Leaves in the Wind

This site is located in a small canyon that drops off towards the ocean and is characterized by its massive rock outcroppings. The design integrates the dominant environmental factors, including these rock formations, the wind currents and panoramic views, into the interior spaces. The rock clusters designate the starting points for the structure and outline the livable spaces. Each distinct floor plane submerges into and then reemerges from the earth in response to the surging natural topography.

The undulating components of the roof structure, minimally supported, adopt a free form as they appear to defy gravity, held aloft only by the prevailing wind currents. These same breezes move across the expansive surface of the pool, tempering the climate and flowing through the building as operable glazed perimeters are retracted. The quantity of glazing and reduction of structural supports allow for unobstructed panoramic views and an assimilation of interior and exterior spaces.

Natural light infiltrates the clerestories between each of the roof shells, softening their shape and blending their boundaries with the natural environment, while their deep overhangs still offer protection from the direct impact of the sun.


Blue Clouds

This design wraps around a central garden courtyard, creating a secluded internal retreat while also embracing the outer views of the surrounding hills. A multi-level series of beams and planes runs overhead, extending in all directions through and beyond the interior spaces to shade the numerous exterior terraces. Set into a horizontal and vertical square grid, these beams and their supports are repetitious geometric forms carried through to their logical conclusion; there is a sense of inevitability about the presence of each succeeding member. Narrow clerestories separate vertical wall planes from the roof beams, as light filters into the spaces as if through a giant three dimensional venetian blind. It acts as a sun baffle and creates a spectacular play of light and shadows throughout the course of a day. The sliding glass panels that define the perimeter retract along the grid, allowing much of the house to become an open pavilion to the exterior.


Panorama

Sweeping panoramic views of the ocean dictate this plan’s circular form, whose core is removed to create an enclosed entry courtyard sheltered from the prevalent winds. The use of transparent glass boundary walls affords each upper level room views of both the ocean and courtyard. The circular form is capped with an expansive fan-shaped roof that slopes from a low point around the courtyard to its summit along the outside edge, with the angular ceiling line transporting the viewers’ eye through the structure to the sky beyond. Broad overhangs provide protection from the western sun, while perforations along the eastern face permit the morning sun to penetrate the kitchen and breakfast spaces.


Shell House

This design reduces to a continuous, ribbon-like curve, inspired by the cresting ocean waves visible from the site. Circulation spirals vertically through the house around the naturally illuminated open well of the entry. The space duplicates the sensation of looking through the confining tube of a wave; once outside of it, the circular flow of the plan opens the interiors to the sprawling panoramic coastline. The architectural forms arch with the sweep of this view as the roof segments rise up in response to the natural contours of the landscape, swelling and peaking just before collapsing back on themselves and washing down the slope towards the ocean. From above the roof dissipates into the landscape, seeming less of an intrusion on the site than a natural link to the water beyond.


Clouds Rest

This design artificially duplicates the form of the knolls that characterize the site. Elliptical in form, the structure initially emerges from the surrounding topography only partially to provide natural light into the entry level. Movement through the structure is through a centralized circulation core capped by a series of horizontal roof planes and beams, woven together as a transparent fabric to filter the overhead sun. These formal elements step back in plan and elevation to form the crest of the knoll. The elevated pool water encircling the plan serves to passively cool the structure while capturing the reflections of the sky and clouds above and enveloping the man-made form into the natural setting.