While interviewing Albert Chu of Otaat, we were introduced to the work of local architecture firm Johnston Marklee. Started by Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee, the firm is all about engaging different disciplines (art, design, writing, fashion) in order to keep their work versatile and exciting. One work that they’ve made that we are obsessed with is the Oxnard based Vault House. Think it fits in with our ongoing Dream Home series? You bet.
The house is on the beach and was completed last year. It plays with half-oval shapes from the windows to its patio cutout to the various archways that make for doorways and more. Even the ceilings have a mild curve to them! The effect is very beautiful and—because it is so open and includes sky cutouts—it is very bright. It is perfectly Californian. The arched stilts of the house are also a wise addition in making the house stand over high tides but is quite a cool effect, too. Why Vault House? Vaults are “a roof in the form of an arch or a series of arches.” So, yes, the name of the house is entirely appropriate.
There is something super basic about this design, too. While being so curvy and bright white, it does so much without doing so little. We’ll let Johnston Marklee explain: “With a series of stacked and unidirectional vaults contained within a simple solid mass, the parallel orientation of the rooms within the house becomes a filter that emphasizes the continuation of the oceanfront view from the beachfront façade to the street. Similar to the paradigm of a shotgun-house, the singular direction of the vaults maximizes the connection of all spaces within a deep building, meanwhile incorporating the ideal exterior landscape of the ocean and horizon.”
The Vault House is a the ultimate beach house. It’s perfect for framing the sun’s setting and for watching surfers catching ocean waves. Like little dents in the sand and the natural curvature of a seashell, both bathed in bright sun, the Vault House is exactly perfect for Californians. We do wish this was in Los Angeles instead of Oxnard but, hey, we’re sure JS will be doing something similar—And wilder!—in town soon. You can see more of the house here and here.
