At home with David Montalba

Born in Florence, Italy and raised in both Switzerland and California, David Montalba is a stalwart within the architecture and design industry. His diverse background as an architect includes over 23 years of professional practice with architectural firms in the United States and Europe.

Believing that architecture can improve your quality of life, David adopts a humanistic approach to his designs and homes. He established his own architectural firm in 2004 and has won numerous awards for his work.

An open, airy space that enabled the family to be interconnected was a vital component when David Montalba designed his home. “We enjoy being connected to the (kitchen) space. We like to be close together,” the architect explains. Pared back, streamlined and curated are the words that spring to mind when reviewing the architect’s California home, but as he explains: “Simplicity is hard to achieve. To get something that is simple and has depth and functionality is not easy and for us having a kitchen that looks this simple, but you realize it has everything you need and it works well, is really rewarding.”

Gaggenau is the backbone to the family’s kitchen space, which is complete with a Gaggenau oven, warming drawers and wine climate cabinet. His wife Amy likes to cook granola from scratch in the oven, while the kids prefer to make crepes on the cooktop. Soups, grilled chicken and simple roasting vegetables are regularly on the family menu, and “everyone helps in the cooking process,” explains David.

Located in sun-drenched California, David has curated a family space that mirrors how the family wants to live: “It’s a space that reinvents how you want to live, and that’s the nice part about moving into a home and creating it from scratch.”

The glass windows, expansion of open space, and the push to bring the outdoors in, are all intrinsic to David’s family home. It’s all about “paring down,” using less but better quality and marrying the “physical and the visual—that’s what the house is all about.”

“Those 24 inch ovens look small, but we cook Thanksgiving dinner in them. It’s designed thoughtfully so the backend is quite large. It looks like it’s driven only by aesthetics and then you realize it’s truly functional.”

Architect & Design Montalba Architects
Kitchen Furniture Bulthaup Santa Monica