Natural Preserve
Written by Charles Donelan | Photography by Sara Prince
Native plants line the sections of the "branch house" that extend among the oaks.
Homeowners who build in Montecito are frequently frustrated with the county ordinance that protects old-grown oaks and complicates construction plans on many properties throughout our beautiful canyons. When it came to replacing a modest ranch house that was edged by an oak grove on San Ysidro Creek, however, the owners embraced the legal limitations and trusted their project to an innovative plan for the one-acre site, tapping architect Peter Tolkin of TOLO, landscape designer Wade Graham, and Rich Coffin of RHC Construction for the bold project.
“The original ranch house sat at the edge of the lot; the ‘branch house’ would arise in the heart of the property, with the grove of protected oaks surrounding it.”
An unconventional site plan allowed the house to nestle within the oak grove without crossing the drip lines of the protected trees.
The team traced the outlines of the existing oaks as large circles and devised a pinwheel-shaped “branch house” that would fit into the forest like another large tree. They cantilevered the branchlike sections of the house off the ground, allowing for water and even debris to flow underneath. Then Tolkin came up with an exterior that would interact with the garden over time—a sheath of custom copper shingles that develops a rich patina and blends with the colors of the oaks.
Boulders excavated from the site reappear in the landscaping.
In designing the landscape, Graham counterbalanced the curvilinear organic volumes of the house with an imaginative site plan that introduced straight lines and hard angles. As excavation pulled boulders from the ground, Graham had them milled and fitted together to form angular benches.
The entire branch house project represents a significant advance in residential design. By living and building with the oaks rather than against them, the house reveals a path forward for Montecito’s next century. toloarchitecture.com; wadegraham.com; rhcconstructioninc.com.
