly home with public and private spaces to relax, watch TV, listen to music and entertain, merging indoor and outdoor worlds with walls of steel and glass to allow ample light.

Initially, Entenza invited Richard Neutra, Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen and five other architects to submit prototypes and planned that all eight houses would be open to the public until they were occupied. The project was ambitious. The Eames and Entenza houses were designed in 1945 but not completed until 1949. Still, the Case Study program was so successful that it ran until 1966 and saw 350,000 visitors tour the open homes before clients took up residence.

Architect Pierre Koenig designed two of the iconic Modernist houses in Los Angeles in the 1950s ... [+] known as Case Study House 21 and 22. Photos of Pierre and Gloria Koenig main living room inside their West Los Angeles home which Pierre designed. (Photo by Anacleto Rapping/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Twenty homes remain today, but 36 experimental prototypes, many unbuilt, documenting new ideas and residential designs, appeared in the magazine.

The majority of the homes were built in Southern California; some are located in San Diego and Northern California; a group of Case Study apartments was built in Phoenix.

Many architects such as Ray and Charles Eames, Saarinen, Craig Ellwood and Pierre Koenig became icons of modernism and earned international followings. The Case Study Houses launched the reputations of local architects such as Thornton Bell, Whitney R. Smith and Rodney Walker.

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Case Study Houses: The creation of the modern ‘dream home’

In 1940s Los Angeles, a pioneering, modernist community would forever change aspirational living. Eddie Mullan looks back on the most iconic moments of the post-war experiment.

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Lima Villa / Loci Architecture + Design

• Curated by Hana Abdel
• Architects: Loci Architecture + Design
• Area Area of this architecture project Area:  1865 m²
• Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2018
• Photographs Photographs: Natelee Cocks
• Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers:   AutoDesk , ORAMA , CEA Design , Casabella , Siematic , Trimble
• Lead Architects: Roger Doyle, Hamad Khoory
• Structural Engineer : Al Saraya Engineering
• MEP Engineer : Consistent Engineering Consultants
• Design Team:  Sham Enbashi, Michael Paulo Cruz
• Cost Consultant:  NEA
• City:  Dubai
• Country:  United Arab Emirates
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Text description provided by the architects. The paradigm of the traditional Arabic courtyard is explored in the concept for this private villa in Dubai , where climate and context ensure the courtyard plays a vital role, modulating internal private space, evoking the memory of ancient Arabic architecture. The courtyard garden offers controlled views of landscape and water from the interior, and mashrabiya screens offer views out, but controls views in, particularly important in the local context, animating the façade and interior with a play of light and shadow.

Located in a suburban context, the villa presents itself as a mostly closed volume to the sides and rear, the rectangular form completed by large openings and mashrabiya screens, screened from view from the road by dense vegetation. To one side is the courtyard garden and pool, a private oasis within the city around which the functions of the villa wrap. The creation of a micro-climate where the traditional passive cooling techniques of landscape, shading and water cooling reduce the ambient temperature and establish privacy, openness and dappled natural light. 

The garden is the preserve of the ground floor living spaces, with strong visual connections with large terraces and lush landscaping inviting the outside in. A tree filled central courtyard with skylights creates a private internal environment, with natural light streaming from above. The bedroom suites on first floor are oriented around this courtyard, the master bedroom having a private access, bay window, and private bathroom suite behind the mashrabiya screen, with filtered light playing across natural materials of stone and wood. At basement level a large majlis and dining space have views over a sunken courtyard, along with a guest bedroom suite. All of the service spaces are located in the basement completely hidden from view.  The circulation and access carefully managed to maximize efficiency and ensure family privacy. 

Natural materials are employed to reinforce the concept of the house - local natural stone walls to the boundary and garden, cut stone fin walls emphasize openings made of natural wood. Mashrabiya screens of bronze aluminium and concrete provide privacy and modulate light to the interiors which are warm and filled with natural light.

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This opulent Mumbai apartment is a case study in functional design

Showcasing exemplary modular contemporary design, DIG Architects transformed a run-down 530-square-feet Mumbai apartment into a luminous luxury suite. Copper Cube Haus, which is located in an unlikely old building in the bylanes of Andheri, is a case study in creative problem solving, and an example of how good design is always ripe for the challenge. “The brief was pretty out of the box,” admits DIG Architects co-founder, Amit Khanolkar. The client is originally from Goa, but travels frequently, and has to transit through Mumbai very often. “He got tired of staying in hotels each time, and decided to get something of his own.” He acquired a small apartment in a nondescript building close to the airport, and was looking to convert it into a secondary transit home. “His idea was to create a kind of studio or lounge, where he could even conduct meetings from home,” says Khanolkar. The challenge, however, lay in making the most of the cramped, poorly-designed floor plan. “The apartment itself was a 1BHK, with a very linear layout,” explains Khanolkar. “The challenge was to open up the entire space, while making a bold statement at the same time.” Copper is the basis of the design palette, which is otherwise a wash of black and vitrified cementitious tiling. The copper cube, from which the project gets its name, is a copper sheet-clad kitchen unit that systematically partitions the living space and master bedroom. “We wanted to be somewhere in the vicinity of contemporary, dark, and a little industrial,” says Khanolkar. “The copper gets its importance because most of the materials around it are very muted.”

Copper is the basis of the design palette

In that vein, all architectural lighting was kept under 3000K colour temperature, which is yellow or golden, to give the copper its due. The result is a home that has the ambience of a plush hotel suite. “We try to be consistent in our design,” explains Khanolkar, “We know that with one or two materials, you can make a strong statement. It’s about designing responsibly.”

Living Room

The living room is furnished sparingly with a TV console, a sofa and a side table. In the centre, a table and arrangement of chairs doubles as a dining table or work-from-home table. A movable fabric screen, framed in aluminium, slides across the window—it functions as a curtain while allowing the overall volume of the space to appear seamless. A custom rug from Weavers Knot underlines the space, while a pendant light completes the arrangement. A large artwork, customised to compliment the volum etric theme of the house, provides a soft backdrop to the scene.

The focal point of the house is the kitchen, from which the project gets its name. The eponymous “copper cube” is a modular kitchen unit clad in copper sheets. The cube appears to be detached from the ceiling, thereby raising the visual height of the space and also making room for a ceiling-mounted air conditioner. All cabinets and shelves within the unit are also clad in copper sheets, and a copper inlay extends along the floor, thereby defining the cubic structure within the visual space. The front portion of the kitchen, which shares space with the living room, has been fitted with bar stools to provide additional seating. A slit in the middle offers visual connectivity between the kitchen and living room, making the unit appear more spacious. The walls around the cube are clad in black tiles that extend all the way to the master bedroom at the far end of the house. The top of the kitchen unit is wrapped in Barrisol, a fabric that distributes the light evenly across the copper surfaces. “It completely washes the copper and makes it more opulent,” explains Khanolkar, “The mood of the space is quite dark, so by using this Barrisol, we’re highlighting the primary theme, which is the copper cube.”

Master Bedroom

A sliding door, cleverly concealed within the kitchen cube, can be pulled forward to create a private master bedroom that includes the master bath. “The doors don’t take up circulation space,” explains Khanolkar, “They disappear into the walls, so there is no visual interruption.” The master bedroom appears almost like a framed tableau, a birch ply-clad cube that is set within a thick wrap clad in black. The wrap makes room for concealed storage, both around and within the cube of the master bedroom. A full length mirror, a ceiling-height shelving unit and drawers within the base plinth make up what will function as the dressing area. The birch ply cube is the sleeping unit, fitted with a modular bed and a built-in side table, the base of which can be opened for additional storage. As in the living room, the only window in the master bedroom can be accessed by sliding back a framed work of wall art. The TV wall opposite the master bed is a fluted surface that also opens out to reveal additional storage compartments. “Smaller houses require this kind of utility,” insists Khanolkar, “and every square inch of the space that is available for storage and utility has to be made use of.”

The master bedroom appears almost like a framed tableau

The birch ply cube is the sleeping unit, fitted with a modular bed  

The theme of black is fully realised in the master bathroom, which is entirely clad in a mosaic of black ceramic tiles. White grouting offers a stern contrast, and gives the space “a digital look,” as Khanolkar describes it. “We were very minimalistic in our design for this space,” he adds, “The mosaic itself, which is busy, does the job.” Black granite shelves and a black ceramic basin enhance the palette. Copper accents appear as towel rods and racks, and the countertop which is entirely clad in copper sheets.

The theme of black is fully realised in the master bathroom

CWRU debuts two new residence halls in South Residential Village

Imagine living in a newly built residence hall with design features that your peers suggested—and art installations they helped create. 

That’s exactly what dozens of second-year Case Western Reserve students are experiencing this academic year in the South Residential Village . The two buildings they’re calling home debuted this month as the university’s newest student housing options. 

“I am obsessed with the design—I love how everything is modern and clean,” said Paxton Sandoval, a second-year student studying biochemistry. “For example, the seating (couches and chairs) has appealing designs and the colors are so fresh. I am also a sucker for big windows and natural light, which this dorm building prioritizes.”  

Sandoval is living in what’s known as the Mary Chilton Noyes House, which stands alongside the John Sykes Fayette House. Both are named for trailblazing alumni and were designed to redefine the very essence of student housing. 

In addition to air-conditioned rooms and private bathrooms, the new living spaces  feature on-floor laundry machines, extensive multi-purpose spaces and one on-site health clinic. The buildings share a large recreation lawn and wellness garden, and, by the year’s end, will feature large-scale customized printed graphics turned into wallpaper that will breathe added personality into the buildings while celebrating connections to campus life and history.

Students helped create the art in partnership with CWRU’s Putnam Art Committee, which came about in a variety of ways. Some joined artist Christine Mauersberger during April’s total solar eclipse to create cyanotype prints of campus plants; others offered small objects from everyday life for a time-capsule mural created by artist Amber Kempthorn, an assistant professor at Cleveland Institute of Art. 

The two houses, along with the existing South Residential Village residence halls, bring together second-year students in one area and provide 600 new beds to accommodate CWRU’s growing enrollment. 

The buildings were designed by William Rawn Associates and pay tribute to inspiring achievements: John Sykes Fayette was the first known African American graduate of Western Reserve College, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1836 and a graduate degree in 1837; Mary Chilton Noyes was the first woman to earn a PhD from Western Reserve University, receiving the degree in physics in 1895. “By providing modern amenities, we create a comfortable and supportive living environment that encourages students to engage with their peers and the broader campus community,” said Vern Rogers, executive director of University Housing. “These improvements not only enhance day-to-day living, but foster a sense of belonging and community, which I believe are crucial for academic and personal growth.” 

Discover more about the new residence halls.

Case Study: House for a New Beginning by Nielsen:Schuh

Building in California’s wine country is a risky proposition and has been for the last decade. Given the predictable occurrence of widespread, devastating wildfires, many homeowners are rightly reevaluating their dwellings. That was certainly true for Amy Nielsen and Richard Schuh’s clients, whose previous home burned to the ground in the 2017 Tubbs Fire. That series of connected fires torched nearly 40,000 acres, including much of Richard and Amy’s own land. Fortunately, firefighters were on hand, and they did not lose the buildings. 

Their clients weren’t so lucky. “It was like a blast furnace coming through their site,” says Amy. “They were on vacation and came back to nothing.” The large house had just been renovated and contained tribal artifacts they’d collected over a lifetime of travel to remote places. But as often happens, losing everything made them rethink their priorities. After the insurance issues were settled a few years later, they purchased a piece of land down the road from their previous house that had better solar exposure and more open views. “They just decided to start in a new place, which was a wise idea because you have to gently remind clients that it’s not possible to recreate their original house,” Amy says. Rather than building another big house they’d have to fill with furniture and other finds, they asked the architects to design a compact dwelling where the architecture and landscape are the art.

Nielsen:Schuh Architects excels at this approach. They’ve built modern California houses of all sizes that fully embrace their natural surroundings on ranches, mountains, and wineries. Here, though, it took some work to reimagine the immediate setting. Before the fire came through, a sizable white stucco house sat on the graded land, leaving a large pad and swimming pool. “That’s not how we approach it; normally we try to work with the natural contours,” Amy says. “There was a big flat field of debris with dug-up rock piles 10 or 15 feet high.”

The landscape upheaval resulted from having to clear out the former house’s foundation. “Clients talk about replacement construction costs in the event of fire, and though we had an awareness of that, it went to a whole other level after these fires,” says their builder, Sam Turner of Gracie Construction. “The rule of thumb was that in the worst case, the house burns to the ground and you built on its infrastructure. These fires taught us that’s not a fair assumption. You go backwards, having to remove footings, rework infrastructure. The scenario is way worse than we thought it would be.”

Adds Amy, “FEMA requires burned remnants of houses, which are often toxic, to be removed in an approved way. Often foundations aren’t suitable to be reused because the fire can destroy their strength and performance. In all that bulldozing and digging up, excavators aren’t thinking about how they’ll put it back in a nice way for the landscape.”

Playing Defense

To Sam, the site initially felt like an “ancient ruin” with the ghostly outline of the swimming pool and diving platform. “During the foundation excavation you’re seeing debris coming up; it felt like an archaeological dig. There’s an emotional aspect because it was recent.” As grim as the landscape appeared, however, there were unexpected pockets of resilience. Some of the old oak trees began to show signs of life, and the architects took on the challenge of creating a unified setting for the house—a place where the owners could enjoy the outdoors and watch the vegetation recover. Boulders were maneuvered into more natural-looking positions and will eventually be covered in moss and lichen. Other debris was used to define the driveway and form an edge between the built and wild landscape. 

Richard and Amy organized the floor plan around the existing pool. Oriented east-west, the bar-shaped living/dining/kitchen space faces south to the pool. A terrace wraps three sides of this volume. It joins the pool terrace with an appendage containing two en-suite guest bedrooms on the west. On the other side of the house, an east terrace flows out from the kitchen and meets the detached primary suite. Deep overhangs create a covered walkway between the two buildings. “They wanted a separate pod for the primary bedroom, like going to a wilderness hotel,” says Amy. “Spending time outside was one of their goals.”

While the glassy rear of the house is open to the deep pool that doubles as an emergency water source, the front façade is at once inviting and skillfully shielded from wildfires that typically arrive from the north. Its clerestory roofline offers just a sliver of exposure. “Even though the north wall is opaque, the roof lifts up and you can see a hint of the light coming through and the structure beyond,” Amy says. A series of stone walls and a 44-foot-long steel planter direct the approach and keep embers away from the house. The guest wing was pushed slightly forward, resulting in a folded wall that draws visitors to the front door. 

With its high melting point, the vent-free steel shell is built to repel any future conflagrations. Cor-Ten and solid steel cladding, paired with a Napa stone base on the primary suite, add pleasing textural variations to the monochromatic exterior. The Cor-Ten on the main north wall has heavy-duty 2½-inch corrugations, while on the ends and pool side the infill panels are smooth or more finely ribbed and run horizontally. Within the roof system, a structural decking layer spans 8 feet between the exposed steel superstructure framing. Ceilings and soffits are tongue-in-groove fir backed by fire-rated sheathing and insulation. 

Rugged and Refined

Ever mindful of the clients’ desire for the architecture to provide the art, Amy and Richard worked with a local woodworker to source Claro walnut for some of the interior finishes. A Native California wood with a figural grain, the live-edge slabs were fabricated into rolling doors, and a walnut dining room partition became a focal point behind the table. The slab doors are hung on a steel valance that runs through the house and outside. Another rough-but-ready piece of sculpture is the living room’s hefty steel fireplace and corresponding concrete hearth. “The layout for the fireplace was important all the way back when we were pouring the footings and foundation,” Sam says. “There are no walls around it, just a glass window system that butts directly into the fireplace assembly.”

“We tried to keep with rugged but refined natural materials,” Amy says. That includes thick concrete for the countertops and radiant-heated floors, which carry out to the terraces. Drywall was treated as infill panels that lighten the interior, along with maple cabinetry in the kitchen and primary suite. There, a geological formation outside the bathroom inspired the clients’ request for an al fresco shower experience. “It’s a rugged section that ties into a higher rock outcropping; they thought it would be great to walk out and have a shower in the rocks,” Amy says.

The house is designed to live lightly on and off the grid. High operable windows on the north side pull in cool breezes from the valley. A solar array mounted on an existing steel-frame building heats the pool and runs the bedrooms’ mini-split heat pumps, and the house has a required graywater system. 

Although the site feels remote, it’s just a 10-minute drive up the hill from the town of Santa Rosa, where the wife has a busy medical practice. After several years of renting, she and her husband enjoy the house as a refuge, Amy says—hopefully one where they can rest a little easier than in their previous residence. 

“When we first drove up the long, winding road to this site, my partner Richard and I were both shocked by how devastated the area was, even a year after the fire,” Amy recalls. “I remember saying that these people must be very brave to rebuild in such a landscape with reminders everywhere of how dangerous it can be. But as soon as we met them on their property, we understood their dream of building a new beginning there, and we really wanted to help them realize that dream. It ended up being one of our most rewarding projects.”

House for a New Beginning

Sonoma, California

Nielsen:Schuh Architects

Architect: Amy Nielsen and Richard Schuh, Nielsen:Schuh Architects, Sonoma, California

Builder: Sam Turner, Gracie Construction, Sonoma

Interior designer: Nielsen:Schuh Architects

Structural engineers: Summit Engineering, Santa Rosa, California

Fabricator: Iron Dog Fabrication, Santa Rosa

Project size: 2,513 square feet

Site size: 9.73 acres

Construction cost: Withheld

Photography: Ethan Gordon Photography

Key Products

Cabinetry: Larkin Furniture, custom

Cladding: Bridger Steel, Syar Napa/stone

Cooktop: Miele

Countertops: Sonoma Cast Stone

Dishwasher: Miele

Drywall: USG

Engineered lumber: Lock-Deck, Disdero Lumber Company

Entry doors/hardware: FSB

Faucets: Dornbracht, Hansgrohe AXOR

Finish materials: Maple, Claro walnut

Fireplace: Ortal

Flooring: Cast-in-place concrete

Hardware/cabinetry: Blum, Hafele America

HVAC system: Mitsubishi

Insulation: R-Max, Carlisle, Manville

Lighting: Juno, Louis Poulsen, Foscarini, Sonneman, Stickbulb

Lighting control systems: Lutron

Outdoor shower: Hansgrohe AXOR

Ovens: Miele

Paints: Benjamin Moore

Passage doors: FSB

Refrigerator: Miele

Roof/truss system: Iron Dog Fabrication

Roofing: Taylor Metal Products

Sinks: Galley, Sonoma Cast Stone, Stone Forest, Blanco

Surfacing: AKDO tile

Thermal and moisture barriers: WeatherBond membrane roof

Toilets: TOTO

Tub: Duravit

Underlayment/sheathing: DensDeck, Georgia Pacific

Ventilation: Fantech

Washer/dryer: Miele

Window wall systems: Fleetwood

Windows: Fleetwood

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