Among the Oaks Residence

Nested on a hilltop overlooking the Orcutt community and vast open space of Northern Santa Barbara County, this custom single-family residence is harmonious with its natural surroundings. The home captures the eye through its exquisite modern architectural design influences. The 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom home was specifically designed to engage with the amazing existing oak-filled hills and picturesque coastal views overlooking the property. The home has been carefully designed to cater to the existing topography and engage its exterior façade sensibly with the natural open preserve to develop a strong connectivity with outdoor and indoor California living. The design of the home maximizes every view opportunity to frame key vanish points looking in and out of the home.

At initial conceptual design, a site feasibility study provided inventory of the existing site conditions and design opportunities. Soon after, a parti site diagram sketch captured the fundamental design concept for the home known as “The Journey”. The Journey, considered the owners self-reflection of their day to day living patterns, personal interests and social interactions between indoor and outdoor spaces. The Journey starts from the first placed steps coming up the main stair entrance and ends as the homeowner retreats into their private master bedroom oasis. The Journey is meant to provide the homeowner with different experiences between private, semi-private, and public spaces. Each living space is an opportunity to take advantage of the natural outdoor surroundings either by capturing large panoramic views or small framed intimate views of the site. Overall, this concept creates a backbone or main circulation spine that clearly defines visual boundaries to navigate through and experience within the home.