Nestled into Santa Monica Canyon, this luxury home seamlessly fits into its wooded locale while serving as a backdrop for a world-class art collection.
LA-based Conner +Perry Architects were commissioned by a deeply-rooted Los Angeles couple to design a home that would fit their family and lifestyle, while also showcasing a world-class art collection and effortlessly blending into a beloved section of Santa Monica Canyon.
Taking cues from the property’s surrounding Oak and Eucalyptus trees, the firm designed a luxury home that allows for reflection, openness, and serenity.
Key design features include windows that frame the magnificent trees, extended canopy-like, cantilevered eaves, and fully pocketing glass exterior walls that open to a central courtyard to offer the perfect balance of indoor-outdoor living. Every view in the house was designed to captivate with either nature or art.
The owners of this luxury LA home sought to repurpose the felled Eucalyptus wood found on the property into outdoor furniture and key elements within the house, including the grand entry doors. In keeping, exterior materials for the new home were selected for their organic nature, ability to age in place, and compatibility with the climate, such as charred wood siding (Shou Sugi Ban), copper, exposed steel, and concrete.
Interior materials were chosen to reflect the nature outside, including a mix of Massangis grey limestone and French oak for the flooring, weathered brass, blackened steel elements, and a variety of marbles and tiles, including art tiles by Lubna Chowdhary.
For the clients, who both grew up in the neighbourhood, the chance to collaborate on the design process and build a space for their impressive art collection was a dream. For the architects, the home represents exactly what the clients were seeking — a quintessential California indoor/outdoor experience where everything feels open and unified.
Kristopher Conner principal architect said: “Each of them has described the house as having a magical or mystical quality, allowing light in at the right moments, as well as the shadows of the trees, and a calming mirroring effect.”
Photography by Taiyo Watanabe
