Architecture Wednesday: Lichen House

The last time we visited wine country, we saw a tiny house; beautiful, but tiny. This time we’re going bigger and ore modern, with a pool and guest house and expansive views.

The Lichen House was situated on this plot of land to kind of nestle within the coastal fog and the coastal oaks in the hills above California’s Sonoma Valley. The free‐ranging branches of the land’s mature oak trees support veils of draping Ramalina Lichen—hence the name—that filter sunlight, capture moisture and nutrients for their hosts, and remove pollutants from the air through photosynthesis.

It makes for a healthier life in a healthier, gorgeous home, though that makes no difference to me; I just love the house, and the land …and the proximity to wine.

The architect began by siting the house with a strategic solar orientation;  the maximization of daylight and expansive southern views protected by a deep overhanging shade trellis that, like the lichen in the trees, creates a filtered, dappled light alongside the public section of the home. It filters the high summer sun and allows for solar heat gain in the winter when the sun is low in the sky.

Inside the home, a south‐facing unconditioned hallway space with a series of operable windows along the private wing of the home serves as an interstitial buffer between the sleeping quarters and the direct southern exposure. In fact, each room , in both the south-facing and west-facing wings, are carefully tuned to its own spatial “microclimate” considering, privacy, views, solar orientation, quality of light, and air flow.

It’s made for the views and made to make the best of the land and the weather and the lichen.

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