2026 RDAA | Custom Urban House | Point Dume Residence | Lake Flato Architects

Located within walking distance of the beach in sunny Southern California, this project speaks exuberantly about the joys of indoor-outdoor living. A mini-resort for a family with three grown children, it features open-air corridors and pathways instead of hallways. “It feels fresh and airy, with a resplendent quality of being light and open,” remarked the jury, who appreciated the thinness of the floor plan and its connection to the outdoors. 

The team at Lake Flato were thrilled to work with clients who were very active and wanted to embrace “this amazing natural environment that you can connect to year-round,” says Steve Raike, FAIA. “Our first response was to rip the roof off the lobby and create a spectacular garden entrance.” Here, the traditional foyer is replaced by a courtyard space shaded by a deep overhang. 

Referencing SoCal’s Midcentury Modern masterworks, the design team created a steel-framed, glass-walled pavilion for the public gathering spaces. The pavilion opens to views of the Santa Monica Mountains on one side and a large courtyard with a lap pool and a green-clay tennis court on the other. Within the voluminous, nearly 19-foot-tall space, they inserted wood-clad volumes to house the kitchen and other dedicated functions. The ceiling is high enough to fit a reading loft into the volume that contains the powder room and fireplace.

The private spaces are more intimately scaled but continue that connection with the outdoors. The primary bedroom suite is in a separate wing, while the other three bedrooms are housed in their own outbuildings, each with a bath and private courtyard. “We think about how a home can change over time, when children move away and come back for visits,” says Steve. “The contiguous part of the house is a relatively modest 3,200 square feet—it doesn’t feel like you’re walking past a bunch of empty bedrooms.” 

The firm, which has offices in Texas and Oregon, worked with L.A.-based Kathleen Ferguson Landscapes on the project. “When we’re working in places that we’re not as familiar with, we always try to bring a local landscape architect on board, because they know the region so well, and the landscape is so integral to our work,” says Steve.

The jury approved of the proportions of house to landscape. “For a compound, it seems modest—the rooms are not huge and form outdoor spaces. The architects limited the moves and nailed them.”

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