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RO54

Arshia Architects

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Bronze
EXTERIOR VIEW - Yuheng Huang
LIVING ROOM - Paul Vu
LIVING ROOM - Paul Vu
EXTERIOR VIEW - Yuheng Huang

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Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
House
5.80
5.18
6.10
5.36
5.61
Donald Strum
Donald Strum President at Michael Graves Design
The visual imagery does not effecti...
6.5
7.5
6.5
6
6.63
Alexander Fehre
Alexander Fehre Founder at Studio Alexander Fehre
7
6.5
7
7
6.88
Yuko Tsukumo
Yuko Tsukumo General Manager at Nikken Sekkei
The dark photos are more striking,...
6.5
6.5
7
6.5
6.63
Sabine de Schutter
Sabine de Schutter Founder and CEO at Studio De Schutter
The conveyor belt concept adds a pl...
7
7
7.5
6
6.88
Kaan Alpagut
Kaan Alpagut Design Manager, Workplace Experience at The Lego Group
7
7.5
7.5
7.5
7.38
Wenke Lin
Wenke Lin Founder and Design Director at BDSD Boundless Design
7
7
6.5
7
6.88
Hilda Impey
Hilda Impey Creative Partner and Founder at Hilda Impey Studio
7
6.5
7
6
6.63
Monika Choudhary
Monika Choudhary Cofounder and Creative Director at Habitat Architects
6.5
6.5
6.5
6.5
6.5
Maud Capet
Maud Capet Associate Principal - Interior Design at OBMI
7
6.5
7.5
6.5
6.88
Client
Mike Parse
Floor area
623 ㎡
Completion
2022
Budget
$5,355,000
Social Media
Instagram Facebook Linkedin
Lighting
Windows & Doors
Kitchen and Casework
Finishes

Perched on a hilltop in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the Los Angeles basin, the project gently lands a dynamic building on top of a buried podium that replicates the natural topography that was once there before the area was subdivided for development. This hollow post-war neighborhood has been transforming gradually, overtaken by recent developments that rely on size rather than spatial quality. The concept set out to reduce the massing of a rather large project, for it to lodge within the neighborhood proportionally. It proposes an alternative model within the confines of stringent regulations that follows the imagination rather than necessity.

This project engages an exercise in spatial relationships to accelerate the programs of the house. It utilizes the split-level design to follow this topography of the hill and to connect the floor half-story plates. The plates form adjacencies, both visual and functional therefore allowing twice the utility of an otherwise dissected organization.

The design was informed by streamline automotive design, proposing every technology in the house to have discreet performance, allowing the sensory performance of the architectural space.

A courtyard that is created by daylighting the lower bedrooms from the buried podium, also acts as the rainwater runoff filtration system for the entire site. The project meets or exceeds stringent California green building and energy conservation standards such as low-flow plumbing systems, drought tolerant planting, rainwater filtration, photovoltaic integration, high efficiency building envelope and glazing, HERS rating of the mechanical system and more.

The interior concept for the project was based on a utilitarian approach to materials and palettes in contrast to the overall ambient approach of the design, where space overcame necessity. This balance of power proceeded in the backdrop of environmental sensitivity and clinical dearth.