"Architecture is That Fixed Element Within Nature": David Montalba in My Point of View
Architect David Montalba was born in Switzerland but grew up in California. He became a passionate surfer, bobbing in the waves of the Pacific, staring at the land, yet always feeling and hearing the ocean around him; profoundly connected to nature.
Courtesy of Sky-Frame
Architect David Montalba was born in Switzerland but grew up in California. He became a passionate surfer, bobbing in the waves of the Pacific, staring at the land, yet always feeling and hearing the ocean around him; profoundly connected to nature.
“I was surfing by the time I was 12 or 13, and it was my driving force probably all the way up to 18 or 19,” he notes. “It brought a kind of spirituality to my life. That was when I felt most connected to nature and I was truly with myself… It’s still a really special thing for me. It’s one of those things that can both ground you and connect you with nature in a unique way.”
This sense of intimate, spiritual connection to one’s surroundings drives Montalba’s architecture. While it is beautiful—filled with elegant forms, materials and details—, at its core, it is a human experience. “Curating an emotional response is a big part of what we do,” he says, sitting in the glowing, serene living room of his Graoni Beach House, sited on a secluded Malibu beach, edging an eclectic, colorful bluff.
