Manhattan Beach House by Olson Kundig
Manhattan Beach, California
Architects & Firms
Location: Manhattan Beach, California
Project size: 5,310 square feet
Program: This beachside home for a family with children includes four bedroom suites and shared gathering spaces across three levels. In this challenging urban infill context, varying degrees of opacity and transparency preserve privacy while maximizing views and natural light.
Design Solution: On a narrow sloping site just blocks from the ocean, Manhattan Beach Residence draws from the honest expression of structure and the utilitarian design approach that characterized California’s mid-century modern architecture. The home terraces the hillside in a series of indoor and outdoor spaces, which create a puzzle of reconfigurable and interconnected volumes.
On the uppermost level, for example, a great room combining living, kitchen, and dining is lined with sliding window-walls to the west (which open to an exterior deck) and a central courtyard to the east. By moving a counterweighted, three-panel kinetic glazed wall and telescoping doors, occupants can transform the great room into a grand outdoor space. On the other side of this courtyard, a double-height library includes eighteen-foot-tall sliding doors, which can also be opened to connect the entire floor.
With a pedestrian walk and greenway flanking the home’s southern edge, lush plantings blend the transition between public and private spaces, and three entrances navigate the topography of the site.
Photo © Aaron Leitz
Structure and Materials: The design complements the eclectic architectural language of the surrounding stucco, wood-framed, and mid-century houses, incorporating flat awnings and proportionate massing, while retaining its own distinct expression in the dense urban neighborhood. Exterior materials, including glass, black-painted metal, and CMU blocks, create a composition of solids and voids that expresses the spatially complex interior volumes.
Additional Information
Completion date: July 2021
Site size: 0.08 acres
Total construction cost: Withheld
Client/Owner: Withheld
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Photos © Aaron Leitz
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Images courtesy Olson Kundig, click to enlarge
Credits
Architect:
Olson Kundig
159 S Jackson St, Suite 600
Seattle, WA 98104
www.olsonkundig.com
206-624-5670
Personnel in the firm who should receive special credit:
Design principals: Tom Kundig, Edward Lalonde
Project manager: Nate Boyd
Design team: Kozo Nozawa
Landscape design: Michelle Arab
Interior designer:
Olson Kundig and HRH Design
Engineers:
Civil: PE&C Engineering
Structural: PCS Structural Solutions
Consultants:
Lighting: O-Lighting
Landscape: Jones Landscape
Kinetic Wall Fabrication: KB Architectural Services
Building Envelope Consultant: RDH Building Sciences
General contractor:
Dowbuilt
Photographer:
Aaron Leitz
Specifications
Exterior Cladding
Masonry: 8”, 12”, and 16” Concrete Masonry Units
Metal panels: Custom 12-gauge painted metal siding
Other cladding unique to this project: CIP Concrete; Custom perforated metal privacy screen (pattern designed by owner); Painted steel bar grate over HVAC equipment
Windows
Metal frame: Dynamic Aluminarte; Styline Telescoping Windows
Glazing:
Glass: Cardinal 272 supplied by Dynamic
Hardware
Locksets: Tom Kundig Collection
Pulls: Tom Kundig Collection
Interior Finishes
Paints and stains: Benjamin Moore
Floor and wall tile: Heath
Wall Coverings: Blackened steel siding; Ebonized oak
Solid surfacing: Caesarstone
Raised flooring: Engineered oak floor
Furnishings
Chairs: Cassini Cab chairs by Mario Bellini; About a Stool 32 barstools by HAY; Eames lounge chair and ottoman
Tables: Tobi-Ishi coffee table by B&B Italia
Lighting
Downlights: Tom Kundig Collection
Dimmable system: Lutron Control System
Plumbing
Toilets: Toto
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