A Tour of California's Caterpillar House

Rise recently sat down to talk with Feldman Architecture, the San Francisco-based architectural firm that designed the Caterpillar home located in the rolling hills of the Santa Lucia Preserve, about two hours south of the San Francisco Bay area. The modern-ranch home contains a strong connection between indoor and outdoor spaces, tied to the local landscape in a very tangible sense.

Energy Use Reduction

• A zoned radiant floor heating system is designed to reduce distribution loss and provides maximum comfort where it is needed most.
• Energy-efficient appliances and lighting reduce electricity consumption.
• An integrated photovoltaic panel system produces 115% of annual energy requirements (making it an energy positive home).

Water Use Reduction

• Due to the relatively arid climate of the region, rainwater is collected both through a site catchment system and also from the roof of the home. This water is then stored in fairly large storage tanks adjacent to the home. Instead of having huge cisterns interrupt the way in which the home blends into the surrounding landscape, the architect explains that “we integrated the tanks into the architecture of the home, allowing them to become defining elements of the façade.”
• Native, drought-tolerant landscaping reduces the need for irrigation.
• Low flow bathroom fixtures reduce potable water usage.

Materials with Less Impact

• While the home is operationally sustainable, the embodied energy imprint is also minimal due to a focus on using low embodied energy materials that were either locally sourced or sourced from recycled building content. The rammed earth walls were built from on-site soil is one example of materials that reduce the embodied energy of the home.  
• The cement that was used for the foundation is made from 35% fly ash content in the structural footings and slab and 15% fly ash content in the topping slab and landscape pavers, radically reducing the ecological footprint of the cement that was used. 
• The flooring was made from a reclaimed wine cork, beautiful material and great example of up-cycling.
• In the kitchen, recycled composite quartzite countertops and sustainably harvested (FSC certified) wood framing and bamboo cabinetry helped to reduce the overall waste generation from the construction by 87% compared to typical construction methods.

The Underlying Values that Helped to Shape the Caterpillar Home

Designing a sustainable home like the Caterpillar Home is a collaborative process that includes the homeowner, the architectural team and the builder. The designers at Feldman Architecture believe that “despite the common myth of the individual creative genius, we find architecture to be a fundamentally collaborative process. As architects, we trust that good projects come from forward-thinking clients who trust their design team and empower them to push for uncharted territory. We approach design as a dialogue between client, design team, and site, and view each project as an opportunity to create an innovative solution tailored both to the project environs and the client’s needs. We listen without preconception, share visions and values, and collectively generate solutions that are responsive to program and context, sustainable and elegant. At the core of each design team, our diverse set of designers brings both a wealth of international and local experience and a fresh perspective to the project at hand.”

Throughout the design and construction process, a constant question was: “How can we mitigate the impact of this project on the site, and what opportunities are there for us to restore or enhance the landscape?” 

While every building project is going to affect the local landscape in some way or another, Feldman Architecture intends to be “always mindful of the desires of our clients but work to balance this with what the site is telling us.”