Kanner Architects | House in Southern California

511 House is a private residence, designed on 3,500 sq ft by Kanner Architects. It is located in Southern California, and is designed to take full advantage of the bright light and cool Southern California breezes of Pacific Palisades. The primary design objective was blurring the line between inside and outside. The modern aesthetic of this house draws inspiration from the nearby houses created by Richard Neutra and Charles and Ray Earnes.

The 511 House is a riot of form, color, texture and materials in an almost post-modern mix of California Modern and Googie road-side architecture. The house was designed with two main volumes. From the front a blue tiled two story structure sits to the south (left) and houses the vertical circulation. And to the north lies the white textured stucco garage with its luminous corrugated fiberglass door. The entry sits at the joint between the two pieces, though its interior space belongs to the stair volume. The glass-clad main body was pushed to the north side of a lot the size of a tennis court (60 feet by 120 feet). A wide patio used extensively for dining and play extends to the south off of lower level. This generous setback allows natural light to penetrate the house from the south. Large sliding glass doors can disappear and provide a conduit for soothing sea breezes.

The lower level features an open plan living room dining room separated by a floating plywood bookshelf unit, and an open kitchen. A convertible space with large sliding door can function as a family room or guest bedroom with an adjoining bath. The hallway space connecting the stairwell and living areas functions as a library with built-in bookshelves and desk space. In addition, a large storage room is tucked into the site sitting beneath the garage.

Stepping inside the blue terrazzo floored entry hall, the bulk of the house reveals itself through west facing windows as an extension of the white stucco garage volume stretching along the north edge of the property. The topography of the site allows for the entry at street level to actually be the second level of the house. Three bedrooms occupy the upper level of the main structure beneath the boomerang roof form. The stairway is a sort of tower with a lookout space up a ladder from the entry and stairs descending to the lower living level.
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