San Remo Residence by ShubinDonaldson, A Sculptural Canyon Retreat in Pacific Palisades
Architecture Design of San Remo
Description About The Project
Carved into Sullivan Canyon, San Remo Residence by ShubinDonaldson is a strikingly modern home that integrates with nature through layered forms, Afromosia wood, and limestone.
The Project “San Remo” Information:
- Project Name: San Remo
- Location: Pacific Palisades, California, United States
- Built area: 4310 ft²
- Site area: 21495 ft²
- Designed by: ShubinDonaldson
Sculpting Light and Form in Sullivan Canyon
Nestled into the steep contours of Sullivan Canyon in California’s Pacific Palisades, San Remo Residence by ShubinDonaldson is a home shaped as much by land as by light. From a base of split-face limestone, layered wood-and-steel volumes rise and shift, turning constraints of the canyon’s topography into architectural opportunity. The structure’s bold yet restrained geometry offers a quiet response to the dramatic hillside, unfolding with both permanence and grace.
“This house couldn’t belong anywhere else,” says Russell Shubin, design principal at ShubinDonaldson. “The canyon dictated the parti—an embedded limestone base that grounds the home, while two interlocking volumes float above, framing the sky and views like sculpture.”
Architecture in Rhythm with Terrain
The architecture’s rhythm begins with a five-foot planning module, visible in the vertical alignment of glass, steel, and Afromosia wood. On the northern façade, floor-to-ceiling glazing opens to views of native flora, the Getty Museum, and the wider canyon below. To the south, the home defends against exposure with deep recesses, limestone walls, and brise-soleil-inspired wood fins.
“We intentionally pulled the southern edge away from the lot line to let light dive deep into the core of the house,” explains David Thompson, project architect. “It also gave us the chance to create a dramatic courtyard that feels completely protected despite the steep, exposed road approach.”
Every gesture is contextual — the vertical limestone-clad volume contains bedrooms and garage, while the long horizontal Afromosia volume holds the master suite cantilevered toward the treetops. Public zones like the great room and kitchen rest on the lower level, directly connected to the pool deck and framed by glazing that dissolves into the landscape.
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Light as Design Strategy
Addressing the challenge of a north-facing hillside, the architects employed sophisticated light strategies: a central stair acts as a light plenum, pulling illumination down three stories. Linear skylights and floating ceiling planes decouple from stone walls to filter light into corners of the house that would otherwise feel buried.
“In hillside architecture, light is everything,” says Shubin. “We treated the stair not only as a circulation space, but as an atmospheric device — a vertical aperture that glows by day and anchors the experience of the house.”
This layered approach to light and form creates spaces that are at once intimate and expansive, structured and serene. From the entry’s 5-foot-wide monolithic door to the cascading garden steps, the home reads like a narrative of architecture meeting geology.
A Material Language of Solidity and Warmth
Materials are rendered with tactile precision. Rough limestone, warm Afromosia wood, and blackened steel define a palette that is both contemporary and rooted. This rich but quiet materiality allows the architecture to stand against its wild surroundings without dominance.
“We deliberately balanced rawness with refinement,” notes interior architect Dana Krum, “so that every room felt connected to nature but never unfinished. The goal was a home that disappears into its setting but never into itself.”
Thermal mass from the hillside is harnessed to improve energy efficiency, while drought-tolerant planting and careful orientation further reinforce the home’s sustainable responsiveness.
A Dialogue Between Shelter and Landscape
Every room in San Remo Residence is oriented north, toward stillness and view. Glass sliders open across the living space, where the boundaries blur between canyon air and interior volume. The home is a continuous conversation between protection and openness, mass and light.
“The house reads like a topographical diagram—each move aligned with the site’s shifting planes,” concludes Russell Shubin. “It’s not just placed on the land. It’s grown from it.”
Photo credit: | Source: ShubinDonaldson
For more information about this project; please contact the Architecture firm :
– Add: Los Angeles 726 N. Cahuenga Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90038 310.204.0688
– Email: press@donaldsonplus.com
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