Dawnridge House, a modern residence in the silicon Valley suburb of California, has been designed by local Architecture and interior design studio Field Architecture. The house is split around a giant oak tree, which is open to the outdoors. The project has two key features: an intermittent stream and large oak trees.

The house is divided into two volumes so that it can surround an existing volume or follow the flow of water. Formally, a low-pitched farm form makes room for a large live oak tree on the site, anchoring the house by shading the internal courtyard. The split in the building's volume doesn't just make room for the tree; it also follows the bend of the stream, settling in perfect complement to the shape of the land and breaking the symmetry of the building's geometry.

Dawnridge House's wings – one is one storey and the other is two – are linked by a tall glazed structure and encase an outdoor yard underneath the shades of the tree. his central knuckle of the home – located off the main living space – offers a melding of natural landscape with built form at its most elemental: the yard is sheltered on its sides by build form and above by the tree canopy.

Studio began with a careful study of the site's topographical qualities, its native flora and fauna, and the particularities of its relationship to the areas that surround it. They designated more than half of the site as a natural, protected habitat, prioritising the restoration of an intermittent freshwater stream that winds along the northern edge of the site.

As part of an ambition to provide a strong connection to the outdoors, the studio designed the house's dining room so that it is open to the outside. Sliding glass doors open the kitchen onto the covered dining area with a barbecue. A path leads from here into the woodland around.

Glazing also links other spaces in the house to complementary outdoor areas including the living room, which opens onto a triangular gravel yard filled with large boulders "borrowed from the site", and the master bedroom on the second level, which opens onto a terrace. Large amounts of glass throughout the residence also open up to vistas.