- Name: Mataja House
- Type: Modern Contemporary
- Bedrooms: 5
- Bathrooms: 5
- Size: 7,500 sq. ft.
- Lot: 32 acres.
- Built: 1998
The perfect luxury retreat from an urban lifestyle, the Mataja luxury residence enjoys stunning 270-degree views from its mountaintop perch overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu. The architecture was designed to express motion through formal structural gestures with exposed steel moment framing, expansive glass panels and thick concrete cantilevers that set a dramatic tone of exclusivity.
Wrapped around an existing granite boulder outcropping using the California courtyard house typology to organize the sequence of spaces, the boulders form and complete the courtyard which make architectural use of this extraordinary natural feature, shielding it and the interior from strong northerly winds and weather as well as camouflaging the house from those hiking in the adjacent National Park. From every room, the boulders can be viewed and experienced, in effect, inviting the existing rock configuration and its microenvironment into the residence. These gestures settle the house into the landscape.
In addition, a butterfly roof is directed south and angled at 32 degrees to achieve maximum solar collection; it also collects and channels water for site irrigation. Trombe exterior walls of formed concrete and an air floor created by honeycombed double concrete slabs provide enough thermal massing to allow for the majority of the interior space to be glazed. Cantilevered concrete and glass curtain walls angle at 8 degrees towards significant sight lines, axes and over the sensational vistas of Mullholand Canyon.
- Architect: Belzberg Architects
- Photography: Scott A. Everts
- Location: 12815 Yellow Hill Rd, Malibu, CA 90265, USA
