The Birdhouse
Napa Valley, CACommissioned for a hillside site in California’s Napa Valley, this residence— dubbed the “Bird House” by architects Simon and Hugh Jacobsen—is a modest 1,900-square-foot pavilion-style, two-bedroom home. The structure is Jacobsen’s signature groupings of single-story volumes with gabled-roofs pitched at 45 degrees. The compact floor plan is two intersecting axes.
From clapboard siding absent of interior moldings to the placement of switch plates the home is about precision and reduction.
The structure is primarily wood frame with fiber cement siding and metal roofing on a foundation of concrete structural slab on piers and grade beams.
Geometric stone pavers lead visitors to the entry and into a great room that combines living and kitchen spaces. Dormers and window walls flood the interior with light and frame sweeping valley views, connecting the home’s modest footprint to the expansive landscape beyond.
