The resulting Vault House is a smooth, pure-white rectangular block, cut through with arches, vaults and curving skylights that open up oblique and overlapping views
Though the building looks like monolithic cast concrete, it's actually synthetic stucco over a wood-frame construction. Wood was chosen over cast concrete because of cost, weight and seismic considerations
The ocean is visible from every room in the house, however far back, but the grand panorama of sand, waves and surfers practically inhabits the living room
The broad vaults, from which this house gets its name, shape the character of every room in this house. Even the ceilings are slightly curved
The inclusion of the central courtyard was a key architectural strategy. This sheltered patio, doubling as an entry court, opens the way for layered transparency and allows sunlight to penetrate deep inside
Sometimes sharp, often curved and occasionally oblique, the house's sculptural forms nearly always surprise, evoking the arched sequences of a de Chirico painting
Skylights often perforate the heavy vaults and arches, lightening the construction and brightening the interior
Although the front of the house is raised on stilts, the rear sits flat on the ground. The resulting asymmetries inspired a shifting play of interior levels around the court
A simple and stylish interior uses the house's abundance of natural light to maximum effect
A sense of layered transparency is felt throughout the house, transcending the boundaries of space often set by multiple floors
The parking garage, at the building's opposite end, had to sit directly on the ground, over walls engineered to collapse under huge-wave pressure
Special permits allowed the owners of Vault House to build six metres closer to the surf than any of their neighbours. With its vaulted underbelly, the house appears to perch lightly on the sand. But it's a lightness secured by massive underground pylons, designed to withstand high waves, wind and erosion
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A Karuizawa house is a soothing, work-from-home retreat in JapanTakeshi Hirobe Architects play with scale and space, creating a tranquil residence in which to live and work
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Vincent Van Duysen launches ‘most modern’ Zara Home collectionThe fourth instalment of architect Vincent Van Duysen’s collaboration with Zara Home introduces a modernist sensibility, with new materials and refined, architectural forms
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For its US debut, Formafantasma goes back to basicsOn view at Friedman Benda this summer, the show is the result of the Milan-based studio's ongoing fascination with history, technology and domesticity
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The world of Bart Prince, where architecture is born from the inside outFor the Albuquerque architect Bart Prince, function trumps form, and all building starts from the inside out; we revisit a profile from the Wallpaper* archive, first published in April 2009
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Is embracing nature the key to a more fire-resilient Los Angeles? These landscape architects think soFor some, an executive order issued by California governor Gavin Newsom does little to address the complexities of living within an urban-wildland interface
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Hop on this Fire Island Pines tour, marking Pride Month and the start of the summerA Fire Island Pines tour through the work of architecture studio BOND is hosted by The American Institute of Architects New York in celebration of Pride Month; join the fun
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A Laurel Canyon house shows off its midcentury architecture bonesWe step inside a refreshed modernist Laurel Canyon house, the family home of Annie Ritz and Daniel Rabin of And And And Studio
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A refreshed Rockefeller Wing reopens with a bang at The Met in New YorkThe Met's Michael C Rockefeller Wing gets a refresh by Kulapat Yantrasast's WHY Architecture, bringing light, air and impact to the galleries devoted to arts from Africa, Oceania and the Ancient Americas
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A Fire Island house for two sisters reimagines the beach home typologyCoughlin Scheel Architects’ Fire Island house is an exploration of an extended family retreat for the 21st century
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PlayLab opens its Los Angeles base, blending workspace, library and shop in a new interiorCreative studio PlayLab opens its Los Angeles workspace and reveals plans to also open its archive to the public for the first time, revealing a dedicated space full of pop treasures
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Los Angeles businesses regroup after the 2025 firesIn the third instalment of our Rebuilding LA series, we zoom in on Los Angeles businesses and the architecture and social fabric around them within the impacted Los Angeles neighbourhoods
