Project 01 — Concept
Dune House
Malibu, California — Pacific Coast Highway
The site presented a paradox common to the Malibu littoral: a narrow, steeply graded lot between the Pacific Coast Highway and the ocean, with extraordinary views but almost no flat ground. The existing residence — a mid-century structure by a student of Richard Neutra — had been extended twice without regard for the original spatial logic. The clients, a couple who had lived in the house for twelve years, wanted the landscape to feel as though it had always been there.
Our approach began with the dune ecology that once defined this stretch of coast. Rather than imposing a garden on the site, we worked to recover the gradient between built form and littoral habitat — a sequence of planted terraces that descend from the highway elevation to the beach, using native coastal sage scrub, Eriogonum, and Dudleya species that require no supplemental irrigation once established.
The design resolves the tension between the client's desire for outdoor living space and the ecological imperative of the site. Three terraces — each at a different elevation — create distinct spatial experiences: an upper courtyard for arrival and dining, a mid-level garden room that mediates between interior and exterior, and a lower dune terrace that dissolves into the beach. The material palette is deliberately restrained: board-formed concrete, Corten steel edging, and decomposed granite paths that register the passage of feet and weather.
Process
Design Development & Installation
Phase 01 — Site Analysis & Schematic Design
Six months of observation preceded any drawing. We documented wind patterns, salt deposition, existing root systems, and the seasonal behaviour of runoff across the slope. The schematic design emerged from this data — not from a predetermined aesthetic. Collaboration with the architect focused on aligning the new retaining walls with the structural grid of the house, so that landscape and architecture would read as a single intervention.
Phase 02 — Hardscape & Grading
The grading work required moving approximately 340 cubic yards of earth by hand and small machinery — the site's access constraints precluded heavy equipment. Each terrace was cut to a precise elevation, with subsurface drainage designed to manage the 100-year storm event while directing filtered runoff toward the existing dune system. Board-formed concrete walls were poured in three stages over eight weeks, with reveals aligned to the house's fenestration rhythm.
Phase 03 — Planting & Establishment
Planting was timed to coincide with the onset of the winter rains. Over 2,400 individual plants — propagated from locally sourced seed by a specialist native nursery — were installed across the three terraces. The planting plan was designed to achieve 80% coverage within eighteen months, with a target of full ecological function within three years. A temporary drip irrigation system supports establishment and will be removed once the root systems are self-sustaining.
Gallery — Dune House
The dune terrace is the quietest of the three rooms. Decomposed granite gives way to sand, and the board-formed concrete steps soften into drifts of coastal sage scrub and Dudleya. Nothing here competes with the ocean: the planting stays low, the materials weather to the colour of the bluff, and the edge between garden and beach is left deliberately undefined.