Clifftop House Maui

Maui County, HI, United States

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Clifftop House Maui

Maui County, HI, United States

Firm

dekleva gregoric architects

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2011

SIZE

1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

Photos

Cristobal Palma / Estudio Palma (10)

Perfect ocean view, beautiful cliffs, strong winds and unspoiled landscape. Is there any space for a house? It was a very unusual task for us European architects usually dealing with quite dense urban environment. It was hard to understand before its first visit and easy to respond after some days spent on site. Our friend windsurf sail designer Robert Stroj fell in love with this very rough and unpopulated area of West Maui mountains. The spatial concept that defines several houses under a common roof. Each separate house is a self-contained private unit (en-suite double room) in a U-shaped volume in order to open up and carefully frame the ocean views. A fluid public space between enclosed private volumes serves for cooking, eating, lounging... The ensured privacy within the separate houses allows for a home without hallways and furthermore for a continuous social and typological change: a family-home was easily transformed into a mini-hotel for 3 families with small children. This systematic approach enabled the transformation of both service houses: the garage into a sail loft - workshop for sail prototypes and the utility into Robert's ocean-view design studio. The roof also serves as a folded wooden deck and materially, topologically and chromatically integrates the house with the rough and wild landscape. The area of the roof is twice the size of the indoor space that needs no air-conditioning. Only local and natural materials are used for the finishing of the house. The walls are rendered with the custom plaster using beach sand inside and outside and furthermore emphasize the smooth indoor-outdoor relationship. The same IPE wood is used for the floor, terrace, ceiling and the roof. Clients true passion for this house was stretched to the level that the last 7 years they largely helped with lots of the physical work from roof cladding to plaster or furniture. Within this extensive process they have already build a long-lasting relationship with this house, now their home.