Residence 7       1990-92

The clients for this home loved both this site and it's existing house, which I had designed some ten years previously. It quickly became apparent however that their desire for a home almost twice the size, with higher ceilings and heavier floor loadings would not permit retention of much of the original home. It was a difficult decision for them, but they loved the site, so they bought it, the house came down, and we started over.

Despite the considerably different program and size of the new home, the clients had loved much about the previous one, and the design of the new home drew considerably from it. Only minor rock chipping occurred, and the natural rock face remained, flowing down through the lower level of the home as it had previously. This house was much larger though and the rock face now flowed down to a living area that opened fully to a terrace facing the ocean.

This house was designed to open itself wide for entertaining and both one end of the kitchen and about a third of the lower floor have a number of large glass wall panels that slide away into concealed pockets allowing the inside space to merge into the outdoor terraces.

As with the previous home, there is little sense of the view to come until one enters it. This is a courtyard home really, and its first door opens onto just that- a courtyard, featuring the rock itself, covered in dried grass, rolling down uninterrupted to meet the house. Beyond, there is only a hint of the view to come.

On entering the main home, the view is immediately apparent, and the living areas all seem to float suspended above the ocean far below. The terraces feel the same. This site is a very steep rock bluff and from many vantage points there is nothing visible but the water below.

The flooring of this home is primarily polished granite and marble. All were made from sequentially cut slabs, the pieces numbered and cut. They were installed in the same order, enabling the veining to flow as it had in the original rock; from piece to piece, and slab to slab. The effect is of monolithic stone. The veining runs from one end of the room to the other. The terraces are also finished in this granite and the veining there is a continuation of that inside.