The Santa Lucia Preserve, formerly Rancho San Carlos, is a 20,000-acre, gated community located in the mountains above Carmel, CA. The developers of the Preserve, in installing infrastructure and creating individual homesites, established strict guidelines to conserve the land and to maintain its character as ranch and grazing lands. 18,000 acres are held either as conservation land or as open space.
The family of a San Francisco couple bought a lot in the Preserve in the late 90s as homesites became available for sale. The couple married at the Preserve; they and their family have maintained close ties to the place. In the early 2020s they decided to purchase a different site more suitable to their needs—walkable to the Preserve’s recreational center and social core, on a 6-acre site with stunning views to the east and woodland to the west. They asked us to help them design a vacation home that would accommodate parents and extended family for long stays and holiday celebrations. KPa+d previously designed the couple’s city home in San Francisco.
Over the years KP had looked at both sites, as we discussed the idea of a family compound—not a large house, but a series of smaller buildings organized around a courtyard—like a ranch—that would have a light touch on the land. KPa+d designed a house, guest house (ADU) and detached garage to have a low profile against the hillside rising behind it, while defining a private courtyard with ample space for play, relaxation and outdoor dining. The portion of the site designated for a home has a gentle slope—but enough of an elevation change from one corner to the other to matter in laying out the house. That, combined with strict height limits in the Design Guidelines and the requirement that the main house be one building only, gave us the material for developing the massing as we did. We designed the main house to be three major volumes under independent gable roofs, connected by lower, flat-roofed sections containing bathrooms, storage and laundry. In the end, it is the compound the owners long dreamt of.
