The allure of California living is found at the sun-drenched intersection of a lifestyle that incorporates the best of vacation experiences with all the comforts of home. Few homes are a better illustration of this than the HA Residence residence. Positioned on a Manhattan Beach walk street, the home’s southwest views encompass the ocean’s horizon and the city’s iconic pier and aquarium. In- spired by the client’s wide-ranging, tropical travels, the architecture embodies the soaring aspirations of a growing family and the grounded realities of living on a constrained lot with high public visibility.
With such a context, the architecture must perform the delicate dance between facilitating California living with open generosity, while providing its occupants with a certain measure of privacy. On the ground level, a sunken garden and beach room fluidly connect the activity of the home to passing pedestrians and neighbors on the walk street. For the homeowners, it offers the perfect messy entrance from the beach. One can walk straight from a cold plunge in the Pacific to the beach room sauna and gym.
Featuring a reverse floor plan, the second floor is the most intimate and private level of
the home. The master suite sits at the southern prow and features an integrated bed that nestles into a custom wood surround. Behind a sheer wall, the primary bathroom draws the best of the beach’s natural light through a louvered exterior privacy screen, to dapple the terrazzo tiled surfaces. Even on the exterior, first time visitors must search for the home’s formal entry, which is tucked away within a densely planted side yard garden.
While guests may enter at this secluded second level of the home, they are immediately ushered upstairs to the third floor - and crowning jewel - of the home. This level is a unified space, defined by the warmth of the wood ceiling, the soft texture of limestone walls, and the contrast of dark granite slabs. While the material language is restrained to these simple ingredients, they are deployed with decadent freedom across the connected living, kitchen, and dining spaces. The result is one large room that you can sink into.
The subdued and soft materiality form the backdrop for the architectural zenith - the soaring, cantilevered roof. Its excessive rhythm of hemlock beams sweep from the kitchen to the great outdoor living room, ending only upon reaching the landscape planters that border the balcony space. This dominant architectural feature rests delicately on a series of clerestory windows, accomplishing both an all-day suffusion of light and the illusion that the roof is floating above the stone volumes below. But perhaps, the best illusion of all is the way this residence successfully blurs the lines between a world-class getaway and the solace only found within a true home.
