Bruce Falck had long dreamed of following the example of his father, who ran a construction company in Johannesburg, South Africa: he wanted to build a house designed specifically for his family.
“My father was a civil engineer and built both of the houses I grew up in,” said Mr. Falck, 52, a former Twitter executive who now works at a start-up. “I always thought of building a house as something a father does for his family.”
In 2011 he came close. Mr. Falck and his wife, Lauren Weitzman, now 41, who works at Google, bought a house in San Francisco and hired the architectural firm Studio Vara to do the gut renovation. But just as construction was about to begin in 2013, the couple changed their minds.
“Children were imminent,” Mr. Falck said, and the prospect of living in limbo during a multiyear construction project no longer seemed so feasible, especially for Ms. Weitzman. (They now have three children, ages 4 to 8.) Instead, they decided to sell the house and buy something that was move-in ready.
“Bruce was really amazed,” said Christopher Roach, partner at Studio Vara. “But he said, 'I promise you, in a few years we'll look somewhere in wine country and do a project together.'”
About five years later, in 2018, Mr. Roach received a two-word text message from Mr. Falck: “It’s time.”
With the help of their architect, the couple went looking for property in Healdsburg, California, in Sonoma County and found a 15-acre site on a hill with views in every direction. “It felt like the African bush,” Mr. Falck said. The couple purchased the property in July 2018 for about $1.5 million, before they had even fully explored the land.
Just before closing, Mr. Roach camped on the site overnight to examine the property more closely and consider where he would best position a home. “I like to see where the sun rises and sets,” he said, “and where the breeze comes from in the morning and afternoon.”
When the architect viewed the property, he realized that it was even better than he had originally thought.
“One side of the hill leads to a seasonal stream with large sequoia trees,” he said, while oak and pine trees grow on the other side. “I took a lot of photos, recorded thoughts and made initial sketches. And one of the first sketches I did was the floor plan and layout of the building.”
The design called for a boomerang-shaped house at the top of the property, bordering the edge of a steep slope. The design soon evolved into a 6,200-square-foot house with 4,000 square feet of interior space, mostly enclosed by glass, under a wide roof that covered another 2,200 square feet of exterior space. When the glass doors are fully opened, the effect of a luxurious hideaway is created.
“It often gets blazing hot up there,” said Mr. Falck. “But the house is basically a giant shadow structure.”
Ms. Weitzman also liked this concept. “When I was younger, I liked the idea of the old Southern-style wraparound porch,” she said. “We have the modern version of it.”
The two halves of the boomerang contain two wings, connected by a modern interpretation of a wind tunnel, which can be opened and closed by pivoting and folding glass doors. One wing houses the bedrooms and faces Mount Saint Helena and the sunrise. the other, where the kitchen, dining and living room are located, faces the sunset.
The roof extends beyond the indoor living room to cover an outdoor room with a brise soleil that connects to other outdoor spaces including the pool terrace and an outdoor kitchen and dining area.
The home is designed to be fire resistant, with standing seam zinc cladding and perimeter walkways that act as firebreaks. Thanks to the solar panels connected to a backup battery, it is self-sufficient even during power outages and has its own well and sewage system. Due to Covid and wildfire delays, Fairweather Associates took about two and a half years to build the home, which cost about $1,250 per square foot. The project was completed in June 2022.
“We watch the sunset, we’re in the pool, we’re in the hot tub and Bruce is always grilling,” Ms. Weitzman said.
It's exactly the kind of unique home Mr. Falck envisioned.
“This is a long-term thing,” he said. “For me it would be a success if our children in their 80s drank a glass of wine on the terrace and watched their grandchildren swim in the pool. That is the measure of success.”
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