Laquna Retreat

Hello Lovelies!  Today I found a remarkable home constructed in southern California. If you have ever been to Laguna, you know the hills go on forever and they are not kidding around with 1000 steps to the beach!

The Sartinis couple, found just the right architect and designer to fulfill their dream house. Article found in Architectural Digest!   Check it out!

Story Begins:

To achieve everything on their checklist, the Sartinis reached out to seven architects “from all design perspectives,” Blake says. “We didn’t want to limit ourselves to one particular style in the creative process.” Having had experience developing large-scale commercial properties, he followed a familiar procedure, sending an RFP (request for proposal) to each professional, just as if the house were a major facility. “In commercial building, much of the design involves the logistics of moving people around,” he says. “Here, the spaces are simply for everyday comfort. What we really wanted was our own small resort, and we had in mind a collage of architectural examples from our travels.” He and Delise winnowed the field of architects to three and then sponsored a design competition—another rarity for residential work.

The winning scheme was by Grant Camden Kirkpatrick of Los Angeles’s KAA Design, who responded to the complexities of the steep, trapezoidal lot with a 14,000-square-foot structure that gracefully descends the creased slope in five levels. The building angles off slightly at each floor to comply with the unusual geometries of the site and to maximize the sea vistas, some strikingly framed by mature Monterey cypresses. “We came up with the notion of the home as arroyo,” says Kirkpatrick; the architect conceived the plan as a series of stepped elevations and linked terraces, with water flowing from the entrance court (on the fourth floor) down through a small rill and various vessels to the infinity pool and the main public space (on the second level), where a great room extends onto the terrace. By following the water’s path, one can, via exterior stairs, directly access the beach from any of the five bedroom suites without ever entering the public areas.