Pacific Modern: Houses of Northern California

Pacific Modern: Houses of Northern California
by Gustave Carlson

Publication Date: October 2018
Format: Hardcover
120 pages
Publisher: ORO Editions
Size: 9″ × 12”
ISBN: 978-1940743196
Typeset in Calibre
Book design by Pablo Mandel


Pacific Modern: House of Northern California presents a portfolio of three Northern California architectural projects: Canyon House, Inverness House, and Mocabee House, very different in style, but with consistent themes explored through in their architecture and interiors. Through light, detail, and hygge, each house reveals its connection to the landscape.

Canyon House seamlessly nestles into its steep creek side landscape and follows the contours of the landscape, built by carving space out of the canyon. Crafts people and design consultants have applied their expertise through unique wood carved screens and furniture, and the soft stone floors combined with the interior and exterior flow of the home make Canyon House an exceptional example of craft and beauty. Inverness House is built on a ridge top with views of Tomales Bay. Exploring the intersection between the local vernacular of an older western red cedar wood cabin and a new modern house, the materials used are sourced locally lending an organic, simple, cozy well-being feeling in its architecture and presentation. Mocabee House is a modern farmhouse concept set on what was formerly a four-acre walnut orchard. Having an agrarian feeling and space designed to capture the day’s light, the low horizon and borrowed distant views of the Mayacama Mountains provide a diorama of scenery. Mocabee house is designed with full appreciation of the exterior spaces and its farm-to-table lifestyle is clearly explored in the house’s material and interior design selections.