Situated on the coastline with views to Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina Islands, this home’s full-scale renovation made several big moves. Vertical fins fastened to the Shou Sugi Ban rainscreen help to resist battering from waves, sun, and wind, while subtle shifts in the angles create movement and depth on the two main beach-facing façades. With views to a point of land on the east, “you feel that shift on the interior as well, reorienting you from a typical straight-ahead view of the ocean to a skewed view on angle,” says David Montalba, FAIA. The entry progression creates a sense of compression, through a gate, and then into the expansive great room anchored by a colossal Texas limestone fireplace. “The inside has lighter tones that reflect light and create a warm, embracing space as you’re looking out at the beach,” he says. “We wanted the fireplace to feel like some organic stone thing you’d see in an ancient culture, yet contemporary. Organic in spirit but crisply and thoughtfully detailed.”
The bookcase-lined stairwell is both a light well and wind scoop, where motorized windows at the top draw fresh air through the house. A setback second floor creates space for a deck off the primary bedroom. Our judges applauded the formal moves and detailing, adding, “It’s urban in its own context.”
Citation
Custom Urban House
Montalba Architects
Graoni Beach House
Malibu, California
Project Credits
Architect: David Montalba, FAIA, Montalba Architects, Santa Monica, California
Interior designer: Matt Blacke, Los Angeles
Project size: 2,950 square feet
Site size: 0.17 acre
Construction cost: Withheld
Photography: Kevin Scott
Key Products
Cabinetry: DPC Millwork, Pac West Millwork and Fabrication
Cladding: Delta Millworks’ Kebony Burn & Brush
Countertops: Walker Zanger, Hullebusch
Entry door/windows: Sky-Frame
Fireplace: Ortal, Carnevale & Lohr, Malm
Flooring: Dinesen Douglas fir
Kitchen Appliances: Gaggenau
Lighting/Lighting Control System: Lutron
Roof windows: Western Skylights, VELUX
Sinks: Cocoon (primary bath)
Specialty appliances: Gaggenau
Thermal and moisture barriers: Weather Resistive Barrier
Toilets: TOTO
Tub: Apaiser
Vanity: Cocoon (powder room)
Ventilation: Panasonic, Armacell (exhaust ducts acoustic liner)
Washer/dryer: LG
Wine refrigerator: Gaggenau