1151 Sixth Street Lodge/Retreat

Designer: Studio Bergtraun Architects

Modest yet memorable, the Adamah Retreat Lodge offers important lessons in place-making and environmental design. This project shows imagination and verve.

The south-facing, two-story, shed-roofed lodge angles around three sides of an outdoor amphitheater. Structure and setting build upon and enrich each other, deftly forming a multi-functional unit. The double decker porch is a triple play on functionality: it is planting/privacy screen, exterior hallway, and balcony viewing platform all at the same time.

The simple outline, porch, and board and batten siding recall Mid-century Bay Region Modernism. The way structure and setting shape each other brings to mind Alvar Aalto’s studio in Helsinki, where the curving rear wall wraps around a tiered grassy slope.