Jewel Box in the Clouds
When you walk in, all you see is the blue, blue Pacific Ocean forever. This house subtlly blends with nature. With so many walls of glass it’s almost transparent, absorbed into the minimal, but powerful environment of land and sea. The 1,900 sq ft retreat on 40 acres has been featured in Dwell Magazine and New York Times. Built into the cliff, it commands the ridgeline yet remains undetectable to any passers-by. “The idea was to let the terrain roll onto the structure so all one could see from the uphill side is the natural slope of the sod roof,” says principal architect Mary Ann Schicketanz of Carver & Schicketanz architects in Carmel. This is a durable, transparent fortress, a challenging feat with the dramatic, passionate weather on the continents edge, especially in Big Sur.
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