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.

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!

This is a great example of the layers in the rammed earth walls, the light is perfect, it’s early morning with the sun filtering through the trees.

Spraying the walls to slow down the curing in the hot summer sun.

Forming a 1 foot thick interior curved wall.

Inspecting the new wall the next morning. The wall color is dark when wet and will lighten up as it dries.

David spraying  some water on the mix.

A view of our volume displacement drum for a round window.

Top view of the drum.

Rudy holding a bottle of Guayaki Yerba Mate. David our client is the founder of Guayaki and kindly supplied us during the hot summer of building, Cheers!

The round window after the drum has been removed.

Making an infill, that’s the rammed earth under the windows between 2 larger walls.

A view of the walls from up the hill.

The rammed earth builders super crew.

Hand tamping, this whole project was done by manual power. There was a silent retreat on the farm when we started so to keep the noise down we used traditional tamping and ended up doing the whole project that way.

The house is shaping up nicely, always good to have the roof on.

Showing the fine work on the sill and around the windows of Dewey and friends.

Batter boards are being leveled and placed for the footings. Wide footings can support the heavy walls but also act to give seismic stability and make a bond beam unnecessary.

Steel is in place and the footings are ready for concrete.

Forming the first column.

Ramming the column.

Fidel admires the first column on the house, it is one of two at the entrance that are 12′ tall. It is wet as the forms have just been removed and will turn pink as the column dries.

Ramming one of the 12′ entrance walls on a beautiful sunny day.

A couple of 8′ rammed earth pillars with the 12′ entry walls in the background.

Making a corner wall section.

A mechanical rammed earth tamper on loose material with the isulation showing.

Ramming an infill, a window will go above this section.

Green rammed earth for the kitchen wall.

These are some of the nicest rammed earth pillars ever! A big statement yes, but true. The layering and texture of these pillars is fabulous, the picture doesn’t fully capture the feeling in real life.

After the last corner wall is completed.

The rammed earth is complete! It was an epic journey and very rewarding.

The rammed earth mix.

The first form is ready to go.

Clifton and Lowe inside the forms hand tamping.

A good view of an insulated rammed earth wall in the making.  We use a rigid insulation that can withstand the forces of compaction.

The rammed earth forms we use are an efficient and flexible system of forming plywood, pipe clamps, form aligners and dimensional lumber. The wood can be used on other parts of  the building after the walls are done.

Making the forms for the curved rammed earth walls. The forms are made in 4 pieces, 2 of which are very heavy, they are made with 3 laminated sheets of plywood that have been glued and screwed extensively with vertical 2×6′s.

Ramming the first curved wall on a cool November day.

View of the top of the walls on a rare day we had the tarps off.

Recess detail of an electrical box.

Our little helpers, purely voluntary..no child labour here!

Josh feeling the good vibes of his new rammed earth walls.