Houses

	COTULLA RANCH HOUSE Cotulla, La Salle County, Texas 1995-1996 Lake/Flato Architects The Cotulla Ranch House combines two very different elements, an extroverted elliptical pavilion enclosed by heavy buttress-like stone piers, and an introverted patio enclosed at its corners by L-shaped stuccoed blocks. These reflect the contrasting aspects of the site: the lush banks of the Nueces river, which the living and dining pavilion crests, and the arid brush country that stretches away from the bedroom court, a form strongly reminiscent of the patios of the traditional haciendas of this region of Texas. For most of the year the pavilion is enclosed only by mesh screens so as to admit the breezes, which are drawn in also by the air rising under the roof to escape from a central lantern. Only in the short cold season is it necessary to close the glazed shutters, which are usually folded back against the deep piers. The single depth of rooms around the patio and the breezeways between the rooms (through another screened porch on the side opposite the pavilion, a pergola on the otherwise open entrance side and across a large Œstockpond¹ opposite that) keep the bedrooms well ventilated. Cisterns in the corners of the patio capture precious rainwater. This is a house of many moods and contrasting experiences, that can be lived in in many ways, according to the occupant¹s mood or the weather. Low energy/high performance; replenishable sources; embodied energy; embedded in place [photos by Michael Lyon]
	HOWARD HOUSE West Pennant, Nova Scotia 1995-1998 Brian MacKay-Lyons Through simple but powerful gestures the Howard House takes possession of a site surrounded on three sides by sea. Set between a calm cove and open ocean, it is a 110 foot long by 12 foot wide wedge that sweeps up in counterpoint to the gentle slope of the site. A large south-facing window and balcony overlook the bay that mediates between the other two contrasting seascapes. A slot through the wedge separates the garage from the house and forms an entrance portico while also establishing a strong cross axis linking cove and ocean. This assertive form clad in unpainted corrugated galvanized steel is inspired by the vernacular, not of cute cottages, but of the local fisheries, boat sheds and barns that show their sensitivity to site by the confidence with which they possess it. This is a vernacular that not only uses wood with a skill informed by the local ship building tradition but uses whatever other materials and standard components are readily available in the most direct of manners. Shades of green: Low energy/high performance; replenishable sources; embodied energy; embedded in place [Howard1 by James Steeves; Howard2 by James Steeves)
	PALMER HOUSE Tucson, Arizona 1997-98 Rick Joy Architect The Palmer house, on the edge of a large arroyo north of Tucson, resurrects the traditional massive rammed earth walls of local vernacular and plays these off against thin pre-rusted steel sheets used on roofs and garage walls in a crisply angular composition. The design also preserved all the trees and cacti on the site. Requiring minimal water and maintenance, these grace the courtyard between the garage and the house set towards the northern edge of the site. The house opens up through large stretches of frameless glazing, on the shaded northern side, to uninterrupted views of the Catalina Mountains. Although the thick insulation between steel roof and ceilings of rough-sawn Douglas fir (the same material as the doors) and the high thermal inertia and insulation of the walls do much to keep the house cool and to smooth out diurnal temperature variations, the house is also cooled by an economic evaporative cooling system and heated by a radiant hot water system under the concrete floors. This is a house that combines cool modernity with a sensual, archaic earthiness to be both of its time and very much of its place. Shades of green: Low energy/high performance; replenishable sources; embodied energy; embedded in place [photos by Wayne Fujii]
	WESCOTT/LAHAR HOUSE West Marin County, California 1996-98 Fernau & Hartman The Westcott/Lahar House consists of a strip, one room deep, that zig-zags across the upper corner of a large wooded lot on a gentle slope above the Bolinas Lagoon. The thick, well-insulated back wall of the strip is made of straw bales, carved into here and there for punched windows, while the opposite wall is largely glazed and opens to the sun and onto the series of courts the house is folded around. Each court and its adjacent rooms are dedicated to different functions: cooking and eating, living and playing, and sleeping. The resulting composition, that echoes the vernacular of rural north Californian buildings and is eminently suited to its Mediterranean-type climate, nestles cosily into its site and opens up to both the adjacent paved spaces it shelters and more distant views it draws into relationship with itself as it unfolds in a richly experiential and episodic manner. Low energy/high performance; replenishable sources; embodied energy; embedded in place [photos by Todd Hido]