3 N Milner road

Lot 76 is approached from above, where the roof of the two-car garage is just below street level, making the house disappear into the landscape. There is a largely transparent glass volume connecting the garage and main house, containing the main entry, feature staircase and chandelier. The home’s volume has a public program (living, dining, kitchen and sunroom) on the upper floor, and then transitions into private (office, bedrooms) on the lower floor. The volume steps back on the upper floor, minimizing the appearance of the home from the south, and creating a great roof deck off the main living area.

The second story is wrapped in a light wood siding while the first floor, where the form is more immersed in the landscape, is a heavier, board-form concrete. An internal wall north of the kitchen and living is a structural rammed earth wall, going through both lower and upper floors, and works as a divider between the occupied zones and the more service programs (bathrooms, pantry, closet, etc.) There are clerestory windows on the north elevation and large, expansive windows on the south to maximize light and views, while maintaining privacy from the street approach.

A meandering path connects the sunroom upstairs down to a deck outside the primary bedroom and below that to a small clearing with a sauna outbuilding, hot tub and seating area. There is such a beautiful grove of trees existing on the site that is maintained, celebrating the existing density and pockets of openness within.