Yucca Valley House
Yucca Valley, California
A single-storey rammed earth house in the high desert.
Type
House
Status
Completed
Place
Yucca Valley, California
Year
2022–2024
Area
150 m² / 1,610 ft²
Client
Private
Team
Martin Vale, Keiko Sato, Jonah Pierce
Photography
Rafael Duarte
Brief
A retired couple wanted a small house on one level that stays cool in summer without running air conditioning all day.
Site
Five acres of open desert with hot days, cold nights and a strong wind from the west.
Approach
Rammed earth walls, 450 mm thick, take in heat during the day and release it at night. A deep steel roof shades the glass. The rooms wrap a small courtyard that is sheltered from the wind.
Outcome
Completed in 2024. Winner, Westlight Awards for Small Buildings, 2024. Published in Small Buildings Quarterly, issue 14.
Site layers
Topography, water and planting drawn over the plan.
Tap a layer to show or hide it.
The site falls about 4 m from the boulders in the north-west to the wash in the south-east. The house sits on the flattest band.
Summer storms run across the site from the north-west. A shallow swale and gravel channel carry water around the house to the existing wash.
Every Joshua tree on site was kept. Creosote, desert willow and bunch grasses were replanted around the edges where the ground was disturbed.
Plan, 1:100
Wall section, 1:20
Process
How the house came together with the clients, neighbours and builders.
Listening
First site walk
We walked the five acres with the clients over two mornings, marked every Joshua tree and noted where the wind and summer storms came from.
Design
Neighbour and county review
We shared the plan with neighbours on the road and with San Bernardino County. Their comments moved the house 6 m further from the wash.
Construction
Rammed earth walls go up
A local crew rammed the walls in 600 mm lifts using soil from the site, mixed with a little cement.
Occupancy
Clients move in
The clients moved in before the first hot season. We returned in August to read the temperature loggers in each room.
Materials
Where each material came from and how it will change.
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