Stack Residence

Malibu, California

Single Family Residence

Undisclosed

5,500 sq. ft. single family residence on an undeveloped 5.24 acre hillside site in the Santa Monica mountains: This four-bedroom home’s design is a response to its rugged hillside site and a desire to minimize the impact of building on an undeveloped property. Rather than grading a flat building pad, the three-level home works with the topography to tuck itself into the hill. This reduces the impact on the site and minimizes the building’s visual mass for neighbors. It is made to appear as two levels on three of the elevations, and on the side where the third (lowest) level is visible, the mass is largely concealed because the back of the building sits within an existing site depression. This design was ideal for the building site not only because it allowed for visual mass and grading to be minimized, but because it also allowed for the removal of a large area of non-native invasive plants. The two lowest floors (mostly within the ground) utilize board formed concrete that alternates in direction between floors, while the upper level uses vertical cement board siding as a compositional shift. The three levels are similar in footprint, but each level slips off the one above and below so the home better follows the topography, and to create overhangs where needed to minimize solar heat gain. Roof gardens are utilized on each of the floors for added thermal mass and again to conceal the home. An indoor/outdoor boomerang-shaped pool is used to blend the horizon of the property with the ocean in the distance.

In Progress

Brian Wickersham (Principal-in-Charge), Matthew Aulicino (PM), Ricardo Moura, Uriel Lopez, Louie Bofill

Civil Engineer - Ahsirt Engineering, Inc.