Tag Archives: Southern California

Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos

Los Angeles Design: Tour Of A ‘Modern Bungalow’

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The Local Project (April 30, 2024): For an architects own home, Mark Motonaga, homeowner and creative director at RIOS pulled together a range of design elements that makes his home feel safe yet joyous. Located in Los Angeles, Modern Bungalow was once an original single-family residence.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Architects Own Home 00:41 – The Original Vision 01:35 – A Walkthrough of the Home 02:22 – Designing Your Own Home 03:32 – Ideating the Backyard Landscape 04:12 – Proud Aspects

From the start of the project, the architect envisioned a modern home that could fit the scale of the original structure while reimagining what a bungalow could be. By creating a jungle-like refuge in the back of the house, RIOS has established a juxtaposition to living in a city.

To do this, the architect reversed the typical bungalow layout by putting the public spaces at the rear of the house and the private spaces to the front. Moreover, featured in the backyard is a pool, which is different to the traditional backyard pools often designed in the city.

Built to feel like people were swimming in a pond, it is complemented with a jungle-inspired garden that grows right up to the edge. At the beginning of the house tour, two large grey doors open up to a side courtyard referred to as the home’s foyer.

Entertainment, Recreation, Tourism, Tours, Travel, Videos, Views

Tourism: Newly Reopened ‘Treehouse’ At Disneyland

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Los Angeles Times (November 11, 2023) – A guided tour of the newly reopened Adventureland Treehouse at Disneyland Park, originally opened by Walt Disney and his Imagineers in 1962.

A new family has moved in. Everything is fashioned from found objects, natural resources—and pure ingenuity! Follow the wood rope stairways up, up, up into the boughs and find the mother’s music den, the young sons’ nature room and the teenage daughter’s astronomy loft. Adjacent to the stairway is the home’s iconic waterwheel, which generates the energy needed to power the family’s gadgets and inventions.

Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos, Views

Architecture: A Modern Home In Pacific Palisades

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The Local Project (September 26, 2023) – On the hills of Pacific Palisades, in Los Angeles, is Palisades Residence by Abramson Architects, a breathtaking modern home with sweeping views of the canyon backdrop. As the house tour begins from street level, the house opens onto a one-storey main level before descending to the second floor.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Breathtaking Modern Home 00:59 – The Riviera Neighbourhood 01:12 – The Layout of the House 01:35 – A Walkthrough of the Home 04:03 – Designing For A Dynamic Climate 04:53 – A Simple Material Palette 05:09 – A Collaborative Process

Journeying further, the main level opens to reveal the living space with dropped ceilings that at first obscure the top of the canyon. However, as the house tour moves further into the living area, the interior design opens up with the ceiling, lifting to gift the occupants breathtaking views of the canyon. From the entry way, the architects have designed a tall space with concrete walls and split skylights, which have been designed specifically to allow light to reflect and bounce into the breathtaking modern home.

The upper level contains the primary suite, which has its own his and hers bathrooms and dressing rooms. Additionally, this level contains the kitchen, dining room, living room and the covered outdoor space that leads to the outdoor entertaining areas. From here, the house tour leads down to the second level where additional living spaces are placed – these three secondary suites complement the interior design of the breathtaking modern home.

Art, Arts & Literature, Museums, Profiles

Profiles: David Hockney At The Huntington Library

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Painting of a bare tree, with many small branches, in a green field with a blue sky.
David Hockney, Tree on Woldgate, 6 March, 2006

The Huntington Library (August 9, 2023) – A David Hockney in The Huntington’s venerable European art gallery? Yes, visitors can view the large and striking Tree on Woldgate, 6 March (2006), which depicts the serene Yorkshire countryside where the renowned artist grew up.

You can see fields in the distance and, in the center, a leafless tree with branches that twist and turn in an almost snakelike manner. The painting comes from a period in Hockney’s career when he created a series of plein air landscapes around his hometown.

Watercolor self-portrait of David Hockney, paintbrush in hand, looking at the viewer.
David Hockney, Self-Portrait with Red Braces, 2003

The painting hangs in conversation with John Constable’s monumental View on the Stour Near Dedham (1822). While the two works were created more than 180 years apart, their inspiration comes from the same source—childhood surroundings—and they both convey a sense of place and nostalgia.

One of the most famous British artists of the 20th century, Hockney emerged as a major contributor to the 1960s pop art movement and has had a multifaced career as a painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. He is perhaps best known for his acrylic paintings of bright swimming pools, split-level homes, and suburban California landscapes.

In 2022, The Huntington acquired its first Hockney works: 17 works on paper that include an artist book, drawings, prints, photocollages, and watercolors. These works display an intimate side of Hockney—like the self-portrait of the artist in red suspenders, bent over a table and peering over his wire-rimmed glasses, paintbrush in hand. His blue eyes, gazing straight at the viewer, create an immediate intimacy.

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Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos, Views

Modern Garden Homes: ‘Palms Residence’ In Venice

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The Local Project (July 25, 2023) – From the moment the gates opened, client and interior designer Gillian Wynn knew Palms Residence was the secret garden house she had been looking for. After enlisting the help of Olson Kundig for the architecture and design of her home, Gillian delivered a brief that asked for something that was unlike the past work of the studio.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction From The Homeowner 00:57 – Collaborating With The Architect 01:28 – Intertwining The Indoors And Outdoors 02:43 – Venice’s Natural Light 03:14 – The Unique Kinetic Sculpture 04:09 – A Modest Palette 04:56 – Disappearing Into The Garden 05:27 – The Deconstructed Geometry Of The House

As the agenda of the residence was mostly focused on emphasising the garden, both Tom Kundig, Principal and Founder at Olson Kundig, and Gillian knew that in order to make her vision come to life, the home needed to be manipulated around nature. Seen throughout the house tour is a yoga studio, living and dining areas and a couple of bedrooms, each space blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor living and taking advantage of the paradise-like climate of Venice. Employing a number of design techniques,

Olson Kundig treats architecture like “layers of clothing,” in that there are multiple ways to open and close the home and manipulate how one can enter and exit. Yet it is how the garden is shaped around the home to encourage light to trickle through the trees and inside to complement the interior design that turns Palms Residence into a secret garden house. With the focal point of indoor and outdoor living, the home is complemented with wide glass doors and a glass-walled stairwell that invites the light in and creates a warming character.

Moreover, due to the home’s location, there is a magical quality of natural light that emphasises the architecture and interior design from the moment the sun rises and until it sets. Additionally, the home’s private yoga studio features a Gamelatron installation, a kinetic sculpture designed by the owner’s close friend Aaron Taylor Kuffner. Composed on site, the sculpture emits a sound bath via Indonesian gongs, which sets the tone of meditation and flow for the rest of the secret garden house.

Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos, Views

Architecture: The ‘Desert Palisades’ In Palm Springs

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The Local Project (July 14, 2023) – Floating above the landscape is the best modernist home. Desert Palisades by Woods + Dangaran is a family home that was built from a goal to introduce a more international style of modernism to the desert.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Best Modernist Home 01:06 – Creating A Family Refuge and Paying Homage to the Mountains 01:39 – The Approach of the Home 02:04 – Ensuring the Home is Timeless and Fitting 02:34 – A Climate Focused Material Palette 03:50 – The Tonal Nature of the Home 04:33 – A Fine Curation of the Details 05:28 – Taking A Backseat to the Surroundings

Though focused on creating a desert oasis home in which the family could escape to and decompress, the architects have also paid homage to the mountain and enabled the owners to experience its form completely. In line with the basin of the San Jacinto Mountain, the home encompasses views across Palm Springs and the surrounding rocky landscape that further encourages the owners to not only appreciate it but to connect with it.

Approaching the desert oasis home as if it is a beacon on the hillside, the house tour unfolds in a natural procession, guiding viewers past the pool area and then into the pavilions that showcase the home’s sweeping views. Recognising the presence that the structure holds, Woods + Dangaran worked with a responsibility to make sure the best modernist home feels timeless and fits into the desert landscape. From its base, the architecture of the house is made up of a concrete masonry unit, while the support walls and ends of the pavilion are created with burnished CMU blocks that appear to come from the soil.

Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos, Views

Architecture: A Tour Of Frank Sinatra’s 1947 ‘Twin Palms’ In Palm Springs

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The Local Project (June 23, 2023) – Nestled among the palm trees, Twin Palms by E. Stewart Williams boasts not only a desirable position but a rich history that makes the iconic house stand out.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Intro to Frank Sinatra’s Iconic House 00:39 – A Completely Blank Canvas 01:14 – E. Stewart William’s First Architecture Project 01:53 – The Original Floor Plan 02:19 – A Typical Palm Springs Type Home 03:02 – Indoor and Outdoor Fusion 03:23 – The Many Moods of Modernism 03:40 – Enveloping and Warm 03:59 – The Unity of Nature and Architecture 04:38 – Balanced Light 05:15 – Frank Sinatra’s Love of the Desert

First built when there was nothing but mountains and desert, Twin Palms helped establish the architectural shape of Palm Springs. As Twin Palms was the first home designed by E. Stewart Williams, the iconic house offers a softness and comfortability that its original owner, Frank Sinatra, desired. Throughout this iconic house, E. Stewart Williams has provided fun, pleasure, privacy and respite, for the home’s first owner to its current occupants.

Though the midcentury home was built in 1947 for Frank Sinatra, E. Stewart Williams’s complex yet soft design has remained mostly intact, with the only change to the floor plan being the entrance, which was moved to the opposite side of the street to provide a dramatic arrival. Additionally, the original furniture and kitchen appliances remain, adding to the home’s interesting history.

For the rest of the exterior and interior design, the softness and expression of pleasure and place are articulated with the interior columns that are rounded instead of straight – an idea that helps to soften the environment and avoid the harshness of geometric design. With the architecture of homes in Palm Springs being designed with respect to the mountains, there is a sense of unity between nature and structure that exists in the iconic house. Further deepening this, E. Stewart Williams provides an overarching sense of indoor and outdoor living through the colour choices, materials and form of the iconic house.

Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos, Views

Modern Homes: Madison Desert Club In La Quinta

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The Local Project (June 6, 2023) – Inspired by the conventions of a boutique hotel, Kovac Design Studio administers an array of design elements that cater to its clients’ desires to have a modern house that celebrates the surrounds and can host friends and family.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction 00:43 – A Boutique Residence 01:07 – Enabling the Feeling of Secludedness 01:41 – The Organisation of the Building 02:12 – The Element of Surprise 02:38 – Built for 2 people or 200 people 02:54 – Covered in Glass 03:09 – Matching the Materials with the Surrounds 03:32 – The Glamorous Material Palette 03:57 – Giving Each Room its own Identity 04:33 – The Oculus 05:10 – The Canopy 05:28 – Designing a Concept from Start to Finish 05:57 – Proud Moments

From the first steps inside, Madison Desert Club is deliberately designed to offer the feeling of being outside when moving from room to room. Imbued with space for the owner to entertain and unwind, Madison Desert Club rejoices in the landscape of La Quinta with an open floor plan and floor-to-ceiling windows and doors.

Additionally, unique design elements are employed to enhance the home’s connection to the outdoors, beginning with a continuous canopy-style roof that is set over parts of the modern house, offering a change of light throughout the day. Another element seen upon arrival is the Oculus – a circular shape integrated into the roof, which allows for uninterrupted views of the sky above. Spanning all three levels, the modern house tour begins at the lower level, where a sauna, spa and gym are placed.

The above two levels hold the guestrooms, kitchen, living, dining areas and private cocktail bar. Expressed by its metal mesh curtain, the cocktail bar is imbued with warm colours that reference whiskey and give the impression of being inside a sophisticated space reserved for VIP clients. On the top level, a dedicated screening room offers a rare surprise when the screen wall opens up to the entire living space below.

#Modern #House #Design

Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos, Views

Design: Walk Street House In Southern California

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The Local Project (June 2, 2023) – Walk-Street House offers a seamless continuation of the Southern Californian beach lifestyle where the natural house resides.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Light Filled Natural House 00:23 – Walk-Street Homes 00:48 – A Walkthrough of the Home 01:38 – An Indoor Outdoor Connection 02:19 – The Unique Interiors 02:43 – Working with a Small Floor Plan 03:13 – The Natural Materials 04:01 – A Warm and Inviting Home 04:16 – A Focus on Natural Light 04:45 – Quality Control 05:04 – Blurring the Lines Between Inside and Out

From the raw timber façade to its open plan living, there is a lack of separation between the residence, the street, the climate and the locale, which gives the home its distinct nature. ras-a studio homes in on a quintessential city-beach aesthetic that speaks to its South Los Angeles location. The natural house has a strong attachment to place – a vibrant street with pedestrian-only access.

However, the prime location means the home is compact, posing a significant challenge for the construction. Overcoming this revealed a deeply considered open floor plan that nurtures the feeling of space at every opportunity. Eliminating interior partitions within the kitchen, dining and lounge areas allows for the spaces to borrow room from each other. Upstairs are the bedrooms, a study and a balcony that overlooks the street below, as well as a rooftop terrace that boasts panoramic ocean views.


#Natural #House #Architecture

Travel, Videos, Views

California Tours: Mission San Juan Capistrano (2023)

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ERIC MINH SWENSON ART FILMS (May 18, 2023) – Mission San Juan Capistrano, historic landmark and museum, is the Birthplace of Orange County. It was founded more than two hundred years ago as the 7th of 21 missions statewide and features a chapel still standing where Saint Serra once celebrated Mass.

Today, it is a monument to California’s multi-cultural history, embracing its Native American, Spanish, Mexican and European heritage. Originally built as a self sufficient community by Spanish Padres and Native Americans, the Mission was a center for agriculture, industry, education and religion. Famous for the Annual Return of the Swallows, Mission San Juan Capistrano is the “Jewel of the California Missions” and welcomes over 300,000 visitors each year.