Calm Waters

The clients’ program envisioned a year-round house for their active young family. The waterfront property faces west to a calm bay beyond a private beach. The design took shape around the idea of a flexible home that supported both entertaining and privacy by using variations of opacities to ease the divisions between indoor and outdoor spaces. The design’s interlocking plan allows for work and meditation spaces to feel private and take advantage of the waterfront view, while remaining connected to the flow of the home to inspire family gathering. The forms vary from transparent, opaque, and controlled transparency, to suggested or absent forms defining indoor/outdoor spaces. The plan is distributed to these forms according to function: the open-plan first floor, entry hall, and bedrooms enjoy full transparency to the water view. Family gathering and work take place where transparency is controlled by 3” wide X 6” deep cedar louvers, spaced 9” on center. We used a palette of four materials: concrete, wood, stucco, and glass, which are low-maintenance and durable in the salty, humid environment of the area. The main level floor and the living area fireplace wall are polished concrete; main level ceilings and dining/kitchen partition wall are center-matched cedar. The exterior is clad in off-white stucco, sanded to a smooth finish.