Moon House

The key design challenge was to ensure that this home was deeply biographical to Ben and Laura while achieving a balance throughout the home. Balance in form, balance in light, balance in space, balance in program and balance in palette. Ben and Laura have a social lifestyle, recently welcomed their first baby, and are professional DJs who regularly host friends and family. They wanted a home that equally caters for a house-party and an intimate dinner for two. It needed to be a connected home, representative of them and the dualities in the way they like to live.

•Playful geometry balanced by rigorous detailing •Extruded forms to the front balanced by recessed forms to the rear •Intimate/calm spaces balanced by invigorating/lively spaces •Crisp steel and glass balanced by textural limestone and brickwork •Dynamic plays of direct natural light balanced by soft diffuse light funneled down voids •Physical connection to the landscape (west) balanced by visual connection to the ocean (east)

Balancing dynamic geometries and rigorous detailing, Moon House is bursting with playfulness and optimism yet grounded in seriousness and ambition. The expressive design and voluminous curves capture the clients’ lively personalities, while the restrained palette and meticulous craftsmanship create a calm, textural home for family life and entertaining. The home blends spaciousness, functionality, and intimacy to enhance the owners’ social lifestyle. The open, airy ground floor invites natural light and breezes, and limestone pavers seamlessly connect indoor and outdoor spaces. Substantial joinery defines the kitchen, dining, and living areas. Soaring curved ceilings introduce dramatic volumes and foster dynamic lighting conditions.

Moon House earns the right to be playful by first establishing a foundation of strong composition, classical proportion, fine detailing, and balanced palette. As such, the home is rigorously biographical: Ben and Laura are lively, passionate, and fun, and live by strong core values. Moments of calm and intimacy sit under the extruded frontage, moments of exuberance and dynamism under the recessed rear. Curved geometries bridge these architectural typologies, reinforce the project program and enhance the interior atmosphere. Three stepped arches (referencing gables) frame the entry, shower, and bedroom, and create enclosure. Inside, the double-form vaulted ceiling is a bright, airy counterpoint to the compressed entry and helps define spaces. The semi-circular vault creates intimacy over the sofa and frames the palm-tree canopy. The double-height quadrant vault offers openness for circulation, fosters dynamic lighting conditions, and the internal window connects to the study. These vaults are recessed into the rear brick façade, versus being extruded from the front brick box. Interspersed volumes and voids filter light into the ground floor and provide connections to upstairs. The tapered layout funnels the breeze. The calm, textural, restrained palette accentuates the light, geometries and precise craftsmanship.