Jackson House / DLF Studio
Designer: DLF studio
Location: Culver City (Los Angeles), California, USA
Site Area: 269 sqm (2,900 sq.ft.)
Constructed Area: 185 sqm (2,000 sq.ft.)
Contractor: GSB Construction Inc.
Landscape: DLFstudio
Materials: Wood, glass, stucco
Project Start: 2005
Project Complete: 2006
Photographers: DLFstudio
Location:
The project is located within walking distance of downtown Culver City, a small municipality on the west side of Los Angeles, California. The 2-storey house is situated on a sub-standard, trapezoid-shaped
2,900 square foot (269 sqm) lot and replaced an existing 600 square foot (56 sqm) dilapidated house.
Description:
The 2,000 square foot (186 sqm) house took form as a result of the odd shape of the lot, the respect for the local zoning codes as well as to the concerns for privacy voiced by a neighbor. The challenge, however, was to maximize the desired volume and space without offending the scale of the neighborhood. What resulted was a bold contextual statement in an otherwise typical, architectually homogeneous neighborhood.
Rather taking the McMansion approach to the design and build to the setbacks, we opted to articulate the volume of the building in a way that would give the façade more depth figuratively and literally. Then, articulate each resulting mass further by applying contrasting materials such as Ipe, sand finish stucco and smooth, hand-troweled stucco.
Within the clean lines and simple materials of the shell, the goal was to create light, interconnected, open spaces that were defined by shape and volume rather than by walls and materials. The starkness of the white walls and concrete floors allowed for creating unexpected niche spaces and contrasting touches to warm up the minimalism.
The lightness of the space comes from the white finish plus the two-storey glass corner of the house that is also protected from direct sunlight with Ipe wood louvers and roll down shades.
Because of the warm Southern California climate the window placement on the second floor was dictated by
a prevailing breeze in that part of the city as well as direct sunlight that washes the façade during the day.
The program consists of a “Great Room” (including the Entry, Living area, Dining and Kitchen) Powder Room,
secondary bathroom, Master Suite, Terrace and a Studio which could be converted into two future bedrooms.
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- existing house
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- existing house
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- site plan
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- lower level plan
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- upper level plan
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10 comments »
Amazing transformation… really nice interior design.
Is it just me or is this the most boringly trendy home ever built.
Patterned wall graphics, bamboo everywhere, square sinks, horizontal wood siding contrasted with concrete, a two story living room with low, wide fire place (with a pile of wood, too no less), etc… etc… and on and on.
Why not just live in a magazine. Doesn’t a bespoke home that is exactly the same as all of the other bespoke homes kind of defeat the purpose? I guess it’s got the right number of rooms for you…
No Liam, is not just you. Its borring!
I see no elegance in the secuence of the spaces, in the exterior composition, in the use of materials. The high quality finishes, materials and furniture make the bad quality of the design stand out.
Im wondering where the old house went.
Didn’t it have any qualities whatsoever?
Contempo-bland at it’s best.
Work like this trivialises and commercialises the work of others. Would you like fries with that ?
Are you guys kidding? Did you see the absolutely horrific and cookie cutter home that was there before? I live near this project and let me tell you, it’s a huge improvement over what was there. More importantly, it has encouraged other homeowners around here to do something “nice” of their own. So far the results are a neighborhood that is atypical of the blah-blah-blah tract homes you see over and over again in southern Cal. Like it or not, its unique to this block, this neighborhood, and this owner. If everyone did the same thing, THAT would be boring.
That may well be the case deesee.
But this ‘unique’ makeover is simply a contemporary version of the cookie cutter tract homes of which you speak. It’s got every ‘designer’ cliche that’s going at the moment – see Liam’s comments above.
I understand where you’re coming from critical cow (great name btw).
And while I do agree that certain materials and finishes are over used these days, my point is that, overall, its better to have each home designed “one at time” than have a whole block of 20 houses designed in one fell swoop. It just gives the block more character. I know that’s not always possible, but one can dream.
But certainly, Ipe is over used now, wide fireplaces, etc. etc. No argument there.
Critical cow moos, nods and returns to chewing his cud.
I agree on the use of cliché materials (ie: ipe, concrete floors, bamboo, etc) and other features but it does warrant some merit as well. Did you notice how small the lot is? Woow! 2900 sq. feet? That’s small! So I would consider what they’ve done as a good architectural solution given it’s context, both site and local. They could have maximised the livable space if it were a spec home.
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