NAPA HOUSE

Calistoga, California

2004

Set on prime wooded property in Napa Valley and straddling a north-south ridgeline, the house in plan is an asymmetrical H with two parallel wings and a foyer as connecting element. The two roofs produce a strong graphic horizontality as the four floor levels step down with the slope of the land: the ceiling is constant and the concrete floor follows the topography, creating volumes of shifting scale throughout the house. By adapting the building to the gentle cant of the ridge, its exposure to light and views is maximized. Balancing the black steel-framed columns (an expression of the basic structural system) is a generous use of glass —transparency being the dominant theme.

Jim Jennings is a true modernist who can't abide bogus and illogical imitations of the past. Instead, in the spirit of Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, he believes in architecture as an expression of our times. His buildings adhere to timeless principles of form and order, proportion and harmony.

Architectural Digest 05/05