Contemporary Homestead, Sonoma Valley CA
PROJECT LOCATION:
Sonoma County
SIZE:
2,600sf house
Three-car garage and studio
KEY FEATURES:
Shot earth construction
Passive heating and cooling
Permaculture site planning
50,000 gallon rainwater cistern
Geo-thermal pump
10kw solar electric system
To fulfill the owners' vision of sustaining themselves off of their land, we created a “Contemporary Homestead” where a dramatic, passive solar home is integrated into a steep southeast facing site. The centerpiece is a 2,600 square foot house tucked the slope, with earthen walls and a roof that collects rainwater. Other buildings include a three-car garage above a 50,000-gallon rainwater cistern, and an earth-covered studio. Additional green features include a 10-kilowatt solar electric system, and a geothermal heat pump for domestic hot water and radiant space heat. On the land itself we used permaculture principles to design areas for growing food, raising animals, and restoring communities of native plants and wildlife.
The house is built with shot-earth wall construction, similar in thickness and performance to a rammed earth wall construction but applied with a gunnite (shotcrete) machine. We integrated passive heating and cooling strategies to keep the house cool during the hot summer days and warm on sunny winter days without using fossil fuels for back-up heat or air-conditioning.
