Case Study: La Tierra Nueva, Santa Fe

It is impossible to miss the striking new home on a ridge in Santa Fe. The La Tierra Nueva residence is architect Graham Hogan‘s recent sustainable architecture project, a carefully crafted aging-in-place residence demonstrating how a harsh landscape and climate, when coupled with the right mix of materials and innovation, can be just the right canvas on which to create a home that is both one with nature and breathtakingly majestic.

Inspired by thickened stone walls of Chaco Canyon and the regional geology, the La Tierra Nueva home is influenced by the vernacular architecture of Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico. Rammed earth walls, analogous to historic mud plastered adobe walls, match the coloring of the site soil and the zinc walls and roof, analogous to traditional corrugated metal that has dulled to non-reflective, match the colors found on the site in juniper bark, sage branches and cholla skeletons. The homes exterior windows and door frames match the earthen gray tone of the zinc with a matte finish. The folded roof planes mimic the rolling hills of La Tierra Nueva.  Rainwater harvesting funnels water from the roof’s valleys to concealed gutters and on to buried cisterns.  Captured rainwater is then used to reestablish and irrigate native plantings around the home.

~Studio GP LLc

Zola Windows is proud to partner with some of the nation’s leading architects, designers and builders to make unique dreams such as the La Tierra Nueva home a reality. We recently had the pleasure of speaking to the architect for the La Tierra Nueva, Graham Hogan, AIA, LEED of Studio GP LLC about this project.

What is the essence of the La Tierra Nueva Residence?  What makes it unique?

When we were asked to design a house for an aging couple they told me that they wanted to be one with nature and wanted to be rooted to the earth. This lead us to notching the house into the juniper studded landscape and opening to views of the San De Cristo mountains to the east and the Jemez to the west. The home’s materials and colors were drawn specifically from the site to help it meld into the landscape. It is a custom rammed earth house. Rammed earth is an ancient process originating in the Middle East inspired by a desire to be one with nature. It is a style and building technique that is true to the region, the foundation of the adobe construction that is popular in Santa Fe and surrounding regions. The masonry of the project makes it unique: it was carefully crafted to maximize and adapt to the varying temperatures in the region, allowing for comfortable interior temperatures.

What inspired your design for this project?

The homeowners wanted a home that was both one with nature—allowing them to enjoy the beauty of Santa Fe, and also designed intentionally for comfortably aging in the home. It was important to us to build a residence that leveraged the opportunities that are unique to Santa Fe, and carefully adapted to the challenges. The landscape was a central focus of our design. We wanted to be true to the region by drawing from the earthen vernacular of Northern New Mexico and the Santa Fe area. Santa Fe has a long tradition of using adobe and masonry construction such as the stonework found in Chaco Canyon and Bandelier and many indigenous projects throughout the area. Further, the masonry construction provides thermal qualities that are well suited to the high desert climate with its ability to temper the diurnal temperature swings between the cool evenings and hot days.

What were the main design challenges? How did you navigate them?

As with any project, there were many obstacles but also some great opportunities. The project requirement was that we fit the bill for an aging-in-place home. These were some the design requirements we needed to meet: beautiful, warm, comfortable, low maintenance, and a home that had little to no navigation and use challenges as the homeowners aged. This had implications for both the construction and interior design elements. For example, we had to level the rolling hills terrain to avoid multiple level space. The home eliminated stairs. The lighting is very specifically designed to avoid dimly lit spots. Even the windows and doors were selected with the aging-in-place principle in mind: smooth operation was key.

How does the geography and location compliment or complicate this project? What, if any, environmental factors did you have to consider?

The high desert sun in this part of the country makes for incredible sunrises and sunsets, but it is also a design challenge. We studied the sun patterns before putting a single stroke on the drawing board. You must find the sweet spot between combating extreme heat in the summer days, that is, controlling the heat gain in the summer, and also creating a comfortable interior during the cold nights. The roof has substantial overhangs sheltering the structure from the elements and shading the home’s glazing from the sun. The climate and geography of Santa Fe make it a challenging and exciting canvas to work with. We approached site selection through the lens of opportunity rather than challenge: we chose a location along a ridge to maximize access to the sun. The location also carefully tucks the home’s decks and outdoor living space out of the line of the winds, which can be very strong in Santa Fe.

Which Zola window/door product lines helped you reach your design objectives?

This home is outfitted with Zola’s Thermo Clad windows and doors. These are triple-pane windows and doors. They combine beautiful wood craftsmanship with the great durability and longevity of aluminum cladding.

How do these window/door product lines complement your design?

As architects, we rarely have enough choices in terms of glass to specify the glazing itself as we design projects. Zola has great options, which allowed us to specify the glass itself based on the unique needs in different parts of the house. On the West-facing side of the home, we were able to specify and use Zola glass that has a higher shading coefficient. It was great to have this option. The Thermo Clad is crafted in beautiful wood that really worked well with the setting. It emphasizes the home’s “one with nature” theme.

The floor to ceiling windows certainly give a majestic feel to the home, especially in the night-time photographs. Explain to us why the homeowner wanted this completely open facade.

The homeowners love Sante Fe and wanted to bring the views into the house by blurring the connection between the interior and exterior as much as possible. You have to be very careful doing this: one must consider how the use of so much glass is balanced with energy efficiency of the house. Because of the performance of Zola windows we were really able to exploit this and have been able to create a number of large window walls, which really open the house to the outdoors.

What other innovative products contribute to the success of this project?

We chose some pretty unique materials for the La Tierra Nueva, informed by Northern New Mexico’s traditional building materials, such as mud plastered, site cast adobe and corrugated metal in addition to colors and textures found on the site. The house incorporates zinc siding, selected for its color connection to the site. We used cladding for the walls, and corrugated roofing. The glass was meant to open the home up toe the environment. Finally, the rammed earth building technique had a strong connection to the site itself. We are pleased with how all these materials and methods came together to create this home.

What are you working on since the La Tierra Nueva? How has the La Tierra Nueva influenced and shaped your design theory on subsequent and future projects?

I have another house, which is just starting construction in Placitas NM along with a fun new brewery in Albuquerque. We really spent a lot of time and effort focusing on the ‘aging in place’ considerations. With the aging baby boomers we believe that this will be a more and more common request from clients so we are excited to help with this on future projects.

Architect. Graham Hogan, graham@studiogp.co, is the Principal Architect at Studio GP. Studio GP is located at 400 Gold Avenue SW, Suite 850, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102 (505) 243-8100. Studio GP, Llc is a full service architectural planning and design firm specializing in sustainable design. Their planning and design team understand each project is unique and requires a sensitive approach to its context, climate and client. Inspired by creating a clean, healthy and beautiful future, each project is a poetic exploration with close collaboration between the owner, architect and contractor.

Builder. Denman Associates.

‍