Mourning Dovecote

2024 Residential Design Awards Merit Recipient

The pandemic, the passing of loved ones, and the realization that this house would become a forever home, all inspired the atmosphere and details of this chapel-like dovecote/studio addition –that, and the comfort of hearing soft, drawn-out coos of Mourning Doves sounding like laments just outside

This 390 sq ft studio addition onto the owner-architect’s existing Sonoma home takes inspiration from the site’s abundant pairs of Mourning Doves. A traditional country ‘dovecote’ houses pigeons or doves, sometimes freestanding but often built into the ends of houses or barns. The architect researched the most advantageous height, orientation, proportion, and ventilation to encourage nesting doves –a process that informed both the shape of the exterior and interior space.

Here, although hidden from the interior, twelve nesting boxes are built into the angled exterior façade, encouraging the bird’s co-habitation of the space as in more traditional dovecote structures. This highly personal and customized project became a site for exploration and play. What unites the disparate details of this addition is a sense of movement, craft, and nature.

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This innovative design incorporates nesting boxes for mourning doves into a small addition, uniting environmental response, poetic formgiving, and spatial drama.

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Measure 1: Design for Integration

-The project provides nesting boxes for 12 pairs of Mourning Doves, design according to their specific preferences and needs.
– The project can operate off-grid with a fully functional solar and septic system, generator and on-site water storage. As such it can become an area of refuge in in times of increasing environmental instability such as wildfires and flooding.
– The project meets all Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) standards for construction and all fire-safe standards for landscape and vegetation.
– The scale, siting, mass, materials, and details are in harmony with the natural environment.
– The project intensifies the relationship to the natural surroundings.
– The project uses passive strategies for balancing heating and cooling, including skylights, overhangs, operable windows, and lighting studies to ensure a well-functioning structure in all seasons and times of day.

Measure 2: Design for Equitable Communities

– The project was permitted through the local planning department and met all criteria for a project of its type.
– The project provides a model of the co-habitation of animal species with humans.

Measure 3: Design for Ecosystems

– The project creates new habitat within the existing ecosystem for local flora and fauna
– The project preserved existing vegetation and worked in concert with the existing topography.
– The abundance of natural light and the visual focus on natural surroundings connect the user to nature and the local micro-climate.

Measure 4: Design for Water

– The landscaped area is minimal, and preserves native flora and fauna
– The projects irrigation system uses no-potable water and drip irrigation
– Storm water is managed on site.
– In storm events, water is directed to a swale and dissipation area

Measure 5: Design for Economy

The project is limited to 390 sq ft. It provides all the needs for a functioning studio including a meeting and presentation area, as well as the 12 Mourning Dove nesting boxes.

Measure 6: Design for Energy

– The project is able to operate entirely off-grid with on-site renewable energy generation, battery back-up, septic system, generator and water storage. As such it can become an area of refuge in in times of increasing environmental instability such as wildfires and flooding.
– The solar array installed as part of this project scope produces enough energy to offset 100% the annual fossil fuel use for the entire property.
– Energy modeling was implemented early in our design process informing glazed openings, heating and cooling systems, insulation strategies, and optimal daylighting.

Measure 7: Design for Well-Being

• Computer modeling analyzed the quality and levels of natural light throughout the day and year. This design process had a direct impact on the siting, orientation, overhangs, and the programming of the structure.
• All spaces have operable windows placed to maximize air flow and passive cooling.

Measure 8: Design for Resources

• The project utilizes responsibly sourced (FSC certified) wood products.
• The project specified optimized concrete admixtures with high fly ash content.
• The project uses natural cork flooring, a sustainable building product.
• The project uses low VOC finishes and products.
• Off- cuts (waste) from the siding were re-used to create the bridge in the courtyard entryway.

Measure 9: Design for Change

– The project can operate entirely off-grid utilizing solar PV, a septic system, generator and on-site water storage. As such it can become an area of refuge in times of increasing environmental instability such as wildfires and flooding.
– The project meets all Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) standards for construction and all fire-safe standards for landscape and vegetation.
-The project allows a weekend home to become a fully accessible forever home, to allow for aging in place.

Measure 10: Design for Discovery

– This project was unique in that the client was also the architect so their relationship to the work does not end upon completion. The space serves as a vehicle for playful exploration and experimentation.
– Key to the project is its dialogue with the ecosystem it exists within. The deepening relationship between the built and natural environment. When the doves take occupancy in the nesting box, symbiotic relationship creates opportunities for reflection and discovery for the inhabitants, human, and non-human alike.