Pavilion In The Oaks
PAVILION IN THE OAKS
Mork-Ulnes Architects
ARCHITECTS
Mork-Ulnes Architects
ARBORIST
Urban Tree Management
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Daedalus Engineering
CIVIL ENGINEER
Lea & Braze Engineering
GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER
Romig Engineers
ENERGY ANALYSIS
Monterey Energy Group
BUILDER
Hummel Custom Construction
PROJECT DESIGN TEAM
Casper Mork- Ulnes, Robert Scott, Alex Still
PHOTOGRAPHS
Joe Fletcher Photography
UNCONDITIONED SPACE (DECK) AREA
1,584 Ft2 / 147 M2
AREA
60 m²
YEAR
2025
LOCATION
Monte Sereno, United States
CATEGORY
Residential Architecture
English description provided by the architects.
The clients approached Mork-Ulnes Architects with a desire for a flexible space that could provide a meditative, spa-like experience for exercise, yoga, and quiet contemplation, as well as a place for social gatherings with their extended family and friends.
Set amid mature trees on a steep hillside, this dual-purpose wellness and entertainment pavilion is designed to weave through and preserve the existing tree canopy while creating new exterior spaces for gathering, integrated into an existing multigenerational home.
The program consists of a fitness room, sauna, bathroom, and flexible entertainment and yoga space connected via a bridge to an existing 1970s stucco-clad suburban home.
Raised above the sloping hillside, the pavilion is supported by a series of slender columns that lift the volume over the landscape to the level of the walk-out basement of the existing home.
Existing redwood and oak trees puncture the new deck, structuring space as much as the walls of the pavilion itself.
The building is positioned opposite the existing residence to create a three-sided, open courtyard that functions as the primary summer gathering place.
The pavilion's interior is organized around a central, cedar volume surrounded by operable sliding doors.
The roof structure is composed of exposed cedar framing, which filters and projects dappled light from nine skylights arrayed above to the space below, bringing the sensation of sitting beneath the oaks and redwoods into the pavilion itself.
