Architect Steven Ehrlich made his house to incorporate architectural moves he learned living in Africa, a modern aesthetic and the community and climate of Venice Beach, California. The house is just a couple of blocks from Abbot Kinney Boulevard that is playful. “It’s so much fun to be part of a walking community in L.A.,” he states. “We can pop out for coffee, shopping or even a bite to eat, and all the action of the boardwalk and beach is just 1 kilometer away.”
In designing a home for one of Venice Beach’s typically long and narrow lots, ” he remembered lessons he had learned in the neighborhood architecture of Nigeria and also the courtyard layout of homes in the medinas at Morocco, calling his approach “multicultural modernism.” The result is a house that takes advantage of the climate and uses natural systems and technologies to enhance the home’s efficiency.
The design also takes advantage of every inch of the narrow lot in a manner that respects the neighborhood, opening wide to incorporate three interior courtyards that provide additional living space.
at a Glance:
Who lives here: Steven Ehrlich and his wife, Nancy Griffin
Location: Venice Beach, California
Main house: 2,800 square feet; 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths
Guest house/garage: 1,200 square feet; 1 bedroom, 2 bathrooms.
That’s intriguing: While teaching at Nigeria, Ehrlich made a theater made from mud for the play area.
The whole site strategy responds to the narrow bunch, which is 132 feet long by 43 feet broad, as well as into the larger community. Ehrlich’s design steps the top floors back from the street side out of admiration for the many one-story bungalows in the neighborhood. A large steel exoskeleton extends beyond the house’s elevation, joining indoor and outdoor spaces. A guest house/garage is about the right and provides an excess bedroom suite, a laundry room and a gallery-like area.
The elevation steps up from the sidewalk, to ensure its elevation and volumes admire the streetscape. From the left we see the pool, the mezzanine level and its deck together with all the master suite and patio on top.
The home doesn’t have air conditioning; instead its ventilation design gets the most of cross breezes. Pivoting glass doors off the dining area open up to among the house’s three exterior courtyards. The large expanse of glass opposite the dining room doors also opens up to let in the breeze.
Materials are carried throughout the property, some repeated on the interior, exterior and fencing walls. Ehrlich paid additional focus on using sustainable materials as well. The siding is Trex, which is usually used for decking and is made up of recycled sawdust and plastic. The steel is Cor-Ten, which includes a rusty patina that transforms over time. Concrete cubes are utilized inside and out.
Concrete flooring throughout the first floor supply radiant heat during winter months and help keep things cool throughout the summer.
An exterior wall articulates the perimeter edge of the property and interior creates Ehrlich’s unique, somewhat inside-out take on Moroccan homes that open into hidden courtyards. This wall is composed of Trex, concrete blocks that match the ones used within the house, and LUMAsite, a translucent combination of acrylic and fiberglass.
The next edge is one that transforms; Ehrlich utilized a dynamic system of sunshades, mounted on the top and down the long street side of the exoskeleton to control temperature, light and privacy.
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
The colors are motorized and radically change and enliven the facade. Ehrlich fell in love with this brilliant colour blend of burnt sienna and yellow ochre while operating in the peace corps in Morocco; the colours were motivated by the wood-dyeing souks in Marrakech. They also work nicely with the colours of the rusted Cor-Ten steel.
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
“The added benefit of the design, due to its scale is it also transforms the pool area to a spatially exciting new area,” Ehrlich explains. “The fact that the colors can move also suggests there are numerous choices of not only sun control however of spatial quality.”
“The colors can control the quantity of direct sun penetrating into the house from the southwest elevation,” clarifies Ehrlich. “When the colors are on the exterior of the house it is a very effective sun control system,” he states.
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
Inside, the first floor includes a wide-open strategy from one end to another. It’s even more wide-open once the glass doors have been opened to their adjoining courtyards at both end, extending into the outside living spaces. “When the house is closed, it can be quite cozy on a cold and rainy night,” says Ehrlich. “When everything is opened, the house transforms into something more like a pavilion.”
At one end, the dining area looks out onto a courtyard and also the guest house/garage beyond. The wall is exactly the exact same concrete block used on the perimeter wall out. No paint was used inside; all the substances used are intended to weather naturally.
Painting: Ed Moses
A courtyard joins the dining area into the guest house/garage and provides an outdoor space to lounge al fresco. Saving big existing trees was crucial to the site preparation.
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
An expansive living room opens up to its own courtyard on the opposite side of the design from the dining room. The 16-foot from 16-foot glass expanse entirely opens into the courtyard and the opinion of a sizable Aleppo Pine tree. Minimal detailing blurs the line between inside and out, whether the doors are closed or open. I am certain their dog, Joey, have to have thoroughly enjoyed never needing a doggy door.
Ehrlich made the couch and coffee table himself; the classic Boomerang chairs are by iconic California modernist Richard Neutra.The big painting is by L.A. artist Ed Moses. The house acts as a gallery for the couple’s impressive art collection.
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
This Japanese-inspired tansu staircase exhibits objects collected from worldwide travels.
This staircase dissipates at the mezzanine level, which comprises two bedroom “pods” and a bath, plus a street-side patio just beyond the pool.
Black and white art: Guy Dill
Past the staircase, a mezzanine-level glass bridge connects to another staircase up into the master suite. This very long landing gives a special experience of the distance between the 2 floors. “It’s like you are drifting as you walk upon the glass,” clarifies Ehrlich.
The sunshades change the master bathroom’s view. Waterproof plaster protects the bathroom from moisture and reflects light.
The normal ventilation carries through the top master suite floor, which includes large openings to the outdoors and its own private patio.
The residence is a living, breathing thing, thanks to the combination of the movable sunshades, the changing patina of the Cor-Ten steel, the big openings and the attention paid to renewable materials and systems. The place in this funky and vibrant beach community matches the couple’s lifestyle and entices their grown children (and other family and friends) to visit.
More:
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