Ivanhoe Vista House by Formation Association
Los Angeles
Photo by Stephen Schauer
Architects & Firms
Location: Los Angeles, California
Project size: 500 square feet (addition); 1,700 square feet (total)
Program: Ivanhoe Vista is a two-story addition to an existing house for a growing family. Situated along a slope, the reimagined residence offers new views out to the Ivanhoe Reservoir in Los Angeles’s Silver Lake neighborhood.
Design Solution: Anchoring a triangular corner site, the new addition establishes its own identity while respectfully acknowledging its traditional counterpart. Immediately adjacent to the preexisting house, a gabled profile slowly unfolds into a faceted volume that peeks out from behind tree foliage and terminates with an expansive window-wall, framing views from a new primary suite. A stair (kinked around the roots of an existing olive tree), leads down to a basement-level kitchenette and tandem garage that doubles as a painting studio. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this lower level hosted artists and workshops, which benefitted from southern exposure and easy access to the lakeside park across the street.
Structure and Materials: At the lower level, concrete retaining walls encased with hand-raked plaster strategically negotiate the grade change and the olive tree’s root system. Atop this textured podium, wood construction is sheathed in fire-resistive, dark-stained cedar siding and black corrugated metal. These finishes contrast with the neighborhood’s predominantly white stucco Spanish Colonial architecture and recall a forgotten gabled wood structure that once covered and protected the reservoir.
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Photography by Stephen Schauer
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Drawings courtesy the firm
Credits
Architect:
Formation Association
970 N. Broadway #209
Los Angeles, CA 90012
www.formationassociation.com
@formation_association
Personnel in the firm who should receive special credit:
Design Director: John K Chan, AIA, LEED AP
Project Managers: Carlo Jose Guzman De Jesus, AIA; David Gonzales Rojas, RA
Project Team: Nick Miuccio; Elizabeth Eshel, AIA, LEED AP; Colin Jacobs; Olga Oreshkina; Orbel Mangasar; Adrien Forney
Interior designer:
Formation Association
Engineers:
Structural: Ibarra Structural Engineering
Plumbing Engineer: Engineous Group Inc.
Consultants:
Arborist: Arbor Essence
Energy Consultant: Alternative Energy Systems
Geotechnical: Schick Geotechnical, Inc.
General contractor:
Build Zone Corp.
Photographer:
Stephen Schauer
Specifications
Exterior Cladding
Wood: Fire-X Cedar, stained
Roofing
Metal: AEP Span, corrugated metal
Glazing
Skylights: Velux, Sun Tunnel
Other: C.R. Laurence glass railing system
Windows
Metal frame: Milgard
Doors
Entrances: Existing
Metal doors: Milgard
Wood doors: ETO Hadley, Interior Doors
Sliding doors: Milgard & Western Windows, Multi-slide
Special doors: Custom garage door with Johnson Hardware
Interior Finishes
Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: Custom millwork, stained oak
Paints and stains: Dunn-Edwards Paints
Solid surfacing: Caesarstone
Floor and wall tile: Granada Cement Tiles
Wood Flooring: Summit Peak
Furnishings
Tables: Hem, Alle Round Table
Other furniture: Vitra, Jasper Morrison Cork Stools
Lighting
Dimming system or other lighting controls: Leviton, Decora
Plumbing
Tub: Americh
Sink: Duravit
Kitchen Faucet: Axor, Citterio
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