point dume residence

PROJECT
This residence and guesthouse are for a young couple with a stunning site atop the bluffs in Malibu. The goal of the project is to maximize views of the Pacific Ocean and Point Dume. Marmol Radziner is designing the architecture and landscape.

SITE
Up on a 90-foot cliff, the site faces the ocean, which is due south. The home is located on the southeastern corner of the site to gain the best possible view of Point Dume's craggy peninsula.

DESIGN
The temperate, maritime climate allows interior domestic life to unfold out of doors in nearly every room. Expansive spaces expand even further, reaching for the Pacific and its rocky sentinel, Point Dume. Two factors determine the angled placement of a large volume containing the living room and dining room below and master bedroom suite above, namely, the view of the peninsula and the curve of the bluff top. Acting as a pivot point within this large volume, a brick mass demarcates the entrance foyer, contains a fireplace that faces the living room and provides a wine bar and cellar that face the dining room.

To allow for maximal transparency throughout, the house is supported by a steel structure. Generous roof overhangs shelter all south facing rooms with glass window walls. The office, guest bedroom and master bedroom all have a thin roof plane with an exposed structure of steel columns, steel beams and wood rafters. As the hub of the home, the ground floor family room is slightly elevated in section. Sliding glass pocket doors retract on the north and south facades, allowing for open-air living. When gusty winds pick up, a terrace on the leeward side of the family room provides a sheltered outdoor space from which it is still possible to see through the home to the ocean beyond. Throughout the residence, material planes continue unbroken from interior to exterior.

A solar thermal hot water system heats the pool and water for radiant heating in the floors. All storm water runoff from the roofs and driveways will be recaptured in cisterns, run through a bio-filter and reclaimed for the landscape. A lift in the garage allows five cars to be stored in what appears to be a two-car garage. Also on the property is a 600 square foot guesthouse, a concise rendition of the main house.