Pine Flat / Faulkner Architects

Architects: Faulkner Architects
Area: 4,049 ft²
Year: 2025
Photography: Joe Fletcher
Lead Architects: Greg Faulkner, FAIA; Jag Kievenaar
Architects Team: Jenna Shropshire, Owen Wright, Daniel Thompson, Lesa Faulkner, Chris Carbajal, David Regina, Kirt Hilker
Design Team: Architecture and Interior Design, Faulkner Architects
Contractor: Annadel Builders, Inc.
Structural Engineering: Strandberg Engineering
Civil Engineering: Summit Engineering
Electrical & Mechanical Engineering: Sugarpine Engineering
Geotechnical Engineering: RGH Consultants
Landscape: Terremoto
Lighting: O-Lighting
Surveyor: Munselle Civil Engineering
CALGreen: Soldata Energy Consulting
Materials: Corten steel, concrete, glazing
City: Healdsburg, California
Country: United States

Pine Flat is an off-grid residence in the hills northeast of Healdsburg, conceived in direct response to the destruction of a former house in the 2019 Kincade Fire. Designed by Faulkner Architects, the project reuses much of the original concrete foundation and walls, preserving embodied energy while limiting further disturbance to the rugged site. A compact rectilinear volume is enclosed within a fire-resistive corten steel shell and equipped with sliding ember screens and exterior sprinklers, establishing a durable framework for long-term occupation in a wildfire-prone landscape. The house also addresses accessibility through an entry ramp, wheelchair maneuvering clearances, a pre-framed elevator location, and an organization that places the primary bedroom alongside the principal living spaces on one level. Its off-grid systems support passive survivability through upgraded solar power infrastructure, supplementary hydroelectric generation, on-site stormwater capture, spring-fed water storage, and a repaired septic field. Together, these elements position the project as a carefully considered model for rebuilding in remote terrain with resilience, restraint, and environmental awareness.

Pine Flat approaches reconstruction not as a nostalgic return, but as a disciplined reconsideration of how a house might inhabit a landscape marked by risk, memory, and endurance. Following the destruction of the original off-grid dwelling in the 2019 Kincade Fire, Faulkner Architects developed a replacement that is shaped as much by long-term resilience and aging in place as by formal clarity. The result is a house that accepts the realities of its setting and transforms them into the basis for a new architectural order.

Reached by a winding former stagecoach road in the Mayacamas Mountains, the site remains closely tied to the spirit of the historic Pine Flat community, a boomtown that flourished during the quicksilver and mercury rush of the 1870s. That regional history of resourcefulness finds a contemporary parallel in the clients’ commitment to a remote, landscape-driven way of life. Rather than imposing an assertive object in the terrain, the design establishes a quiet presence, aligning a simple shed-like volume with the ridgeline and allowing the surrounding wildland to remain visually dominant.

A defining gesture in the project is the reuse of approximately 90 percent of the existing concrete foundation and walls. This decision conserves embodied energy and limits additional excavation, but it also creates the conceptual basis for the new design. Into the irregular footprint of the former structure, the architects insert a more restrained rectangular form. The leftover areas generated by this shift are used with precision, becoming a sculptural entry step and a glazed light well. Half embedded in the hillside, the retained concrete base reads as a heavy remnant of the past, while the elevated volume above extends outward with a sense of protection and renewed purpose.

Material choices are closely tied to the site’s exposure to wildfire. A robust corten steel shell gives the house a durable, low-maintenance exterior, while sliding ember screens and sprinklers above the decks strengthen its defensive capacity. These practical measures are integrated into an architectural language that remains controlled and understated. Inside, the plan also anticipates the clients’ future needs through accessible circulation, generous wheelchair clearances, a provision for a future elevator, and the placement of the primary bedroom on the same level as the kitchen, dining, and living areas.

Several key elements deepen the project’s relationship to the site. A new concrete chimney anchors the main floor and frames the presence of fire as a visible but contained force within the landscape, subtly recalling the destruction that preceded the house. The entry ramp projects outward toward the western hillside as an expressive extension of the building’s form, while an artesian water basin establishes a more reflective dialogue with the site’s spring-fed resources. In such a remote setting, where transport and replacement carry particular weight, materials assume a certain preciousness, and the architecture responds through economy, durability, and careful use.

The project’s off-grid infrastructure reinforces this larger ethic of passive survivability. The solar photovoltaic array was replaced with upgraded panels, inverters, and batteries, while supplementary hydroelectric power is generated through a Pelton wheel. Stormwater is entirely captured and retained on site, moving from a cantilevered gutter into a steel basin, then through a vegetated bioretention area before reaching a retention pond that doubles as a backup firefighting water source. Spring-fed wells supply domestic water as well as a dedicated tank for the fire hydrant and sprinkler system, and wastewater is treated through a repaired septic field. In Pine Flat, architecture operates not merely as shelter or image, but as a precise instrument for inhabiting a remote and increasingly fragile landscape with realism, dignity, and care.