Residing With Nature: The Houses of Kaa Design

A highly anticipated monograph of recent houses by a leading California architecture and landscape firm that celebrates sophisticated modern living and represents the pinnacle of the California Dream.

Residing with Nature features one-of-a-kind homes, crafted in sensuous materials and dramatically sited to enhance views, sunlight, and nature in California, Nevada, and Colorado. Grant Kirkpatrick and Duan Tran of KAA Design share their process for creating personal environments that are tailor-made to each client’s unique lifestyle and setting. All the designs inform a dynamic connection to nature that links indoors and outdoors, an extraordinary attention to craftsmanship, an enduring use of local materials, a striking balance between geometry and whimsy, and an exhilarating sense of levitation.

KAA Design’s stunning houses exemplify why so many look to California as the mode of sophisticated modern living. Their houses are inspired by early California modernism and Asian traditions—and an homage to the work of architects like Rudolf Schindler who used a sophisticated, natural material palette. The Strand in Manhattan Beach rises out of a berm of seagrasses; the Tree House is nestled amidst an array of mature cork oaks, rare Torrey pines, and fragrant Southern magnolias, responding to the client’s longstanding connection to the site and their desire of a unique vision. The simple yet sophisticated design integrates geothermal, radiant-floor heating and cooling, PV energy systems, and solar water heating. Multiple views of each house and plan give readers inspiration and ideas for an excuse to daydream.

Grant Kirkpatrick is the Founding Partner of KAA Design and has been designing houses in California and around the world for over thirty-five years. 

Duan Tran is the Managing Partner and a Design Principal at KAA Design. He is a frequent speaker for several media events and an Executive Cabinet member of the Leaders of Design Council.

Mayer Rus is the West Coast editor of Architectural Digest and a prolific contributor to many Rizzoli titles.