The Full Montara

In Montara, California, architect Michael Maltzan designed a home for, his sister and  brother-in-law. From certain vantage points, the home’s unique angles result in M.C. Escher–like optical illusions. For Thomas Meyerhoffer, a product designer and avid surfer, and his wife Mary Kate, a graphic designer and serious rock climber, living in San Francisco was never about being in San Francisco. "It’s one of the few places in the world you can live in a big city and be so close to nature," explains Thomas, who initially came to the Bay Area in 1993 from Sweden to work for Ideo. Nine years ago, the adventurous couple took the leap of leaving city life behind entirely, and bought a 30-by-30-foot cinder-block house in Montara, a small, sleepy seaside town just 25 minutes south of the city on Highway 1. Now nature was right outside their front door.

The new homeowners’ first decision was to gut the house completely to create an open plan. "It was just one big room where we did everything," recalls Thomas. "We could just take down walls or put up walls; it was really experimental." "We called it our bunker on the beach," adds Mary Kate with a hint of sarcasm. Although renovation was in the cards, with other interests and pursuits occupying much of the couple’s time, the one-room bunker remained home for another six years. But with the arrival of their son, Dylan, it became clear that it was time to bite the renovation bullet. The couple didn’t have to look far to find an architect. They turned to Mary Kate’s brother, Michael Maltzan—a one-time protégé of Frank Gehry’s office who has experienced marked success with his own practice and commissions that include the MoMA QNS, a  renovation of UCLA’s Hammer Museum, and the Fresno Metropolitan Museum.

"Because it was her brother, we were careful to engage in the right way," concedes Thomas, acknowledging the shift the home represents from the architect’s usual roster of high-profile projects. Maltzan adds, "It is different than a lot of the projects we are involved in—at some levels—but I think an approach to architecture is an approach to architecture."