SYMBIOS
eco-tecture + design + build
Living Roofs
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Wings of Earth House
Sonoma County
Bursts of color adorn this 3300 sq. ft. Living Roof located in Sonoma County, California. The broad sweeping roof planes inspired the planting scheme to resemble the patterns seen on the wings of butterflies. Overall, eleven species of plants (9 sp. of Sedums, plus Dianthus and Phlox) are configured in fields or waves and arranged according to shape, texture, size and color to create this striking visual impression.
The building, designed by SYMBIOS, is a fully integrated eco-house for the 21st century. Some of the features include exterior straw bale walls, lime plaster, passive solar design, P.V. solar electrical power, solar hot water, radiant in-floor heating, light shelves for day lighting, energy efficient lighting and appliances and several thermal-mass interior walls made from the earth (sub-soils) obtained from the excavation of the building site.
The house was constructed in a suburban sub-division and was viewed at first with skepticism by the neighbors on the street. However, the sensitive placement of the house in conjunction with a living roof quickly won their approval. The green roof worked to settle the building into the surrounding landscape and married the architecture to the surrounding beauty of the distant mountains thereby preserving the sense of open space for the neighborhood.
As a means to enhance this vision the dormer roof of the main entry was roofed using large random size pieces of regional slate was installed to give an appearance of a rock emerging out of the roofscape.