This three-bedroom home, on Big Sur’s
spectacular south coast, is anchored in
the natural beauty and power of this
California landscape. Our design strategy
embeds the building within the land,
creating a structure inseparable from its
context. The site offers dramatic views:
a 250-foot drop to the Pacific Ocean
both along the bluff and the western
exposure. Yet it demands a form more
complex than a giant picture window.
The long, thin volume conforms and
deforms to the natural contours of the
land and the geometries of the bluff,
much like the banana slug native to the
region’s seaside forests. In this way, the
complex structural system applies and
defies natural forms to accommodate
the siting. The house is cantilevered 12
feet back from the bluff, both to protect
the cliff’s delicate ecosystem and to
ensure the structure’s integrity and
safety. The interior is a shelter, a refuge
in contrast with the roughness and
immense scale of the ocean and cliff. The
house also shields the southern outdoor
spaces from the powerful winds that
blow from the northwest.
Architects:
Fougeron Architecture
Location:
54200 California 1,
Big Sur, CA 93920, USA
Area: 3800.0 ft2
Project Year: 2014
Photographs:
Joe Fletcher Photography
Structural Engineering:
endrestudio
Landscape Architects:
Blasen Landscape Architects
Civil/Geotechnical Engineering:
Grice Engineering and Geology
Page 7 - Archetech