Modern Industrial Ledge House at Napa
Architect David Wilson visited this site many times, pondering the upcoming home’s layout with his client over a glass of wine matching for a house overlooking Napa Valley. This is the place where Wilson’s client talked about constructing his dream house and vineyard, a fantasy that Wilson helped make into a reality.
Today the ledge house sits gently on the property between three big oaks and winding along a rocky ledge. The residence is made of 10 different volumes, each having a different roofline and outside skin. The practice of going them through imitates what it’s like to walk through the house’s rugged environment. “It is somewhat like hopping from 1 boulder to the next,” says Wilson.
at a Glance
Location: Napa Valley, California
Size: 3,900 square feet
Style challenge: Reaching a layout that opened up the house to spectacular views without scarring the property.
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Every ledge-house quantity is treated as a “tight-skinned component,” says Wilson, clad with plaster in a color that matches with the surrounding foliage and rock ledges. Violet wildflowers pop out from the canvas of oranges, browns and greens.
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The geometry of the site plan was centered between three big existing oak trees. Here among those trees frames the metal-clad eastern elevation of the house; the metallic siding is a nod to the agrarian buildings on the valley floor.
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An infinity edge pool heated with natural gas is the ideal vantage point from which to see the pièce de résistance of this property …
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… a view of Napa Valley and Mount George on the horizon.
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The various exterior materials converge at front entrance: wood, concrete, wood and metal direct the eye to the entryway path. On the other side of front doorway is a guest’s first glimpse of the house’s spectacular view of the Wine Country.
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Glass windows are angled to capture the spectacular views of the property; they open up the house and allow lots of light to fill the room.
Wilson strategically employed the various volumes to work hard for the house. By way of example, the master bedroom goes outside and creates seasonal color, blocking the heat of the midsummer sun from getting into the kitchen and dining areas.
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Different stone, steel and wood materials coexist from the kitchen, a microcosm of how Wilson combines materials inside and outside.
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The inglenook is the focal point of the house’s main conversational location. Wilson favored the insulating effects of this stone fireplace surround over several window placements in this part of the house to combat the glare and heat of the Napa summer.
Although the house’s different segments appear divergent from the exterior, the interior reveals a more traditional and symmetrical layout. The furniture positioning encourages discussions ahead of the hearth of what’s still a family house in the nation.
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The south elevation exterior is covered in Cor-Ten steel siding. The weathered steel rusted patina highlights the building’s shape because it juts out from the backdrop of blues and other natural elements.
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Here, the Cor-Ten steel threshold which connects the dining room to the living room is used to define where one space ends and the other starts.
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Although Wilson angled the glass windows flawlessly within the house to frame and supply access to breathtaking views of the valley and San Francisco Bay, the ideal location to capture the sunset in the ledge house appears to be from directly within the pool water, with a glass of locally produced wine in hand.