Angel's Edge
Malibu, California
Schematic Design 1997
Design Team
Brian Messana, Toby O’Rorke
The space of the house is derived by the “sectional” differences between the lowest and highest levels of the site. The house reflects the three principle sectional conditions of the site; the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific Coast Highway, and the sloping site. The design is developed in both horizontal and vertical section. The vertical section is the mechanism, which defines and controls the apertures [windows and openings] through which views and passage are attained.
The nature of the sloping site provided an opportunity to flip the entry and descend into the house through horizontal sectional cuts. The distinction between ground and house is blurred at the entry level. The roof level or entry/ground level is a viewing site at which point the coplanar surface of the lap pool merges with the perspective of the Pacific Ocean beyond. The entrance into the house is both a vertical and a horizontal sectional cut, which descends into the house and bisects it.
The living spaces are intentionally ambiguous, without complete definition or resolution. For example, a utilitarian counter moves through the main living floor and suggests rather than pre- scribes, the domestic activities that may take place. The private domestic spaces are on the lowest level beyond and below the public spaces.
The location of the site and the house as it is sited allows for dramatic and expansive views of the Pacific Ocean, the sectional apertures in this house control and direct views restricting the obvious and allowing the obscure.
Renderings by Benedek Czigány