Throughout the modern era, architects have long sought to integrate interior and external spaces in a seamless and unified way. Take for example the building that many consider to be architectural icon Frank Lloyd Wright’s crowning achievement, Fallingwater. Built partially over a cascading waterfall, this rural southwestern Pennsylvania home blends with its surrounding environment in a particularly dramatic fashion.
Many feel that the new work by the Studio Schicketanz takes the seamless integration of inside and outside to even greater heights. Organized around a central cleared knoll, this home places an exceptionally high priority on outdoor space.
Tehama 1 was constructed in Clint Eastwood’s exclusive Tehama golf resort in Carmel, California – a scenic beach town situated about two hours south of San Francisco. California. Composed largely of glass and stone, this work can be seen as a deep examination of the ways in which a building can operate within a very specific ecological dialectal.
Tehama 1’s copious windows are held in frames of deep brown to blend imperceptivity with surrounding trees. Its textured stone walls emerge from the landscape, ultimately giving rise to more geometrical cement steps that lead to a starkly clean and thoroughly minimal modern structure. Capturing the light of the sun and reflects the surrounding forest. Tehama 1 further eschews notions of enclosure with a cantilevered roof that creates a comfortable and precisely articulated shade.