RANCHO 7

Located on a challenging east facing slope in the Santa Lucia Preserve, the site offers the opportunity to be perched above a breathtaking coastal valley. Views are paramount, offering expansive vistas to the surrounding coastal woodlands, ridges and grasslands below. The biggest challenge involved providing a sense of place on 2 acres of previously mechanically stripped and heavily eroded land.

Our primary goal was to provide a wide range of varied experiences within this constrained site. By way of openness, containment, tree cover, and level changes, a dynamic progression of  landscape spaces leads the visitor to venture through and discover both unsuspecting grand views as well as intimacy and refuge.

The initial work included the strategic clearing of non-native shrubs and poison oak. This process revealed and highlighted the natural boundaries, such as mature trees, woodlands and ridge lines. We established drifts of native vegetation to connect the home to the adjacent redwood and oak savanna habitats. Native grassland is introduced above and below the home to provide a seamless transition to the ‘wild’ while amplifying morning and evening light that spills into the site.