Live Oak Residence

After falling in love with a piece of land in the Santa Lucia Preserve, the homeowners of the Live Oak Residence spent many weekends camping and picnicking on the site, dreaming about their future ‘house in a meadow.’ Intended to begin as a weekend retreat, the house has been designed and planned out as their eventual retirement home.

Three years after purchasing the lot, the pair began interviewing architects to bring their vision to life. They were drawn to the indoor/outdoor connection of our houses in The Preserve and like many of our clients desired their home to be visually and physically connected to the landscape around it. A large “work barn”, pool, and pool house were also part of their wish list. Furthermore, as a couple who loves to entertain, the capacity to host large groups of friends was a must.

The 50 acre site is filled with coast live oaks, but the home sits secluded in an open meadow. The lack of neighboring houses gives visitors the feeling that they’re completely isolated from the surrounding community and able to fully immerse themselves in the nature around them.

The home is placed towards the top of a sloping meadow and downhill from the vehicle arrival/parking. Its location provides expansive views of the site and the surrounding hills. The entry sequence leads guests along a footpath that skirts a mature oak grove. The entrance to the home is sunken into the hillside which minimizes its scale from the exterior, but gives a sense of grandeur once inside.  A large great room sits at the center of the single story house with the best proximity to the surrounding views. The design features a large conjoined great room and master suite area with a separate bedroom wing.

The clients had originally visualized a minimalist modern aesthetic for their home. Our design team worked with them to develop a pallete of earth tones by introducing wood and warm metals. The exterior stucco is subtlety textured to highlight plays on shadows while infill paneling in the facade gives the home a clean modern aesthetic.

LOCATION Carmel, California

PROJECT TEAM

Landscape Design: Ground Studio Landscape
Structural Engineer: Sheerline Engineering
Civil Engineer: L&S Engineers
Geotechnical Engineer: Soil Surveys Group
Arborist: Maureen Hamb