Northwesterly House

The Northwesterly House is situated on a lot in rural Napa County, overlooking 10 acres of oak trees, chaparral, and the Spencer Creek. Five monolithic walls set up a formal and organizational strategy that explores relationships between a measured understanding of site and a visceral experience of the interior. The walls are oriented on the site parallel to the cardinal directions and oblique to a plinth that marks the location of a former foundation. They initially appear solid and monumental, but the approach towards the house along the plinth reveals the individual walls.