Project 03 · Private Lake House
A home shaped by its surroundings.
Lake Almanor · Northern California · Architecture · Aerial · Film · Property Documentation
The Property
Architecture within the landscape.
Set among the pines above Lake Almanor, the home occupies a clearing within a much larger forested landscape. From the air, its relationship to the site becomes visible — the approach through the trees, the open ground surrounding the house, and the mountains and water beyond.
Rather than documenting every room and surface, the project focuses on the elements that give the property its sense of place: its setting, architectural character, and connection to the landscape.
Architectural Details
The house reveals itself in details.
The character of the home emerges through individual materials and details – timber ceilings, stone, dark exterior surfaces, sheltered openings, and views that continually reconnect the architecture to the landscape.
In Motion
The property in movement.
Film brings the relationship between architecture and setting into motion – approaching through the forest, moving around the home, and revealing how the property sits within the landscape.
Property Film· 01:05
A property study in Northern California, following the relationship between architecture and the landscape surrounding it.
The Approach· 00:27
A brief aerial approach to a private home near Lake Almanor, moving from the front of the property to the rear before rising above the house toward the surrounding forest.
The First Project
What began as documentation became the foundation.
This property became the first test of what HS Place Studio could be: not simply a record of buildings or acreage, but a way of preserving how a place is used, remembered, and understood.
The work began close to home. The approach now travels wherever the place takes it.