Bridge House / Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects
Architects: Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects
Location: Marin, CA, USA
Project year: 2002-2005
Photographs: Natoma Architects
The site is fifteen acres of wooded grasslands with a ravine running through. The house bridges the ravine, spanning east to west.
The house is a continuous 22′ wide two-story bar. A stair leads up to the entry court. The living areas are the upper level and have continuous glass walls which look north to the hill. The bedrooms below have continuous glass walls, which look south to the theater in the landscape.
From above and below two opposite experiences of the site are focussed, one broad and expansive, the other defined and closed.
Along the upper bridge are two open courts, one for the entry, the other connecting the main house to the pool and guest house. A deck links these courts on the north, and connects to paths that lead into the landscape with walks up the hill.
Walls and roof are clad in corten steel plate; viewed from above, the rusty bar bridges the golden grass slopes.
A blue pool branches off the bar and projects from the hill.
site plan
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- site plan
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- ground floor plan
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- second floor plan
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- section 01
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- section 02
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- section 03
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18 comments »
This looks like a house that a criminal mastermind would live in. This has secret underground base written all over it. Especially in the night shot. Minions patrolling around the yard and stuff? This is so great.
im not convinced with the white interiors..
nice one
Looks really amazing. A masterpiece.. thank you.
I thought it looked like a school at first….
pretty cool, maybe the exterior finishes should be a bit softer to integrate into the landscape a bit more but overall i like it
I also find it really huge and maybe questionnable in several ways, but even so, the simple proportions and use of material is very good IMHO… If you think of it, if you, as an architect, receive a project from a rich magnate who wants to dominate the landscape, what do you do? Then, maybe this is not a bad answer…
I find it interesting how this house is perceived as volume. You can’t say it is sitting IN the landscape. It is quite ambiguous
its just beautiful, massive ( metal panels )but still feels light, awesome piece of art and function this is what true architecture is all about!
Probably Stanley’s best work. Bravo!
Bond movie location? Perhaps, but hey, that’s not really a bad thing anyway. I must say, too, that it is the most elegant/non-industrial application of cor-ten steel I’ve ever seen.
you should look up the residence which Steven Holl did up this last year – it has perforated sheeting. really good job – not sure it is cor-ten though.
me importa un carajo lo que opinen los anteriores adscritos , con sus ínfulas de sabelotodos snobs, lo único que provocan es mucha gracia.
Respecto a la obra, me parece que tiene muchos aspectos por los cuales abordarlos.
Primero, pienso que el volúmen simple contrasta con el entorno natural, no obstante, esta cuasi contradicción se ve contrarrestada por la integración que experimentan los espacios internos al relacionarse visualmente con el paisaje.
La forma , específicamente, “el puente” tendría una doble apreciación, primero que a simple observación pareciera negar el terreno, pero este efecto es intrínseco a su composición ya que adscribe a su “cuerpo” la naturaleza haciéndola de una dependencia biunívoca.
Muy buena obra. Contrariamente a las actuales, grandes y pequeñas, que ostentan una gran deficiencia en cuanto a la estética (dígase composición armónica de elementos: planos, volúmenes, líneas, etc).
Egregious overbuilding on a beautiful landscape.
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