Inhabit the Hills

Located at Mugu Point, California, fifty miles from Los Angeles, the Mugu House is embedded in Malibu’s steep cliffs. The residence takes advantage of the existing topography and porosities of the site. The result is zero impact on the surrounding area, an ecological project immersed in and connected to the natural environment.

This lightweight architecture uses prefabricated alveolar concrete made from primary locally available materials, such as sand and aggregates, with a very low (seven percent) cement content. This composition reduces carbon dioxide emissions by twenty-eight times compared with traditional concrete.
Easy to build and to remove, this project allows a quick, inexpensive, clean, sustainable, and waste-free installation.
Built with very few partitions, the rock determines the geometry of the interior spaces; the flank of the uninterrupted mountain extends inside each room, reminding us that we are guests of nature.

The Mugu House embodies a return to the roots of architecture connected with the natural elements, a dialogue with the mountain and its naturally formed caves. The house is in constant conversation with its surroundings: its lichens, succulents, and other vegetation.Thanks to its large bay windows, the main façade immerge the inhabitant in the ocean, offering a long stretched framing on the Californian panorama.

The double-skin facade is composed of removable triangular units, generating different types of solar patterns through a series of wooden sunscreens based on Amerindian tribal patterns.
The architecture of the Mugu House links both nature and history, sustainability and permanence: the house revisits the original shelter trope by creating a vernacular dialogue with the mountain, and embodies a return to the roots of the American continent.