A home on the magnificent Pacific coast can be a breathtaking place to live, but building beside the ever-changing sea presents unique architectural and design challenges. This stunningly photographed volume presents dramatic homes from around the Pacific rim--from California to Mexico to Australia to Japan and back again,glorious examples of how to enjoy life on the ocean's edge. Combining seascapes with new trends in home building and ornamentation, these exquisite homes reflect a remarkable collaboration between architect, landscape, and homeowner.

No matter how many pictures of waterfront homes we may have seen leafing through the pages of books and magazines, they never fail to incite fascination, longing, and a great deal of envy. For those fortunate enough to own one,the images constitute a fruitful source of inspiration, as they do for architects and designers alike. This volume provides a refreshing new source of inspiration, focusing on houses situated along the world"s largest body of water, the Pacific Ocean, whose unique and varying conditions produce efficient, dynamic, and impressive residential structures designed to harmonize with the natural landscape and cope with its often extreme conditions.

Named after its seemingly calm waters by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1520, the Pacific constitutes a total area of about 69 million square miles, covering one-third of the earth"s surface. In other words, it is larger than the total land area of the world and is roughly 19 times the size of the United States. Located between the Western Hemisphere, Asia, and Australia, it is surrounded by a zone of violent volcanic and earthquake activity often referred to as the Pacific Ring of Fire. The monsoon season hits the western Pacific during the summer months, typhoons tend to strike southeast and east Asia from May to December, and hurricanes can form south of Mexico and Central America from June to October. The Pacific is home to the deepest known point in an ocean--the Mariana Trench, off the island of Guam, which plunges to a depth of about 36,000 feet, deeper than the highest point on Mount Everest. As a result of this depth, tsunamis are capable of reaching speeds of 470 miles per hour, the same velocity as a jet airplane.

Introduction

House in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo

Yorkin House

Malibu Residence

Eastern View Beach House

Montecito Residence and Guesthouse

Port Fairy House

Clement Residence

Residence for a Photographer

YudelI-Beebe House

Stone Hill Residence

Casuarina Beach House

House in Wakayama

Roozen Beach House

Mermaid Beach House

Cromer Residence

Pacific Palisades House

City Cube

Belmont House

Rose House

Directory