- Architecture & development
On the island where they first met, a couple is starting a new chapter with the help of Californian firm Walker Warner Architects in collaboration with Leverone Design. Imagicasa takes you to Maui Residence!
At the end of the highway on Maui's south coast lies a stretch of coastline that is nothing short of paradisiacal; but even with a location like this, designing a residential retreat is not without its challenges. Given the dual nature of the site, architect Greg Warner quickly came to a conclusion: "If you're open to letting the architecture be what it wants to be, in terms of configuration, form, style... then this is the way it could work". With this in mind, the goal became to create a house that has a coherent concept but responds intuitively to remarkably different circumstances. 
The dramatic secret of the house is that behind the solidity of the low frontage, a full two-storey programme of light glass and steel has been constructed, opening the living spaces and bedrooms to a vast and inspiring seascape. It really opens up to the panorama and the view beyond, which is the big surprise that you get as soon as you go through the wall of the entrance, that it just kind of unfolds.
Designed to balance openness with privacy, and sunlight with shade.
As you enter on the upper level, the first visual impression is that the building is miraculously floating above the sea. The master suite and other large bedrooms are designed with corner windows that dematerialise the structure and provide stunning all-round views of the coastline. The overarching theme that unites the house is light, in particular the play of light through various screen elements. There is also an impressive play of light and shadow against the rich texture of the adjacent slab-shaped concrete wall. Inside the house, vertical wooden blinds elegantly separate rooms from each other while allowing sunlight to enter the rooms. Skylights and skylights accentuate the grain patterns of both the concrete and cypress walls. 
The result is a house that achieves a balance between mass and space, privacy and openness, sunlight and shade, all fitting in at the threshold between land and sea.
Architect: Walker Warner Architects
Interior Design: Leverone Design
Landscape Architect: Lutsko Associates Landscape
Contractor/Builder: Dowbuilt
Art Consultant: Tom O’Connor
Photographer: Matthew Millman