PISE Does It - Homes - Dwell

Description

Between two of the most beautiful towns on the California coast, Carmel-by-the-Sea and Big Sur, there’s a hidden valley: 31 square miles shared by just 300 families, each of whom owns a small parcel and the right to build. The area, originally known as Rancho San Carlos, was one of the last intact Mexican land-grant ranchos in California. Now it’s the Santa Lucia Preserve, a private eco-park, off-limits and unknown even to area natives.

San Francisco architect Eric Haesloop discovered the preserve through his clients Bob and Allyson Kavner, who own five acres there. “It’s so spectacular,” he says, “just what you imagine California was like a hundred years ago, with wild boars, turkeys, and birds galore.”

The Kavners’ lot is situated where the oak woodlands of the coastal mountain range meet the meadows of the valley. An early farmhouse for the ranchero once stood here, surrounded by a few scattered fruit trees. Surveying the site, Haesloop realized that there was a lot of history, both natural and human, that the architecture would need to respond to—–not to mention the needs and desires of the Kavners themselves. Both husband and wife are originally from the East Coast and have many happy memories of summer vacations spent in upstate New York. They fantasized about an Adirondack-style camp, complete with cabins, to better host their four grown children and five grandchildren. The house was to be a weekend retreat, a place to escape the pressures of work. Bob Kavner was an early president of Idealab, the high-tech incubator, and now serves on the boards of several successful Idealab start-up companies. Weekends, however, are devoted to his hobby, woodworking. “How do you bring in those memories and that love of traditional wood construction,” asks Haesloop, “with the Northern California climate, topography, and ...

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