Study
$85,000
10 weeks
- Site and climate study
- Concept design, modelled
- Fixed build price
Architect-builders · Big Sur
Houses, made whole.
We design and build four houses a year, from first sketch to the keys.
01One studio
Drawn and built by one hand.
No hand-offs between architect and contractor. One studio, one fixed price, one person who answers for every detail.
02Stone
Walls from the ground they stand on.
Basalt and travertine, quarried within forty miles of each site.
03Timber
Cedar, fixed by our own joiners.
Three hundred and twelve fins, each one planed by hand.
04Glass
Four-metre panes. Nothing in the view.
Low-iron glass, set to the millimetre in bronze.
05Light
Handed over at dusk.
Every house is delivered in the last hour of daylight, lights on, fire lit.
A modern house on a travertine plinth beside a long basalt wall and a reflecting pool, with a cedar-finned upper storey cantilevered over the water. As the page scrolls the house lifts apart into its layers, then settles back — stone, timber, glass, roof — while the sun sets and the interiors light up.
Practice
Twenty-six houses. One studio, start to finish.
- 01
Architecture
Site studies, planning and every drawing, done in-house.
- 02
Construction
Our own masons, joiners and site team. No subcontracted trades.
- 03
Interiors
Joinery, lighting and furniture, designed with the house.
- 04
Landscape
Terraces, water and planting that finish the plan.
Selected houses
Each one designed and built by Halden. Private tours by appointment.
- 01Quarry HouseBig Sur, California2024 · 640 m²
- 02Casa LumeLake Como, Italy2023 · 520 m²
- 03Hollin RidgeAspen, Colorado2022 · 780 m²
- 04The SaltingsSea Ranch, California2021 · 410 m²
Commission
One price, fixed before we break ground.
Design & Build
From $4.8M
22–30 months
- Every drawing and permit
- Built by our own team
- Ten-year warranty
Estate
By arrangement
Phased
- Main house and guest houses
- Landscape and water
- Interiors, fully furnished
“They gave us the keys at sunset, with the fire already lit. We still notice the house every evening.”
- Founded
- 1999
- Houses completed
- 26
- Subcontracted trades
- 0
- Structural warranty
- 10 yrs
Begin a house.
We take on four commissions a year. 2027 has one opening.