Napa valley

Sometimes we get the pleasure of being involved in projects that leave us salivating over the beauty of their locations. This Marmol Radziner Prefab, which overlooks a beautiful winery in Napa Valley, is one such project. Rolling hills, beautiful trees and, of course, amazing architecture are a sight for any eye to see. Marmol's use of Western's 600 Series Window Wall and multi-slide doors let natural light our in and allow for maximization of a perfect view. More

The fresh, finely crafted ambiance of this contemporary farmhouse offers no hint of the original tract style home that established its footprint. From the covered front porch, the eye is drawn towards the main axis of the house through sliding glass entry doors that disappear into walls, over the fiery reflection of a water feature and come to rest on a vignette of a perfectly door-framed Bennett Valley. Inside, the design begins and ends with a strategically organized and finely crafted kitchen. The owner, who is a professional chef and cookbook author, entertains here, preparing food with friends. Clean and simple, the stage is always set for colorful activity, which inevitably spills out into the adjacent outdoor kitchen, terrace an... More

Philippe Melka is a unique winemaker. Instead of imposing personal style on the wines he creates, he aims to let the vineyards speak for themselves —to tell the truth of each vintage. His unassuming demeanor inspired our approach to this project. Another strong design element was Philippe’s desire to go back to winemaking basics, moving away from overly complicated technology and back toward hands-on techniques. The building’s black exterior with uninterrupted elegant lines and proportions provokes cautious and surreptitious emotions. The main entry door, set back and clad with white oak planks, recalls a wine cork surrounded by the dark tones of a red wine bottle –in this case, the black metal building. An open crush pad, facing the highw... More

The site location for the main building was chosen with the idea of creating a design that would follow the existing contours of the mountain and minimize its footprint on the property. We were able to create this with the construction of a shotcrete retaining wall, this allowed us to eliminate any footing required to control the cut on the slope. This shotcrete wall was located on the precise location where the amount of cut and fill for the building footprint was identical and balanced to avoid the removal of spoils from the site. The size and shape of the wall was dictated by the location of the cut, this will keep the use of concrete to a minimum without disturbing the trees and vegetation above the cut. The location was also free of a... More