George Clooney's Cabo home featured in Architectural Digest

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Inside George Clooney's and Cindy Crawford's Mexican Villas

Tuesday, October 1, 2013, by Sarah Firshein

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George Clooney's living room. Photo by Björn Wallander/Architectural Digest
The November issue of Architectural Digest really gives the one-two punch as far as celebrity coverage goes: it combines George Clooney's and Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber's neighboring villas in Los Cabos, Mexico, into a single cover story. The movie star and the supermodel (turned furniture designer and landlady!) are both good-looking and successful, of course, and they're also the best of friends, choosing to share architect Ricardo Legorreta for these vacation homes, which were "designed and built in tandem, and Clooney happily allowed Gerber and Crawford to take the lead on the project, knowing he could trust their taste implicitly."

While the trio at one point actually considered building one large dwelling where they could all hang around and drink Gerber Spirits tequila, this pair of cement-and-wood houses—not the "hacienda-style villa commonly found along this coast" but rather "muscular geometric volumes" centered around a courtyard, much in the tradition of Luis Barragán, Legorreta's mentor—"are basically used as a single home, with overflow from one accommodated by the other, and meals and other activities frequently split between the two." Clooney, who's never been shy about talking design, summarizes: "I wanted something that would blend in, something indigenous that would feel in harmony with the setting."

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Clooney's courtyard.

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CINDY CRAWFORD AND RANDE GERBER AND NEIGHBOR GEORGE CLOONEY'S SIDE-BY-SIDE MEXICAN VILLAS
On the Baja peninsula, the couple team with their longtime pal and business partner to build stunning neighboring retreats where friends and family come together

Text by Brad Goldfarb | Photography by Björn Wallander | Styled by Michael Reynolds

Every house tells a story, and in Los Cabos, on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja peninsula, a pair of vacation homes stand side by side as a testament to a remarkable friendship—the one that George Clooney shares with Rande Gerber and his wife, Cindy Crawford. The name of this compound, Casamigos—or House of Friends—says it all. “We’ve been hanging out for 20-something years,” says Gerber, a nightlife entrepreneur who now focuses on his tequila-and-rum company, Gerber Spirits. “Long before the houses were built, we would travel to Baja together, staying at different hotels and drinking tequila.”

The idea of planting a flag in Los Cabos came several years ago while the two men were there on vacation with a few friends. “We saw this oceanfront lot and thought maybe it made sense to build something,” Gerber says. It was a desire fueled by wanting a place where family and friends could come together comfortably. “Once we had kids, we would go on vacation at Christmas,” says Crawford. “But you’d have to book hotels a year in advance, and then you’d get there and they never quite lived up to expectations.” Plus, Los Cabos is a short flight from Los Angeles, making it a convenient getaway for Clooney, whose primary home is in Studio City, and for Crawford and Gerber, who live in Malibu most of the year with their school-age son and daughter.

Initially the trio thought of creating one house large enough for everyone, but that concept was eventually nixed in favor of two independent structures. “It’s just nice at the end of the night to have your own place to go back to,” Gerber says. Even so, the houses are basically used as a single home, with overflow from one accommodated by the other, and meals and other activities frequently split between the two. “Our lives go back and forth,” Crawford says. “We’ll have cocktails at our place and dinner at George’s, and vice versa.”

The two homes were designed and built in tandem, and Clooney happily allowed Gerber and Crawford to take the lead on the project, knowing he could trust their taste implicitly. “Rande has this amazing eye for houses and style,” says Clooney, who nonetheless was a regular presence at meetings and traveled to the site every couple of weeks to give input. “I wanted something that would blend in,” he notes, “something indigenous that would feel in harmony with the setting.”
Another priority, all agreed from the outset, was to avoid the type of hacienda-style villa commonly found along this coast and aim for something more distinctive. The group decided to approach the firm of Ricardo Legorreta, one of Mexico’s preeminent architects, and his son, Víctor, a star in his own right. (Ricardo died in December 2011, two years after the project’s completion, and Víctor maintains the practice.) “A friend of ours had used Ricardo in California and loved working with him,” Gerber says. Adds Crawford, “That property was the first modern house I thought I could live in.”
Like his celebrated mentor Luis Barragán, the elder Legorreta was known for crafting muscular geometric volumes where the interplay of light and shadow is created by large windows and doorways, as well as open-air courtyards. All of those elements are present in the Crawford-Gerber and Clooney residences, which the Legorretas tailored to suit the trio’s relaxed, social lifestyle. “They wanted houses that were very elegant and almost like an art piece,” says Víctor, “but where you would still be comfortable walking around barefoot and in a swimsuit.”

Each structure is entered via a long hallway that flows gracefully into a dramatic double-height central courtyard, which connects to a series of sitting areas, dining spaces, an open kitchen, and, of course, a bar—an especially roomy one at Clooney’s, where the friends often assemble to watch sports on the wide-screen TV. And fronting the beach, each house has its own sizable swimming pool and terrace, as well as ample outdoor seating and dining areas. To soften and contrast with the residences’ expanses of cement plaster, many of the spaces feature wood ceilings, beams, and brise-soleils. “Using wood was something we pushed for,” Crawford says. “It’s not the material the Legorretas are best known for, but we wanted the warmth.”

Pick up a copy of AD’s November issue, on newsstands October 8, or download the digital edition to see more photos and to read the complete story

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CINDY CRAWFORD AND RANDE GERBER
Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber at their Los Cabos home, which was built in tandem with George Clooney’s house next door. Both residences were designed by the architecture firm Legorreta + Legorreta.

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COURTYARD for Gerber/Crawford
A frangipani tree lends a verdant note to the couple’s courtyard, which is furnished with teak tables and seating custom made by Jasper; the cushions are upholstered in a Ralph Lauren Home fabric, and the accent pillows are by John Robshaw

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MASTER BEDROOM [crawford/gerber]
In the master bedroom, a landscape photo by Bowen Smith hangs next to a Jasper chair and ottoman and a Ralph Lauren Home side table

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MASTER BATH [Crawford/Gerber]
The couple’s master bath, which opens to an outdoor shower, has a Legorreta-designed stone tub with Waterworks fittings; the photograph is by Herb Ritts, and the leaf photogram is from the Jalan Jalan Collection.

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Crawford and Gerber’s pool; Mia Lehrer + Assoc. oversaw the landscaping for both properties.

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Gerber and Clooney at the Casamigos site pre-construction.

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CLOONEY'S COURTYARD
Twine-wrapped lanterns are suspended from the slatted canopy over Clooney’s courtyard, which features a Legorreta-designed cement-plaster table and L-shaped sofa, the latter topped with cushions in a Holly Hunt fabric and vintage pillows from John Robshaw; the armchairs are by Ralph Lauren Home.

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CLOONEY'S LIVING ROOM
In Clooney’s living room, a slipcovered sofa and armchairs and a pair of stools by Casamidy are grouped around a cocktail table by SL Westwood Design; the Alison Berger–designed surveyor’s lamp is from Holly Hunt, the striped throw pillows are made of a Ralph Lauren Home fabric, the curtains are of a Holly Hunt linen, and the carpet is by Lawrence of La Brea.

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CLOONEY'S MASTER BEDROOM
Clooney’s bed, featuring a woven-leather headboard, is flanked by Legorreta-designed tables and Lika Moore lamps from Blackman Cruz; the throw pillows are by John Robshaw.

LittleBit wrote:Hey Everyone!

Digital Scans of the Magazine are on my tumblr

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Kimber

Vi wrote:yes

it's wonderful to be near the ocean

"Einfach nur sitzen und auf das Meer sehen"

Joanna wrote:He appears to be perfectly happy to me from what he's said so many times in the past......sharing his homes with close loyal friends and family.
Of course we see none of that as he protects that part of his life very closely.

And quite right too IMO.

cup cake wrote:l like it,  it's nice , but l get the feeling of a hotel not of a home ,  

marysunshine wrote:Okay, beautiful decor, breath taking view.... but, doesn't the layout look a lot like a hotel lobby?  Actually, both homes strike me that way.

party animal - not! wrote:Mm...well maybe since His Nibs has talked about her briefly recently, it's okay for her to open up in a discreet way now about the past....Wonder if they're still in touch. Wouldn't surprise me

theminis wrote:A bit desperate do you think Watching or just coincidental maybe?