LIMPIA HOUSE

A mountain house above a creek valley, conceived as a porch first and rooms second. A single thin roof of weathered steel shelters a porch deep enough to live on for most of the year. Behind it, two board-formed concrete walls hold a living room in white oak and leather, a library, and three bedrooms, each opening onto the porch.

Board-formed concrete retaining walls stepped into the slope, a steel frame and weathered steel roof carried on slender columns, white oak soffits and ceilings, and full-height steel windows to the porch.

The site falls steeply to the creek, and mountain weather turns quickly. The house is anchored into the hill yet remains open, with the roof providing the shelter the walls would otherwise give.

A house lived largely outdoors. The concrete stays cool through the day and holds its warmth at night, and the porch looks across the valley to the ridges.