Homeowners Joel Hall and Craig Davis first met architect Craig Steely at a dinner party in a home he had designed. “We had just purchased a long, narrow lot nearby and Craig was very excited to talk design with us,” Davis says. “Joel and I are both fans of modern design and we were very impressed with the home, which is in the same subdivision as our lot."

The home's great room  (shown here and above) features a large expanse of windows for optimal ocean viewing.

Hall and Davis’ neighborhood, however, isn’t any old subdivision. The lot, with stunning ocean views from the Big Island’s Puna coastline, is located on a 1955 lava field. Their neighbors include other Steely-designed “Lavaflow” homes, each one numbered (currently there are four). A nationally recognized architect, Steely is known for creating modern homes on lava rock. In 2006, Steely’s own lava-flow home was featured in this magazine.

After much lively design talk, Hall and Davis asked Steely to design their modern dream home: Lavaflow 3. “They requested a simple house that focused on the view, with equal parts indoor and outdoor living,” Steely says. While the couple knew they wanted openness, lots of windows and clean, sleek lines, they also wanted to let Steely do his thing.

“We look at the design of architecture as an art, and we wanted Craig to be able to complete his design as he saw it, within the guidelines of what kind of room we needed, but also within our budget,” Davis says. Beyond that, “we really gave him a lot of leeway in the design because we wanted a sleek, modern house just as he’s known for doing—without a lot of interference from us.”

For Steely, “each of the Lavaflow houses has been a specific response to the circumstances of this particular place,” he says. “These houses are an attempt to live focused on the experiential in this extreme landscape,” and Lavaflow 3 is no different.

A large overhang above the lanai makes it usable rain or shine.

Steely experimented with using locally sourced, off-the-shelf materials. “We used the same material used on the typical house, but in more appropriate and interesting ways,” he says. “I was inspired to look closely at old, single-wall houses from the '50s and '60s for construction strategies, as much as their compact size.”

For the final design, Steely—with Builder Tom Aronson, of Tom Aronson Construction—sited the long, low home to have ocean views from all rooms. Two wings of the house exist as separate pods, but are connected by one roof and open lanai space with large overhangs to keep them usable in rainy or windy weather. Painted slats and louvers give privacy to the exposed areas as well, but still allow for cross ventilation.

The homeowners' private wing includes the master bedroom and bath and is connected to the rest of the home by the large lanai.

One half of the house includes the great room, kitchen, laundry and bathroom. The other is what the couple calls their “private wing,” with the master bedroom, bath and a living area.

The couple’s favorite part of the home? The great room. Located in the front of the house, it has walls of windows highlighting the home’s showpiece—the spectacular views. “When the volcano is active, we can see the glow from Kilauea and smoke from the lava going into the ocean,” Davis says.

An outdoor shower near the master bath is the essence of indoor/outdoor living.

Above all, Hall and Davis appreciate Steely’s consideration of the environment in his design. The home “blends in and complements not only the lot, but the area in which the house is situated. It doesn’t impose on the natural environment. You don’t even notice it until you really come up on it,” Davis says. “Craig was really respectful of the place—it’s a fabulous place.”