When taking a cozy afternoon drive through your average American suburb, do you notice that all of the homes quickly start to look alike? You can vary up the pain scheme all you want, but at a certain point you assume you’re staring at some type of horrifying glitch in the Matrix — dead center in the middle of a Venn diagram of “convenience” and “conformity.” Before you know it, you’re lost in a Rockwellian maze of 1970s residential design and you’re not sure if you’re ever getting out again. Miner Road by Faulkner Architects is pretty much the exact opposite of that.
This almost impossibly unique three bedroom home, located just outside of San Francisco, gives a whole new meaning to the term “distinctive home.” With an exterior clad in Corten steel panels and shaded by some of the most beautiful large oak trees you’ve ever seen, Miner Road sits on top of nearly eight acres and is as site-specific as they come. It was designed by bringing together a dense observation of the surrounding landscape, climate factors, local culture, and even existing patterns of the site — all of which was then influenced by an old home that once occupied the property itself. The new home even retains that old house’s massive fireplace, creating the type of natural impression that you need to see to believe. In the end, Miner Road goes a long way towards proving that you can still have a distinctive home in the 21st century.