Arroyo Oak House

Tired after years of two-hour commuter trips, the project owners engaged prestigious American architecture firm ANX/Aaron Neubert Architects, based in Los Angeles, USA, to develop a new residence less than a kilometre from their manufacturing company’s facility and offices in Southern California. Interested in maintaining a similar connection to the land, to that of their current residence, the choice of site for the new home landed on a rugged sandstone terrain, bisected by a dry river and dotted with native yucca, oak, sagebrush and beavertail cactus. 
In response to the challenge of creating spaces to view, measure and engage with the diversity of the surrounding semi-arid landscape, Arroyo Oak House is open and transparent, immersed in natural light and visually integrated with the surrounding Sierra Pelona Mountains. Optimising the connection to this unique topography, several interlocking, programme-specific pavilions are oriented across the site. The placement and overlap of these pavilions result in varying scales of gardens, terraces and decks, encouraging elements of the landscape to literally and perceptually permeate the interior of the house.  

Upon approach, an elevated, horizontally-clad zinc volume is presented, both transparent, to focus attention on the distant ridgelines, and semi-reflective, to capture the impression of clouds. Entering below the elevated mass primary apertures located on the perimeter and secondary fissures between the pavilions collage distinct views to the mountain and sky. Split-level interior spaces expand out onto outdoor terraces, collapsing the domestic environment upon the rural landscape. It’s as if everything were very simple and yet at the same time so spectacular as to leave anyone open-mouthed. 
On the lower level, we find a fully equipped gym, a laundry room, as well as a guest suite and a fabulous pool terrace, which extends into the hillside, providing an unobstructed panoramic vista. The continuous materiality of cedar and limestone accentuates the experiential relationship between inside and out. This connection to the outdoors continues on the upper level, which contains the primary bedroom, home office, two secondary bedrooms, a linear balcony and a lounge deck. 
The pool terrace and adjacent open-air living room unfold onto the meadow and ultimately, down to the arroyo below, where there is a pre-existing natural path for animals, with a minimally delineated walking loop to explore the site.