Nakahouse

Project Description

2015 Residential Architect Design Awards
Custom/Under 3,000 Square Feet
Award

On an existing footprint in the Hollywood Hills, Culver City, Calif.–based XTEN Architecture built a 2,835-square-foot, abstracted black-and-white house that connects to the outdoors through loosely defined boundaries between interior and exterior. Outside, black Venetian plaster conceals a high-performance roofing system designed to reduce solar gain; the house uses passive cooling from floor-to-ceiling glass pocket doors and second-floor clerestory windows. Inside, white lacquered cabinets sit on white concrete epoxy floors, and white plaster and steel finishes complete a monochrome palette where rooms bleed into each other. A steel stair leads from a terrace cantilevered off the kitchen to a rooftop sundeck, and overscaled windows in the living spaces catch views of the Hollywood sign and Griffith Park Observatory. —Deane Madsen, Assoc. AIA

From the Jury 

Project Credits