Culver City, California

This project is a full remodel, second story expansion and a garage-to-accessory dwelling unit conversion. Measuring at 1,500 square feet, the goal was to build a second story addition while keeping the existing foundations and walls as much as possible.

When I design a home, I first think about the people who are going to live there. I always begin by getting to know the values of the family, who they are, their concerns and their vision. In this way, the people inspire the design.

The Flaxton Street project came about as a result of a relationship developed during the Jackson Avenue renovation. One day, I received a phone call from the client. He said he had "good news and bad news," and asked which one I wanted to hear first. I said, "the bad news." After two years of planning for the Jackson Avenue project, the client had decided to put it on hold indefinitely. The "good news," though, was that he wanted me to design a completely new project -- a house for his son and his family.

This is something I welcomed. As an architect, I am firmly committed to working with the client over the course of the entire project. I am flexible in my thinking and very willing to work with clients who have new ideas even if they come in the middle of the design.

The Flaxton Avenue site is located in Culver City, California. The existing house is mid-century modern with a detached garage in the backyard. The young couple, with their newborn child, was hoping to move back to Culver City permanently and wanted a remodel that was spacious for their family.

Their dream was to create a contemporary design with a second floor addition. They had a budget that needed to be met and if not, they would resort to option "B," which was strictly an interior renovation.

I was intrigued by the challenge. Understanding their goals and constraints, my mind was quickly made up about the initial concept: an entirely reorganized interior with minimal exterior foundation and soil work, with a new second floor addition.

This second story addition was designed to take advantage of the existing foundation and exterior walls of the house and build up from it. This approach is economical and takes advantage of a house that is already well situated on its site. There were a few minimal, but necessary, exterior wall expansions and elevation adjustments on the first floor to help with the visual and physical circulation and increase the indoor-outdoor relationship.

California light is warm and magical and the surfaces of a building reflect the color of the day going by or the clouds passing over. So as I design a project, I always like to move the building blocks around so as to arrange them in a meaningful way to reflect the changing qualities of sunlight.

For the staircase corner, this particular building block was broken down into smaller pieces. Each component was proportioned so that the dimensions were scaled appropriately for a reading niche or memorabilia displays. The staircase space is 20 feet high with shades to control sunlight intensity, creating a welcoming foyer.

To further emphasize the indoor-outdoor relationship on the second floor, a large deck is created and directly accessed from the master bedroom with large panels of glass multi-slide doors. An exterior staircase leads to the rooftop deck with additional space to entertain and for equipment such as solar panels.

When I think about a building, it is not just about shapes or styles, but the existing conditions and the people who inspire it. These two things are linked together.