Central Oregon Retreat

The owner of this beautiful 55-acre site situated in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains wanted to design a cluster of buildings integrating the latest green technologies while maintaining a high level of fire resistance.  Hubbell & Hubbell was a consultant to the owner, who was the lead designer, in order to help make her ideas a reality, creating a small residence that connects the indoors and outdoors; a separate pool house that heats the water through solar evacuated tube collectors; an attached art studio/garage with a roof-top deck; and a detached garage/workshop/ utility building.  The buildings were oriented to take advantage of mountain views and passive solar design, and to minimize disturbance of the site and existing trees.  She selected autoclaved-aerated-concrete (AAC) block for the wall system because these blocks are very fire resistive, provide good thermal mass for the Central Oregon climate zone, and are easy to sculpt—allowing for softened corners and parapets.  The rusted metal roof and earth-colored plaster help the blend into the site.  Salvaged timbers were used for the posts of the art studio and for outrigger supports on all the roofs.  The owner created the mosaic tile details and selected the sustainable interior finishes, including the American Clay plaster which gives a warm adobe-feel to the AAC walls.

Mexican Hacienda

This Mexican Hacienda style home is located on the banks of a canal within the desert city of Yuma.  The owners had sought us out as an architect who specialized in green building design, which was central to the project.  We integrated passive solar design by placing an arcade on the south façade to protect it from the southern sun.  The walls were built using Apex block an insulated concrete form (ICF) manufactured locally in Phoenix, AZ.  This block provides a super-insulated wall system that is resistant to fire, mold, and termites.  The building plan incorporated a traditional three sided courtyard form with their swimming pool located centrally to provide passive cooling.  The owners had salvaged giant timbers from a Mexican railroad bridge that we used throughout the home as well as to form clerestory windows.  These high windows provide great natural ventilation.  Mexican glazed tile and colored plaster walls bring a festive feel to the interior spaces.

Courtyard-Style Straw-Bale Residence & Guest House

Residence: The structural system is composed of wood, steel posts and reclaimed timber beams with straw bale infill. A passive solar energy system creates hot water for the pool, while the subterranean garage provides passive cooling. Although underground, the garage takes advantage of the desert sunshine and uses daylighting as part of the lighting scheme; light flows into the garage through light wells in the curved walls and through the glass bottom of the circular fountain. Other features include: rooftop viewing deck, custom stained glass doors and light features, custom mosaic tile, custom railings and gates.

Casita: The building incorporates passive solar design and clerestory windows to facilitate natural cooling. A radiused blue metal trellis softens the building visually while shading the outdoor patio.

Team: Architects – Hubbell & Hubbell Architects; Structural Engineer – Orion Engineering; Contractor – Lang Contracting; Art Elements – James T. Hubbell

Earth Discovery Institute at Crestridge Ecological Preserve

The Crestridge Ecological Preserve is a 2600 acre parcel of land to the south of Interstate 8, in the town of Crest, near El Cajon, California. The land is largely coastal sage scrub habitat and home to more than fifty sensitive and protected species of plants and animals. The land has been rescued from development and preserved through the tremendous efforts of the citizen group The Endangered Habitats League, the Back County Land Trust, the California Department of Fish & Game, and others. The California Department of Fish & Game, who now owns the land, has agreed to lease a part of it to the Back County Land Trust for the creation of the Earth Discovery Institute.

The Earth Discovery Institute is an educational program and facility being developed at the Crestridge Ecological Preserve to give students from nearby Granite Hills High School (and eventually other schools) a place to learn about the natural world outside of a classroom. Creative Writing, Art, Social Studies and Biology students will have an opportunity to use Crestridge and its plant and wildlife as their subject for creative, historic, geographic, and scientific studies. With funding from the Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) grant, the High School is creating the EAST lab, a state of the art facility that will be housed at Granite Hills High. Each semester, twenty-eight students will have an opportunity to work in the field at Crestridge, bring back data to the lab, and work on creative problem solving techniques and develop transferable technical skills that will serve them in further studies, work experience and life. The project- based curriculum will allow students to design their own project which can range from literature, art, history, architecture to permaculture and community gardening.

Hubbell and Hubbell Architects have been brought into this partnership to design and build the two structures that will be a part of the Earth Discovery Institute. The first structure, the Bridge to Nature, will be a gateway to the land, the bridge between the human world and the natural world. The second building is the Field Station. This building will incorporate sustainable design principles and it will be a place for the administrative and educational aspects of the Institute.

The Urban Corp of San Diego will be involved in green construction of the buildings and habitat restoration on the Crestridge site. The Urban Corp team will be taught to identify plant and animal species, trained in green building construction, taught conservation designs and technologies that are applicable to their homes and communities, and will prepare an oral history and pre-history of the site. They will also assist with surveying and mapping, and will work with the general contractor on construction.

www.earthdiscovery.org

The Earth Discovery Institute project is a collaboration between many diverse groups and individuals including:

• The California Department of Fish & Game
• Back County Land Trust
• The Urban Corp of San Diego
• Granite Hills High School
• Hubbell & Hubbell Architects
• Project Coordinator, Michael Beck

Other groups and individuals also involved with the development of the Earth Discovery Institute include:

• The Wildlife Conservation Board
• The County of San Diego
• The Conservation Biological Institute
• County Supervisor, Dianne Jacobs
• Ecological Life Systems
• The Nature Conservancy
• The California Wildlife Foundation
• The California Department of Forestry
• The Endangered Habitat League
• Archeologist, Susan Hector
• Kumeyaay, Larry Banegas

Ilan-Lael “the place” consists of multiple structures designed and built by James Hubbell and located on 40 acres near Santa Ysabel, California. Ilan-Lael currently serves as the home of James and Anne Hubbell, and is the location of Hubbell art studio. It is also home to the Ilan-Lael Foundation, which serves as an art education and nature center; a gathering place for artists and friends; and a retreat space for like-minded people and organizations seeking inspiration in beauty, art, and natural surroundings.

The history of Ilan-Lael is described in “Building From The Earth Up” by Anne Hubbell:

“The echo of wedding bells was still in the air when James and I acquired this land in 1958. Our intent was to create a home that appeared to grow out of the landscape and blend naturally with the gifts of nature. After fashioning a road that curved through the silvery sage and chaparral and digging a deep well through the granite, we started to build.

“No bulldozers were used and footings were hand-dug. Wildflowers and brush were kept and appreciated for their beauty without irrigation. Weekends were involved with picnic work parties as friends helped us mix cement and gather rocks in a little red wagon. And so with the stone from this land, adobe bricks, and cedar from a sawmill in Julian, the first structure was accomplished.

“Our family was able to stretch out and enjoy more spacious quarters in 1962 when we moved into the living, dining and kitchen dwelling.

“The Master Bedroom. The master bedroom was the first free-form sculptural building; it was all done by hand. Later buildings used a low pressure cement spraying machine to cover the large areas.

“The Big Studio: Here James used steel rib construction with six inch ‘I’ beams for the first time. This was covered with a network of re-bar and plaster wire and it was sprayed with its cement plaster cloak in 1965.

“The Small Gallery: Salvage adobe and fired brick form the walls of this building. The roof is covered with tile made in Tecate, Mexico. The effect of the tiled roof is like drapery.

“The Pool: The pool was built around 1970. A tiled stone bench hides the pool filter. The gazebo roof is formed of cast concrete segments and carved urethane foam over a resin picnic table illuminated by a small leaded glass skylight.

“The Boys’ House: This habitable sculpture was started in the early seventies. The tan clay tiles on the steps and floor were rolled out with a rolling pin, shaped, coded, dried, fired and reassembled on the floor over a period of about eight years by James and some friends. The lively leaded glass roof in the bathroom showers the bather with color.

“The Sculpture Gallery. The sculpture gallery was built in the 1970’s. It serves as both storage and gallery to show larger works.

“The Drafting Studio: …the drafting studio was built in 1982. It is constructed of a metal truss system which could be made of a lighter steel than was previously used.”

In 2003, four of the eight buildings on the Ilan-Lael site were destroyed by wildfire. Over a period of three years, donations from friends and members of the Foundation helped restore the damaged buildings.

With so much of the community’s heart and soul a part of the rebuilt structures, the Hubbell family donated the land and buildings to The Ilan-Lael Foundation to be operated as a non-profit art education center. It currently remains primarily a residence and working art studio, but over time it will increasingly serve the community as a meeting place, an artist-in-residence workshop, and a quiet place for the public to appreciate how art, nature, and beauty connect to our lives and our actions in the wider world.

Despite being only between 28-50 years of age, nine structures at the Hubbell residence and studio received local historic designation for exceptional historical and architectural significance when James Hubbell’s Ilan-Lael Compound was approved as a San Diego County Historic Landmark in 2008.

Please visit the Ilan-Lael Foundation website (ilanlaelfoundation.org)  for more photos and information about the Hubbell residence, visiting during the annual Ilan-Lael Home & Studio Tour fundraiser on Fathers’ Day, or contributing to the Endowment Fund to provide resources for staff, building and maintenance, and programs.