Fougeron Architecture has created Jackson Family Retreat. Located in Big Sur, California, United States, this modernist two-bedroom family retreat has a total floor area of 2,500ft² (232m²).
The building is composed of four volumes made of different interwoven materials that create visually and spatially complex exterior and interior spaces. The main volume, clad in standing seam copper, runs parallel to the canyon. Its thin butterfly roof sits delicately above a band of extruded channel glass, connected to the roof structure by thin rods that are invisible from the exterior. These rodlike columns, which become wider as they go further down into the walls, are used to lift the entire structure two and a half feet off the ground, reducing its impact on the land. At both ends of the house, two-story clear windows frame views of the redwoods and the canyon ridge, bringing in vistas of the sky-sunny by day, starry by night.
A one-story volume in the front half of the house comprises all of the service functions-cooking, bathing, washing-while a custom steel-and-glass volume at the back opens to views of the creek. The fourth volume, the staircase, clad in stucco, acts as both the house”s seismic structural brace and a visual foil to the shimmering, transparent volumes floating around it.
The plan explores the tensions inherent in family getaways: open areas for communal living; private spaces for solitary retreats; and outdoor expanses for relaxation. A combination of transparent glass and extruded channel glass reflects and dapples the light throughout, creating a dynamic play of brightness and shadow.
— Fougeron Architecture
Drawings:
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Photographs by Richard Barnes
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