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Flight of the Imagination |
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By Thomas Shess
Photo by Satoshi Asakawa
Although they're San Diego natives, for 17 years the couple lived in Japan, where George was stationed as a Marine Corps lawyer. After he retired as a lieutenant colonel, he began a career in business consulting, while Pat taught English at a Japanese woman's university.
In 2001, heart trouble forced Pat to return to San Diego. During her successful recovery, the couple was smitten with their renewed San Diego lifestyle. The weather was even more perfect than they remembered, and the climate "bug-free," says Pat. The location also put them closer to their two grown sons and two West Coast grandkids. The Miskes began exploring the idea of building a dream home on the site occupied by their 1960s ranch-stylehome, which they'd rented out during their years in the Far East.
On a return trip to Japan to pack, the regularly scheduled jet developed mechanical problems. The airline bused the passengers from Lindbergh Field to LAX, where they caught another plane. The delay would prove serendipitous.
"I'm a big believer that things are meant to be," says George. As the bus slowly made its way to Los Angeles, the couple struck up a
conversation with architect Chikako Terada, a Japanese-American who was on the same Tokyo-bound flight."Flying over the Pacific, we basically planned our new home," Pat says. "It was quite an exciting flight."
Once everyone returned to San Diego, homeowners and architect finalized their working relationship. Terada, a principal with the San Diego firm of Roesling Nakamura Terada Architects, had spent much of her career designing commercial buildings and schools. She leaped at the chance to create a residential home that would embrace her appreciation for Japanese design and philosophy and her ancestral country's lifestyle.
The completed 3,900-square-foot house features numerous Asian elements, which have been incorporated into a larger, California-style living space. "We absolutely could not have built a home like this in Japan," George says. "Land there is very scarce, very expensive--much more so than here. And it would be next to impossible to find the view we enjoy now."
On opening the Terada-designed, peg-hinged front door, guests are treated to a sweeping vista of the East County mountains through a corridor between the north and south wings of the home. That same sightline to the east reveals a beautiful blue lap pool, deep spa and barbecue area adjacent to the ground-floor master bedroom suite. In the opposite direction lies the blue Pacific.
In Japanese fashion, the two-level home is compartmentalized into living and sleeping quarters.
Each zone can be separately sealed for energy conservation and noise reduction. An overhead bridge with stainless steel railings connects the upper guestrooms with the upstairs kitchen.
"We designed the kitchen upstairs to capture the view of Mission Bay and the ocean," says Pat. "We reasoned that since we spend so much time in the kitchen, we might as well enjoy the best view." The kitchen, with its long jatoba--a Brazilian mahogany table--serves as both a food-prep area and a terrific dining room, where guests can dine and watch the sun set.
Directly below the kitchen is the open-beamed great room. The family room feels like the lobby of a modern lodge. It faces a two-story east wall constructed mainly of glass and highlighted by a bold fireplace. The floors throughout are a creative mix of Rhodesian teak (reclaimed from abandoned railroad ties) and acid-washed concrete.
"We installed surround-sound to go with our family-room plasma TV, and that includes four speakers we've placed outside by the pool and the folly [gazebo]," says Pat.
A mini-kitchen on the family room's west wall saves guests and family a trip upstairs for snacks and drinks. Through a large slider, the family room opens to a large outdoor deck and the barbecue grill built into the outer side of the chimney.
A fully equipped exercise room is adjacent to a spacious Finnish sauna and shower, and only steps to the lap pool and spa. "Having been a fitness instructor in my early Marine Corps days, I always wanted a dedicated exercise suite," George says. The pool area was installed to maximize the Miskes' indoor-outdoor San Diego lifestyle. It has the latest innovations, including a mini-computer that controls pool and spa functions.
The downstairs master bedroom has adjacent his-and-hers closets and built-in bureaus. The bathroom is a warren of individual bath and commode areas. She has a larger vanity; he has a custom black-slate soaking tub with adjacent shower.
The sleeping area has four large glass sliders; on one side, a shoji screen retracts to reveal a bamboo garden."This area is like a home-within-a-home, because no other rooms touch it. The end result is very quiet, except for the hummingbird racket," quips George.
From day one, the Miskes admired Terada's "out-of-the-box thinking and her willingness to listen to our wild ideas," says George. "I really liked her hands-on attention to detail." The architect made it a point to visit the construction site at least once a week to inspec t and confer with general contractor Mike Clark.
"We now have a modern house in California," George says, "with a Japanese soul."
Editor's note: Roesling Nakamura Terada Architects won awards for the San Diego Mid-City Bus Rapid Transit Station and the Imperial Avenue Master Plan at the 2006 awards banquet for the San Diego chapter of the AIA.
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