This 2,500 SF, single-family residence occupies an extremely small (30'x 45') beach lot on a busy corner with ocean views.

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The design task was to provide enough square footage to make the house livable as well as to end up with a distinctive architectural structure. To that end, a fourth-level basement was introduced allowing for extra square footage and articulation in the building's facade as well as some flexibility in how the floor plan might be used. 

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The basement level was designed as a large media or game room, but it can also be two separate bedrooms if need be. The master bedroom and an office occupy the second floor, and the bedroom has an intimate, ocean view deck oriented away from the busy street. The kitchen, dining and living rooms as well as another deck occupy the top level with its ocean views.

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Sliding translucent panels are used to open one room up to the other, and large laminated glass windows provide abundant light and privacy. A staircase with a two-story, mitered corner window connects all levels and provides a dramatic, four-level vista. On the top floor, the kitchen dining and living rooms overlap, and share space in a way that makes all of the spaces feel generous in spite of their modest size. The doors to the deck open from the inside corner to allow the same sharing of space between the indoor and the outdoors.

 

The exterior of the building was designed with a series of overlapping and intersecting "planes" of integrally colored stucco and African mahogany that have been carefully manipulated to break down the surface and volume of what would otherwise be “a box."