IwamotoScott’s Goto House is shaped around its 360-degree views
This vacation house, set in the rolling hills of California's Napa Valley, looks fairly simple in its discreet, low-rise form and utilitarian material palette. Yet as its authors, San Francisco-based husband-and-wife team Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott of IwamotoScott Architects, reveal, the process of creating its perfectly streamlined forms was anything but.
The programme comprises four basic zones, including living, dining and kitchen; master bedroom; the children's bedroom; and the yoga room and guest bath. ‘The four programme blocks are each a different size and proportion, necessitating an interdependent resultant geometry. A parametric relationship was developed, whereby the form of the hexagon adapts to the varying position and sizing of the four blocks. In section, the six roof planes slope downward toward the central rhombus court, each yielding a different pitch', explain the architects.
This complex geometry is also part of what the architects love about this project. ‘[Our favourite part] is the way the geometric form of the house synthesises its different spaces into a simple-yet-complex whole – a whole that feels both autonomous or imported and highly site-specific at the same time. This plays out with the relatively simple and unified overall form of the building yielding complex experiential effects and play between the outward pull of the surrounding landscape and inward pull toward the more pure geometry of the central court – a condition best understood as a truly four-dimensional experience, in moving about the house.’
The commission for Goto House came from a client who had in the past purchased a home that included IwamotoScott's work. He decided to use their expertise in his new-built countryside retreat, allowing them to test a few different design directions first, before settling on a solution that ‘felt the least familiar/comfortable but most intriguing and compelling to him’, recalls Scott.
The structure, a hexagonal donut-shaped volume, was designed around the plot's signature 360-degree views. Making the most of the long vistas, the architects positioned the house's public areas near the building's outer edges, adding swathes of glass and large openings, while also cutting out timber-lined terraces from where the residents can admire the beautiful views, from mountains in the distance to a nearby lake.
The residence's private areas, such as bedrooms and bathrooms, are located nearer the inner walls, looking into the clearing at the building's heart. This centrally placed opening has been designed as a Japanese style garden, creating a sense of serenity and warmth. Still, the house's dynamic shape is visible everywhere, shaped by unexpected angles and confident lines, which are offset by the structure's restrained colour and material palette – metal and timber cladding externally, and white plastered interior walls. A swimming pool, added just outside the main house, makes for the ideal spot to take a dip, refresh and appreciate the surrounding nature.
In addition to its forward-thinking design, the house is completely off-grid, adding an interesting, sustainability-focused twist to the architects and owners' contemporary approach. The layout was designed with natural ventilation in mind, which the residents prefer to use whenever possible. A photovoltaic system is also placed on site – on top of the complex's garage – to attend to the building's energy needs.
The result? A striking contemporary structure that manages to be at the same time subtle and strong, while sitting lightly on the beautifully rugged natural landscape of Napa County.
INFORMATION
For more information visit the website of IwamotoScott Architecture
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Serenade your senses at Farasha Farmhouse in Marrakech
Farasha Farmhouse is a serene escape hidden on the outer reaches of Marrakech
By Nicola Chilton Published
-
‘Bio-spaces’ exhibition at Roca London Gallery celebrates biophilic design
‘Bio-Spaces: regenerative, resilient futures’ opens at the Roca London Gallery as ‘a call to action to stop designing nature out’
By Clare Dowdy Published
-
Les Lalanne’s surreal world takes over Venice
‘Planète Lalanne’, presented by Ben Brown Fine Arts, takes over Palazzo Rota Ivancich, with a cast of blue hippos, woolly sheep and giant grasshoppers
By Hannah Silver Published
-
A low-energy farmhouse provides a rural escape in North Carolina
This low-energy farmhouse is a net zero architectural re-set for a Californian client, an East Coast relocation for a more engaged and low-key lifestyle
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
A Petra Island house rises from Frank Lloyd Wright's original drawings
Based on Frank Lloyd Wright drawings, the cantilevering Petra Island Massaro House, located in New York’s Hudson Valley, is now open to visitors
By Craig Kellogg Published
-
An Upper West Side apartment by General Assembly nods to its history
An Upper West Side apartment in New York, born out of the reimagining of two neighbouring units, is refreshed by General Assembly for a young family
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
New York's Leica store echoes the brand's blend of heritage and innovation
Leica store throws open its doors in New York's Meatpacking District, courtesy of Brooklyn based Format Architecture Office
By Adrian Madlener Published
-
Hudson Valley Residence is a low-lying retreat that seamlessly blends into the horizon
Designed by HGX Design, Hudson Valley Residence is a scenic home offering unobstructed views across the Catskill Mountains in Upstate New York
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Boise Passive House’s bold gestures support an environmentally friendly design
Boise Passive House by Haas Architecture combines sleek, contemporary design and environmental efficiency
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
At the Hilbert Museum of California Art’s expanded home, art and architecture converge
The Hilbert Museum of California Art expands its home, courtesy of Los Angeles architecture studio Johnston Marklee
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Pearlman Cabin by John Lautner is an organic Californian mountain retreat
John Lautner’s midcentury Pearlman Cabin, tucked away in the Californian mountain resort of Idyllwild, is a striking example of organic architecture
By Mimi Zeiger Published