The design for this 6,000 square-foot residence overlooking the Pacific Ocean was inspired by its unique site and the appeal of the dramatic landscape around it. Situated on a cliff 250 feet above the ocean, the house is the southernmost private residence on Mexico's Baja Peninsula. As Steven Harris puts it, “one of our main goals was to stay out of the way of the view and of the site.” As such, the house is situated to accommodate a sequence of views and to exclude the visual presence of nearby buildings, creating the illusion that it exists in total isolation on the primordial landscape. The house is not a single building, but a cluster of pavilions at or below ground level that hug the rocky promontory and frame vistas of the shoreline and sea. A skylight in the entry court provides natural lighting to interior rooms below, which descend three stories down the cliff face, housing bedrooms, a studio, and guest apartments. Open to the limitless expanse of sea on one side and the desert on the other, the house’s interiors become a series of sensual experiences. Some rooms are cave-like, carved into the rock ledge; others at the cliff edge are barely enclosed by glass and seem suspended in mid-air. By combining elements such as exposed stone walls with mid-century modern furnishings, the elegance of the interior spaces is tempered by the austerity of the surrounding environment. A stair carved from the cliff rock and an outdoor shower with carved stone walls allow you to experience the house as a literal extension of its natural landscape and site. An 80-foot swimming pool sits on an outcrop in the cliff between the house and ocean, collapsing the space between the pool and the Pacific Ocean below. The house is made from materials typical to this region of Mexico: polished concrete, glass, and native stone excavated on the property.

This project has received a New York AIA Award.