S is for Style

venice

SS

WALK THIS WAY Architect Jeffrey Kim used an S curve to frame the entrance. The size of the garage door makes it seem as if there’s only room for one set of wheels, but a lift makes space for two—including Trott’s treasured Morgan Plus 8.

is for style

LIME AWAY The spiral staircase on the home of John Trott and Noralisa Villarreal is set against a vibrant punch of neon green.

The architecture’s signature S curve shapes the overhang crowning the stairs, which wind up to the roof deck.

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Architect Jeffrey Kim updates a Venice Home.

by LEILANI MARIE LABONG photography by JOE FLETCHER styling by CHAR HATCH LANGOS

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n April 2012, shortly after John Trott and Noralisa Villarreal principal of Pasadena’s Forward Design Office. “I wanted the home completed the one-and-a-half-year renovation of their old shot- to be unique, yet integrated into its surroundings.” gun house on Venice’s main drag, Abbot Kinney Boulevard, GQ The design’s stylish impact starts with its corner lot, which named a nearby stretch of AKB “The Coolest Block in America.” allows three sides of the boxy spectacle to be viewed and admired.

Coincidence? We think not.

A slight S curve—it starts at the roofline in front and drops to Amid Venice’s aging cottages, industrial warehouses and ground level in back—is a bold graphic that also tones down the cutting-edge buildings (some by contemporary masters such as architecture’s sharp lines. The dynamic indigo cement panelFrank Gehry and Steven Ehrlich), the couple’s home is a suave iter- ing leads the eye toward a new entrance on Abbot Kinney (it was ation of the beach community’s modernist roots. “Venice is known once the back of the house). Flashes of neon green stucco from the for its eclectic architecture,” says Jeffrey Kim, their architect and courtyard not only generate intrigue, but also echo the colorful NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2012 CALIFORNIAHOMEDESIGN.COM

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HIGH TIMES Kim emphasized the loftiness of the new great room by creating interest on the ceiling: It’s now paneled with American black walnut, which was chosen for its imperfect variations.

LIGHTEN UP By removing walls, the architect created one light, bright space where there had been a series of dark, cramped rooms.

“The new spaces are used MORE INTELLIGENTLY.” GOING WITH THE GRAIN The architect brought the wood paneling used on the ceiling down to floor level to provide a textural background in the bedroom.

architectural accents—and the trendy sartorial ones—that can be found around town.

There is, after all, much to be curious about here, like the fact that the renovation did not increase the size of the 1,200-squarefoot domicile. Rather, it resulted in a slight reduction of its dimensions: The garage was widened by a foot or so (more on this later), and consequently the proportions of the adjacent kitchen were somewhat diminished. “The difference is minimal and we don’t notice it,” says Trott of the eco-sensitive accomplishment, which avoided enlarging the home’s overall footprint. “There are only two of us, and we just didn’t feel that we needed extra room.

The new spaces are used more intelligently.”

Despite its single-car facade, the modestly expanded garage now accommodates two rides, thanks to a mechanized lift—a kind of bunk bed for automobiles. (Trott’s prized 1998 Morgan Plus 8 sleeps up top.) A roof deck above the garage, living room and kitchen was created to heighten, so to speak, the amount of 84

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livable space and to capitalize on the region’s sunny clime. Inside the home, walls that once separated the foyer, main hallway and kitchen were removed to achieve that distinguishing virtue of modern design: an open floor plan. Kim insists that the new space’s magnitude is just an optical illusion. “Trust me, it only seems to be bigger,” says the architect.

Such subtleties actually deepen the integrity of the bold architecture. The S curve is reprised elsewhere in the house, creating continuity: In the European-style galley kitchen, for example, the delicate contour can be seen at the moment the Corian countertop cascades into the breakfast nook’s built-in banquette. The striking neon green treatment in the courtyard is beautifully underscored in the mosaic tiles in the kitchen and master bath. And the nearly imperceptible undulations built into the wooden fence—Kim calls them “gills”—cast different shadows upon the property depending on the time of day. “These little surprises are meant to be rediscovered daily,” says Kim. “This way, the design never goes unnoticed.”

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“THESE LITTLE SURPRISES are meant to be rediscovered daily.”

ETERNAL SUNSHINE (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) A water feature greets guests at the home’s entrance; Trott and Villarreal hang out on the roof deck, which was added to increase the home’s livable space without expanding the footprint; a house number was created by drilling holes in the fence that frames the entry courtyard.

BLUE LAGOON The entry courtyard off Abbot Kinney is dotted with tufts of Mexican feather grass and is dramatically accentuated by an LEDlit water feature—both work strategically to soften the angular modern architecture.

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