Residing with nature : the houses of KAA Design

Residing with Nature features one-of-a-kind homes, crafted in sensuous materials and dramatically sited to enhance views, sunlight, and nature in California, Nevada, and Colorado.

Grant Kirkpatrick and Duan Tran of KAA share their process for creating personal environments that are tailor-made to each client s unique lifestyle and setting.

All the designs inform a dynamic connection to nature that links indoors and outdoors, an extraordinary attention to craftsmanship, an enduring use of local materials, a striking balance between geometry and whimsy, and an exhilarating sense of levitation. KAA Design is the architect of choice for celebrities such as Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Matt Damon, Maria Sharapova, and Steve Wynn; their stunning houses exemplify why so many look to California as the mode of sophisticated modern living.

Their houses are inspired by early California modernism and Asian traditions and an homage to the work of architects like Rudolph Schindler who used a sophisticated, natural material palette.

The Strand in Manhattan Beach rises out of a berm of sea grasses; the Tree House is nestled amidst an array of mature cork oaks, rare Torrey pines, and fragrant Southern magnolias, responding to the client s longstanding connection to the site.

The designs integrate geothermal, radiant-floor heating and cooling, PV energy systems, and solar water heating.