The Ridge

The Ridge occupies a narrow buildable envelope on a coastal bluff in Big Sur, a site with dramatic views but tight environmental and setback constraints. Rather than fighting the narrow footprint, we let it define the house: a long, single-loaded bar of rooms strung along a covered walkway facing the ocean.

Because the site sits within a sensitive coastal zone, the house was engineered to sit lightly on a minimal foundation, elevated slightly above the native grasses rather than cut into them. Weathering steel cladding was chosen deliberately to rust and darken over its first two years, settling the house into its surroundings rather than announcing itself against them.