Based in Long Beach, Calif., Michael Kollin, president of Kollin Altomare Architects, faced challenges when he took on a project in Maui, Hawaii. On top of being a five-hour plane ride from the site location, the homeowners were on a nine- to 10-month sailing trip, and the lot required creative thinking from everyone involved.

To this day, architect and homeowner still have not met, but that doesn’t mean the project was unsuccessful. Kollin would ship the designs to the ports the homeowners were visiting and they’d e-mail feedback in return. “It was challenging and not as quick a turnaround as usual. The homeowners were distant but more involved than the average client,” Kollin says.

The clients had recently completed a large house a few years before starting this project. “It is nice to work on their second home because there is a relaxed mentality,” Kollin says. “It makes my job a lot easier.”

An Inverted Dilemma

The house is located on the ocean and next to a golf course. The homeowners wanted to take advantage of the views of both areas. “The major goal (of the project) was to capture the clients’ desire to have a view of the ocean, golf course and to maintain privacy,” Kollin says.
Capturing the views created a challenge for Kollin because the lot wasn’t ideal. “The house sits on a pie-shaped lot and the point of the lot faces the ocean,” he says. “As you walk onto the site and look toward the ocean, it doesn’t open up, but rather comes to a point.”