The Gathering House reveals itself slowly. Hidden from the public drive by the site’s sloping topography and vegetation, a long serpentine driveway provides a dramatic procession and brings the front elevation into view. The drive passes through a portal-like opening which frames the entry courtyard. The scale the home is masked by the stacking of volumes. The front entry provides a glimpse through the house to the panoramic views beyond. The house grows out of a monochromatic desert palette. Subtle textural contrast between the raw travertine and the smooth concrete plaster captures the owner’s desire for a simple but sophisticated quiet architecture. The house has a symmetry that is punctuated by asymmetric moments. There is a weightiness to the architecture provided by large stone blocks and thick exterior and interior walls. In contrast, thin, sweeping overhangs and thinly-framed glass walls bring a certain delicateness to the architecture juxtaposed to its heaviness. The stone walls are punctuated by narrow openings and held in tension by long expanses of glass. Narrow openings telescope into intimate landscape courtyards, while long linear windows open the architecture to panoramic views and public outdoor spaces, which are framed by thin horizontal overhangs. It is a play within the architecture that brings the landscape inside and pulls its interior outside.
The plan of the residence is organized around a large central great room which is supported by a four foot thick wall with interior passages. Its volume opens out onto a large, covered patio and exterior pool. There is a progression from compressed intimate spaces to larger public spaces.
This dialogue between the large gathering spaces and small intimate spaces is central to the architectural concept. The home provides spaces for large family gatherings but also has intimate spaces for day-to-day and intimate living. These passages become portals that link the two scales to spaces together.
Surrounding the exterior there are several intimate outdoor spaces cradled by the architecture. The architecture opens along the backside, with the public spaces flowing into the landscape with views facing the iconic Red Rock Range and La Madre Mountains.