{"id":664248,"date":"2026-08-30T22:07:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T22:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/664248\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T22:07:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T22:07:35","slug":"a-storage-barn-in-california-is-transformed-into-a-lakeside-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/664248\/","title":{"rendered":"A Storage Barn in California Is Transformed Into a Lakeside Retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tArchitects and winemakers have one thing in common: They both see possibility where others see only raw material. So, when Grant Kirkpatrick, founding partner and principal of KAA Design Group<\/a>, and his wife, Shaya, longed for a lake house where they could give their children the splashy summers they themselves had grown up with, they found it on a 30-acre former cattle ranch<\/a> along Lake Nacimiento in Paso Robles, Calif., dubbed Split Rock Ranch. They converted the land into a vineyard and fell so in love with the property that they soon felt their storage barn was ripe for reinvention. The couple set about transforming it into a stunning retreat, and the result retains the straightforward spirit of the original structure, while details are designed for compatibility with the landscape.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was just kind of a natural extension of saying, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s take that structure and make it into a real home for the ranch,\u2019 \u201d Kirkpatrick says, noting that the porch and garage were additions.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe exterior took its cues from agricultural structures Kirkpatrick had seen on his travels. Rather than differentiate between roof and walls, he wrapped both in the same metal material from U.S. Aluminum, then varied the widths of the panels (between six inches and 16 inches) in an irregular sequence. \u201cWe did kind of an A-B-B-C-A routine where we just worked out a pattern that would scale to the building,\u201d he explains. The seemingly minor decision softens what otherwise might have been a severe expanse of metal. \u201cWhat it does is it takes the edge off a little bit, pun intended,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt gives it a little bit more of a natural feel and more responding to nature\u2019s rhythm, but it\u2019s calming at the same time.\u201d The irregularity helps disguise the inevitable imperfections that come with exposure to weather and life in the country. This way, \u201cYour eye doesn\u2019t go to, \u2018Oh, why is that panel buckling? Or why didn\u2019t that seam sit down just right?\u2019\u2026 It is absorbed by the arrhythmic pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Split<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFrom left: Jonas, a 7,500-pound limestone found on the property, now serves as an art piece. A tree
branch that survived the 2016 Chimney Fire in the Santa Lucia Range gives a decorative touch to a bedroom.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn a remote working ranch, flawlessness is beside the point. \u201cOut here, it\u2019s rural,\u201d Kirkpatrick says. \u201cWe\u2019re not looking for precision. We\u2019re looking for durability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tVertical aluminum slats provide another layer of protection and texture: The architect calls them \u201clouver screens.\u201d They create privacy and shade without sacrificing the views, while bringing an unexpected delicacy to the otherwise muscular structure. \u201cIt gives the building some lace and glow at night on the outside,\u201d he says. \u201cThis particular product is actually not wood\u2014it\u2019s an Australian company that makes these aluminum slats, and you can have them finished in any kind of wood grain and color that you so choose. That makes them impervious, which, again, in an environment like this, it\u2019s super important to have low-maintenance materials, and you wouldn\u2019t even know [it\u2019s not wood]. I mean, you could even touch these, and you\u2019d say, \u2018Well, wait a minute.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe wood-grain finish adds the warmth of timber without the maintenance demands\u2014a useful sleight of hand in an environment where temperatures can fluctuate dramatically. \u201cIt\u2019s just a wonderful way to not block the view off, but control the sun,\u201d Kirkpatrick says.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf the exterior is designed to withstand the landscape, the interiors invite it in. Approximately 85 feet of 10-foot-tall sliding-glass doors open the great room to a broad porch, where roll-down screens allow the family to embrace indoor-outdoor living without quite so enthusiastically embracing the bugs that come with it. \u201cWe always intended to pull nature into the house and the house out into nature,\u201d Kirkpatrick notes. \u201cOur work is always centered around nature and always basically directed by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Split<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLeft to right: The architecture of Split Rock Ranch seamlessly blends indoors with outdoors. Vertical aluminum slats fabricated to look like wood offer both texture and shade.<\/p>\n

\n\tHere, that philosophy is considerably more literal. The most imposing presence in the great room is not a piece of furniture or work of art but a 7,500-pound limestone boulder nicknamed Jonas that was discovered on the property while the family was preparing the land for vines. The limestone beneath the earth here is part of what makes it particularly hospitable to grapes. The rock retains water, allowing roots to seek out moisture during the dry summer months. Most of the unearthed stones remained outdoors; Jonas got an upgrade. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a sculpture,\u201d the architect adds.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe rock has since assumed yet another role. \u201cIt\u2019s mostly become known as Instagram Rock,\u201d he says. \u201cEverybody loves to get on the rock and take pictures.\u201d At one point, more than 15 people climbed aboard.<\/p>\n

\n\tJonas is not the only piece of the property to find a second life indoors. During the 2016 Chimney Fire, which scorched more than 46,000 acres in the Santa Lucia Range, one of the family\u2019s favorite manzanita trees burned black. Rather than discard it, they brought the sculptural remains inside, placing the tree in a concrete pot beside the fireplace. Another of its branches appears in a bedroom.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmid these organic forms, the material palette is restrained. Polished-concrete floors and board-formed-concrete walls lend the interiors a toughness, while engineered-wood flooring was unexpectedly repurposed as a wall material. The latter was the contractor\u2019s idea, selected for both its beauty and its dimensional stability amid the area\u2019s considerable temperature swings. \u201cWe use the flooring because it\u2019s beautiful and it\u2019s dimensionally stable. We\u2019re in wine country\u2014you have big heat and big cold, the diurnal temperature\u2014and so it\u2019s important that the materials can sustain it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Split<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe notch of the prominent fireplace is equally dual purpose, serving as a functional flue and decorative accent.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tManolo Langis<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for the floors, the architect is an enthusiastic evangelist. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely the most bulletproof floor surface you can have,\u201d he notes. Grind the concrete deeply enough, and rock in the concrete aggregate begins to emerge, creating an effect similar to terrazzo. The material is handsome, virtually indestructible, and capable of supporting the home\u2019s most substantial resident. \u201cEven Jonas sits comfortably on that concrete,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tOverhead in the great room, a monumental light fixture by Napa-based Brightbound<\/a> helps bring the soaring space down to human scale. The company fabricated every element, from the blown glass to the ironwork to the rope. \u201cEverything you see on that fixture is done in their shop,\u201d Kirkpatrick explains. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a piece of art, even though it\u2019s a very functional light for the size of the space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOutside, a towering fireplace provides the building\u2019s strongest architectural punctuation. Set beside the vineyard and overlooking the lake, it anchors an outdoor gathering area that Kirkpatrick affectionately calls the \u201csports lounge.\u201d A generous niche is filled with California<\/a> live oak, which is harvested from the property and used for cooking and fires. The chimney also acts as a counterpoint to the otherwise low-slung profile. \u201cThe architecture, of course, is very horizontal, and that piece is very vertical, and we do that a lot in our architecture,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhen those two elements are juxtaposed, our eye senses a sense of calm and order and scale.\u201d Even the striking notch at its peak serves a practical purpose as the flue: It\u2019s a sculptural way of drawing wind through the channel and directing the smoke up and out. Wind travels through the opening, drawing air through the flue and smoke up the chimney. It is typical of a house where seemingly decorative gestures are grounded in utility. After all, on a working ranch, even beauty has a job to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Architects and winemakers have one thing in common: They both see possibility where others see only raw material.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,1374,366,18,117,22460,19,17,361,226566],"class_list":["post-664248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-california","tag-design","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-home-design","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-magazine","tag-ranch"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117186741010887886","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}