Santa Lucia Preserve Residence

The design of this residential compound seeks to maintain the natural landscape as much as possible while still meeting the needs of the client. By integrating all of the buildings within the site, a welcoming place in the woods is created.

One enters the site via a long drive of decomposed granite under a dense canopy of oak trees. The terminus of this drive is an auto-court, with the garage/barn to the right and the main house on the left. One accesses the main house via an ipe wood bridge. In the clearing down the hill from the main house one finds an inviting lap pool. The Guest House sits on axis with the pool at its south end. The Caretaker House, a modest structure in form and size, lies hidden in the trees up the hill to the north. Informal meandering paths, made from trees chipped on site, connect the Main House, Guest and Caretaker Houses, providing for a stroll in the forest as one travels between buildings.

The familiar form of the buildings references vernacular barn structures: a basic rectangular plan with projecting bays and roof forms consisting of a primary gable and secondary shed roof to the side. The collection of small buildings is made more modern through the use of material and detail, including zinc cladding for both the roof and exterior walls. The four separate buildings are designed to relate to each other through similar massing, form and materials. Scale is carefully considered, and each structure is sited so as to fit the land, minimize grading and preserve existing trees.