A Malibu retreat that is modern, fresh and fire resistant

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It’s a 2.5-mile drive up a sinuous Malibu canyon to Roberts and Buckner’s home.The rugged hillside provides a spectacular view, but it comes with the ever-present danger of wildfire. “It’s always a possibility,” Roberts says. “It’s more about when the next one will come rather than if.”

The structure is clad in interlocking corrugated Rheinzink panels, which are made of a noncombustible zinc alloy. Underneath the metal finish lies a fire-resistant gypsum board, as well as eco-friendly cellulose insulation that’s made from recycled newsprint yet nonflammable.

Roberts and Bucker at their loft-like hillside retreat. Do they feel ready for the next time a wall of flames sweeps down the canyon? “I feel we’ve done as much we can with the physical structures, but there are so many variables,” Roberts says. “Sometimes you pay a price for living in paradise.”

An open plan and the 16-foot tall living room makes the 700-square-foot home feel spacious. The glass walls of the living room slide open to connect the interior with the exterior landscape.

A perforated steel screen, left of the fireplace, slips over the sliding glass door to reduce glare and summer heat. It also is meant to protect the home from radiant heat in the event of a wildfire.

From the living room fireplace, in the distance, steps lead down to a dining table that the couple fashioned from a birch door. The eating area is buried two feet into the earth to keep the vertical profile of the home lower on the hillside.