This residence is nestled into a hillside property in little Santa Monica Canyon. At the entry, a path descends into an impromptu, landscaped amphitheater along a path that bends to provide enhanced perspective views. In the entry sequence of this path, the view through the house to the exterior space beyond is framed, offset, and then fully revealed at the doorway. A long skylight extends the geometry of the path as it winds through the living space, illuminating the livings spaces with indirect light. The open, loft-like spaces of the residence are distinguished by the geometry of the meandering skylight. As the skylight bends, visually linking the front and back door of the house, it creates distinction among the kitchen, living and dining areas. The cross-section of the house is punctuated by the skylight, where it slips to further distinguish these living areas, shaping their individual volumes subtly within the whole. As it moves through the house, sculpting the high ceiling, the skylight connects the two new courtyards created by the form of the residence.
At the rear façade, pocket doors disappear to frame the view of the exterior from the living room. A deck at the rear views back on the living area and through the house to the front courtyard. The high ceiling of the main living area compliments the view from the back courtyard, as the ceiling lifts and the longitudinal section parallels that of the descending geometry of the entry sequence. The house is both held together as a whole, and divided into parts by the volumetric carving of the skylight and the exterior seems to pull through the house along the same path, as the visual continuity between the back and front courtyards is maintained along this zig-zag spine of the house.
