More details in the right hand column under workshops/training

Sakura means cherry blossom in Japanese and is our inspiration for this design. We wanted to take rammed earth walls and blend them harmoniously  with both traditional and modern Japanese design.

View of the from the south west highlighting the sakura window.

Arial view from the north. The north patio has a deck and pool with a grassy area.

The swimming pool and hot tub are combined in a fun way.

South east view.

The living room door.

Walking around the side of the house looking at the teahouse.

The Sakura tea house interior.

The living room

The kitchen and dining room.

Master bathroom.

The master bedroom.

The meditation room.

A touch of contemporary mixed with clean geometry and tied together with natural colors, materials and textures = a good recipe. That’s what we believe and is the result of the inspiration to blend indoor and outdoor living with style.

A close up of the entrance on the north side.

South view. All rooms have vaulted ceilings with an abundance of light. The kitchen is on the left, living room in the middle and the master bedroom is on the right.

Master bedroom patio with round opening in green roof to let in  direct sun.

South west view.

West view. There is an open courtyard between the yoga studio and kitchen.

Closeup of the yoga studio which is semi-detached from home, perfect to host yoga classes.

A closer view of the courtyard between the kitchen and yoga studio.

The kitchen is very spacious, plenty of seating and counter area. The table doubles as a large work area when needed and is at the same height as the rest of the counters.

The view looking out of the kitchen and into part of the living room.

Master bathroom with curved teak vanity. We used stone to give a little contrast to the rammed earth.

Aerial view showing the green roof with the interesting roof line of the house.

The Rammed Earth Gallery House is a modern house with an earthy feel that incorporates several key environmental features. First and foremost is the insulated rammed earth walls for energy efficiency, durability and indoor air quality. Other features include : radiant air flooring, European masonry heater, solar panels,  healthy finishes, real wood only etc.. With this home we wanted to create a warm, bright and spacious feeling inside and have spaces to showcase art in the form of paintings, statues or other sculptures. Floor to ceiling structural glass is used throughout the home that support decorative beams that run through the upper sections of the windows.

East side of the house. Notice how the bevelled eaves allow more light to enter the home and create a nice architectural feature.

Entry to the home is from the east through a door inside of a moon gate.

A view from the entry showing one of the  light wells that pour light into the home from above. Rocks and bamboo are at the bottom but could be replaced with statues as well.

View of the kitchen.

What looks like a double hallway with light wells in the centre is the main “gallery” area of the home, it connects the bedroom areas to the living areas of the house. There is plenty of room for art on the walls or between and beside the light wells. The gallery area is flooded by natural light from the light wells. We have decided to leave the art to your imagination, it’s hard to find good art to insert into the model but is also subject to a person’s taste.

The master bedroom has a sunken tub in the corner to add some excitement to the room.

The living room is spacious and bright and is perfect for relaxation and socializing.

View from the living room looking and the masonry stove and into the kitchen.

South view

Exterior view of the north washroom with it’s textured glass and decorative rockwell. Guest bedroom to the right and master bedroom to the left.

View of the green roof with plants and solar panels. Living room patio in the bottom left and kitchen patio on the bottom right.

The house has an impressive presence upon initial approach to the entrance on the north side. The slots you see between the rounded ends of the rammed earth walls have a 6″ piece of structural glass from floor to ceiling. The slot allows light to enter the home in an interesting way and create dramatic moods on the walls at different times of day.

A view of the roof looking from the southwest. Petal shaped roofs artistically arranged with a green living roof for the flat areas.

This is the large covered patio that is accessible from the living room, kitchen and a bedroom. It’s a great place to sit and relax on a hot sunny day.

Looking from the south, the kitchen is in the center, large patio and bedroom to the left and the master bedroom to the right.

Sitting in the living room looking north to the fireplace.

Looking south out of the living room.

A view from the den looking out to the west, the tree is growing up through an opening in the roof.

A view from the bed in the master bedroom looking onto a water feature. Notice where the window mullions and transoms meet there are 4 wooden pegs for an added touch.

The view west from the master bedroom.

Buddha statue with moon window next to living room.

Rammed Earth is: A wall made of compacted layers of mixed gravel, sand,silt and clay that is hard as rock. It can have insulation inside the wall and/or be stabilized with some lime or cement like the walls we make. When we say clay it is not like pottery clay but instead it is finely distributed and only makes up around 15% of the mixture, not noticeable to most people.

The above definition is more or less the same mixture that has been used for 10,000 years for quality structural walls. Some people write about or experiment with packing mud or some other mixture that no professional builder anywhere in the world would use. So anybody can put some type of earth in forms and ram it and can call it whatever they want but it is important to  understand the difference between that and what building professionals, engineers and most people call rammed earth.  Rammed earth is a high performance structural wall system that can handle earthquakes, rain, snow etc, and it’s built to last.  Learn more about insulated rammed earth.

View facing south.

A view of the cozy courtyard with table and chairs. There is a small circular fountain that has water dripping from the top of the archway for ambiance.

A perspective from above on the south east.  In the foreground are the arrays of solar hot water heating and solar electric panels. In the background to the left is the fruit orchard and vegetable garden and to the right is the approach to the house with a fountain.

A good view of the landscaping layout.

View from the southeast.

A view from above of the cypress tree lined entrance.

The driveway approach.

The fountain is a nice feature that also works well with the flow of the driveway.

Bella Villa floor plan. 2 bedroom, 1 bath and huge open concept kitchen/living/dine area. The Master bedroom has a romantic soaker tub in it and is so large it could easily have a en suite bathroom if desired. The second bedroom is currently designed as a office/guest room and has a great view to the south and doors opening into the courtyard area. A great house to live the good life in!

It’s a very simple building, again we let the materials create the magic.

A view from the south east, we gave the roof a bit of Asian flair to make it more interesting.

Lot’s of glass to the south for some solar gain and brightness.

A nice shade of green for the soffit to contrast the cedar siding and fascia.  In real life the door will have a lot more artistry, probably thick slabs of cedar with some bronze or interesting wood for the handle.

This is the 3-D floor plan, more interesting for such a simple building.

The couch for a well deserved rest.

The desk could be made of a 1 piece slab of cedar that is 3 – 4″ thick.

This painting would also look nice on the wall.

Some beautiful art to set the mood.

A big window to be inspired by the beautiful view.

The roof is very interesting due to the roof line following the wall layout.

Entrance from the east, very good energetically. The entrance door is pretty plain right now but we see a door that is a work of art with a stained glass mandala on it and some artistic woodwork.

The floor plan – The studio comfortably hold 15 students and the teacher. To the right is the entrance with room for jackets and shoes to be stored. To the left side of the floor plan is a table with art or altar that is viewed as soon as a person walks into the room. Top – 2 piece washroom and closet. Bottom – storage space for props. With 15 windows plus the door, the whole space is filled with light. An added touch might be a big mandala painted on the ceiling.

Lakshmi – The goddess of wealth in bronze would make for nice interior decor.

Namaste!