This 450 sf addition was "found" as empty space under the house perched on a steeply sloping site in Silver Lake district of Hollywood Hills. It quickly became the favorite family hangout doubling as a home office for one of the owners, a movie casting director.
Additional storage space in the low-headroom part of the addition was concealed behind a pivoted hidden section of the bookcase - a nice Hollywood touch!
A full renovation of the Kitchen and Master Bathroom were completed as part of a multi-year renovation, which will eventually include an addition as well.
The Kitchen Renovation removed walls that blocked the views into the garden as well as improving the circulation and organization of the kitchen for cooking/ food preparation while overlooking the garden, dining area and family den.
The Master Bath renovation involved creation of a spacious and modern Master Bath and a consolidated large walk-in closet out of what was a welter of small and cramped closets and separate bath and toilet rooms.
A warren of rooms, closets and corridors was transformed into a kitchen that is both a social center and a heart of a home. Open plan, professional appliances and a cooking island with a floating bar were used to allow for up to 4 people to work and interact with guests. The room also accommodates a breakfast table for 6. As part of the renovation, a laundry room and a half-bath were discretely inserted into the plan.
The Owners request was to completely renovate the 3-story Brownstone and at the same time make it appear as if it has always been like this. Existing and period elements were relocated, removed and re-created while simplifying and opening up the floor plan, adding bathrooms and bedrooms and updating the electrical and mechanical services.
One concession to modernity was a large eat-in kitchen with new full-width of the facade french doors to the garden beyond.
An urban backyard has been transformed into 3 adjoining outdoor "Living Rooms" - an outdoor dining area, a "hang-out" seating area clustered around a fire pit and a garden - a combination of perimeter vegetable garden surrounding a center lawn. A drainage, dry-well and pump system was installed beneath the garden to solve periodic flooding issues.
All plants and materials have been selected for minimal maintenance and maximum durability. All plant watering is done automatically, based on timer and/or soil moisture. This was a collaboration with Little Miracles Designs Landscape designers/contractors.
Many years after the owner’s visit to Japan, their dream of having a wooden “ofuro” soaking tub at home was finally realized . The feeling was to be “minimalist spa”.
Lighting was designed to create relaxed feel, combining floor & soft indirect light with cove lighting in the ceiling and wall niches.
Floors and walls use two tile materials, with the lighter color unifying all water-related features. The window was fitted with a mini-garden that uses the “borrowed landscape” Japanese concept of incorporating the vegetation beyond, in this case the trees in the backyard that the bathroom overlooks.
This 660 SF pool cabana was a collaboration with Irene Ioffe, Architect. The owner asked for a structure that evoked a Japanese Garden Pavilion and complemented the existing Main House.
The Cabana interior is a spacious single screened-in open-air space with a “lounge” in the middle centered on a freestanding fireplace, flanked on one side by a kitchen/dining and on the other by a small core of heated spaces for the Shower/Bathroom/Sauna for year-round use.
Most of the lumber came from the trees harvested on the site, sawn and dried by the contractor.
A “bachelor pad” for the owner who wanted an apartment that was minimalist, open and fun to entertain in.
We created a “loft feel” by opening up the living/dining/kitchen space and designing three sculptural & functional elements that anchor the spaces:
· Floating entertainment wall unit in the Living Room.
· Bar Counter & Bar with overhead canopy and lights
· Bed/storage/ ceiling and sound system in the Bedroom
All other storage was integrated into flush cabinets , keeping the interiors clutter-free.
The Living Room features a floating ceiling light “cloud” that contains both ambient and directional lighting. Diffuse ambient coved lighting is featured throughout.
A few projects I have worked while doing my apprenticeship at Davis Brody Bond, Buttrick White & Burtis and Croxton Collaborative. Project Role is listed for each project.
