• sycamore grove perspective
    • sycamore grove model
    • sycamore grove approach
    • sycamore grove classroom

Sycamore Grove Ranger Office

Livermore, CA

During the 1970s, the Denton brothers of Livermore built a small, modern home on Wetmore road; in 2007, the home was donated to the Livermore Area Parks and Recreation District (LARPD). Arkin Tilt had the exciting opportunity to redesign the house — split into two pieces during the moving process — as the new headquarters for the LARPD park rangers.

One half of the house transformed into an office wing, and the other half became a supporting wing of reptile storage, break areas, and meeting space. All new plumbing for staff and public restrooms is consolidated in a single wedge-shaped addition. A public information counter forms a node that connects the two wings of the original house. The design preserves the original wood siding of the Denton house, while the new additions are clad in durable fiber-cement panels.

The design eliminates conventional air conditioning and instead uses a programmable fan to cool the building before sunrise with outside air. An OASys indirect evaporative cooler provides afternoon cooling at much higher efficiency than an air conditioner. A combined space-heating and hot water boiler provides heat for both needs with one appliance.

Cognizant of LARPD's limited construction and operational budgets, ATA used a life-cycle cost analysis to determine which investments in energy efficiency would have greater paybacks. As a result, operational costs are projected to be much less than those of a conventional building.

Design Team

Project Manager: Dan Johnson