The primary design goal for David Montalba’s private villa in Santa Monica Canyon, USA, was to create fluid boundaries between exterior and interior spaces. Every room in the house is somehow connected to the outdoor setting and draws an element of natural light and life into the home. Combined with floors in Dinesen Oak Classic, this makes the villa, in Montalba’s own words, a fusion of European and Californian design. We invite you on an exclusive visit inside the architect’s home.
Private residence – Santa Monica, CA, USA
Architect: Montalba Architects
Photographer: Kevin Scott
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Oak Classic
Thickness: 22 mm. / US 0.9"
Width: 200 mm. / US 7.9"
Random lengths: 1–4 m. / US 3' 4" - 13' 1"
Finish: not Dinesen
From the street, the villa reveals nothing about the Swiss-American architect David Montalba’s personal life. The architectural construction only presents its attractive facade, a beautiful combination of white concrete, glass and wood.
The design, which is the work of Montalba’s own studio, Montalba Architects, offers a rich and dynamic experience. The layout is based on long horizontal building volumes in three storeys. The architect’s goal was to create a floating second floor, which appears to have landed with perfect harmony on top of the building's ground floor.
The three-storey atrium garden in the middle of the house draws light into each of the floors and offers opens views of the backyard and the sky above.
The greenery of the garden is allowed to work its way into all the rooms of the house; an ingenious feature that underscores the architect’s ambition of subverting the traditional notion of spatial boundaries. In its fusion with the outdoor environment, the home appears to be simultaneously sheltered by and emerging from the site.
Montalba has created an architectural structure that blends European and Californian styles, drawing inspiration from the different design expressions of the two regions. A key goal was to avoid overstimulation in the interior and instead create calm, open spaces with a strong spiritual atmosphere. Montalba aims for a setting where the mind is stimulated by the clarity of vision provided by clean lines and understated spaces.
Montalba paid great attention to the choice of materials with an emphasis on reflection, texture, natural qualities and durability. Thus, Dinesen Oak floors are a key element that lays a foundation for everyday life and strikes a soft, gentle contrast to the crisp character of the concrete and glass of the architecture.
