Prado

The L-shaped plan is a direct response to those oaks. Rather than clearing them, the design folds its two wings around them to create an enclosed rear garden that the principal living spaces look onto. Long horizontal planes of pale concrete extend from the building, cantilevering over terraces and casting deep shadow across the façades. Anchoring them are vertical piers and walls of locally quarried coral stone, its porous, fossil-flecked surface tying the house to the limestone ridge beneath the Grove. The contrast is deliberate. Stone rises. Concrete rests.

Arrival unfolds as a sequence. A dense screen of trees hides the house from the street, and there is no conventional front façade. Concrete pavers set in a bed of river pebbles lead beneath the canopy to the entry, where the path becomes a run of shallow steps floating over still water. Two oak trunks rise on either side of the approach, brushing the edge of the upper slab, while a wall of vertical timber marks the door. A garden grotto tucked along the walk offers a place to pause. Even the garage, clad in timber and topped with a planted roof, belongs to the garden.

At the rear, the house opens fully. A long pool runs parallel to the main wing, bordered by a paved terrace and a covered outdoor living and dining area beneath a wood ceiling. Upstairs, continuous planters along the slab edge let greenery trail down the façade, softening each floor line until building and canopy begin to merge. Where the lawn falls away, a rough-stacked stone retaining wall and a flight of stone steps descend to a lower lounge deck, stitching the house into the land’s natural contours.

Throughout, the palette stays narrow: coral stone, smooth concrete, honey-toned wood, and slim dark frames, letting light and landscape carry the experience. Morning sun filters through the oaks onto stone; by evening, recessed lights in the soffits pick out the timber and the water. Prado is a house designed to be lived in beneath the trees, and to leave them standing.