40 DIGS.NET
| 6.12.26
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P R O F I L E | C R A I G S T E E LY
slab of Chinese pistachio," according to
the program notes. "The sunken living
room is filled with 250-square-foot of B&B
Italia's Tufty-Time sofa components. In
the kitchen/dining room, a 22-foot-long
counter of white composite quartz contin-
ues the kitchen work surface into the
dining table." The sense of one continuous
movement throughout the space is the
result of several smart decisions, such as
flush mounted LED strips in the ceiling
that indicate living zones. Outside, when
looking up through the trees, one can see
these geometric lines of light that Steely
says are "reminiscent of a Dan Flavin
sculpture."
Embodying Steely's brand of honest,
undiluted architecture, Pam and Paul's
House is eminently functional and, as a
form, filled with light and flow and feel-
ing—something the architect, who splits
his time between architecture studios in
California and Hawaii, innately under-
stands. The work is at once thoughtful and
adventurous; a project where one not only
sees a vision of the future, but the hand
of one of its most prolific and insistent
builders.craigsteely.com
a sod roof that feels like an open grassy
meadow in the treetops. You climb down
a stair into the living floor which is nestled
in the oak canopy. Gray squirrels run
along the branches and wild turkeys
roost in the treetops, just 10 feet away
from the kitchen table." Mule deer also
roam the land as if it were never touched.
"The expanse of glass," he notes, "feels
permeable and disappears only to leave
nature as it always has been in the grove."
The glass is a sieve for streams of sunlight
that flood the space, lending warmth to
the austerity of the open plan interior,
which lacks visible systems and superflu-
ous fittings that would otherwise cloud the
dominate views of the landscape—sacri-
lege in this house. Steely's program called
for cantilevering the main living area into
the tree canopy while, in a gesture of both
utility and fluidity, concealing bedrooms,
bathrooms, service, and storage behind
a long wall of cabinetry. The home's living
room, office, and kitchen, meanwhile, are
distinct spaces, but delineated spatially
by having been sunk into the concrete
floor, and further defined by material. "In
the sunken office, all surfaces—flooring,
desk, cabinetry—are milled from a single
