Featured Project — Calabasas, California

Modern Zen Mountain House.

Heavy timber, stone, steel and glass — a modern yet romantic mountain home, with a touch of zen.

The Exterior

Grown from
the hilltop

A reinterpreted classicism balanced by the rugged integrity of exposed concrete, steel, and heavy timber — winged rooflines floating above walls of glass, with human-scale details refined into what the studio calls structural jewelry.

Daytime view of the house across a succulent garden, its upswept wood-lined eaves against a deep blue sky

Aerial view of the infinity pool, covered terraces and planted roof, with green mountains beyond

The house seen from the planted hillside below, a glass room projecting out beneath a slatted sunscreen

The study wing rising from a slope of tufted grasses, its curved wood soffit sweeping overhead

Study wing with a cruciform window, seen past a bolted timber column under a slatted trellis

The Glass Dining Room

Floating over
the valley

The glass dinette cantilevers past the edge of the hill, and capturing the sunsets was non-negotiable: watching the sun drop behind the receding hills is now a family ritual — dinner guests are required to arrive at very specific times to avoid missing the show.

Glass dining room cantilevered over the hillside, its table and chairs suspended above the valley view

Looking up at the glass dining room's steel frame and the slatted timber sunscreen projecting above it

View from beneath the glass floor of the dining room, chairs visible overhead against blue sky

Inside the glass dining room: white chairs around a round glass table, hills and valley on three sides

Glass dining room seen from the kitchen, shades lowered on one side and the valley open on the other

Shades drawn in the glass dining room, softening the hills behind a round table set with flowers

The glass dining room at night, its floor reflecting the table and the long view back through the house

The illuminated glass dining room floating over the hillside at night above the city lights

Glass-floored dinette with its timber-and-steel table base above the hillside planting

The Interior

Rooms that open
to the sky

Axes direct the flow of spaces, colonnades abound, and symmetry calms the mind — judiciously broken to create interest. Around every corner there is something more to see, another detail to breathe in.

From the kitchen island, glass doors open to the shaded terrace, infinity pool and hills

Dining room under timber beams and black slats beside a gallery of bolted columns and a stone pier

Set dining table with an open-riser staircase and built-in wood cabinetry in the background

Freestanding soaking tub before a corner of steel-framed windows, between wood vanities

Two lounge chairs and tall speakers face a glass corner and the valley from the study

The study at sunset under a curved wood ceiling, the sky glowing through corner glass beyond the desk

The View Room at dusk, a long wood ceiling leading past the bar to windows over the city lights

View Room seating at dusk, the glowing pool and city lights beyond floor-to-ceiling glass

View Room with a linear fireplace, bar seating and windows on all sides at blue hour

The Library and More

Rooms that focus inward

The inwardly focused library is an oasis from the view. It is one of a variety of spaces within the home which allow the family to find a spot compatible with their current mood. A thick stone wall running the length of the home symbolically demarcates the two halves of the home.

The Library

Window seats and alcoves strategically placed around the home (facing North, South, East and West) allow the family to follow the sunshine as it travels from one seat to another over the course of the day, capturing the warming sunlight while reading from their extensive collection of books.

On one side is the open and exposed portion overlooking the valley view below. On the other is the inwardly focused, cozier side with views into a private courtyard.

Library window seat and corner bookshelves framed by thick stone walls and a timber column

Sitting area beneath timber beams beside stone piers, bookshelves and an open-riser stair

Thick stone wall with a deep opening revealing library shelves along a hallway

Upper landing with leather chairs against a weathered wood-plank wall, beside the cable-rail stair

Built-in office in warm wood cabinetry with a dark stone desk and a single pendant light

Garage with a timber and steel trussed ceiling, stainless cabinetry and a blue sports car at dusk

The Kitchen

Romantic modern,
in steel and timber

Not so much a room as the nexus of the home, organized around a walk-in pantry “storage island” clad in reclaimed lumber, its barn door hung on copper wheels. The Douglas fir and steel cabinetry is built to last generations — and the custom range hood is, apparently, capable of sucking up a small child, though this has not been tested.

Bolted timber columns frame the kitchen island, with the pantry, cooking wall and glass dining room beyond

Long kitchen island on timber trestle legs beneath a ceiling of exposed beams and black slats

Douglas fir center island with stone top and pendant lights, steel-framed glass doors to the terrace

Kitchen seen from the dinette: island seating, steel beams and a tall wall of appliances and fir cabinetry

Cooking wall with a stainless hood set against exposed concrete above Douglas fir cabinetry

Cooktop recessed in an exposed concrete wall, the glass dining room and green hillside to the right

Fir display cabinetry beside a stone wall, leading the eye to the glass dining room and mountains

Walk-in pantry clad in reclaimed lumber, with a matching sliding barn door on copper wheels

Long dining table set for guests beneath exposed timber beams, open to the kitchen beyond

The Theater

A home theater
in the spirit of zen

Minimal, but never austere: refined details of wood and steel, a palette of earthy hues, plush reclining seats, and a custom Douglas fir colonnade that surrounds and embraces the room. Soundproofing keeps the drama on the screen.

Home theater with red recliners facing a large screen between bolted timber columns

Two rows of red theater recliners before counter seating and wood cabinetry with a wet bar

Tiered red recliners in the theater, timber columns and a curved dark ceiling above

The Primary Bedroom

A home tailored precisely to you

A chance installation of an old streetlight, before it was removed to build the new home, reflected light off the former home’s pool, up through a window, to dance and shimmer on the owners’ bedroom ceiling. The couple fell asleep every night to that mesmerizing light show — and it became the impetus for the new bedroom’s location and design. Placed on the second level at the opposite end of the pool, the bedroom recreates the effect with a calculated light at the end of the pool that automatically rises into place at night. Bed location, window placement and a little trigonometry — voilà!

Primary bedroom at night, rippling pool light dancing across the wood ceiling above the bed

The Rooftop & Terraces

The edge of the property
is the horizon

Water meets sky at the infinity edge, a fire terrace crowns the roof, and the hills put on the nightly show — serene by day, cinematic after dark.

Outdoor dining under a steel and timber trellis beside the infinity pool, hills beyond

Covered outdoor lounge with a turquoise sectional, dining table and grill overlooking the hills

Concrete high bar with wood stools at the deck rail, looking across the green valley

Two wood lounge chairs on the circular overlook deck facing the valley and distant mountains

Wood pool loungers with turquoise cushions at the water's edge beside a stucco and glass wall

Sun setting over the hills, reflected in the infinity pool beside the circular seating deck

Bedroom deck in late-day light with wood chairs, overlooking the pool and the hills beyond

Infinity pool at blue hour, the View Room glowing beneath its wood soffit and city lights below

Outdoor dining and lounge at night under the lit trellis, the kitchen visible through glass doors

Timber column and trellis at night, the lit pool and View Room beyond

Wet footprints lead from the outdoor table to the glowing infinity pool above the city lights

Slatted trellis framing the illuminated pool at night, the valley lights below

The Sunken Roof Deck

On the top of the world

The sky is a view, too. Every house has one, yet it’s invariably overlooked. Sunken within the planted roof of the View Room, the roof deck is the place to be for those cool evenings stargazing by the warmth of the fire pit or meditating upon the shimmering lights of the valley below. It feels like a private mountaintop within the city.

Sunken circular roof deck ringed by a steel rail and planted roof, a lone hill and valley beyond

Aerial view of the sunken fire-pit deck set into the planted roof above the pool

Fire pit blazing in the sunken roof deck at sunset, chairs circled above the glittering valley

The Details

Architectural and structural jewelry

Is it God or the Devil that’s in the details? What we know for sure is that the details make or break a home. They provide visual interest and nurture the soul, which is especially important in a modern design which can be cold and sterile. Everywhere you turn, this home is replete with resplendent architectural details, from the structural jewelry of a roof truss or column capital to the architectural jewelry of a door frame, a table, or custom cabinet knob. The goal is a home that is beautiful, complete, and lovely before decorating with furniture and furnishings - details from the macro to the micro.

Column capital of bolted timber and dark steel plates meeting a steel beam

Front entry at night: a wood double door with horizontal bands, set in stone beneath a timber trellis

Steel-framed glass double doors in a bolted timber surround set into a stone wall

Dinette table base of tapered wood and steel, a mini version of the house's columns, under a round glass top

Close detail of fir drawers with round recessed bar pulls beside a professional cooktop

Wood credenza with a dark top, stacked drawers and a perforated metal panel above

Powder room with a white vessel sink on a sculpted wood pedestal against concrete walls

Powder room of concrete panels with a wall-hung toilet and a wood column holding paper rolls

Steam shower with a curving green glass-mosaic bench, niches and soft low lighting

The Floor Plans

For a deeper understanding

The plans read like a walk through the house. A 111-foot view axis — a ten-story building laid on its side — runs the length of the main level, from a sculpture niche at one end to the glass dinette and the valley at the other. Beside it, a thick stone wall divides the open rooms that face the view from the quieter ones that face the courtyard, and every important space takes its light from at least three sides.