Manhattan Beach, California, USA

Located within a dense neighborhood in Manhattan Beach outside of Los Angeles, the Manhattan Beach House by David Montalba and his design team at Montalba Architects is a spacious beachfront house that offers an experience close to nature throughout the interior of the building itself.

The Manhattan Beach House has recently been awarded a 2023 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

Behind the street front, the volume of this house dissolves, with glimpses through openings between floors and between distant rooms.

Though the surrounding buildings fill nearly all of their parcels, these openings bring natural light deep into the house.

Though like all houses in this neighborhood, the street front is narrow, the façade wraps into the sideyard, to provide a sense of depth to the appearance of the street, as well as to soften the experience of entry.

Circulation within the house is through tall connecting spaces, particularly the entry and the courtyard.

Entry is through a screened semi-outdoor garden space, leading to the second-floor main entrance.

The second-floor screened courtyard is open to the sky and includes a small garden and fountain.

A large maple tree is a reminder of natural time and the seasons.

The courtyard is visible throughout the house, whether moving along the length of the house or up to the third-floor main living level. In the third-floor living room, sliding glass barn doors open to a deck with a panoramic view.

Along the entire length of the house, a slot of space sneaks through all the third-floor spaces and aligns with a narrow street that runs toward the beach, allowing a distant view of breaking waves.

The third-floor living spaces adjoin a lap pool and vertical garden open to the sky. From the farthest, highest part of the house, at the end of the pool, one can look across the water in the pool, through the house, and to the ocean beyond.

Project: Manhattan Beach House
Architects: Montalba Architects
Lead Architect: David Montalba
General Contractor: Ehrhard Building Company
Client: Private
Photographers: Kevin Scott