Surrounded by great oaks and the vast, rolling hills of Northern California, this new house serves as headquarters for a working cattle ranch. Its form and construction evoke the history of both the California adobe and local ranch house styles with thick, whitewashed stucco walls providing a solid sense of enclosure from the openness of the landscape, and metal roofing recalling the vernacular of traditional barn structures in the area.

The overall site design formalizes a haphazard arrangement of existing buildings in order to create an organized compound. The project’s layout is an L-shape, with two simple rectangular buildings. These structures are knit together by traditional circulation galleries, representative of the California adobe style, to relieve the inner sanctums of the residence from the summer sun and heat.

The north wing houses guest rooms, while the south wing contains the main living and gathering spaces. At the corner of the “L” is a two-story board and batten wood study, art room and observation deck.