Wohlner Residence

This project explores the freedoms and constraints of working with the private seaside community of Three Arch Bay in Laguna Beach, CA. The intimate scale of an existing 1970’s beach cottage was retained with this renovation and addition. While a new dynamic, spatial configuration is created by the elimination of interior walls and some floor areas. Exterior openings have been modified to maximize expansive ocean views, breezes and natural light. A vacation home for a family of four including two children, the design responds to the requirement of the family for flexibility of use. Interior spaces are connected seamlessly to exterior spaces by pocket doors and a continuity of materials. Travertine, mahogany and Rhine-zinc, gently woven into the composition, root the structure in the seaside terrain and provide spatial synthesis. The openness of the interior spatial plan invites a magnificent play of light upon these surfaces.