Triple Barn – Mork-Ulnes Architects

Mork-Ulnes Architects has just completed a residential retreat in Sonoma, California, for a chef, her husband, and their family.

The 160 square meter home uses its rough concrete base as a carport and entry which takes visitors from the entry up through a concrete stair volume to the main residential space. Clad in corten steel panels to integrate both to the rural building typology of Sonoma as well as the red clay indigenous to the rocky hillside site, the project was completed in September 2018.

Located in Sonoma County, California, the Triple Barn house was designed by Mork-Ulnes Architects as a residential retreat for a chef and her husband. Encircled by nature, but conveniently located near town, the house is both a relaxation getaway for the couple and a cooking laboratory. A place designed for gatherings that would create a new relationship with the surrounding environment. Taking cues from the chef’s philosophy and inspired by the rural building typology typical of the area, the architects used metal cladding reminiscent of the iron-red rusty soil
indigenous to the site and relied on local suppliers, builders, and cabinet makers.

The project brief
The objective was to create a place to entertain family and friends but also a place to re-energize and find peace and tranquility away from busy lives of Hollie’s work in the schools and Jim’s frequent business trips around the world. After living for more than a decade in cities such as New York and San Francisco, the couple asked for a residence that would allow them to connect with nature in a new way. Their dreams were met thanks to the secluded location and the creation of a large vegetable garden. Among the amenities, the couple wanted a large professional styled kitchen, private master suite, two guest rooms, and a separate office, so that when the couple engaged in cooking or entertaining, they could turn off their work and be present in their home together.

Plan
The plan of the upper floor responds to the triple roof form of the house: one roof houses the public area of the kitchen and dining area as well as the outdoor kitchen and lounge, one roof contains the more private zone of the guest rooms and living room, and the third roof houses the private zone of the master suite. The lower concrete level contains the entry room and stair, laundry and storage room, carport / fire truck turnaround, and triangular office.