Cleveland-based architectural practice, Bucchieri Architects, has designed the Casa Valle Escondido project. The luxury home is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, US.
According to the architects: “The site is a compelling 200-acre parcel located north of Santa Fe. The building is situated on the north slope of a ridgeline, with vistas of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east, the Jemez Mountains and the city of Los Alamos to the west, and San Antonio Peak, near the border of New Mexico and Colorado, to the north.
“The art space is located in the center of the building and forms the path that connects all of the main living areas, from the protected entrance on the south to the fully glazed wall of the main living area on the north. The rooms to the east and west are open to views of the sunrise and sunset over the mountains.
“The search for the historic architectural context of the region led to Northern New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon and particularly Pueblo Bonito, built by the Anasazi between A.D. 1030 and 1079. The Anasazi left no written language, but the language of their architecture, rock art carvings and sunlight markings still remain. At Pueblo Bonito, the Anasazi’s built with load-bearing walls which have cores of rough, flat stones covered on both sides with a veneer of friable sandstone spalls. These materials, and the Anasazi’s use of using sunlight as an indicator to mark the seasons by singling out the solstices and equinoxes, was inspiration for the Casa Valle Escondido.
“To arrange the sun’s path at noon to fall exactly down the center of the Casa Valle Escondido, the luxury house was precisely located by transit sighting to the North Star Polaris at night and the Sun at solar noon. The baffles at each side of the central skylight allow a beam of light sixteen inches wide to strike the center of the floor at noon. As the sun moves east to west, the beam narrows to a thin line as it approaches the base of the wall. No direct sunlight strikes the wall and thus the artwork.”
Images courtesy of Kate Russell
