Details
Credits
From Baron Hersh
The Stella house is designed as a live-work space for two professionals and their daughter Stella. The two bedroom, two bath house with a working studio was built on an infill lot for under $200 per sf. It is located near downtown Reno, Nevada. The thriving “MidTown” district is a three block walk from the residence which is populated with breweries, coffee houses, restaurants and live performance venues.
The downstairs workspace is used as a design studio, workshop, and more importantly a coloring and
crafting station for the industrious, six year old Stella. A glass roll-up door can be raised to join the studio to the small, landscaped yard. The lower level of the house is made of stack bond concrete block walls, sand blasted to integrate with nearby modern houses, and polished concrete floors with integral hydronic heat. The front yard is newly planted with a 'food forest' by The River School Farm Landscape Architects.
The stairs and upper level are finished with white oak floors and concrete floors. The concrete floors
act as a heat sink for the large south facing glass wall in the cooler months. The photovoltaic array
doubles as a sunshade in the summer. The living/dining/kitchen area also opens via a large glass roll-up door to a second level deck with 180 degree mountain views, a ski resort and night star gazing.
The exterior siding is local, whole sawn Western Cedar, treated in the Japanese shou-sugi-ban tradi-tion of charring the wood. The rustic wood siding pays tribute to the numerous remaining old barns
and ranch buildings in the region.