Modern California House | Solar Umbrella House | Venice | California |

Nestled amidst a neighborhood of single story bungalows in Venice, California, the Solar Umbrella Residence boldly establishes a precedent for the next generation of California modernist architecture. Located on a 41’ wide x 100’-0” long through lot, the Solar Umbrella addition transforms the architects’ existing 650 square foot bungalow into a 1900 square foot residence equipped for responsible living in the twenty-first century. Inspired by Paul Rudolph’s Umbrella House of 1953, the Solar Umbrella provides a contemporary reinvention of the solar canopy—a strategy that provides thermal protection in climates with intense exposures. In establishing the program for their residence, which accommodates the couple and their one child chose to integrate into the design, principles of sustainability that they strive to achieve in their own practice. The architects carefully considered the entire site, taking advantage of as many opportunities for sustainable living as possible. Passive and active solar design strategies render the residence 100% energy neutral. Recycled, renewable, and high performance materials and products are specified throughout. Hardscape and landscape treatments are considered for their aesthetic and actual impact on the land. The Brooks Scarpa Residence elegantly crafts each of these strategies and materials, exploiting the potential for performance and sensibility while achieving a rich and interesting sensory and aesthetic experience.......more

Ranch House Conversion | Big Barn | Glen Ellen | California |Faulkner Architects

A San Francisco family of four asked us to create a retreat from their urban lifestyle, reusing the footprint of an existing 1950s ranch house in Glen Ellen, California, while building in a consistent way with the area’s rolling hills and agricultural structures.

Glen Ellen has many barn-like houses that confusingly mash up two design vocabularies, pasting residential-style overhangs and fenestration on barn forms in a kitschy blend. In contrast, this 3,900-square-foot house, dubbed the “Big Barn,” draws authentic inspiration from the site’s existing Tack Barn, which we had previously renovated into a bunk house. A simple, rectangular, two-story form emerged with an asymmetrical gabled roof. The shorter side of the roof faces the southwest sun and reduces heat gain to the structure. Fenestration is limited to this exposure as well and is organized as thin, full-height ventilation shutters that reference traditional barn building.

The entry, a larger version of the vertical slit elements, is recessed for shading. The fireplace and chimney, foreign to the barn typology, are displaced from the structure with glazed joints. The east side is more open to the view and morning sun.....more

Modern House Design | Moose Road House | California | Mork-Ulnes Architects

This project site offers a prized vantage point onto three locally celebrated landscapes: “Eagle Rock,” a striking mountain ridge and a valley of vineyards below. Each oriented toward one of the landscapes beyond, the plan’s three prongs extend precisely in between the existing trees to carefully preserve each oak tree. The house was also constructed on steel stilts to avoid severing tree roots. To cut costs and minimize waste, the building was designed according to standard–sized, off–the–shelf sheet materials. This strategy was essential to completing the building within a tiny budget (under $170 per square foot)......more

Modern Los Angeles Home | Westwood Residence | Los Angeles | Johnson Favaro

A long-time resident of the westside of Los Angeles and well-regarded theater actor in his eighties who had recently lost his wife decided that a new home on a property he owned in Westwood would be where he would like to live. His new home on a gently sloping hillside consists mainly of one large room – a combined living room, dining room and exhibition space for his extensive collection of contemporary art---surrounded on three sides by rooms open to the sky.

Entrance is afforded via a small outdoor vestibule from the west where upon entering to the north lies a large garden with mature olives, to the south a courtyard with a fireplace. On the east side, the kitchen looks out onto a linear garden that connects to a lap pool that sits just outside the master bedroom. Two guest suites are afforded separates entrance while also connecting to the main house. The composition of the house is inspired by one-room buildings of ancient indigenous architectures of the southern Mediterranean and north Africa......more

Modern House In The Woods | California | Envelope

Rather than a singular building, the house comprises a cluster of tent cabins. Three sleeping quarters and a living-dining commons rise into the forest canopy on stilts and are linked by wooden paths and open gathering places. 

Extending our experiments with liminal structures and hybrid spaces we fostered the land’s playfulness and conviviality, braced by bonds with family and friends.
The tented roofs and vanishing walls create an

immersive connection with the natural setting—its sounds and changing seasons—while large clear and mirrored-bronze glass windows frame views of the landscape and neighboring "rooms." Wood walls and floors lend warmth and support the comforts of modern living deep within the forest......more

Unique Modern Addition to Beverly Hills Residence | Beverly Hills \ murmur

This addition transforms the formal language of Southern California’s midcentury ranch to construct a dynamic spatial environment of pitched roof surfaces. Four planes, sloped in opposite directions, are seamed together to modulate programmatic volumes and site relationships. These volumes compress in plan to draw exterior space into the center of the addition and reduce the scale of project from the adjacent street and yard. Apertures are located to draw occupants and views along folded walls and toward the landscape beyond........more

Metal Skin House | Venice Residence | Venice | California | Kevin Daly Architects

The primary design challenges were to reconsider the building structures and allow shared use by an extended family while maintaining varying levels of privacy. The two story façade facing the courtyard became entirely glazed, which is in turn shaded by a folding, perforated metal skin that rests on an aluminum exoskeleton.

This perforated skin and supporting aluminum armature is mirrored across the courtyard by a folding enclosure surrounding the garage apartment. Only these building surfaces extend into and float above the courtyard. Primarily designed as sun shades, they provide privacy and filtered natural light into the main living spaces of the house and apartment. In addition they form the support structure for balconies that extend from the master bedroom of the main house and the apartment to allow family members to see each other across the property......more

House Remodelling | Ranch House To Modern Extended Family Home | Los Angeles | Kevin Daly Architects

The design was impeded by several zoning restrictions which necessitated that this project be defined as a remodel. As a result, only 50% of the existing square footage could be added to the project. To respond to both the clients’ needs and these restrictions, KDA designed a new steel structure to be placed over and around the existing wood-framed house, creating an upper level with roof gardens.

Interior walls on the first floor were removed to create an open, loft-like space in the living/dining and kitchen. Corners of the existing first floor roof and walls have been sliced away to balance the geometries of the new second floor addition. The relatively small bedrooms are made larger by locating one single large opening that looks out to the view and in some cases opens onto the new roof garden. The exterior stucco is coated with bright orange elastomeric to create a monolithic appearance. The garage is planted with an intensive green roof to be used as a herb and vegetable garden.....more

Modern Transparent House Design | Napa Valley | California | QUINTESSA PAVILIONS | Walker Warner Architects

Situated on a ridgeline within the breathtaking 280-acre Quintessa Estate in Napa Valley, the Quintessa Pavilions exemplify the ideal fusion of architecture and nature. Immersed in the landscape and surrounded by vineyard-covered hills, each pavilion is carefully sited to protect visitors from the elements while preserving the surrounding oak trees that naturally shade the area. Built with sustainability in mind, the overall design echoes the existing winery in its environmental sensitivity and industrial material palette that ages and weathers elegantly. The result is three, unique wine tasting pavilions that can be utilized year-round despite the weather......more