The owners purchased a site located on a high ridge that overlooks San Francisco Bay and was once home to large redwood forests now long gone from logging. The clients are avid salt-water people (surfing and bodysurfing) and wanted their house to reflect their lifestyle and their collections of surf paraphernalia and ocean-inspired artwork. The house interior is reflective of the redwood forests and rocky topography and linked to outdoor stone terraces reminiscent of granite overlooks found in Yosemite. The roof is an independent structure supported by beams and steel columns under which walls are placed. Roofing is removed in places to reveal the roof structure that then acts as a trellis designed to shade the terraces below and from the afternoon sun in a manner much like sunlight filtered through tree branches.

The house appearance can be best described as California coastal modern, California contemporary, San Francisco Modern, or Bay Area modern/contemporary. Features include sustainability, green design, and context.