BEVERLY HILLS ESTATE
PROJECT INFO
LOS ANGELES, CA
DESIGN-BUILD NEW CONSTRUCTION
SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE
1,600 SQUARE FEET
3 BED / 2 BATH
Building in a landscape, even as artificial as Los Angeles’ famous canyons, comes with a problem: the more space is taken up with buildings, the less is left for the landscape. In this project, we are exploring how to negotiate this dilemma by merging a part of the added architecture with the gardens of the estate.
The Guest Residence is a hidden house.
Its discovery is intentionally deferred along a sequence of scenic moments. On approach, the landscape begins to slope towards the canyon and gradually reveals a descending curved path, then an elliptic pool on a belvedere terrace, and finally a panoramic arched facade that wraps half way around the pool. It becomes clear that the rooms behind this façade are buried into the topography to be hidden from above, yet also wide open below towards the spectacular views.
The sloping landscaped roof of the guest residence blends with the terrain to extend the garden estate all the way down to the pool and belvedere terrace, while the facade arch cuts into the inclined roof plane, so that the rooms can surround the pool and open up to the views. This gesture of embrace and openness is amplified by a glazing system that can slide entirely out of sight.
The elliptic arch of the facade mirrors the path of the sun in the sky and gives optimal shade at every time of the day. Only in the colder winter months will direct sunlight begin to reach further into the interiors and help warm them up.
For a more direct access, there is an alternate path through a circular opening in the landscaped roof that leads down a spiral stair straight into the guest residence. In this arrival sequence, the living room frames a frontal picture of the pool and belvedere with the sky and view of the city afar in the backdrop. Seen from this view, the curvature, vegetation and stepped edge of this scenic plateau blend into the natural features of the surrounding canyon landscape.