ART & DESIGN

Water Shed


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After Peter Morton told Richard Meier that white was not all right anymore, the architect and his partners rethought their signature style to build the mogul’s new Malibu home.

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Photographer: Simon Watson

The house is clad in teak shutters, which can be opened or shut—as they are here—like an accordion. To maintain the sheen of the plantation-grown wood, the entire house is oiled four times a year. (Morton, cofounder of the Hard Rock Cafe empire, has an employee working full time on the project.)

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Photographer: Simon Watson

In the living room, decorator Michael Smith designed custom furniture and textiles, based on antique African documents, but kept the room spare, the better to showcase Morton’s artworks, including Brice Marden’s Second Body, a 1994 oil.

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Photographer: Simon Watson

In the evening, Morton allows the shutters to open partially.

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Photographer: Simon Watson

Cast-in-place concrete walls contrast with teak throughout the house.

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Photographer: Simon Watson

The house is located on a stretch of Malibu coastline nicknamed Billionaires’ Beach. The courtyard between the main house and guesthouse features a lap pool and a garden of beach grasses designed by Pamela Burton. Morton’s neighbors include Terry Semel (whose house was designed by Michael Graves) and Jeffrey Katzenberg (whose house was designed by Charles Gwathmey).