This Mesa home located on La Jolla Drive is a prime example of exceptional modern architecture. Steps to the Mesa Lane beach and the Wilcox (Douglas Preserve) property, this home is hand crafted with the desire to mold light, space and texture into a design which both wows the senses and redefines quality of life. La Jolla Drive was completed in 2004 by Architect David VanHoy AIA.
Archives for April 2012
Santa Barbara Artist Studio-Shubin+Donaldson AIA
This open, loft-like auxiliary building offers an architectural experience that is distinct and separate from the main residence on the property. The building is sited to restrict views of the main house and to allow the structure to take advantage of sweeping vistas from its oceanfront bluff site, situated between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Spirited tectonics and an efficient plan give the structure its distinct architectural identity—a utilitarian object that is in dialogue with its site and reflective of its function.
The studio building’s design sustains a subtle tension between light-industrial references and the refined details of a custom residence. The thin roof is supported by exposed, pre-fabricated truss joists and is attached imperceptibly to a tall shear wall. The roof spans and shelters the stacked programmatic boxes of ground-floor guest apartment and second-floor art studio. Copper roof flashing and drainage downspout lend domestic finery.
The taller shear wall, which is wrapped in redwood shingles – suggesting a relationship to the main house—anchors the structure, allowing the roof and opposing wall, which intersect asymmetrically, to appear as if they are about to float away from their solid, rectilinear counterparts.
The exterior wall is constructed of the same pre-fabricated joists, positioned vertically and covered in Thermoclear, forming a translucent skin that radiates daylight into the spaces. At night, when lit by interior-mounted lighting, it exudes a glow from within, giving the impression of a Japanese lantern.
Principal Architects:
Robin Donaldson AIA
Russell Shubin AIA
Photos…Ciro Coelho
Blade’s Residence, Santa Barbara- Morphosis Architects Inc.
The Blade’s Residence in Santa Barbara was designed in 1993 by Thom Mayne, (founder of Morphosis Architects Inc.), and completed in 1997. According to the Morphosis Architects website, the home provided
an occasion to activate land surface and respond to a natural site on a scale that makes it distinct from houses we had constructed in the past, which tended toward more introverted responses to their urban conditions. Our strategy made the garden space the dominant element in a composition that interweaves interior and exterior in a dynamic interplay. The initial occupying gesture was formed by the broad sweep of the elliptical walls encircling this garden space, while the house itself is a fragment slicing laterally across the site.
Two types of walls were used to create outdoor spaces. One set is orthogonal and responds to both the geometry and the community of houses in the neighborhood. The other set of elliptical walls defines and extends the space of the outdoor room. At the two extreme points of departure for this enclosed volume, separate elements anchor the house as it bridges from the road to the inner site. The street end contains an inconspicuous garage and gallery, a modest statement deferring to the character of the neighborhood. At the farther, unoccupied edge of the site is the bedroom, which straddles the boundary wall. It is both a confined and unconfined form that mediates between the interior and exterior worlds.
Morphosis Architects Inc. was founded in 1972 as an “interdisciplinary practice involved in rigorous design and research that yields innovative, iconic buildings and urban environments.” To learn more about their work go to www.morphopedia.com.
Whitehead/Bay Residence, Montecito: Hochhauser Blatter Architecture
The Whitehead/Bay Residence was designed by the Hochhauser Blatter Architecture and Planning Firm out of Santa Barbara. This 5,400 square foot residence demonstrates exactly how a dream home is supposed to look. The modern home is located in Montecito, California. It features three bedrooms, three full bathrooms, half baths and bedroom guesthouse. If you are a landscape fanatic, this residence is perfect for you. The beautiful landscape makes it simple to fall in love with nature. Grey shade is utilized for its exteriors, which surprises despite the fact it is both neutral and subtle. The 360 degree view of the surrounding landscape and the beautiful interior design make the architecture truly inspirational inside and out.
Hochhauser Blatter has been engaged to provide custom architectural design services on a wide range of residential and commercial assignments. Projects include high-end custom residences, multi-family and subsidized housing, museums, commercial retail centers, courthouse and municipal buildings, out-patient surgery and hospice facilities, waterfront marina buildings and adaptive re-use/historic rehabilitation projects. This contemporary residence incorporates a variety of volumes to offer the user an array of spaces which accommodate different functions. An isolated skylighting system is employed in a very significant way to create habitable atrium space that is user friendly.
Phone:805 962 2746
(Featured on the cover of California Homes magazine,Jan/Feb 2002)
If you have any questions regarding Modern Real Estate or Architecture in Montecito or Santa Barbara give Josiah Hamilton a call (805)284-8835, or send an email to [email protected].
Photos…Jim Bartsch