Nestled deep within the beauty of Silicon Valley, a father and his young daughter toyed with the idea of how to develop the lower slopes of their property into something more embracing of the idyllic natural world that surrounded them. Years later, after remodelling the 6,000-square-foot main house, they turned their attention towards a ridge under a grove of gigantic California Live Oak trees on the foothills of their estate. It is here where they created the beautiful Tea Houses you are about to see. Hovering like lanterns over the natural landscape are the steel and glass pavilions designed by Swatt Miers Architects with engineering ingenuity provided by Yu Strandberg Engineering. Cast-in-place concrete core elements anchor the pavilions, supporting steel channel rim joists, which cantilever beyond the cores to support the floor and roof planes. With its minimal footprint, the design treads lightly on the land, minimizing grading and preserving the delicate root systems of the native oaks. Environmental and sustainable considerations were given extreme consideration, and the final result is nothing short of breathtaking. For more photos of the Tea Houses of Silicon Valley be sure to visit ArchDaily.
