Los Angeles, California, USA
Los Angeles-based Standard Architects design a minimalist residence in Los Angeles, inspired by American vernacular architecture and more precisely barn structures, using elements such as concrete, timber, and stone finishes to create a house that it’s incorporated into the local environment.
The project has been awarded a 2021 American Award for Architecture from The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
For the architects, the project became about doing the most with the least, using simple elements, timeless wood, concrete, and stone finishes, and meticulous moves to ground the home in its site, and to bring together the distinctive elements of both the architecture and the landscape.
Inspired by Louis Kahn’s Kimbell Art Museum, the home takes the shape of three parallel
gabled volumes with stairs between them.
Each of these volumes houses different essential spaces and opens up onto an outdoor patio that overlooks the city, reinforcing the connection between home and landscape.
The double-height middle volume, which houses an expansive living and dining space was conceived by the architects as a singular great, big room.
The pitch of its ceiling guides the eye toward the expansive glazing at the rear of the house, which opens up to the view over the city, at once providing shelter and inviting the outside in.
The entry to the home is located at the opposite end of this volume and marked by two
mature olive trees that flank the travertine pathway that leads to the solid oak front door,
a simple move that asks the visitor to slow their pace and consider their surroundings as they enter.
A set-back cobblestone motor court adds to the cinematic experience of arrival and allows for a visual connection with the city as one drives up.
The two lateral volumes of the home are divided into two stories, with white oak accented
bedrooms and marble-clad bathrooms on the upper story, giving these rooms a sense of
comfortable privacy and quiet while allowing the lower story to enjoy unmitigated views to
the surrounding landscape.
The architects emphasized this essential connection by using light, almost golden wood to clad the inner walls of the middle volume, and travertine floors, which continue to the outside.
A subtle nod to the vernacular barn, the white oak paneling guides the eye outward toward the view and gives the home a sense of natural, easy coziness.
Two oversized board-formed concrete fireplaces accent the living spaces.
Upstairs, the connection to the surroundings remains, with the main bedrooms facing the
impressive view of the city.
To keep this connection in the master bathroom, the architects created a special Calcatta marble-lined “pop-out” for the freestanding tub, with a large window that frames the vista.
It’s all brought together by simple landscaping, timeless travertine paving, that culminates
in an infinity pool that gives the feeling of being suspended in the sky, high above the city,
yet still in the comfort of home.
Project: Forest Knoll Residence
Architects: Standard Architecture/Design LLP
Design Team: Jeffrey Allsbrook, Silvia Kuhle, Ryan Ripoli, Mohamed Nazmy, Sarah Etaat, Wren Hoffman, and Ashley James
Client: Viewpoint Collection
Contractor: OHS Group
Photographers: Mike Kelley
