Mission Hills may be only a few miles from downtown San Diego, but it’s nearer to nature than often meets the eye. Matthew and April Segal and their children Oliver and Eleanor got up close with wildlife when they made their move north from Little Italy to their new concrete-and-glass home, designed by Matthew, at the edge of a Mission Hills canyon. One of their first visitors was a raccoon who wandered in through a sliding glass door, leaving the pantry in disarray.
In Little Italy, the family lived in a large townhome tucked into one corner of The Continental, an eight-story, mixed-use building designed by Matthew and his father Jonathan Segal, both of them award-winning architects. Little Italy is great for nightlife, but with their two young ones, the couple began wanting something different.
Invisible from the street, the house respectfully takes forms and proportions from the existing modern home above.
“We were ready to graduate from living in the city to a more suburban lifestyle,” Matthew says. He and April scoped out several sites before they settled on one in this quiet neighborhood, with views into the canyon where lizards, snakes, coyotes, and squirrels run amok through a native landscape of chaparral, sage, lemonade berry, and manzanita.
Matthew is drawn to difficult sites such as this steep “flag” lot behind an older modern home. His plan consists of a narrow walkway and driveway (the “flagpole”) leading past the existing home to their new place on the land below (the “flag”). Hugging the hillside, the residence is invisible from the street.
“The important thing is the property came with a development permit that had worn out the previous owners,” Matthew says. “They had angry neighbors, and the city has a difficult construction permitting process.” After several design iterations and many visits to the city permitting office, Matthew convinced them of what seems pretty obvious: With a bottom level tucked into the hillside, the height and scale of his three-story scheme are well within city codes.
Unlike architects who focus mostly on design, Matthew prefers an integrated process where he leads a team of specialists he has brought together over the course of several projects. “I serve as architect first and foremost,” he says, but his cadre of engineers, concrete and glass specialists, carpenters, craftsmen, electricians, plumbers, and artists speeds the design and construction process.
They completed this home in 11 months. Matthew’s design earned a 2024 Honor Award, the highest recognition, from the American Institute of Architects, San Diego. You can sense its modernist DNA, from Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to Southern California’s post-war Case Study Houses to the countless concrete buildings Matthew visited in Italy and France during architecture school at the University of Southern California.
Sliding doors provide broad openings to the 15-by-42-foot patio.
Concrete steps lead down from the driveway and around the corner of the home to a forecourt that stretches across the back of the main living area on the middle floor. On warm afternoons, the family leaves the glass sliding doors wide open, merging the open-air forecourt and adjacent main living area into a capacious indoor-outdoor room. Italian porcelain tile floors inside and out add to the flow of continuous space.
A long kitchen and island are at the heart of the open interior, which stretches from one side of the home to the other. To the left is the kids’ play area. To the right, the family and dining space. Exposed 12-inch-thick concrete walls cap each side of the home. Ceiling-height walnut cabinets form the kitchen’s back wall, concealing countless items that clutter most of our homes.
Veiny, leather-finish Taj Mahal quartzite (a brand, not an antiquity, and not leather) covers the island. Matthew designed the steel-and-glass dining table. Furniture in the adjacent sitting area includes mid-century Barcelona chairs by Mies van der Rohe and a Florence Knoll sofa.
A recess between the kitchen and dining areas conceals an elevator connecting all three levels. On the other side of the kitchen, steps drop to the lower level, which houses the primary suite and kids’ bedrooms.
“I wanted our room to be close to the kids’ rooms,” April says. Oliver and Eleanor’s bedrooms and bath are only a “Hey, what’s up?” from the primary suite. The couple’s bedroom and adjacent bath are enclosed by a wall of glass. From the bedroom, a sliding glass door opens to a concrete patio and built-in spa. The bathroom has a spacious glass shower and freestanding tub. Canyon views come at you from every angle.
The top level has canyon vistas of its own, but from a bird’s-eye perspective. There, you’ll find the garage, the guest room, and a compact office with engineered walnut floors, a vintage rosewood desk for Matthew, and a table for April’s craft projects. Furniture in the office includes Eames and Aeron chairs and a Herman Miller clock. Two drawings by Matthew’s sister, artist Austen Segal, are among the art.
But with trees surrounding the home and vegetation throughout the neighborhood, Matthew says fire has been on his mind since the time they purchased the lot.
Nine-foot-tall glass walls deliver natural light and canyon views to the master bathroom.
“It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when,” he says. However, he believes that the home’s thick concrete walls and fire-resistant glass panels—with inert gas sandwiched within to diffuse heat transfer—give the structure a good chance of surviving. “To a certain extent, I’d feel comfortable staying in the house during a fire.”
Not only is concrete vastly more durable than wood-frame-and-stucco, it’s energy-efficient due to its thermal mass, the way it stores and releases heat. Rooftop solar panels provide nearly 100 percent of the home’s electricity—even after the couple charges their car.
April still works in Little Italy, where she founded Remedy Holistic Pharmacy in a first-floor space at The Continental. Matthew shares an office with his dad in Barrio Logan, and they’ve collaborated on countless projects, with a focus on in-fill housing.
Richard Schultz patio chairs from Knoll; barstools by Bertoia.
Mission Hills provides a perfect live-work balance. Oliver and Eleanor’s preschool is a short walk away, as are a neighborhood park, Mission Hills Nursery (the kids are fascinated with the business’s roaming chickens), restaurants, and a coffee shop.
Could this be their forever home?
“I think so, and I wouldn’t normally say this,” Matthew confesses. “We’re literally in the wilderness, but five minutes from downtown in a walkable location. At night, you hear the owls and see the coyotes. It’s a crazy feeling—I don’t know how you could ever replace it.”
The house’s architecture resonates with the canyon landscape, light, and sky to create ever-changing vistas.
Inviting materials, textures, and splashes of color warm the minimalist design.
