RoTo Architects Inc. - Oak Pass House

RoTo Architects Inc.
Oak Pass House
Beverly Hills, CA

Sketch courtesy RoTo Architects

The Oak Pass House will be located on the crest of a ridge between two deep canyons. The steep walls of the canyon on the south side of the site precluded building at the brow of the ridge, and made it necessary to occupy the top. Faced with this requirement, RoTo determined to literally reconstruct the ridge line, keeping the building profile low and mirroring the topography of the existing ridge.

CAD image courtesy RoTo Architects

Using the surveyors data points, they followed the lines of inflection of the site to create the planes of the house massing. They determined the pitch and slope of each plane of the roof by extending the visible ridge lines of the highest portions of the site over the lowest portions. The site's topography consists of an upper ridge and two plateaux that increase in size as the site steps down to the west. The scale and character of the upper ridge and plateau is very different from that of the lower plateau due to a shift in the underlying geology from a horizontal bedded and fractured slate to a more uniform granite bedrock.

Photo courtesy RoTo Architects

The owner's program had a corresponding variation in scale from the largest horizontal elements, a tennis court, decreasing in scale to the public zone of the house, with sleeping spaces forming the smallest scale of spaces.

Photo courtesy RoTo Architects

The program elements were fitted into the site under the canopy of the roof which forms the new profile of the ridge. The roof plane is significantly larger than the interior space it covers because it was designed to roof the site rather than the program of the house. This results in a dramatic outdoor space covered by the free-spanning poured-in-situ concrete roof plane.

Photo courtesy RoTo Architects

The spaces of the house are arranged around the various planes of the site to create a series of outdoor rooms that are partially enclosed by the "site roof". A fabric element visually links with the primary "site roof" plane, with group planing elements, such as the pool and tennis court, mediating earth and sky.

RoTo Architects Inc.
Project: Oak Pass House
Completion: 2002
Design Team: Michael Rotondi, Clark Stevens
Project Architect: Michael Volk
Project Designer: Carrie diFiore
Design Team: Nicos Katsellis, Charles Low, John Pierson, Janette Kim, Rahim Tejani
Site Area: 7432 square meters
Building Area: 646 square meters

July 15, 2001

RoTo Architects Inc. arcspace features





				Features
		RoTo Architects Inc. Oak Pass House Beverly Hills, CA Sketch courtesy RoTo Architects The Oak Pass House will be located on the crest of a ridge between two deep canyons. The steep walls of the canyon on the south side of the site precluded building at the brow of the ridge, and made it necessary to occupy the top. Faced with this requirement, RoTo determined to literally reconstruct the ridge line, keeping the building profile low and mirroring the topography of the existing ridge. CAD image courtesy RoTo Architects Using the surveyors data points, they followed the lines of inflection of the site to create the planes of the house massing. They determined the pitch and slope of each plane of the roof by extending the visible ridge lines of the highest portions of the site over the lowest portions. The site's topography consists of an upper ridge and two plateaux that increase in size as the site steps down to the west. The scale and character of the upper ridge and plateau is very different from that of the lower plateau due to a shift in the underlying geology from a horizontal bedded and fractured slate to a more uniform granite bedrock. Photo courtesy RoTo Architects The owner's program had a corresponding variation in scale from the largest horizontal elements, a tennis court, decreasing in scale to the public zone of the house, with sleeping spaces forming the smallest scale of spaces. Photo courtesy RoTo Architects The program elements were fitted into the site under the canopy of the roof which forms the new profile of the ridge. The roof plane is significantly larger than the interior space it covers because it was designed to roof the site rather than the program of the house. This results in a dramatic outdoor space covered by the free-spanning poured-in-situ concrete roof plane. Photo courtesy RoTo Architects The spaces of the house are arranged around the various planes of the site to create a series of outdoor rooms that are partially enclosed by the "site roof". A fabric element visually links with the primary "site roof" plane, with group planing elements, such as the pool and tennis court, mediating earth and sky. RoTo Architects Inc. Project: Oak Pass House Completion: 2002 Design Team: Michael Rotondi, Clark Stevens Project Architect: Michael Volk Project Designer: Carrie diFiore Design Team: Nicos Katsellis, Charles Low, John Pierson, Janette Kim, Rahim Tejani Site Area: 7432 square meters Building Area: 646 square meters July 15, 2001 RoTo Architects Inc. arcspace features