FOX
Central Oregon High Desert

This home sits on a bluff overlooking rolling sagebrush meadows in Oregon’s High Desert with views of the Cascade Mountains dominating the western horizon. The owners requested an extremely durable and energy efficient home for their family. The request for a near-net zero house necessitated the inclusion of a 12 kW PV array, ground source heat-pumps, careful consideration of day lighting and shading strategies, and a super-insulated structure.  ICF walls and SIP roof panels help to achieve an extremely tight and well insulated building envelope.  Black polished concrete floors with radiant heat along with a custom freestanding steel fireplace keep the home cozy in winter.

The home was commissioned by actor Matthew Fox who starred as Jack Shephard in the tv show LOST.  Italian architect and childhood family friend Maria Chiara Trevisan created the original concept for the structure as a birthday gift to the owners. The three masses, originally conceived as parallelepipedos (rectangular cubes) resting at various angles in the earth, evolved into three shelled structures clad in slate, a loose reference to the Three Sisters mountains which dominate the home’s view.

The shelled masses are separated by glass hallways which help divide the home into three distinct zones of public, private, and ‘work’ spaces.  Exterior materials were selected for extreme durability and fire resistance.  The only wood on the home is a series of cedar privacy slats at the entry installed to satisfy the design review board’s requirement to include wood as an exterior building material.

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