OAK RIDGE RANCH
Design Draw Build designed this agrarian home on a large ranch surrounded by rolling hills and natural forests. With a hybrid of active and passive environmental systems, the glassy home seamlessly integrates it into the landscape, celebrating views of Sonoma County on every side. Four bedrooms, four bathrooms, potting shed, farmstand, barn, alpaca farm, pool, guest cottage, and permaculture garden are all programmed around a central courtyard and small pastures – encouraging indoor-outdoor living and creating cross-ventilation with shaded entries and exits. Shifting patterns of glass, wood, and “rammed earth” concrete (mixed with local soils) modernize the area’s agricultural vernacular with durability and subtle colors of the Northern California landscape.
The home is designed for robust wildfire resiliency and net-zero energy use. Extensive photovoltaics with a large battery storage and two electric car chargers will make the house self-sufficient in the face of power outages. A water capture and reuse system with underground storage siphons water for an active fire prevention exterior sprinkler system. Custom trellises and overhangs shade the glass to block the harsher sky high sun while letting angled warm winter light in. The design of the house utilizes the high thermal mass of the low-carbon concrete walls and floors to regulate the Wine Country’s drastic fluctuations in temperatures and create a cool toxic free indoor environment.