M.H. Lair by Claret-Cup
M.H. Lair is a new house by Claret-Cup in Los Angeles, CA, United States, set into a steep Montecito Heights hillside. The three-story residence uses courtyards, terraces, and a winding circulation to pull daily life outdoors while threading privacy back inside. It reads contemporary without fuss, favoring fold-away thresholds, a cinder block spine, and rooms that adapt to guests or quiet routines.
Crushed gravel shifts underfoot in the first courtyard above the street-side garage. Light catches on a black ribbon wall as the path bends toward the slope.
This is a three-story single-family house in Montecito Heights by Claret-Cup, organized around courtyards and a winding circulation that moves with the hillside. It uses reconfigurable borders to expand daily life outdoors, then gathers it back into quieter rooms inside. Program flex—not just form—drives the plan.
Walk The Gradient
From the street, the route rises into a small courtyard where the sound of pebbles sets the pace. The path threads through a guest unit before it slips back into landscape at the main courtyard, tracing the slope like a trail. A folded geometry steps the house from lower garage to upper rooms, keeping circulation close to terraces and views. Movement stays legible, and the climb feels intentional.
Courtyards Expand Life
A main-level courtyard and a covered patio extend meals and lounging without leaving the core of the home. Two sets of folding doors open the split-level dining area and a sunken living room to air and shade, enlarging everyday routines in seconds. Indoors and outdoors share materials and thresholds to soften boundaries. The result is less corridor, more lived edge.
Backbone And Outlook
A black cinder block ribbon wall anchors the plan and edits noise from the street. It steers views outward while stringing together a procession of public and private rooms that pivot around an existing coral tree. That tree becomes a social anchor at the heart of living and dining, orienting the household around shade and seasonal light. The wall keeps order; the tree keeps time.
Rooms That Reconfigure
Modular wooden boxes with linoleum tops shift between steps, seats, and low tables. They build a gentle topography between levels, so gatherings don’t fracture at every change in height. The living room grows again when the railing over the stair folds down, allowing the lower level to work as a rentable unit or an annexed lounge. One gesture unlocks two modes.
Private Rituals Outdoors
Upstairs, a bathtub set on the balcony faces the neighboring hills for a quiet, breezy soak. A full-length curtain can draw across the rail for privacy, turning the overlook into a calm alcove connected to the primary suite. Wood flooring runs from sleeping area into bath, up the shower walls, and across the deck to reinforce a single, continuous room. Everyday routines feel unhurried.
Evening puts the courtyards back in charge as rooms reopen to cooler air. The hillside keeps the breeze moving—one fold of door, one turn of path, and the house resets for night.
Photography courtesy of Claret-Cup
Visit Claret-Cup
