The Fire Lookout House

This was a process model for a project with multiple iterations on a steep slope overlooking the Inland Empire Valley in Southern California below. A previous house on the site was destroyed by a wildfire, and our clients, a husband and wife, hired us to build a new residence for their use in retirement. Tragically, the husband died midway through our design process. In part to honor him--he was a wonderful man and client--we kept iterating on design, and out of it grew a design that was a direct response to wildfire risk and resilience. This model was made mid-way through that process from a purely formal exploration to one that was about both architectural expression and performance.