Idyllic Wine Country barn creates family retreat that communes with the outdoors
A Wine Country barn in California becomes an idyllic, sensitive retreat for a San Francisco family, courtesy of Malcolm Davis Architecture
This idyllic retreat includes a new Californian Wine Country barn structure – a subtle addition to an existing property and winery estate for a family wanting to perfect their weekend home. The San Francisco firm working on the project, Malcolm Davis Architects (MDa), worked with the client's desire to spend more time outdoors and connect with nature, crafting a new structure containing a guest suite, covered parking and an outdoor kitchen and living space. The result was developed together with landscape specialist Lucas & Lucas.
A Wine Country barn for living and entertaining
The scheme is the second project MDa has designed for the same client – having also worked on their home in San Francisco. An antithesis to the moody, foggy hills of the big city, the Wine Country barn is conceived to be awash with light, welcoming the outside in from its rural setting. Employing timber and shapes and volumes that feel appropriate to the countryside site and draw on the local vernacular, the barn addition appears respectful to its environment – as if it's always been there. The furniture also fits this concept, and was selected by Grant Gibson Interior Design.
'Rather than focusing on new, innovative techniques, the project is an example of employing timeless passive techniques. For example, outdoor porches with ceiling fans increase comfort outdoors,' the team explain. 'The barn and outdoor living spaces take advantage of the primarily temperate climate, with mechanical and electrical interventions only employed when absolutely necessary, rather than using them for baseline comfort. Similarly, we introduced corrugated polycarbonate skylights at the barn ridge, where the ceiling would typically be darkest below. The spaces beneath the roof line are well lit all day, decreasing the amount of energy consumed by the new structure on site.'
An adjacent pool area sits subtly aligned to the new structure. Its orientation and placement cleverly unite the old house on the property and the addition, bringing everything together. Meanwhile, the locally harvested redwood full-board siding ensures the barn's volumes create a dialogue, not only with the natural surroundings, but also the local history – nearby Healdsburg was originally a mill town.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Discover Eve Arnold’s intimate unseen images of Marilyn Monroe
‘Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold’, published by ACC Art Books, is a personal portrayal of an icon
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Mallorca’s ‘chocolate hotel’ celebrates six decades of Mediterranean panache
Sixty years after it opened, Hotel de Mar remains a celebrated example of Mediterranean vernacular architecture
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Cadillac extends its EV portfolio with the new Vistiq, a luxury three-row SUV
If you absolutely have to drive an SUV, the launch of the Cadillac Vistiq means the marque now offers a full suite of electric options
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
This New York brownstone was transformed through the power of a single, clever move
Void House, a New York brownstone reimagined by architecture studio Light and Air, is an interior transformed through the power of one smart move
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A new Texas house transforms a sloping plot into a multi-layered family home
The Griggs Residence is a Texas house that shields its interior world and spacious terraces with a stone and steel façade
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Light, nature and modernist architecture: welcome to the reimagined Longwood Gardens
Longwood Gardens and its modernist Roberto Burle Marx-designed greenhouse get a makeover by Weiss/Manfredi and Reed Hildebrand in the US
By Ian Volner Published
-
A bridge in Buffalo heralds a new era for the city's LaSalle Park
A new Buffalo bridge offers pedestrian access over busy traffic for the local community, courtesy of schlaich bergermann partner
By Amy Serafin Published
-
Tour this Bel Vista house by Albert Frey, restored to its former glory in Palm Springs
An Albert Frey Bel Vista house has been restored and praised for its revival - just in time for the 2025 Palm Springs Modernism Week Preview
By Hadani Ditmars Published
-
First look: step inside 144 Vanderbilt, Tankhouse and SO-IL’s new Brooklyn project
The first finished duplex inside Tankhouse and SO-IL’s 144 Vanderbilt in Fort Greene is a hyper-local design gallery curated by Brooklyn studio General Assembly
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
Tour Ray's Seagram Building HQ, an ode to art and modernism in New York City
Real estate venture Ray’s Seagram Building HQ in New York is a homage to corporate modernism
By Diana Budds Published
-
Populus by Studio Gang, the ‘first carbon positive hotel in the US’ takes root in Denver
Populus by Studio Gang opens in Denver, offering a hotel with a distinctive, organic façade and strong sustainability credentials
By Siska Lyssens Published