Modern Architecture in Santa Barbara
Donaldson + Partners: Contemporary Homes Rooted in Santa Barbara's Landscape & Light
Donaldson + Partners designs modern and contemporary homes throughout Santa Barbara, from hillside sites above the Riviera to properties near the Mesa and the Riviera corridor. Our work responds directly to this city's particular relationship between landscape, light, & architectural history.
Featured Santa Barbara Projects
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![Modern concrete house with large glass windows and wooden accents, located on a hillside with pool in the backyard, during sunset.]()
Toro Canyon Residence
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![Modern house with large glass windows and wooden exterior, illuminated at night, featuring a balcony with horizontal wood slats and outdoor seating on a wooden deck.]()
Skyline Residence
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![Modern building with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, black exterior, solar panels on the roof, and a potted plant outside in a yellow container.]()
Anacapa Townhouse
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![Modern house with glass walls, outdoor patio, trees, and rocks, during early evening with cloudy sky.]()
CL:20 Prototype
A Modern Response to a Spanish Colonial City
Santa Barbara's architectural identity has long been defined by its Spanish Colonial Revival tradition, red tile roofs, white stucco, deep-set windows shaped by strict design review guidelines through the city's Historic Landmarks Commission. Rather than working against that legacy, our contemporary work treats it as a parallel response to the same underlying conditions, the same site slopes, the same searching coastal light, the same need for thick walls and deep overhangs to manage heat and glare. Where the Spanish Colonial vocabulary uses arches and tile, our modern work uses board-formed concrete, steel, and glass to solve the same climatic and topographic problems. It is a different dialect of the same conversation with the land.
Much of our Santa Barbara work sits on sloped or view-oriented lots, above downtown, along the foothills, or close to the coastline, where setback requirements, oak tree protections, and hillside grading ordinances shape the buildable envelope before design even begins. We treat these constraints as the first collaborator on the project, not an obstacle to design around. Our Santa Barbara clients tend to be longtime residents or second-generation families reinvesting in property they already know intimately, which means the work is often deeply personal, tied to specific memories of light, view, and place rather than a blank-slate commission.
If you're planning a new home or renovation in Santa Barbara, we'd love to have a conversation.
