Marin Coastal Residence
Marin County, Calif.
Aidlin Darling Design

House nestles amid stand of oak trees

Courtesy Aidlin Darling Design

For more images click on 'photos & drawings' above.

Any resemblance between this house and Fallingwater is coincidental, but the architects are not offended by the comparison and indeed they understand why people find a likeness. Although this house does not perch above a stream, it does fuse elegantly into its hillside site while providing generous views of the surrounding landscape.

This residence is composed of two staggered, narrow masses that gently step down a hillside; they nestle between a large existing oak tree in the motor court above the house, and an oak grove at its western edge. The uphill part of the house contains the bedroom, studies, and a yoga room, while the downhill mass holds the living room, dining room, kitchen, and guest quarters. A double-height foyer bridges these two zones, greeting visitors in the courtyard and immediately engaging them in a dramatic view of an adjacent shade garden.

The clients sought as sustainable a design as possible. Accordingly, Aidlin Darling sited the house and determined its massing, articulation, and fenestration to maximize passive cooling. The buildings’ narrow profile provides a short cross-ventilation path for rising coastal breezes. Since most of the glazing faces south, an eight-foot-deep roof overhang provides shade during the summer months. The design also integrates horizontal and vertical brises soleils to mitigate solar glare from the bay and to further minimize solar heat gain. Photovoltaic panels on the roof generate electricity, while solar thermal collectors supply radiant in-floor heating and heat a lap pool.

Aidlin Darling picked a materials palette they thought would integrate seanlessly into the surrounding landscape. Tinted board-form concrete walls anchor the house to the steep terrain. Hand-finished stone floors slip around these walls to create adjacent terrace spaces. In the interior, recycled wide-plank teak flooring compliments natural cedar slat ceilings to create a greater sense of intimacy. Mahogany windows, selected for their durability in coastal conditions, offset concrete and plaster walls. Since the residence is located below street level, its roofscape effectively becomes a fifth façade. Accordingly, the architects laid solar panels, decomposed granite, and copper cladding in patterns that form a geometric landscape.

Formal name of building:
Marin Coastal Residence

Location:
Marin County, Calif.

Gross square footage:
7,700 sq. ft.

Architect:
Aidlin Darling Design
500 Third Street, Suite 410
San Francisco, CA 94107
415-974-5603 tel.
415-974-0849 fax
www.aidlin-darling-design.com

Team: Joshua Aidlin, David Darling, Kent Chiang, Michael Pierry, Ethen Wood, Susan Barnes, Eric Barth, Marlene Kwee, Diego Pacheco

Engineer(s)
Structural:
Endres Ware Engineers
2607 Seventh Street, Suite B
Berkeley, CA 94710
510-845-4533 tel.
www.endresware.com

Mechanical:
C&B Engineer
449 10th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-437-7330 tel.
www.cbengineers.com

Electrical:
Hansen & Slaughter
44 Woodland Avenue
San Rafael, CA 94901
415-454-0561 tel.

Consultant(s)
Landscape architect:
Suzman & Cole Design Associates
251 Rhode Island Street, #205
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-499-0817 tel.
www.suzmancole.com

Photographer(s)
Model Photographer:
Gerald Ratto
Gerald Ratto Photography
30 Lucerne Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-626-2010 tel.

Renderer(s)
Martin Cote
Triade Media
514-276-7277 tel.
martin@triademedia.ca

CAD system, project management, or other software used
Vectorworks www.nemetschek.net, SketchUp www.sketchup.com, Photoshop www.adobe.com