Wood and Wonder in a Modern Carmel Residence
Carmel-by-the-Sea (often called just Carmel), a small town on California’s Monterey Peninsula, is known as much for its golf as for its natural beauty. Chicago’s Dirk Denison Architects tapped into this beauty in a house the firm designed on a narrow site overlooking Carmel Bay and the Pacific Ocean for a retired couple looking to downsize. Wood, steel and glass combine to create something modern yet beautifully integrated into its natural and built context. This ideabook tours the house, from the curb to the roof and just about everything in between.Houzz at a Glance
Location: Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Size: 2,600 square feet
That’s interesting: The first floor is oriented around a semienclosed courtyard, and the second floor is devoted to a meditation and yoga room.
Location: Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Size: 2,600 square feet
That’s interesting: The first floor is oriented around a semienclosed courtyard, and the second floor is devoted to a meditation and yoga room.
Given the high value of land in the town, a stone’s throw from the most expensive public golf course in the country (Pebble Beach: $495 for 18 holes as I write this), the narrow lots are turned 90 degrees to the coast. This maximizes the number of lots with Pacific frontage, but it also orients houses to the sun, something that we’ll see Denison took advantage of in the layout of the house.Here we are looking at the house’s western front. The garage is tucked underneath the first floor, and above it we can see a small room popping above the roofline.
From the driveway, residents and visitors walk along a path on the south side that ascends to the front door. The wood siding — the most prominent aspect of the street frontage — continues here. Before reaching the front door, one passes through a gate made from wood fins and steel, a hint of things to come.
Most of the 2,600-square-foot residence is on the first floor. The spaces overlook a courtyard covered with a glass roof and open on the side (right) through deep-set fins of mahogany and steel. These vertical pieces allow for light, breezes and views when seen from the front, but when viewed at an angle, privacy is maintained.Here we are looking toward the master bedroom (note the opened wall between the courtyard and bedroom) from the entrance and living room.
Bamboo and another layer of wood fins add more privacy. Here we are looking from just outside the courtyard’s wood fins (note the edge of the glass roof at the top) toward the entrance gate.
Here we are again looking at the outside of the courtyard, along the path from the entrance gate to the master bedroom. There is very little in the way of yard available on the lot, but every last bit of it is carefully enhanced with plantings or pavings. The Asian influence is readily apparent in this view of the fins, bamboo and stepping stones.
In this view of the courtyard, we are looking from the master bedroom toward the living room and entrance. In the foreground is a Japaneseofuro (tub) installed for watching the evening sky. Asian design influences come across in the vertical screens and in elements like the tub.
Wood and Wonder in a Modern Carmel Residence
