The Manna House is for a client who has unusual obsession with color. My initial concept was to use a camouflage palette to blend the house into the hillside. My client wanted the anti-camouflage house. The house takes its inspiration from the abstract color field paintings of Kenneth Noland and Josef Albers. Various shades of blue connect the house -sited on the ridge of a hill- to the the sky that serve as its backdrop. Blue is also a reference to how the house “sails” along the top of the hill like a ship.
In plan, the house changes angles to capture different views of the city. This reinforces the feeling of a ship in motion. The house is divide into two structures, living and sleeping, and three decks. These elements are tied together by an undulating facade composed of a 12” horizontal grid that wraps its way into the interior where it defines the layout of all the details.
Because the house sits in a special zoning area, we were not allowed to increase the square footage of the existing house. To solve this puzzle, we built a separate structure and connected it to the old house with a structurally independent deck.
Manna House: Sustainable Systems and Green Materials Systems: 1. Photovoltaic solar energy system 2. Grey water recycling system - takes water from the bathroom sinks and showers, and the washing machine, filtering it and pumping it to the fruit trees in the garden 3. Rain water Capture System: The rain water is diverted from the gutters directly into large cisterns 4. Passive Cooling - Low windows near the floor are strategically placed on the windward side and high windows on the leeward side of the house to create additional cross ventilation using the ‘stack effect’. 5. Natural Daylighting. Interior clerestory windows and transoms to allow all of the rooms to borrow light from each other.
Materials 1. Existing house uses recycled flooring patched together and left roughly finished. 2. New structure uses plywood floors, rather than hardwood. 3. Composite decking made of recycled content. 4. All of the Interior doors are made of recycled flooring from the existing house 5. Poured in place concrete countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms, instead of less sustainable stone or tile. 6. Non VOC Paints and Stains 7. All plumbing fixtures are low-flow energy efficient 8. All electrical appliances are energy star rated 9. LED and fluorescent lighting fixtures 10.Ductless Mini-Split HVAC system zoned for maximum efficiency
