Lux Magazine SPECIAL DECORATION Issue | inspired homes |NOVEMBER 2014
www.lux.pt
House Pebble Beach, California – USA
Wild at heart
It is a project that if full of contradictions, that, in theory had everything or almost everything to go wrong.
But those who error is relative. In the end everything comes up as an anthem to the attraction of the
opposites. Live the differences and the wild spirit
In the main courtyard there is a true outdoors living room open to the sky, for which, all of the house frame
came together to pay honor to this piece of nature, where there is a tribute to the trees
!
1!
There are some topics, for each there are no words, adequate words or enough words at all. Objects that
hold within so much and even their opposite meaning. Talk about them - or worst writing about them sounds bad because nothing suits or applies for them. There are times that words come up in a “prêt à
porter”, in a ready to use terms, when they should reproduce the magnificence of the personalized pieces.
In these times made of though moments and bothering silences, the British tend to talk about the weather,
wondering about the trivial weather conditions with such an elegance and delicacy that would give them
the first page on the news paper
Even though this project is in California , why not try the same strategy, facing the first and relaxed phrases
about the weather, he himself so unique, sophisticated and exotic in this little place on earth? Here on
Monterey Peninsula - Pebble Beach is exactly between Monterey and Camel - the weather is larky.
Heading on to the Pacific, Pebble Beach is faced with cold winds that often produce the well-known mist
of the coast region. This capricious mist clings to the landscape, making it mysterious and seductive, which
makes it’s golf courts - A national reference – one of the most wanted and photogenic areas in the USA
Pebble Beach, is on it’s own a exclusive place, an aside world, with his own management and
administration - this one is a very curious fact - what makes from this coast community, some sort of mega
condominium it’s that, it is all similar to a small autonomous town where it is payed a toll to get in if your not
a resident. A small kingdom for a hand full of lucky ones (euphemism for rich people) that makes this little
place on the planet one of the highest economical profiles in the States. To give even more social texture,
there lived astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space in 1961, and one of 12 men to walk
on the surface Lunar. The Space Age is a recurring and always delicious subject of cinematograph, neither
the renowned actor and director Clint Eastwood escaped this place, he being the most resounding name
!
2!
in Hollywood to take abode in this exclusive paradise, as indeed are all havens. Finely, the weather
approach eventually did not go wrong. Now we know exactly where we are, what the weather does and
by whom we are surrounded.
The charm and exoticism of the project resulting from
a lively dance of contrasts between the roughness of materials
and contemporary forms.
A palette of natural colors and the current lines of furniture, made to measure and unique to each area.
Opposites in harmony
Let us move from the macro to the micro. It’s time to use the magnifying glass on this project – the property
Stevenson Drive, known by Pebble Beach House – tries to go around the text, find the words that initially
ran away and talk about a house that holds an endless number of exciting contradictions and so many
antonyms. The first antithesis: the house is new, but it dates from the middle of last century. From that time
all that was used was the structure, all was reinvented, redesign, redefined and redecorated. So have
determined all the ones involved on the reconversion - more than rehabilitation-, This house had the
privilege to 'grow up' at Pebble Beach. However, among all stakeholders, the highlight will be Conrad
Sanchez of Conrad Design Group, who conceived the new layout of the project, and Heritage
Construction, which managed to run and build from scratch, with rigor and exaltation, the plans of an
inspired Conrad. The environment is rustic and simultaneously sophisticated. This may as well be the result
of a 'passion' since the beginning, that opened the poetic creativity of Conrad Sanchez and was soon
elevated the centerpiece of the entire project: the trees in particular the ones that writhing in woodland
that the man-architect would never be able to cut down, all would be arranged around it, all would be
born and elevate around this key element without losing the charm, but that would be the high light.
Known for some projects in which transformed plant areas in authentic private museums, where owners
!
3!
display their personal collections, Sanchez elevated to the status of natural masterpiece, here, Ballet
branches, dancing, and now exclusively in the courtyard Inside, the nerve center of the project. "I was
impressed with the location of the property and its wooded grounds. I love mature trees and realized that
they were the element that a design can not be designed or embedded a posteriori. Everything would
have to be designed around it.
The hardiness of the original building, from which was born
a new home, remains in corrugated iron roof,
in some natural stone facades, a certain
patina with shades of rust, and even on rough wood
that is lining interior walls.
The absolute functionality results from
a cubic summation
interconnecting areas
The simplicity of the decor, scanty in number
parts, gains strength and volume thanks
to no end of contrasts. The minimalist beds,
for example, make both parts Flanking
vintage iron accusing the passage of time,
such as works of art mega dimensional.
!
4!
The comfort is further enhanced by the reigning
ubiquitous fire, whose flames frame in heat exchangers
“There is an array of beauty that this home offers”, stresses Conrad, denouncing some of the enthusiasm
with which advanced for this rehabilitation. At the mouth of the terrace scene, almost a stage, are called,
in a semicircle, the remaining players: three bedrooms with its private bathrooms, and the central and
wide seating area, with a open and unashamed, which leads the way to the dining area and the kitchen
itself a loving trio of free spirit and very
contemporary. All advance romantically for arms of the trees that frame their glass walls.
For Conrad, the cornerstone of the project is precisely the ability to open through huge glass doors sliding,
the whole house to the outside, making the patio section central meeting where abound a fireplace and
a stove for outdoor barbecues so typically American and refreshments. "The courtyard allows owners to
take advantage of this wonderful time when they receive you, eat and remain at the fireplace in a setting
designed to accommodate the beautiful indigenous trees,” notes Conrad.
Despite the proximity of the Pacific,
and so acclaimed Californian beaches,
home recovering other passages.
The scents of Africa does not seem far away ...
All divisions to flow into
magnetism in the central courtyard,
of wild mind, the central system
of the entire project
!
5!
A final contrast
The architecture of the project, which appears, from the outside, almost like
a summation of modules, has undeniable nostalgic traits. the
corrugated plates that cover the roof, we imagine more
easily on top of a barn in which is part of this luxury residence and the structure of slatted wooden beams
that supports the interior, with classic tilt, refer,no nostalgia for traditional structures that contradict the
linearity the remaining architectural options. Also the stone
rough with that line the outer walls mounted a kind of rough puzzle, the rust-colored facades
and woods with its knots and irregularities exposed confer one rustic furniture inside the contrary, no this
would lead some aesthetic offense. Quite the contrary!
Both aspects, traditional and contemporary, are reinforced
this option, making it more obvious, by contrast, the huge argumentative ability of each of the chains. The
lighting design, both inside and out of doors, reinforces all these elements masterfully, antonyms and
contradictory, giving them a sophisticated elegance.
Land and Sea
The proximity to the beach had a saying on what concerns the conception of the interior spaces, Conrad
Sanchez designed with an unexpected nautical purpose. "I created the plant visualizing in mind the interior
of a ship, where there is a place for everything and where everything is in its place” he clarifies putting
meaning, on the privacy and comfort that he searched for each room. And so the result comes out in
large places without barriers the free movement between areas, with custom furnishings that was designed
exclusively, custom made so it can have visually impact but be discreet about how it blends with the
environment. And now, and we are who is saying this, the house and its decor achieve firm land, and
receives a wild animal spirit which fur is unreproducible and camouflages from third eye looks. There is also
an palette of natural colours – from which results undeniable African aromas which the designer manages
to insert in textile patterns.
!
6!