Malibu Road, Malibu, CA.

Malibu Road runs along the coastline north of the Malibu Colony for approximately 2 miles.  All of the homes are on the water’s edge.  This home, originally designed by Edward Niles in 1970 had, by 2004, fallen into disrepair due to lack of maintenance and the general environmental difficulty of being located on the ocean.  We were asked to re-vision the building.  Because it had been originally design with great structural clarity, our task was made relatively easy.  The structure, made of steel dictated the general distribution of plan elements which were divided into a 3 dimensional 9 square arrangement.  We reorganized the circulation and repositioned the major elements of the plan within the original steel frame.  Our vision for the building was that it become a powerful, warm, modern structure which celebrated both it’s past, and it’s location on the beach.  We utilized warm modern materials, clear Douglas fir for ceilings, and a warm light vanilla-gold Jerusalem limestone floor.  The structural elements were clad with a pre-painted aluminum skin, allowing their presence to be felt and seen throughout the building. A tight, grout less stone in light beige and grey was used for the interior fireplaces, stainless steel was used throughout for detailing.