Lucky Jack Farm
This efficiently organized site includes a 16-stall custom barn, luxury clubhouse with guest quarters, outdoor riding arena, turnouts, round pen, hot walker, cool down trails, storage barn with a 2-bedroom farm manager apartment, and a storm water detention pond. The site also provides a west facing terrace with firepit, outdoor pizza oven, and sunset-views of the Pacific Ocean.
Location
Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Project Type
Equestrian - Hunter Jumper Facility
Project Scope
New Construction
Year Complete
2010
Scale
14.76 acre property (7.5 acres usable)
4,000 gsf 16-stall barn
5,315 gsf Clubhouse
50 ft dia Hot Walker
65 ft dia Round Pen
2,390 gsf Storage Barn + Manager Apartment
Budget
$ 375 per sf (Construction)
AHJ Reviews
San Diego County - Zoning, Structural, MEP, Fire
Project Team
Blackburn Architects (architect)
Allard Jansen (local architect)
G.W Scott Construction (build)
GeGe Pender Interior Design (interiors)
RBF Consulting (civil)
Theresa Clark Landscape Architect (larch)
Baird Structural Design
T-Squared Engineers (mep+fp)
Sullivan Solar Power
David Hartig (photographer)
California Romantica Inspired Equestrian Center
While an associate at Blackburn Architects, I led the design team for the development of one of our most picturesque equestrian projects: Lucky Jack Farm. The owners’ vision was a comfortable barn for their horses + friends, and a complex to host parties. The hunter/jumper training facility evokes an early 20th century Rancho Santa Fe style - established by Lillian Rice, but with a modern update.
Throughout the design process, the team was confronted by a plethora of site, utility, environmental, and regulation challenges. The property exists in a wildlife interface area; has critical regional infrastructure running underground; is home to an endangered species; and is zoned with stringent wildfire restrictions.
The barn was limited to 4,000 square feet by zoning regulations. To maximize the number of stalls, we located the tack + equipment storage rooms inside the clubhouse where floor area was not limited. Wash and grooming stalls were provided under a separate shade structure parallel to the barn.
Although barn functions are located within the structure, the clubhouse was strategically designed to capable of being converted to a residence for future resale. The complex contains a lounge with a full kitchen, locker + tack rooms, a guest suite on the 2nd level, and 3-car garage and game/media room in the walk out basement. The clubhouse incorporates a 5.2 kW solar photovoltaic array that produces 9,600 kWh per year. We installed the PV's - not only to reduce the properties energy consumption - but to take advantage of CA’s "Green Building Initiative" that moved your project to the front of the line + reduced the permitting fees.
The site is bisected by a 130-foot easement, which contains three 60-to 90-inch in diameter underground pipes operated by SDCWA. The site also sloped about 18% from front to back along the 1,310 foot deep lot providing serious construction challenges on the upper portion of the easement, which renders only half the site suitable for horses. Long story short: the site was a very challenging puzzle, but our team had a great time working together to solve it.
Due to the fire restrictions, we worked with the fire marshal to detail components significantly different. For instance, landscaping was limited within an area around the structure (called a fuel modification zone), exterior heavy timber framing required to be fire treated, and we could not vent the barn as we typically did because of the possibility of embers being drawn through vent openings. We used laminated safety glass in the skylight (in lieu of polycarbonate) and reduced the skylight’s Z-channel base perforations down to 1/16” diameter holes.
Four years after completion the Bernardo Fire swept through the area, and our efforts were put to the test. We were relieved to learn the details we worked out with the fire marshal were successful in preserving the animals lives and the owners’ investment.
