* Residential Architecture: Smith-Clementi Residence by Rios Clementi Hale Studios

Residential Architecture: Smith-Clementi Residence by Rios Clementi Hale Studios: “..Program: Exterior and interior remodel and addition to single-family home and adjacent yard. First floor: living area, kitchen/breakfast room, powder room, outdoor dining, garage. Second floor: master suite, family room/office, two children’s bedrooms, children’s bath, utility room. Design: Originally built in 1920s (at 600 square feet) and renovated by husband-and-wife architects in 1996 with second-floor addition, the house grew again in 2012 with the addition of a second lot, reconfiguration of public and private areas, and new garage and master suite. The resulting home now revolves around indoor/outdoor connections to the vast patio space with decorative and working gardens. The front volume maintains a refined lap siding as a signal to the house’s bungalow origins with a scale appropriate for the walk street, while the expressive back volume sports exaggerated vertical wood framing as sunshades to the glass master bedroom volume. “A house and its antithesis,” is how the architects/homeowners describe the relationship between the two elements. The house slowly reveals itself along a walk street in Venice, California, with the design juxtapositions foreshadowed by corresponding fences—a vine-covered traditional wrought-iron fence leads into an raw- wood rustic picket fence. The idea of “Cape Cod meets California Modern” is displayed in the varying rooflines that open the structure to natural light and create terraces for outdoor living. Public areas on the ground floor flow into each other and toward the outdoors. A new large sliding-glass door opens the lower level out to the generous plaza formed from linear concrete slabs with grass and pebbles interspersed. No-mow grass surrounds the front elevated entry porch, which begins the consistent black concrete-tile flooring that travels from outside through the first-floor living, dining, and kitchen areas, then back outside to the al fresco dining platform. Muted colors on the exterior are derived from the landscape and majestic magnolia tree on the property, while natural-wood trim further connects the structure to the landscape. Accessible openings—doors and operable windows—are trimmed in olive paint. The back volume addition encompasses garage and storage with glass-enclosed master suite above. Structural, vertical raw-wood framing is expressively placed around the glass volume. In additional to functionally acting as sunscreens, the beams connote a tree house and correspond to the picket fence in both materiality and attitude. Both front and back parts of the house are distinct on the ground floor—connected by the open-air dining terrace—while the upper- level, cement-board cladded “bridge” connection is more seamless from the interior, acting as a large, common space shared by the family. Immediately upon entering the home, one feels the senses of light and play. Window walls face the outdoor areas and clerestory windows express the changing levels. Standing in the entry living room, one can see clear through to the breakfast area, outdoor dining, and garage. The living room features built-in and free-standing custom benches upholstered in lively patterned fabric. The existing fireplace was re-clad in origami-like dark metal. Materials were chosen to express functionality, thus natural wood and plywood are used extensively, allowing family art and artifacts to add color and character. The open kitchen features a built-in banquette and breakfast table, sleek and simple white cabinetry, and plywood- covered exhaust hood above the working antique stove, which once belonged to noted architect Ming Fung’s mother (Smith and Clementi met at Hodgetts + Fung early in their careers). The custom butcher- block island unfolds to a playful Buffalo profile. Floor-to-ceiling plywood book and entertainment center leads to the heavy timber wood staircase. Upstairs, two bedrooms and a shared bath for the owners’ nine- and 16-year-old daughters are separated from the master suite by the “bridge”. Central to the bridge is the open family room—a hub of activity combining TV viewing, computer, and various other functions that mirror the family’s lifestyle. The flooring changes from wood to cork tiles beyond an olive-colored floor-to-ceiling door that opens to the master suite, which includes seating area, terrace, bath, and walk-in closets. A seven-foot-high plywood wall acts as headboard and privacy shield to the alley, while the CMU wall extends up from the garage below and then through the full-height glass wall to the outdoor balcony. Sliding and pocketing doors on two sides can be opened and closed as desired to manage degrees of openness. The hanging fireplace swivels to direct heat either toward the room or toward the balcony. The plywood storage wall is inset with red doorways leading into closets and the master bath. Open shelves allow a clear view into the bath, which may alternately by closed off by sliding the door all the way across. White cabinetry and positive/negative faux bois tile highlight the master bath. Obtaining the neighboring lot gave the owners the freedom to open the home up to the outside. “Even though we’re Modernists,” notes Frank, “the relationship to the outdoors in the previous renovation wasn’t sufficient.” Orienting views toward the existing 80-year-old Magnolia Grande Flora tree resulted in short vistas with long diagonals that afford views, light, and air. On the adjoining property sits an olive-colored house for Julie’s mother, who also collaborated on the landscape. Long troughs with growing vegetable are placed along the walk street..” Interesting cladding / timber sun-screen, interior volumes and details; indoor / outdoor sensibility..

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image: © Undine Pröhl; article: ”Smith-Clementi Residence / Rios Clementi Hale Studios” 01 May 2013. ArchDaily

* Residential Architecture: Off-grid itHouse by Taalman Koch

Residential Architecture: Off-grid itHouse by Taalman Koch: “..The itHouse is a design system developed by Taalman Koch that utilizes a series of components prefabricated off-site to better control the construction waste, labor, and quality of the finished product. Conceived as a small house with glass walls and open floor plan, the itHouse maximizes the relationship of the occupant to the surrounding landscape while minimizing the building’s impact on delicate site conditions..Energy efficiency is achieved in the itHouse through passive heating and cooling, utilizing site orientation and cross ventilation, radiant floor heating, hi-efficacy appliances & equipment and the use of solar photovoltaic & thermal panels..To further enhance the experience of living in a glass house, a graphic design is mapped to discreet areas of the glass walls, creating framed views, sun-shading screen patterns and privacy zones. Artists Sarah Morris and Liam Gillick custom designed the graphic outfit for the off-grid itHouse..”  Extensive glazing (as one may expect in a glass house, after all), natural light, views; lovely site; interesting interior visual textures, graphism; commendable contextual sensibility..

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image: © Art Gray; article: ”Off-grid itHouse / Taalman Koch” 01 Apr 2013. ArchDaily

* Residential Architecture: Frank Gehry Designs Mixed-Use Tower for Downtown Santa Monica

Residential Architecture: Frank Gehry Designs Mixed-Use Tower for Downtown Santa Monica: “..Developers M. David Paul Associates and the Worthe Real Estate Group have commissioned Frank Gehry to design a mixed-use hotel and residential tower in his hometown of Santa Monica, California, USA. The 22-story “Ocean Avenue Project” aims to stimulate the coastal city’s economy with street-level restaurant and retail space below a 125-room hotel and 22-unit condominium tower topped with a rooftop observation deck. As for accommodating the car-centric lifestyle of the West Coast, resident and visitor parking will be available in a three-story subterranean garage beneath the tower. In addition, the developers plan to integrate a 36,000 square foot museum campus that will add a cultural perk to the development just North of its two-acre site..Although this project looks promising, the 244-foot, Gehry-esque tower is currently pending approval from the City. A vote by the end of March will decide its fate..”

See some of our other posts on work by Frank Gehry:

• Architecture: Miami: America’s Next Great Architectural City?
• Architecture: Gehry and Mirvish unveil Toronto ‘Sculptures’
• Architecture: Frank Gehry designs Facebook HQ Expansion
• Architecture: The French Cinematheque by Frank Gehry
• Residential Architecture: Duplex by Frank Gehry for Make it Right
• Architecture: The Dancing House by Frank O. Gehry
• Residential Architecture: Video: Gehry Residence by Frank Gehry, 2012 AIA Twenty-five Year Award Recipient
• Residential Architecture: Gehry Residence by Frank Gehry
• Architecture: Opus Hong Kong by Frank Gehry
• New York by Gehry Now Complete
• Frank Gehry-designed Abu Dhabi Guggenheim Faces Boycott
• “New York by Gehry” Now Renting
• Gehry, Hadid, Foster, Ando, & Nouvel – All on One Small Island
• Frank Gehry’s New World Symphony Center – Wonderful the Way it Should Be
• Frank Gehry Residential Tower Prepares for Renters
• Frank Gehry’s Riotously Sculptural $100-million Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas Opens

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image: © Gehry Partners; article: Rosenfield , Karissa. “Gehry Designs Mixed-Use Tower for Downtown Santa Monica” 04 Mar 2013.ArchDaily

* Residential Architecture: BIG & small House by Anonymous Architects

Residential Architecture:  BIG & small House by Anonymous Architects: “..This tiny house in northeast Los Angeles, California, USA, by local studio Anonymous Architects contains only three rooms and is lifted off the hillside on a set of concrete pilotis..Named BIG & small House, the two-storey residence was designed to maximise space, as it occupies a plot around half the size of its neighbours..Rather than squeeze in lots of small rooms, Anonymous Architects chose to add just one large living room, a single bathroom and a mezzanine bedroom. “What the house lacks in square footage it provides in volume,” explains the architect..A single-car parking garage runs along the side of the house, and the mezzanine bedroom stretches out over the top, allowing the combined living and dining room to become a double-height space..To increase natural light inside the house, interior partions don’t meet the ceiling. This was intended to create an “open-lofted feeling”..The shape of the house is defined by the outline of its sloping site. The base of the building barely touches the declining ground, but is held firmly in place by concrete-pile foundations..”The house is a completely isolated object,” (says) architect Simon Storey.. “It’s almost like a industrial shed compared to it’s neighbours, however the undulating roof softens the house just enough that it feels part of the neighborhood.”..Seamed metal sheets clad the entire exterior, while interior walls and floors are lined with timber..Anonymous Architects previously worked on another house on a small plot in Los Angeles and named it Eel’s Nest after the narrow residences found in Japanese cities..”  Extensive glazing, natural light, views; small footprint; interesting details and interior volumes..

See our post on another home by Anonymous Architects: Residential Architecture: Eels Nest House by Anonymous Architects.

image + article: Dezeen

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