This new-construction residence by Signum Architecture perches on a dramatic promontory, offering 270° views of Napa Valley’s vineyards and sky.
A fully openable sliding glass wall aligns the main living room, infinity pool, and an ancient coast live oak—turning the water into a reflective threshold that centers the tree against the valley beyond.
Descending the slope from the residence, the pool’s infinity edge flows seamlessly to a lower deck featuring a custom gabion wall. This wall is designed with a metal-plate bench that discreetly slides open to provide concealed storage, integrating robust materials with sophisticated functionality.
Further down the slope, a flush Ipe wood dining deck accommodates gatherings of twelve at a custom long table. Just beyond, a sunken conversation pit centers on a large steel-bowl fire pit, with two sides of built-in seating and two sides of custom steel planters.
To the north of the kitchen, a floating cargo hammock deck of Ipe and steel is framed by twin live oaks, creating a suspended nook for quiet repose.
Carefully chosen plantings—coast live oak, manzanita, California fescue, lavender, and drifts of Morning Light Miscanthus—soften the geometry. Their textures and colors invite guests to linger and watch the clouds roll by.
This project underscores our commitment to site-responsive design, material integrity, and the choreography of outdoor living above the clouds—it’s a place to ascend, gather, and dream.
King Avenue is a landscape of contrast and continuity, designed to complement a midcentury home reimagined by Signum Architecture. Originally built in the 1950s, the residence now wears a refined skin of vertical clear cedar boards—set in dialogue with the original horizontal siding and the layered textures of the site.
Concrete steps lead through a streetside garden of drought-tolerant Mediterranean and native Californian plants, framed by a water jet–cut Corten steel screen that echoes the pattern of the home’s custom front door. The screen doubles as a guardrail, anchoring the entry sequence with sculptural precision.
At the heart of the garden, a Corten steel patio with stone infill meets thermally modified ash decking—materials chosen for their durability, warmth, and quiet resonance. Overhead, mature Japanese maples planted in the home’s early years cast shifting shadows and drop crimson leaves in fall, bridging decades with seasonal grace.
This project reflects our commitment to honoring architectural legacy while shaping spaces for contemporary life—where every step is a threshold between memory and modernity.
The Allée is a study in restraint and rhythm, designed in collaboration with John Pawson’s studio for a new-construction residence in Santa Monica. On a compact city lot, the landscape unfolds with quiet precision—each element calibrated to enhance the architecture’s clarity and the client’s creative life.
The streetside garden evokes a coastal meadow, with native grasses and California perennials planted in loose drifts. Decomposed granite paths thread between them, offering a porous transition from public to private. Inside the gated garden, a linear grove of plane trees accentuates the long side yard, drawing the eye toward a hidden staircase beneath the guest house.
At the base of that stair lies a music recording studio, where the homeowner—an acclaimed film soundtrack composer—crafts his work in quiet seclusion. The landscape supports this rhythm of arrival and retreat, balancing openness with enclosure, softness with structure. Two worlds—cinematic and architectural—meet here in a garden of subtle choreography.
Wedgeview is a landscape of angles and alignments, designed to complement a striking new-construction home with floor-to-ceiling glass and curated sightlines to Mount Saint Helena. The architecture orients itself to the view, and the landscape follows suit—layering spatial gestures that echo the home’s geometry and amplify its connection to place.
A dramatic wedge-shaped planter anchors the entry sequence, rising from grade to nearly four feet and drawing the eye toward the home’s angular facade. The potager garden, set at a 30-degree angle to the house, features long Corten steel planters that cascade gently down the backyard slope—creating a dynamic interplay between structure, soil, and season.
Two fountains offer sonic punctuation, while a generous enclosed lawn provides space for the clients’ dogs to roam. The pool, nestled into the vineyard-facing edge of the site, completes the composition with reflective calm. Wedgeview reflects our commitment to spatial clarity, material integrity, and the choreography of outdoor experience.
Tucked into the hillside with quiet precision, the Crown sauna and spa invite restoration through elemental design and sensory contrast. The sauna is wrapped in clear cedar, warmed by a HUUM electric stove, and framed by a full glass wall that opens the space to light and landscape. Just beyond, a ten foot cedar soaking tub pairs with a cold plunge built into a bench. Together, they create a brisk counterpoint to heat and stillness.
At the threshold, mugwort grows beside the sauna door. Guests pick a sprig and carry it inside—scenting the sauna’s warmth or steeping it into the spa’s cedar waters. This living detail recalls ancient rituals and aromatic memory, grounding the experience in both place and season.
Beyond the spa, a guest house and art studio rise quietly above the slope. A custom Corten steel staircase overlays a once decrepit stone stair, linking the lower terrace to the upper. At the top, a recessed circular fire pit anchors the gathering space. Pollinator friendly plantings and native California species frame the terrace, humming with seasonal life.
The Crown Project reflects our commitment to material honesty, site responsive design, and the choreography of experience. It is not just a place to sweat and soak. It is a place to breathe, reflect, and live.
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