The View

Sometimes the beauty of a project is not so much about the building but it’s surrounds. When Kate & Steve purchased their vacant lot on the Terranora escarpment with a sweeping and seemingly endless vista of ocean, city, lakes and ranges, this home was always going to be about the view.

The form was envisaged as a simple rectangle subtly tucked under the brow of the ridgeline with a soaring roof and continuous wall of glass opening to the Northwest and the world beyond.

Particular emphasis was given to creating a deliberate entry sequence. You arrive off Terranora Road into a private courtyard and while you know there must be something special on the other side it is momentarily held back. Once you pass through the oversized copper doors into the Entry Breezeway the view engulfs you to the point where you may forget about the house entirely. Withholding the view selfishly makes it a part of the home rather than the building feeling like it is an object in the landscape. In fact, there are limited opportunities to look back at the home but that is fine as it all about every single room enjoying and embracing the same enviable outlook.