ESSENTIALS
Firm Name: Anacapa Architecture
Principal: Dan Weber
Headquarters: Santa Barbara, California
Accolades: Forbes Architecture’s “America’s Top 200 Residential Architects,” 2025; Forbes Architecture’s “America’s Best-in-State Residential Architects,” 2025
House Name: Off-Grid Guest House
Location: Central California Coast
Area & Layout: 1,800 square feet; 2 BR, 2 BA
Architectural Photographer: Erin Feinblatt (erinfeinblatt.com), Aaron Leitz (aaronleitz.com)
Architects often talk about connecting houses to their settings. But it’s hard to think of an example so seamless as the one Anacapa Architecture devised on a remote stretch of California’s Central Coast. Conceived as a guest house for a nearby residence, the building burrows into the surrounding hillside and is concealed beneath a planted roof, making it barely visible among the emerald bluffs cascading down to the Pacific.
The 1,800-square-foot structure consists of two offset boxes bisected by a staircase that descends from the parking area above. The larger box is wrapped in glass and cantilevered over the hillside, delivering dizzying views from the living, dining, kitchen and bedroom areas within. The smaller volume contains a primary bedroom and bath oriented toward a window wall at one end.
“We worked carefully to position the structure within the natural contours of the property, preserving existing vegetation and reducing the need for significant site disturbance,” says architect Dan Weber, founder and principal of the Santa Barbara–based firm. Since utilities are scarce here, and the primary residence is several hundred yards away, the guest house is powered by a photovoltaic solar array; the surrounding berms help insulate the interior, as does the rooftop garden, which also reduces stormwater runoff. Large overhangs and retractable glass walls keep the interior shaded and breezy.
Inside, the material palette feels as primal as the setting, with exposed steel columns and concrete walls and floors tempered by the warm glow of walnut ceilings and cabinetry. Furnishings are spare, so as not to distract from the view, which can be engulfed in a dense veil of fog one moment, then clear to reveal an undulating carpet of green that stretches to the sea.
Anacapa has several other projects in the works that revolve around sustainability, resiliency and low-impact living. “The Off-Grid Guest House represents a growing interest among our clients in thoughtful, resource-conscious design,” Weber says. “And we expect that conversation to become even more important in the years ahead.”
ABOVE: “An expansive terrace extends toward the canyon beyond,” Weber says, “dissolving the boundary between shelter and the natural environment.” Oversized pavers link the glass-walled living area with the more private bedroom wing, at left.
Erin Feinblatt
ABOVE: “The guest house emerges from the hillside, carefully positioned to minimize disturbance while framing expansive views and seasonal coastal fog,” Weber says.
Erin Feinblatt
ABOVE: Floor-to-ceiling glazing and generous overhangs create a seamless connection between interior living spaces and the surrounding landscape, which changes with the vicissitudes of the fog.
Erin Feinblatt
ABOVE: Living, dining and kitchen areas are confined to a single shared space crowned by a walnut ceiling that extends out over the surrounding terrace. The radiant concrete floors are powered by a photovoltaic solar array, since the guest house is not connected to utilities.
Erin Feinblatt
ABOVE: Rugged, board-formed concrete walls anchor the house to the hillside, and are left exposed in keeping with the home’s earthy aesthetic, which interior designer Jessica Helgerson underscored with leather furnishings and a live-edge walnut table. “Natural materials and restrained detailing focus attention on the surrounding landscape, making the view the centerpiece of the dining experience,” Weber says.
Erin Feinblatt
ABOVE: A doorway to the right of the kitchen conceals a secondary bedroom, tucked at the rear of the guest house’s main wing. “The board-formed concrete, walnut millwork and weathering steel create a tactile palette that reflects the rugged character of the site,” Weber observes.
Erin Feinblatt
ABOVE: The driveway deposits visitors at a freestanding garage. From there, they descend down a staircase sandwiched between the planted roofs of the guest house’s two wings, emerging into panoramic ocean views at the bottom.
Erin Feinblatt
ABOVE: “Perched along a remote ridgeline overlooking the Pacific, the Off-Grid Guest House glows against the coastal landscape, operating independently from traditional utility infrastructure,” Weber says.
Aaron Leitz