Site Specific

A coral stone house on the southwest coast of Maui opens wide to views of islands in the Pacific.

- J. Michael Wetton

On the southwest coast of Maui, architect Mark de Reus took advantage of a narrow, 102-foot-wide lot by directing the eye, through a 6,000-square-foot home, out to three small islands in the distance.

He kept his design simple. “One of the things I’ve learned to appreciate is that restraint is good,” he says. “There’s a lot of elegance that comes through simplicity—it’s a nice, elegant solution.”

He maximized visibility and the indoor/ outdoor living experience by placing a pool and spa at the leading edge overlooking the Pacific. He added an open lanai adjacent to it and a covered lanai next to that. “They merge together in one large, luxurious space,” de Reus says.

Behind the outdoor spaces are a casual living area, dining area, and kitchen. They integrate with the bigger lanai through sliding glass doors that disappear into walls. “The climate on that side of Maui means you can open it up and live in that luxurious air,” he says. “It’s one outdoor living area.”

The architect worked with land planner Don Vita of Vita Planning and Landscape Architecture, someone he’s collaborated with for 24 years, to address the lot. If one challenge was its narrowness, there were also the houses that flank it on either side.

“The view is directional,” Vita says. “We had to deal with that and make sure it’s interesting and take advantage of it in as many places inside the home as possible.”