33rd and The Strand

The lifestyle of the professional athlete is characterized by periods of intense physical exertion followed by periods of rest and nourishment of the body. For these professional athletes and their young children, both facets of this lifestyle are supported by this home. They have the option of spending time indoors or outside, in public or in varying degrees of privacy in the pool, spa, or ocean, and these choices are available year-round. In the middle of a neighborhood full of chaotic beach life, the home is a peaceful retreat where the environment encourages and facilitates healthy living.

To give the family breathing space, their home is sited on two contiguous parcels, breaking up the typical Strand configuration where homes often fill their lots with the maximum allowable square footage. On one of the two lots, the residence covers the allowable square footage with two floors of living space and a basement, while on the other lot the home retreats into a smaller volume adjacent to the court and pool, trading interior space to create the private courtyard and a single story living room. This organization provides a collateral urban benefit, a gift to the neighborhood by virtue of a public view corridor from city to sea.

This home revolves around a cool, clear pool, not unlike a glacial Scandinavian lake, with stone walls standing in for the steep alpine mountains that circle those deep-water retreats. The pure geometry of the courtyard pool and spa walls creates a setting that seems to have been carved by forces of nature. Evoking these rarefied and rustic lake districts associated with clean, pure water and clean, fresh air, the family named their oceanfront hideaway “Valhalla,” the afterworld where Nordic heroes slain gloriously in battle dwelt. A carved stone bearing this name is placed in the wall next to the street entrance. By choosing this designation, the family underscored then connections with the vision of rustic retreat and a healthy environment in the mountains with its more refined counterpart at the sea.