living room with window overlooking ocean
Teak also trims two windows in the living area, where the neutral tones of the polyamide rug by Sjoerd Vroonland, existing sectional, and grass-cloth cabinetry panels center views on the Pacific Ocean.

April 25, 2025

Words: Elizabeth Fazzare

Photography: Garrett Rowland

Catch The Waves At This Airy La Jolla Coastal Escape

It started as solely a kitchen renovation. A surf-loving couple and their three grown children needed better flow within the double galley layout at their La Jolla, California, vacation home. Goil Amornvivat and Thomas Morbitzer of New York-based AMMOR Architecture, which the clients knew from working with the firm on their Manhattan pied-à-terre, were called in to help. As the project began, however, other design snafus throughout the three-story, 2,200-square-foot residence became apparent, and AMMOR’s scope expanded to a gut renovation.

The beach house is on a corner lot, but, because of a corridor preserved to maintain unobstructed Pacific Ocean views, it’s exceptionally narrow. Attempts to wedge conventional furniture into the living areas and bedrooms left them cramped and awkward. So, AMMOR formulated a series of multipurpose built-ins that allow each space to expand and contract in both occupancy and use. “Everything is like a Swiss army knife,” says Bangkok-born Amornvivat, who looked to traditional Chinese daybeds to inspire con­vertible seating-cum-beds for two such rooms, high traffic zones in the daytime due to their bathroom access; else­where, benches and stairways incorporate drawers. In general, the architects kept the new bleached-walnut mill­work “long, linear, and pulled toward the edges of the house,” he adds, like in the living room, where an expanded gas fireplace now meets a hearth with integrated cabinetry, including a hidden charging station for devices.

Surf’s Up At This La Jolla Beach Home by AMMOR Architecture

A palm tree.
Because of its narrow footprint, the three-story, beach-facing house has room widths ranging from just 9½ to 16 feet, requiring clever furniture and storage solutions for its 2,200-square-foot interior.
A woman is running in a kitchen with a table.
Formerly a galley layout, the renovated kitchen features bleached-walnut cabinetry, glazed porcelain floor tile topped with nylon carpet tile, and a teak dining set, all materials chosen for their ability to resist sea-salt corrosion.

The seaside location also contributed to how Amornvivat and Morbitzer determined the material palette. To avoid corrosion via salt spray through the terrace doors and picture windows, wood, as opposed to metal, builds most of the furnishings, down to handles and pulls. In fact, durability is a focus for the interiors overall—flooring, for example, ranges from porcelain tile to rugs in nylon, polyamide, or wool—due to both the environment and the family’s active lifestyle; a large surf shower for changing out of wetsuits conveniently adjoins the laundry area. Throughout, the architects kept fabric colors neutral, including the entry’s reupholstered Rodolfo Dordoni settee, to showcase the ocean vistas.

“This is where family members come to chill out, it couldn’t be too formal,” Morbitzer notes. “They’re not necessarily hosting dinner parties, but they’ll have a lot of people over for dinner.” If those visits turn into sleepovers, visitors can stay between a top-floor loft and the three guest bedrooms, which sleep a total of nine. Storage is cleverly built to the exact dimensions of their carry-on luggage.

Enjoy The Views At This Beach Escape By AMMOR Architecture

A living room with a large window overlooking the ocean.
Teak also trims two windows in the living area, where the neutral tones of the polyamide rug by Sjoerd Vroonland, existing sectional, and grass-cloth cabinetry panels center views on the Pacific Ocean.
A bedroom with a large bed and a view of the ocean
Ripples inform the rug and custom head­board in the main bedroom, which also looks out to the ocean.
A couch with a pillow on it in a room.
A custom pillow enlivens the entry’s reupholstered settee, standing on a wool rug.
A window seat with a blue cushion and a blue pillow.
The bench in the main bathroom integrates storage.
A couch with a blue and white rug.
The built-in bench in the sitting room, its envelope also bleached walnut, pulls out into a full-size bed.
A bedroom with a bed and a desk.
A guest bedroom suite can double as an office with its built-in desk/vanity.
A staircase with a pink light above it.
Under Kate Spade New York’s Leighton flush-mount fixture on the top floor, the custom bleached-walnut staircase offers drawers and access to a loft bed.
A man walking down a sidewalk carrying a surfboard.
Entry is via a side street–facing porch, where retractable doors open entirely to the outdoors.
A laundry room with a washer and dryer.
The laundry area is conveniently located on the ground floor, next to the surf shower.
A bathroom with a blue and white patterned floor.
Black-finished fixtures, fittings, and mirror add subtle contrast to the main bathroom.


FROM FRONT BURKE DECOR: TABLE, CHAIRS (KITCHEN), CHAIR (GUEST BEDROOM). MIELE: APPLIANCES (KITCHEN). DEKTON: SOLID SURFACING. BRIZO: SINK FITTINGS (KITCHEN, BATHROOM). MOOOI: RUG (LIVING ROOM). PHILLIP JEFFRIES: GRASS CLOTH. SPARK: FIREPLACE. CONCRETE COLLABORATIVE: FIREPLACE TILE. SAMSUNG: TV. CB2: WHITE TABLES. THIBAUT: BENCH FABRIC (SITTING ROOM, BATHROOM). RBW: SCONCE (SITTING ROOM). MAHARAM: SETTEE FABRIC, PILLOW FABRIC (ENTRY). MARK ALEXANDER: HEADBOARD FABRIC (MAIN BEDROOM). DWR: RUG, SCONCE. LARSEN: HEADBOARD FABRIC (GUEST BEDROOM). JUNIPER: SCONCES (GUEST BEDROOM, MAIN BATHROOM). VISUAL COMFORT: CEILING FIXTURE (LOFT). LG: APPLIANCES (LAUNDRY). RUGGABLE: RUG. THROUGHOUT ROCA: FLOOR TILE. FLOR: CARPET TILE. KNOLL; ZINC: PILLOW FABRICS. BENJAMIN MOORE & CO.: PAINT. HIGHLINE CONSTRUCTION & RENOVATION: GENERAL CONTRACTOR. 

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