The urban Hon­olu­lu site for this house has the street and the ocean as its two sig­nif­i­cant bound­aries, with­in which a care­ful­ly con­fig­ured site plan enables the own­ers to live adja­cent to the ocean in pri­va­cy and deep com­fort. Respect­ing its neigh­bors and hon­or­ing its inhab­i­tants, this house’s form allows all rooms to open to a cen­tral court­yard, with a lin­ear entry sequence pre­sent­ing vis­i­tors with both inti­mate court­yard views and broad ocean vis­tas along its perimeter. 

The owner’s pro­gram for the house includ­ed the require­ments for a liv­ing room, din­ing room, kitchen, break­fast nook, study, fam­i­ly room, laun­dry, bed­rooms, and bath­rooms. In for­mu­lat­ing these ele­ments, the house design is based upon achiev­ing a bal­ance of shel­ter and open­ness which cre­ates a full and con­stant inti­ma­cy with the envi­ron­ment for its inhab­i­tants. It focus­es on those essen­tial char­ac­ter­is­tics, pos­si­ble in a benign cli­mate, such as nat­ur­al ven­ti­la­tion, large lanais and over­hangs, and mul­ti­ple expo­sures to daylight. 

The house cre­ates a casu­al yet unique­ly ele­gant way of life for a fam­i­ly of six, based upon lay­ers of enclo­sure employ­ing shut­ters, screens and glass doors. A refined and resolved char­ac­ter, per­me­at­ing and uni­fy­ing both struc­ture and land­scape, emanates from the con­tem­po­rary detail­ing of tra­di­tion­al durable mate­ri­als, includ­ing teak, stone, and plaster.