Openhouse : Los Angeles Residential Architecture

Openhouse, Los Angeles, California, USA XTEN Architecture Photographer: Art Gray The Openhouse is embedded into a narrow and sharply sloping property in the Hollywood Hills, a challenging site that led to the creation of a house that is both integrated into the landscape and open to the city below. Retaining walls are confi gured to extend the fi rst fl oor living level into the hillside and to create gardens on two levels. The front, side and rear elevations of the house slide open to erase all boundaries between indoors and out, connecting the spaces to gardens on both levels. Glass, in various renditions, is the primary wall enclosure material. There are forty-four sliding glass panels, each seven feet wide by ten feet high and confi gured to disappear into hidden pockets and allow for uninterrupted views and access to exterior terraces and gardens. There are also fixed glass walls, mirror glass walls and light gray specular glass panels which lend lightness to the interior spaces. The glass walls are visually counterweighted by sculptural, solid elements in the house rendered in stone, dark stained oak, tinted concrete and plaster. The use of cut pebble fl ooring throughout the house, decks and terraces continues the indoor-outdoor materiality, which is amplifi ed when the glass walls slide away. The building fi nishes are few in number but applied in a multiplicity of ways throughout the project, furthering the experience of continuous open spaces from interior to exterior. Set in a visible hillside area above Sunset Boulevard, the Openhouse appears as a simple folded line with recessed glass planes, a strong sculptural form at the scale of the site. The minimalist logic of the architecture is transformed by direct and indirect connections to nature. With the glass walls completely open the house becomes a platform defi ned by an abstract roof plane, a palette of natural materials, hillside, gardens and the views. Openhouse Los Angeles images / information from XTEN Architecture 030209 Openhouse Awards AIA Next/LA Design Award | 2007 Bienal Miami+Beach Architecture Award | 2007 Architectural Digest USA | December 2007 | cover AD Mexico Mexico | February 2008 Desinart Spain | April 2008 Peruarki Peru | April 2008 Interni Russia | April 2008 Traco Portugal | April 2008 Elle Decor UK Britain | May 2008 Interni & Decor South Korea | May 2008 Mezzanine Russia | May 2008 Residence Sweden | May 2008 Belle Australia | June-July 2008 | cover Inside Out Spain | July 2008 Architektur & Wohen Germany | August 2008 House Design Source Spain | 2008 Architecture Highlights China | 2008