Loggia

            Residential Addition
            2019

            Los Angeles


The project is a remodel of an existing private residence designed in the Cape Cod style. A previous proposal specified a Shou Sugi Ban charred finish over the exterior, a significant enlargement of all floor levels, and the addition of a large basement (an oddity in Los Angeles). In essence, the proposal was an on-trend styling of the building's exterior 1 and a life-styling of its interior that prioritized resale value over lived experience. With the addition of a loggia-like structure, the current proposal moderately enlarges the main living area while preserving the charm of the existing house.

This arbitrariness of Japanese cladding over an American vernacular form became a departure point for the current proposal. But rather than reconcile the relationship between parts, this redesign tolerates the discordance between acontextual materiality and style. Seemingly random in material, color, and form, the loggia becomes a fleeting complement to the existing house - a threshold between the house and its surrounding landscape. Its color, rather than referring to the house, refers to the house's vegetation. This vegetation is then projected as a rippled interior landscape over mirrored corrugated surfaces that separate the loggia from the study.

1   Fortini, Amanda. “The Latest Design Trend: Black and Burned Wood.” Sept. 19, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/t-magazine/shou-sugi-ban.html.