This compact Santa Monica home by Eric Owen Moss solves a space conundrum just a block from the Pacific Ocean.

Known as the A+M House, the unusual property is constructed on a tight 9-by-18-metre lot and features a stacked design that riffs on the shape of a guitar’s headstock. Into this package, Moss has carved three bedrooms and three bathrooms, a kitchen and dining area, theatre and a symposium area.

‘The exterior shape of the house transforms vertically – from rectangular at the roof to a variously curving plan at the ground – “the guitar”,’ explains Moss’s website. Its materiality is also innovative, with compound-curving exterior walls fabricated through a Rhino 3D model and coated in waterproof, industrial polyurea rubber.

A central atrium is the artery of the home, criss-crossed by walkways on every level, while the roof deck looks out towards the ocean.

The three-year-old Santa Monica Canyon property is available to rent for $24,500 per month via Frank Langen of Compass.

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