Sonoma Mini House

A Dwelling Cube

INTERSTICE was asked to design this tiny house to replace a previous home on a square 8×8 meter foundation embedded in a steeply sloped 1 acre site in the bucolic Sonoma County California countryside. This mini-house of 620 sq ft accommodates a compact dwelling footprint in an open plan around a single muti-purpose “pinwheel furnishing” that organizes the interior.

The Smart-Wall Core

The central freestanding “smart-walled” object divides the program of the house into four discrete parts: one for eating, living, sleeping, and washing, all within the cathedral ceiling of the iconic gable box house volume while providing storage and amenities to each function. Wrapped in metal standing seam sheets, the home’s expansive floor to ceiling glass walls allow this small space to maximize light from all four sides and provides a spacious feel in this otherwise very concise floor plate.

A Fireproof Skin

The tiny home is built on the original foundations which form the lower smooth Corten-steel plate clad garage and studio basement volume, that in turn, supports the more textured standing-seam clad home above forming an armored weathered skin against fire. The unheated lower level allows storage, mechanical and art-studio functions to spill out down slope from the drive way access and stretches out along the access path to the home above, with its own side deck which follows grade and takes advantage of the spectacular views of the valley meadows.

A Hygge Hut

In a nod to Nordic hospitality and simplicity, the interiors, are exposed warm woods, and rustic roof decking, which follow the classic form of the exterior envelope and exude a warm palette of cozy materials in contrast to the hardened and durable fireproof clad exteriors. The Danish concept of hygge was an important inspiration to the clean lines and soft touch of the view-oriented dwelling space. Decks extend into the landscape and the long fingered Corten retaining walls allow for a generous extension of the home into the landscape on both levels.