Sometimes to make a classic California home, you need to bring in Romanians. Confronted with the ruins of a former industrial site on a remote Golden State beach, Romania’s Razvan Barsan + Partners decided to create a “sea-side house inspired by the industrial era.” The challenge was to honor both the spectacular natural surrounding and the building’s original structure while keeping in mind that it needs to work as a residence as well as a visual gem.
Obviously, the home had to make use of the beach and the ocean. Accordingly, they created “a smooth transition from the house located on the beach, to the lounge area located on a dock to, finally, a small island oriented towards the ocean; all linked together by bridges.”
Razvan Barsan + Partners practice an “honest” architecture, with the result the metal skeleton of the industrial ruins becomes “not only the linkage between the three areas, but also the centerpiece of the composition.”
Extensive use of windows and transparent surfaces maximizes the views of the natural surroundings. They also utilized local materials including wood, reed, and bamboo to “express the relationship between the construction and the exotic landscape.”
Of course, the most striking aspect of the property may be the way from certain perspectives it gives the impression of not being connected to the land at all and simply floating on water.
To see more Razvan Barsan + Partners designs, click here.
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