Canyon House

The project combines two terraced properties with a sloping landscape, connecting an existing home and a new one. The homes accommodate three generations of a blended family, and their open connections promote casual interaction. Previously separated by retaining walls, the fluid landscape is book-ended with new structures – a gable-roofed home on the upper terrace, and a large open pergola on the lower level. A small courtyard between the structures offers a direct connection.

The properties are situated on the floor of a canyon, and they include an expansive hillside covered with mature oak trees rising to the south. The narrow zone between the road and the bottom of the slope provides the only area suitable for building. Planning constraints stipulated that the buildings must be set back from the road and from the slope.

The project’s design included the new home on the upper terrace, remodeling the existing home and creating a large new pergola on the lower terrace, and the landscape connections between the structures.

Challenged to connect two properties separated by retaining walls and 3 meters in elevation, the designer took on the design of the landscape as an integral part of the project. The completed design fluidly connects existing and new homes, while creating a grand outdoor room framed by the structures and the steeply sloping hillside. The new home is designed to be independent from the existing one, and also to be intimately connected through carefully designed outdoor spaces. A small courtyard directly connects the lower levels, and the new landscape unifies the properties.

While the typical suburban home directs views toward the rear – to the backyard, this project’s design redirects views to the sides, parallel to the homes. By creating a linear landscape and placing the covered outdoor rooms at each end, spaces are visually connected and extended views are created, bringing the surrounding hillsides into the setting. The project creates a pastoral landscape for the new architecture by engaging the natural slope and screening the neighboring buildings. The new sloping meadow landscape is anchored at each end by the new structures, which offer destinations in the landscape.
After the foundation was reinforced and repointed, a new wood and steel superstructure was erected above in the profile of the original Yacht Club. Inside this shell, the Club Room was rebuilt, replete with its accompanying chimney. And here lies the point of departure for the new construction. Renovation often calls to mind the thought problem of Theseus’ ship. How does one renovate a historical structure and adapt it to a new use without obfuscating past and present? The solution in this case involved developing an architectural language that relates to the old while clearly of the present. Two large moves helped transform it into a residence while paying homage to its past. In both instances old and new are clearly distinct. The replacement of a corner of the Club Room with large sliding glass panels coupled with the addition of two glass dormers transformed the otherwise lightless building into a two-way receptacle for light. While admitting sunlight deep into the house throughout the day, at night it is a luminous beacon on the coast.

The organization of the site follows a ceremonial progression from arrival through the various aspects of the landscape to a culmination in the vista out to the sea. People and automobiles arrive at the same place, an entry court high above the house. Vehicular access is prohibited from this point and pedestrians and passengers merge and descend through the site. A series of stone steps defines a winding path that leads to the entry of the house or continues along the terrain to a terrace overlooking the ocean. Here the house merges with the ledge and even those parts of the house which are not transparent blend with the environment. There is something familiar about it, and yet something unexpected. It invites discovery and begs exploration, reawakening memory once lost to time.

Category:Private HomesYear:2022Location:Los Angeles, California, USA Architects:Standard ArchitectureDesign Team: Jeffrey Allsbrook, Silvia Kuhle, Anthony Chieh, Jihun Son, Lolade Frankel, and Nazifa ViraniContractor:Valle/Reinis Builders, Inc. Client: Noloko TrustPhotographer: Chris Mottalini