The Crossing Wall House, designed and built by Mobile Office Architects (MOA), is sited where the Santa Ynez Mountains meet the Pacific Ocean, overlooking the City of Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands.

© Tyson Ellis

Architects: Mobile Office Architects

Location: Santa Barbara, CA, United States

Lead Architect: Dustin Stephens

Structural Engineer: Peter Jarratt

Area: 2050.0 ft2

Project Year: 2015

Photographs: Tyson Ellis

© Tyson Ellis

The Crossing Wall House, designed and built by Mobile Office Architects (MOA), is sited where the Santa Ynez Mountains meet the Pacific Ocean, overlooking the City of Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands.
© Tyson Ellis

The parcel'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 geometric grids that come together in the homes central living space and open the home to views toward the ocean, islands, and lowlands. Two crossing retaining walls at the upslope side express the two project geometries and define the project?s position on the site.  At the back, one wall takes on an open and porous techtonic blurring the boundary between the constructed environment and the wild chaparral landscape. 
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