Crossing Wall House

The Crossing Wall House sits where the Santa Ynez Mountains meet the Pacific Ocean, overlooking the City of Santa Barbara and Channel Islands. The property's steep grade necessitated careful site planning and guided the building form as it utilized two narrow existing terraces. The two differing orientations of the terraces are expressed by two geometries that come together in the homes central living space and open the home to southern views toward the ocean, islands, and lowlands. The primary living space acts as a indoor-outdoor pavilion, opening fully at the back to an entry courtyard and opening in front to deck and views beyond. The project utilizes passive solar, thermal mass, passive ventilation, and solar hot water strategies to provide an efficient comfortable environment on the exposed slopes of the desert chaparral landscape. The raw Corten steel and concrete exterior material palette was developed to create a building that ages with the landscape and respond to threats posed by wildfire. MOA completed both design and build work for the project.