Rincon Valley Residence

This is an extraordinary, difficult project that truly pushed the envelope of the use of rammed earth in a two-story application. The house consists of a two-story rammed earth sport court for basketball and badminton, garage, and guest quarters. The earth walls are stabilized with a series of twelve 18 inch cylindrical concrete columns that are hidden within the earth walls and are interconnected with a continuous concrete bond beam cap. Note the front gable rammed earth wall surrounding the four concrete structural columns has been tiered back, starting with a 4 foot rectangular base to a 3 foot base. The roof system of steel trusses interconnects the outer walls and serves as the platform for the panelized prefabricated insulated roof panels. The single story walls are also made of 12 inch insulated panels which minimized the lumber consumption on the project.


The house has been sculpted into the hillside and terraced with retaining walls. The lower retaining wall area was utilized for the putting green with artificial turf. This is an environmentally friendly building that incorporates a surrounding beam shade trellis made from recycled plastic and photovoltaic solar panels incorporated into the standing seam roof panels for power.