Malo Paso hides in Plain Sight
A once in a lifetime opportunity executed with elegance
Blending into the hillside in Monterey County, a sprawling custom home, Malo Paso offers both seclusion and stellar views of the Pacific Coast. The property is the birth of a once in a lifetime sale from the Nature Conservancy, a 116 acre stretch from Highway One over the Coastal Mountain range to Mal Paso Creek and bordering Garrapata State Park.
The buyers entrusted full-service architecture, interior design and consultancy firm Studio Schicketanz, with their vision for a sustainable and generational escape from Silicon Valley.
Formed in 2015, Studio Schicketanz is based in Carmel, California and Bangalore, India. It was founded by Gabriele Mary Ann Schicketanz, a practicing architect for more than three decades, her portfolio spans the Western United States and Europe. Studio Schicketanz is known for creating custom designs that offer classic simplicity, natural elegance and eco-forward designs. The firm has won numerous design awards and was recently included in Forbes’ inaugural America’s Top 200 Residential Architects.
A Challenge Embraced
Before building, the team performed a site analysis to inspect biological resources and determined action from there. The choice was made to conserve the upper two parcels of land covered with coastal shrubs and to build on the western most parcel.
In accordance with California’s Coastal Act and Land Use Plan, all new buildings have to remain invisible from the iconic Highway One. The team at Studio Schicketanz worked around this by cutting a shelf into the gentle hill side for the building site. Their answer to invisibility was a 15’ high curvilinearly shaped retaining wall.
This also had the benefit of a shorter extension of the existing ranch road and shorter utility runs. “We set out to keep our facades quiet and simple in texture and color to reflect the pastoral nature of the site,” said lead architect Gabriele Mary Ann Schicketanz.
A Unique Approach
The unconventional design comprising four interconnected pavilions or “cubes,” are variously angled to form a compound. The primary three cubes on the western side feature floor-to-ceiling glazed sliders serving as the western walls while allowing for maximum advantage of the coveted views of the Pacific Ocean. The fourth cube serves as the guest suite and faces the hills and courtyard.
They are both supported and framed by a 400 ft long rock wall, from locally sourced Hollister Granite. The courtyard serves as a central place to gather, away from the coastal wind and enjoy nature with direct views of the hills.
Views All Around
As you enter Malo Paso, you are surrounded by its neutral and warm material palette.
The ceiling constructed from reclaimed wine barrels extends from the main living cube into the entry. Thoughtfully placed skylights ensure daylight in every room. Alongside Savannah Brown Duras flagstone, concrete flooring was selected to compliment the stone and is used for flooring in the connectors of the living cubes.
The main living area exhibits the ocean views to the west and the interior courtyard to the east. The open-concept design allows for seamless entertainment from the kitchen, dining and living area. It is centered by the “Kauri” dining table by Rea 1920 and “Ginger” dining chairs by Poltrona Frau. Behind the kitchen, a separate scullery was created with the pantry and appliances of sight from the dining area. The living room’s functional pieces highlight the 360 views with the ability to face towards the ocean, pool, courtyard and dining/kitchen.
The pool overlooks the Pacific Ocean and features petrified wood stumps by Leos Enderle and Rodney Hunter. Studio Schicketanz tailors every aspect of the home to the buyer, each of the beds, ottomans, book cases and media cabinets were custom designed. The primary bathroom boasts stunning Brizo custom cabinetry, “Litze” collection fixtures and the “Vega” tub by Concreteworks sits below a circular skylight.
Their Green Vision
Sustainability and energy efficiency is a focus for Studio Schicketanz and the Malo Paso project.
The home is calculated to be zero energy ready home. The power and hot water are generated with solar panels and stored in four Tesla Power Walls, ready to power the house when grid power is not available.
The energy produced on site covers all the power needs for the house and for charging two EVs. For water, the home uses a private well and has ten gallons of underground water storage, and shallow leach fields for wastewater treatment.
The home also features continuous ventilation, indoor electric composting for food waste and has remote operations for locks, lights, heating and security. To further prioritize sustainability, Studio Schicketanz ensured the excavated material was distributed on site and restored to a native meadow that was previously compromised by years of grazing.
This home was originally designed to be a vacation home for a family in the Silicon Valley. However, the property was just so special, it turned into their primary residence. Malo Paso dares to dream unconventionally, and to keep those dreams green.
Photo by Joe Fletcher Photography
By Sofia Feeney. She is an assistant editor at Builder Media and can be reached at sofia@builder.media.
This is featured in the Sept/Oct issue of Green Home Builder