Type: Coast

The house is two long volumes of glass and board-formed concrete, stepped down the slope so that every principal room faces the water. The upper level holds the living spaces beneath a cantilevered cedar soffit; the bedrooms sit below, sheltered by the hill.

Salt, wind and fog shaped every material decision. Frames are marine-grade bronze, decks are ipe laid on stainless clips, and the pool edge is honed local granite that weathers rather than stains.

Villa Serena reinterprets the Californian courtyard house at estate scale. Rooms wrap a central garden court, and every one opens to a loggia or terrace.

Walls are finished in hand-troweled lime plaster; floors are reclaimed French limestone. The grounds were planted two years before handover so the house would arrive already settled into its landscape.