The pool terrace, enveloped by grassland, overlooks the Pacific Ocean.
©Jason Liske
The house nestles into the hillside, minimizing disturbance to the land.
©Jason Liske
The connected, pavilion-like volumes of the house sit lightly in a vast landscape of coastal grassland.
©Jason Liske
A stone path through planting leads to the home’s front door.
©Jason Liske
Sliding glass doors open to allow light, air, and people to circulate freely through the heart of the house, mingling between the sheltered courtyard and the sweeping oceanside landscape.
©Jason Liske
The sun sets over the Pacific as family and friends swim in the pool.
©Jason Liske
The sun sets over the Pacific as family and friends swim in the pool.
©Jason Liske
Evening light illuminates the pool terrace and surrounding grassland.
©Jason Liske
The connected building volumes open in the middle, revealing a sheltered courtyard protected from coastal winds.
©Jason Liske
The house sits below the skyline of the Santa Lucia Mountains.
©Jason Liske
The daily rhythm of light, wind, and fog is observed and celebrated from this simple coastal landscape.
©Jason Liske
Site plan.
©Ground Studio
Client
Mal Paso
Project Team
Ground Studio
Project Statement
On an expansive lot on the north end of Big Sur, a beautiful home overlooks the Pacific Ocean and the rugged coastline. A gravel drive sweeps through a meadow on approach and culminates in a welcoming entry enveloped in native grasses and restios that respond to the movements of the wind. Enveloped in a vast grassland ecology, the compound of 4 connected volumes surrounds an intimate courtyard space that provides shelter from the elements in the quickly changing coastal weather. Balancing this inward view is a seemingly endless vista towards the ocean through floor to ceiling glass that opens onto a restored native grassland. Completely off the grid, this home opens wide to the broader landscape beyond and places the owners in a setting where disconnecting from the busyness of modern life feels like an inevitable choice.
Project Description
This project lies carefully perched on the rugged coastal edge of the iconic Santa Lucia Mountains in Big Sur. The landscape here is defined by its vastness. Grasslands sweep up and down steep mountainsides overlooking the endless Pacific Ocean. The sound of waves crashing on the rocks hundreds of feet below is omnipresent.
From the outset, we endeavored to pay close attention to this context and craft a design response that celebrates and focuses attention on these essential elements while minimizing our disturbance to the landscape at large. Accordingly, the designed landscape can at times be difficult to distinguish from the wild landscape. The majority of the planting is restored native grassland. At the edge of the graded area, near where the hill resumes its descent to the ocean, a simple rectangular pool is accessed via a small stone pathway and terrace. The focus is directed to the landscape beyond – the pool gestures into the grassland, and the reflection off the water echoes the blurred horizon.
In the middle of the clustered buildings, there is a small courtyard sheltered from the wind. Here, in this cloistered space, we depart from native habitat restoration and instead take horticultural inspiration from the many courtyard gardens of California and other Mediterranean-climate cultures, using drought-tolerant plants from California and around the world.
