Phoenix Rising

Lake Tahoe, CA | 1,707 SF

A bold, modern A-frame faces the camera against a dusky blue sky and tall pine trees. The house is a mix of black metal fascia, accents, and windows, gray barnwood siding and warm wood soffits/ The front wall is mostly covered in windows in a whimsic

Guest bedroom at the rear of the A-frame, with a whole wall of windows in funky patterns looking out to the snow and trees outside. The sloping A-frame ceiling comes down from the top middle of frame to the bottom right, a warm cedar. One large squar

Phoenix Rising was our response to a dramatic fire that burned the owner’s ‘old-Tahoe’ cottage to the ground. Having been originally contracted to remodel the cottage’s front porch, TGMA had to scrap everything and pivot to designing a ground-up single family home in its place.

To elevate and modernize the traditional A-frame, we made several intentional design choices. We pushed the rafters into the roof cavity to open up the home and allow for proper insulation; we included as many windows and dormers as possible to illuminate the space and provide geometric whimsy that plays with the A-frame silhouette; we created a one-of-a-kind cap-and-pan metal roof design in the pattern of a barcode that reads “Squaw Valley USA,” the owner’s favorite local ski resort; and we designed a custom stair with a gentle curve—the sole element in the home to have a radius.

A bold and fresh take on the ski lodges of yore, Phoenix Rising is a bespoke residential design in every sense of the word—and a testament to the power of memory, family, and environment in contemporary architecture and design.