OPA has created a multi-faceted “Transformer” residence located in the suburbs of Reno, Nevada. This unique home is owned by two art dealers and collectors who specialize in contemporary and American Western art. The clients relocated from the arid desert outside Reno to a less isolated site that overlooks the city. Here, the design team crafted a house that reflects both contemporary aesthetics and the harsh Western climate.
Inspired by the new site’s view of distant desert mountains, OPA approaches the desert as a genuine environment that plays a contradictory role in cultural imagination.
In the “Transformer” residence, OPA explores smooth architectural forms by transforming the ground into a versatile material—an undiscovered unconscious. Drawing inspiration from the desert terrain, the design team reshaped the site to reflect the layered rock formations and natural conditions. Gradually, the building’s form emerges seamlessly from the landscape.
The structure features interconnected sides without edges that abruptly end; instead, the flow of space is continuous and capable of accommodating extreme contrasts without interruption. The residence’s elements slide into one another, creating fractured symmetry, local axes, and embedded parallel relationships. From a topological perspective, the home is fluid in space, taking the shape of a twisted circular ring with secondary and tertiary spatial bubbles.
OPA has pioneered a new ecological building model in the design of the “Transformer” residence. The project features an artificial site developed to shield the home from the harsh desert environment, thus integrating the site and landscape closely.
Architecturally, the residence is carved from a thick shell, comprised of natural ground or a two-foot-thick insulated wall and roof assembly. The home resembles a towering desert creature, using this thick ground—both natural and man-made—as a buffer against the extreme desert climate. The result is a high-performance passive building capable of maintaining comfortable indoor temperatures solely through radiant heating and cooling.
△ Plan view
△ Elevation drawing
△ Analysis chart
△ Analysis chart
Project Information:
Project Name: Deformer
Architectural Firm: OPA | @opa_Architects
Location: Reno, Nevada, USA
Photography Copyright: Joe Fletcher | @joefletcherphoto
Must log in before commenting!
Sign Up