La Jolla Beach House I

This house in La Jolla is located on a beach of the same name, on the Pacific coast.

The site has a natural/artificial dichotomy—it is opposite a large pond built as a buffer between the condo and the sea. Part of the site has a 1.8 meter terrace that acts as container for the pond.

The project aims to demonstrate the connection between abstract architecture and its environment, establishing a relationship between man and nature, between the desert and the sea. The desert creates the need for a space of privacy in the vastness of its territory; the ocean invites the interior to open towards the horizon.

The logic used in the design of this house is subtractive. The programmatic organization provides an intimate first level, grouping seven bedrooms with their bathrooms. The façade of this floor is designed with a habitable thickness comprised of closets and bathrooms, which in turn protect the windows from the outside.

The entire second floor is “separated” from the first level through an architectural “burnish” that displays the nature of the program, both public and private. The hall, with a double height, is the environment that spatially integrates both levels.