From a Hatchery to a Home

SECRET:Garden is a renovation project of an existing two-story commercial brick building located in the town of Petaluma, approximately 40 miles north of San Francisco. INTERSTICE converted the existing structure from a chicken hatchery and stable building into a primary single-family residence while preserving the building’s raw, unfinished material quality. The design retains the building’s perimeter masonry walls to create an interior garden courtyard while transforming the remaining interior wood frame into an elegant, warm, light-filled home.

An Engawa Space

The modern two-story home features broad grazing, skylights, and sliding walls under a new roof and upper deck, all of which are structurally independent of the exterior UMP walls even as they are supported laterally with the new exposed Alaskan Yellow cedar post and beam frame. The new concrete shear walls and slab are exposed and hydronically heated to extend outwards so as to create a side yard porch, or engawa space. This semi-inside/outside area is protected by the overhanging upper floor where an engineered wood radiant floating floor and sliding plywood walls create a cozy and flexible private oasis for the family.

The Secret Garden, Indoors

The new 3-bedroom/2 ½ -bath home and garden is built entirely within the masonry walls, preserving as much of the existing structure as possible. The remaining diaphragm is sandblasted to expose the open framing on the first-floor ceilings while the east quarter of the structure is demolished to create an internal light court: a secret garden within the existing brick walls. Meanwhile, the upper floor of bleached-white plywood is an open plan with sliding partitions to allow for either bedroom or office configurations of the upper living areas, all centered around a large light with roof access. The roof opens onto the planted upper roof deck garden with spectacular views of Petaluma.

• Residential