| Foothill House is a modern architectural response to a difficult downhill site that two previous owners had given up as ‘unbuildable’. The angled concrete walls derive directly from the contours of the existing topography. The lower floor is recessed into the hillside. The resulting house, although undeniably modern, belongs to the hill in a timeless way.
The house is a composition of concrete walls, glulam beams, metal roofs and planes of green, high performance glass. The concrete walls that anchor the house to the hill extend upwards and fan out to frame views of the valley beyond. An absolute, horizontal datum runs along the tops of the concrete walls, with the folded roof plane hovering above the perimeter clerestory glass. The entry façade, with its narrow, deeply shaded windows and thick concrete walls, provides refuge from the afternoon sun and heat, while the thin glass and wood north/easterly façade is prospect to striking views of Saddleback Mountain.
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