Pavilion in the Oaks

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 li” 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.