See Arch designs Maui house around its site's views
This Maui house is a private retreat focused on its plot's striking views, and designed by San Francisco-based See Arch

Travis Rowan - Photography
This retirement property is all about views. To the north are this Maui house’s horse paddock, orchards and ocean vista, and to the south is the peak of Haleakalā volcano. The clients bought the land decades ago. The site is on Hawaii’s second biggest island, on a hillside in the village of Haiku on the north shore, and is a very visible project, says architect Sarah Ebner of See Arch: ‘But it was designed to be terraced into the hill, to embrace the natural topography and minimise its overall impact on the site.'
Maui Retreat’s ocean view gets a dramatic ‘reveal’ as visitors enter the oversized (1.5m to 3.5m) pivot front door. ‘Pivot doors are tactile and require such intentional operation that we all felt it was an appropriate fit for this moment,' adds Ebner, who founded See Arch in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016 as a women-owned and -operated design studio (they worked on this project with Nick Wagner Architects as architects' of record). The house is divided into two wings: the two-storey east wing is the private wing and the west wing (which just has an upper level) is for entertaining.
Meanwhile, those inside the 600 sq m house can look both north and south from the common rooms and main bedroom on the top floor. And all those windows were treated as a design feature beyond simply framing the spectacular views from the plot, Ebner says: ‘They were placed to create moments of connectivity between indoor rooms, outdoor courtyards and across the home.' Meanwhile, two garden courtyards connect interior spaces to verdant Maui planting.
Inside, there are travertine wall finishes, warm cedar ceilings and more industrial plywood-formed concrete elements. With its subdued finishes and feature walls, Ebner explains, ‘the interior architecture was to remain understated', to emphasise not just the views but also the clients’ art collection. Their eclectic collection of high and low art, ranges from 10th-century sculpture to contemporary paintings. Ebner and her team worked carefully with the clients, following their lead in choosing what pieces to showcase where.
‘We pulled inspiration from gallery moments, while imagining the interiors to open out and almost disappear into the site beyond,' she adds.
INFORMATION
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Clare Dowdy is a London-based freelance design and architecture journalist who has written for titles including Wallpaper*, BBC, Monocle and the Financial Times. She’s the author of ‘Made In London: From Workshops to Factories’ and co-author of ‘Made in Ibiza: A Journey into the Creative Heart of the White Island’.
-
The Sinclair name is back, attached to a pocket-sized games console with an educational edge
Grant Sinclair’s name is freighted with early computing history. Wallpaper* tapped up the British inventor to find out more about his new GamerCard console and other innovation
-
Beloved sushi restaurant Sōgo Roll Bar comes to Highland Park
The sushi hangout begins a new chapter in its second location, becoming the perfect spot for a quick grab-and-go or a relaxed tasting experience in east LA
-
Japanese designer Shinichiro Ogata's latest venture is a modern riff on the traditions of his home country
As he launches Saboe, a series of new tearooms and shops across Japan, we delve into Shinichiro Ogata's creative vision, mirrored throughout the spaces and objects, rituals and moments of his projects
-
A 432 Park Avenue apartment is an art-filled family home among the clouds
At 432 Park Avenue, inside and outside compete for starring roles; welcome to a skyscraping, art-filled apartment in Midtown Manhattan
-
Discover this sleek-but-warm sanctuary in the heart of the Wyoming wilds
This glorious wood-and-stone residence never misses a chance to show off the stirring landscape it calls home
-
Inside a Montana house, putting the American West's landscape at its heart
A holiday house in the Montana mountains, designed by Walker Warner Architects and Gachot Studios, scales new heights to create a fresh perspective on communing with the natural landscape
-
Peel back this Michigan lakeside house’s cool slate exterior to reveal a warm wooden home
In Detroit, Michigan, this lakeside house, a Y-shaped home by Disbrow Iannuzzi Architects, creates a soft balance between darkness and light through its minimalist materiality
-
Inside the new theatre at Jacob’s Pillow and its ‘magic box’, part of a pioneering complex designed for dance
Jacob’s Pillow welcomes the reborn Doris Duke Theatre by Mecanoo, a new space that has just opened in the beloved Berkshires cultural hub for the summer season
-
A Rancho Mirage home is in tune with its location and its architect-owners’ passions
Architect Steven Harris and his collaborator and husband, designer Lucien Rees Roberts, have built a home in Rancho Mirage, surrounded by some of America’s most iconic midcentury modern works; they invited us on a tour
-
Inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s Laurent House – a project built with accessibility at its heart
The dwelling, which you can visit in Illinois, is a classic example of Wright’s Usonian architecture, and was also built for a client with a disability long before accessibility was widely considered
-
Tour this fire-resilient minimalist weekend retreat in California
A minimalist weekend retreat was designed as a counterpoint to a San Francisco pied-à-terre; Edmonds + Lee Architects’ Amnesia House in Napa Valley is a place for making memories