This small Spanish cottage located on the ocean bluff was transformed into a bright, spacious loft. With few remaining interior walls, small level changes were designed to redefine spaces, from the bedroom down to the living room. The simple palette of materials - acid-stained concrete, white walls and cabinets - allows the dramatic surroundings and the owner’s extensive art collection to take center stage. Expansive accordion doors and continuous concrete floors help blur the line between indoors and outdoors, extending living spaces beyond exterior walls.

This award-winning project involved complementing the existing house with a 500 square foot addition that includes a living room, a loft and an entrance vestibule. The house is located on three acres in an undeveloped canyon near Carmel Valley Road, north of San Diego. The original house was dark and inward facing, and did not take advantage of the site’s magnificent views. The owners wanted an addition that would improve their lifestyle without drastically changing the original character of the house. They wanted to maintain the rustic and intimate qualities of country living in addition to having a house that is connected to the land and open to its surroundings.

The program included a new living room connected to the existing one, a new kitchen and a room for the owners’ large dogs to get out of the rain without entering the rest of the house. That room eventually developed into what is now called the “Dog Tower”. The dog room was combined with the vestibule and a second story loft which offers views of the ocean and leads to a deck over the new living room. A rich Mexican stone was introduced to compliment the existing dark brown wood of the original house. The stone was carefully detailed to give it depth and its color was chosen to match the earth tones of the canyon. By using large amounts of glass and continuing the stone into the new living room, the desired connection between the house and its natural surroundings was achieved.

This century-old, five-story townhouse was converted back from ten studio apartments to a single-family residence with four bedrooms, six bathrooms, a study, den, office, eat-in kitchen, dining and living rooms, large deck and a private garden, all in the heart of Manhattan.

The owners had previously lived in a large loft and wanted to transfer the expansive feeling of their loft to their townhouse. In order to add natural light to the long narrow structure and also break the repetitive organization created by the apartments, two floors were partially removed. This created two-story spaces with extended interior views. The limestone and brick facade, central stair and some interior door and window casings were restored to enhance their original details. Avadore and sycamore cabinetry, maple flooring and large Mexican stone fireplaces were used to achieve clean, modern lines while providing a warm and comfortable environment.

A single family residence in Encinitas located on a site which gently slopes towards the ocean. Accordion doors and stone floors connect the living spaces to the garden and pool which opens the house toward the distant views.

A 1400 square foot house perched on a hillside, open towards the canyon with 10' glass pocket doors and cantilevered decks. Three sides of the living room slide away and give the house a sense of being suspended amidst the Eucalyptus trees. The lines between the interior and exterior are blurred, allowing the house to live bigger than it is.