Sinclair Residence

The program called for the owners’ bedroom and office to be as high as possible on the view lot, with living and dining below. Guest quarters were to be somewhat removed from the main house. In addition to parking for two family cars, a large workshop (a “man cave”) was requested for tinkering with motorcycles, aircraft components and other vehicles.

The challenge was to accommodate all of this on a very steep, 45% site. To accomplish the program, masonry retaining walls embed the lower level of the building—utility functions, the man cave and a recreational basement—against the mountain. The remainder of the home is built above, with the main living spaces spanning the driveway and reaching out to the valley. The guest quarters are connected by the patio on the first level and bridge on the second.

The building form grows from the contours of the mountainside. Framed between two steel beams the sinuous roof shape limits the building height by following the slope, while lifting up to the view.