SCI-Arc founder Ray Kappe put a futuristic twist on brutalism at this 1980s Modern home – set on a tree-covered hillside in California’s Santa Monica.

Borghei-Cookston House was completed in 1984 by Kappe and has an imposing, multi-levelled concrete form. This is broken up by curved walls and steel beams, a towering, fin-shaped glass roof and a series of projecting balconies.

The Rustic Canyon home – for sale for $5.5 m with Sotheby’s International Realty has the appearance of a cruise ship from the front, with its solid concrete block facade and receding curved balconies. Meanwhile, its glazed, partly-elevated rear has the feel of a high-tech treehouse.

Walls of windows and glass capture the closeness of mature trees and sky and create a feeling of living with nature: Ray Kappe’s ‘tour de force’. Interiors unravel around the open central staircase, which allows natural light and views of tropical greenery to fill every living space. A tree-canopy level roof deck and balconies also bring nature within touching distance.

Elsewhere, the soaring steel-and-glass dome houses the Californian property’s master bedroom, complete with a double-height fireplace.