Calabasas Residence | Calabasas, CA

Sometimes designing technology out of view means moving earth.

On the grounds of this 8,000 square foot residence, a television rises out of the hillside and disappears back into it. We designed the underground enclosure that makes it possible and directed the excavation ourselves, working alongside the landscape crew, then finished the structure in stucco to echo the firepit beside it, so when the screen is down, there is no installation. There's a hillside.

The same idea runs through the property. Sixteen landscape speakers carry music across the grounds without a visible source. Indoors, a second custom lift cabinet conceals its display until it's wanted, the theater was fully rebuilt, and six zones of audio and video move entertainment through the house. Light and motorized shading compose the rooms through the day, and the whole property answers as one system.

One intent, indoors and into the hillside: when the technology isn't in use, it isn't there.