A rustic family retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains from CCS Architecture
This 2,800 sq ft vacation home was designed for a San Francisco couple with six children – with ages ranging from high school to college, and is located inland from the beach town of Aptos, California in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The 20-acre site has ocean and mountain views, five miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. The family desired a setting that would be casual and rustic, and that would incorporate sustainable features to minimise the home's carbon footprint, such as a solar thermal system for domestic hot water, pool and hydronic radiant floors, reclaimed barn wood siding, and corten rusted steel.
The main house is composed of a ‘live building’ and a ‘sleep building’ that overlap at their roofs. The 1,600 sq ft barn, accessory buildings and recreational components are designed to work together as a country compound, which can accommodate a diverse range of activities from surfing to entertaining friends.
The property itself pulls it all together. The house and barn sit on the sloped meadow surrounded by redwood trees and with distant ocean views to the south. The activity areas are arranged around the outside of the house and barn.
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