Slice of Heaven

When Los Angeles architect Michael Lehrer visited the oceanfront property in Capistrano Beach where clients wanted to build their dream home, he found himself surveying “a very expensive piece of sand.”

“The lot really looked tiny,” he said.

The site was wedged between two other beach houses and left room for only a 28-foot-wide structure. Still, the lot was just a shell’s throw from the surf and had an amazing view. The clients, Roger and Marji Davisson, had “obviously bought the lot to live by the ocean,” Lehrer said. “So how do you create a house on a narrow lot that feels large, spacious and responsive to the elements?”

Lehrer solved the space problem by making the most of those natural elements--the sky, sea and sand.

He created a modern, 4,000-square-foot building that has lots of glass and a floor plan that flows like a wave, with curved and asymmetrical walls that intersect at funky angles so light can filter through corners and crevices. There’s scarcely a 90-degree angle to be found.

The entire lower level opens to the ocean, starting from its narrowest point at the entryway and widening out along a gently curved processional wall into one seamless “great room,” where the kitchen, dining area and living room coexist.

“The idea is that 28 feet isn’t wide for a house,” Lehrer said, “but it is for a room.”

Glass covers almost all of the home’s oceanfront facade, so that the surf can be seen from all levels--the two lower floors and the upper mezzanine. The mezzanine, which houses a retreat-like master bed and bath, sits askew atop the entire structure.

“It looks like one object resting on another, so you don’t see a big, clunky box,” Lehrer said.

He designed the home with an eye toward the sky, so that all the rooms have a view, including the four bedrooms, large upstairs recreation room, TV room and even the walk-in closet of the master bedroom. There are towering windows on all sides, strategically placed to keep the houses next-door out of sight. Glass cutouts in the walls, ceilings, roof and even on the stairwell not only offer interesting lookouts throughout the house, but also allow the sun to flow from the skylights to the floor.

“Light is the centerpiece,” Lehrer said.

Ocean Can Be Seen From Every Room

The Davissons like living in their glass house.

Roger enjoys seeing the ocean from virtually every room, especially the spectacular close-up of the surf from his second-floor office where he conducts business as a private venture capitalist.

“You don’t need to walk outside to see the ocean--you can see it from way back in the house,” he said.

His office has a narrow piece of glass that juts out at an angle over the living room so that it serves as both a desk and an interesting architectural feature visible from the bottom level.

“We use every inch of this house. That’s something we’ve never done before,” Marji said. The home has none of the usual dead space--no long, windowless hallways or living rooms that might as well be roped off for all the use they get.

The interior finishes help make the home feel like a natural extension of the beach. Sand-colored German limestone extends throughout the bottom floor, onto the patio and ending with a two-step drop right onto the sand. Honey maple stairs and sand-colored sisal carpeting on the upper levels also “hide the sand” that’s occasionally tracked in by wet feet, Marji said.

All vertical surfaces in the home, including interior and exterior walls and the deep storage cabinets, are white because “white is all colors,” Lehrer said. The walls change color with the sky, reflecting the blue of a clear summer sky or glowing with warm hues at sunset.

Lehrer used a lot of frosted glass in aqua, blue and clear tones that resembles the worn bits of bottle glass one finds on the beach. The glass is used on bathroom doors, shower enclosures and the wavy buffet table that acts as a natural border between the kitchen and the living room. Counter tops are made of polished sand-colored granite.

Salt and Sand Pose Special Challenges

“I love the ocean. When I was growing up, my parents had a house in Malibu right on the sand,” Marji said.

She was accustomed to both the beauty and special challenges that go with oceanfront living.

“I could have a window washer living in our house,” she said, and still the windows and skylights wouldn’t be clean enough to satisfy her taste. The ocean spray leaves deposits that spot the glass, and there are a lot of windows to clean.

Keeping out the sand is another problem that plagues owners of beach houses. The Davissons clean their sandy feet with a small outdoor spigot on the patio and a towel by the entry.

“This probably wouldn’t work if our kids weren’t grown and out of the house,” Marji said.

In addition, the ocean air can be hard on a home.

“Salty air is relentless,” Roger said. Windows have aluminum frames with baked paint to prevent corroding. Any exposed metal is subject to pockmarks.

Despite the saltwater and sand, the Davissons love having the ocean as a next-door neighbor.

“When you first sleep with the sound of the ocean, it may keep you awake,” Roger said. “But it’s a rhythm that’s soothing. It becomes like a heartbeat.”

The crash of the waves lulls them to sleep, and the sight of the water soothes their nerves. Marji’s favorite spot in the house: A chaise longue that sits before the tall windows in the master bedroom, where she can curl up in the sun like a cat and read a good book.

The Davissons, who have occupied the home for four years, don’t worry about the lack of privacy that often goes with living on the sand. Their home is located almost a mile from the nearest public beach, so there’s little foot traffic.

Because the houses are wedged tightly together, however, keeping out of the neighbors’ sight is another matter. Lehrer strategically placed the windows and walls to protect the Davissons’ privacy. Still, the couple did add an automatic shade in their shower enclosure that can be raised and lowered with a push of a button.

“As beaches like this become urbanized, you have to find a way to maximize the land by selectively taking advantage of the view,” Lehrer said.

The Davissons paid dearly for their piece of sand, and although they would not reveal the price tag of the land or the home, Lehrer estimates that the house cost about $200 per square foot to build.

His effort has won two architectural design prizes: the 1997 honor award from the American Institute of Architects/Orange County Chapter and the 1998 design award from the Los Angeles chapter of the AIA. Lehrer is currently president of the Los Angeles AIA and an adjunct associate professor of architecture at USC. He’s the principal of Lehrer Architects in Los Angeles.

“A lot of people think of modern architecture as cold,” Lehrer said. “This shows it can be warm if you really exploit the sky and the light.”