HÓZHÓ
The clients, a soft-spoken couple, requested a home that would allow for family gatherings while simultaneously providing a private place of retreat. They had an intimate understanding of their environment and had already constructed a small shade structure on the property. In an echo of the family and place, students designed a single pitched cedar clad house stitched into the landscape with a cedar and recycled aluminum rain screen designed to layer shadows and transparency. The aluminum sheathing wraps the building, folding out from the facade and intersecting the cedar screen to create apertures that protect the glazing, and the main entry, from direct southern sun. The cedar, held off of the facade, provides a depth that creates a subtle dynamism of light and shadow while reducing direct heat gain on the facade. Keeping the home cool in the summer. The walls and roof are constructed with structural insulated panels (SIPs) that exceed traditional insulation standards. Two private volumes (the bedroom and bathroom) clad in cedar, define the interior of the home. Doors have been integrated into the cladding to conceal their location further emphasizing privacy. At the end of the hallway a nook desk is built into the wall. A continuation of the cedar volume, the extrusion provides a work surface while shading the window from the summer sun. The depth captures the southern view back to the original shade structure, one of the main inspirations for the design. The more public area of the home has an open floor plan that transitions out to the patio. The patio is enclosed by the cedar rain screen on the east and west but opens north to a view of the Blue Mountains.
- LocationDinétah, Navajo Nation
- Year of completion2013
- University of Colorado StudentsShawn Adams, Erica Alfaro, Patrick Beseda, Gregory Behlen, Anastasia Chmel, Megan Garrett, Patricia Gut, Amy Keli, Anna Huey, Catalina Pedraza, Henry Rahn, Foster Ramsey, Scott Rank, Joe Stevenson, Dana Trill, Iassen Vladimirov, Megan Voiles, Lacy Williams, Ronal Wilson, and Kristin Zuro.