DMF Design Awards 2025, 1st Place – Goldfinch Residence
A modern residence designed to seamlessly blend indoor and outdoor living, offering stunning canyon views and a deep connection to nature.
Location: San Diego, CA
Products: M Series Residential
Owner, Architect, Developer: Matthew Segal
Construction Consultant: Pogo Dog
Electrical Contractor: Huey Electric
Photography Credit: Matthew Segal
This 3,600-square-foot cast-in-place concrete home was designed and built by the architect for his family on a 40-foot vertical slope, requiring innovative planning and engineering. Each level integrates outdoor volumes with picture-frame-like edges, allowing occupants to enjoy the canyon’s sounds, smells, and beauty as if choreographed. The architect specifically chose DMF Lighting for its technical ease of installation in cast-in-place concrete and the ability to quickly swap trims, color temperatures, and lenses. This flexibility enabled efficient and precise tuning of the home’s lighting. Given the exposed concrete, the architect had only one chance to locate the lighting, and DMF’s directional LEDs allowed for adaptation to layouts that may not have been originally planned.
M Series Residential
The M Series Residential family is part of DMF’s most versatile, M Series product offering. Centered around a compact, four-inch, plug-and-play LED module with an embedded driver the M Series delivers the optimal balance of form and function. Paired with one of the award-winning M Series Housings, you can achieve fire, sound, wet location, and other ratings required for the most demanding projects. The M Series, true to all DMF offerings, provides outstanding illumination and color consistency while being simple to specify, install, and maintain.
About Matthew Segal
Matthew Segal, AIA, has been a key figure in advancing affordable, high-quality design-build housing, working alongside his father, Jonathan Segal FAIA, and on his own. Since 2010, his leadership has expanded the firm’s impact, focusing on integrating low-income housing into urban settings without compromising design. Matthew has designed award-winning projects like the Post Office Lofts, Villa Cubo, Remedy Holistic Pharmacy, and the Goldfinch Residence. He also developed ArchitectasDeveloper.com, mentoring over 1,000 students. Matthew’s work, including projects like “The Continental,” prioritizes net-zero energy and affordable housing solutions, offering a model for addressing the housing crisis.
About Pogo Dog
Pogo Dog Development Co. is a full-service construction and development company, general contractor, specializing in design-build based in San Diego, California. They specialize in new construction multi-family and commercial projects.
About Huey Electric
Huey Electric is an electrical contractor service that has been operating for over 17 years in La Mesa, CA.