Image Courtesy © REX

A patriarch dreams to build a family home—“a jewel box for individual lifestyles”—in which he, his wife, his four children, and each of their four familieswill reside. Three of the children are currently too young to have families of their ownor to define their future needs and desires. A building concept is thereby required that can accommodate families that do—and do not yet—exist. The patriarch’sothermajor wishes arethat the ensemble of five homes has the architectural integrity of a single building, that the building look as though it has always been part of the site,and that it incorporate a classicdouble stair., Image Courtesy © REX

To create a structure in which each home can be experienced autonomously and as a component of a larger domestic network, the residence’s program is organized into a necklace…, Image Courtesy © REX

whose gems alternate between the five homes and five shared pavilions: an event space, an indoor&outdoor swimming pool, a gym&spa, a library& study, and a home cinema& performance space., Image Courtesy © REX

The extraordinary site commands views out to the ocean from a high bluff on one side, and into adense, old-growth forest on the other. Straddling the line between these radically different landscapes, the necklace achieves a residential Holy Grail: it exists simultaneously at the beach and in the woods. Each of the five homes are thereby afforded different site experiences: ocean, forest, or half-and-half., Image Courtesy © REX

While the ocean-side portions of the residence are on grade, due to the site’s steep drop-off, the forest-side portions extend horizontally into the tree canopy, giving these elements a tree-house experience.Entry is gained by driving under the residence’s elevated components into a secret garden at the building’s heart., Image Courtesy © REX

To accommodate the possible needs and proclivities of families which do not yet exist, the five homes are designed as unique gems on the necklace, each with a distinct living typology based loosely upon one of five canonical, Modernist homes.Should the four children and their families live permanently at the residence, the palette of homes will provide options to which each child—with his or herfamily’s future lifestyle preferences—might gravitate. Should the four children and their families only make frequent visits to the residence, they can enjoy alternate architectural and site experiences each stay., Image Courtesy © REX

Philip Johnson’s Glass House as experienced on the property., Image Courtesy © REX

Eero Saarinen’s Miller House as experienced on the property., Image Courtesy © REX

Eero Saarinen, Charles Eames, and Ray Eames’ Case Study House No. 8 as experienced on the property., Image Courtesy © REX

Louis I. Kahn’s Fisher House as experienced on the property., Image Courtesy © REX

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’sTugendhat Villa as experienced on the property., Image Courtesy © REX

Plan level 1, Image Courtesy © REX

Plan level 2, Image Courtesy © REX

Site plan (ocean to left, forest to right, and secret garden at center), Image Courtesy © REX

The residence’s exterior is wrapped in mirror glass such that upon approach, the building disappears into the site. The effect reduces the perception of the structure’s large mass and surreptitiously achieves the patriarch’s desire for a structure that “looks as if it has always been part of the site” by looking like it isn’t there at all., Image Courtesy © Luxigon

Driving under the cantilevered home, one enters the arrival courtyard: a secret garden whose clear, fluted glass visually ties the three-generational family together., Image Courtesy © Luxigon

The residence’s main entry and its curling reinterpretation of a classic double stair provide access to the residence’s roof terrace, while also serving as an event space with views to the ocean and central garden., Image Courtesy © REX

Entry / event space, Image Courtesy © REX

By night, the exterior’s mirror glass appears to dissolve, creating a lively lantern on the bluff., Image Courtesy © Luxigon

Image Courtesy © REX

Image Courtesy © REX