The acclaimed Japanese firm Atelier Bow-Wow has completed its first and only home built in the United States. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas in California, the Mountain House sits as a “meticulously designed and thoughtfully crafted residential structure” in sixty acres of forest, according to the property’s realtors, Sotheby's.

The home sits on the site of a 19th-century gold mine which features wagon roads, trails, and seasonal streams. For the building’s design, Atelier Bow-Wow pursued a philosophy that “honors the environment, manifesting in a structure that treads lightly on the land and resources while maximizing its connection to a breathtaking landscape.”

The entrance-facing facade is designed to be unassuming and simplistic, rising to unveil a large terrace whose roof is “not unlike an umbrella protecting the home.” Beneath the ‘umbrella’ roof, an open room without walls is intended to blur the boundaries between the internal and external.

The home’s interior is shaped by Japanese design cues. The living room features oversized wood-framed glass doors designed to slide and open to the outdoors. Meanwhile, a continuous, seamless concrete floor spreads throughout the house, accentuated by walls composed of recycled paper-based homasote boards. Elsewhere, the scheme features reclaimed wood doors and porcelain tubs to offer the residence “historical depth and alignment with Japenese wabi-sai by design principles.”

The home is one of many completed residential dwellings to recently feature in our editorial. Earlier this week, we covered a cantilevering modular treehouse that peeks into the Estonian wilderness, while in September, we detailed a house in the Japanese city of Kyoto that merges local and Ukrainian influences. 

Last month also saw Mork-Ulnes Architects and Alison Damonte reimagine a San Francisco home destroyed by fire and an Aaron Neubert Architects-designed LA residence defined by a vertical ‘T’ window.