The lighting design for this award-winning contemporary home, designed by Aidlin Darling and featured in the book At Home in the Wine Country, is applied with a light hand.

Santa Lucia Preserve — a community in Carmel Valley dedicated to preserving natural resources and living in harmony with nature — is a development devoted to maintaining the integrity of the natural surroundings. Working within this protected environment, the goal for the lighting was to subtly highlight the home’s bold architectural concept and support the clients’ indoor/outdoor lifestyle while maintaining the integrity of the night sky. In order to co-exist with the site without dominating it, the angles of the home follow the surrounding ridgelines. On the underside of the deep overhangs, light flows from inside the glass-walled structure up the slope of the eaves, giving them a subtle glow. The eaves themselves are devoid of lighting, with the exception of two small spots highlighting the outdoor coffee table, which anchors the terrace’s primary gathering space. Low-voltage landscape and pathway lighting illuminates exterior grade changes on the hillside site.