Situated along a densely built section of the Pacific Coast Highway, this house fronts the Pacific Ocean to the south, a courtyard to the west and the highway to the north. The courtyard provides a visual and spatial link between the entry, the highway and the ocean beyond. Like many courtyard building types endemic to Southern California, the open space creates an exterior living room.The succession through the house begins at the glazed translucent north entry wall and into the courtyard between the Main House and Guest House. The two-story entrance provides a framed view through the living room to the ocean beyond, and is transected by a second level glazed bridge and walkway. On the east side of the entry and walkway are the private living areas. To the west, the public areas open onto the courtyard. The double-height living room connects the enclosed spaces with the deck and ocean via a full-height glass wall with sliding doors. Sunscreens and louvers, integral to the façade, provide both transitional space between the house and terrace, and passively shade the glazed surfaces from the sunlight. The beams at the roof, located above the horizontal framing, express the structural rhythm and layering of components. This cadence is repeated with the joinery of the painted aluminum exterior wall panels and modular windows. The exterior plaster walls are juxtaposed against the transparent glazed facades, creating a mosaic of layered materials. It is the use of layered materials and enclosure walls, intersected by transparent surfaces, that blurs the separation between inside and outside and links the spaces.
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