House of Love/Beit Ha-Ahava
Los Angeles architect Bob Hale, of Rios Clementi Hale Studios, wrapped his Cheviot Hills house in a perforated-metal screen punched with the hebrew word for love.
Architects & Firms
Los Angeles
It's probably safe to bet that most architects have designed their dream house—on paper, in their heads—many times over. Bob Hale, of Rios Clementi Hale Studios, was lucky enough to make one of his iterations a reality in Los Angeles's Cheviot Hills neighborhood. The three-story, 5,000-square-foot house replaced a 1940s structure that could not be adapted (Hale donated the scrap material to Habitat for Humanity).
Set partially into a hill, the new house's concrete-masonry lower level contains a separate apartment with its own entrance. “We wanted to think about it as multigenerational,” says Hale, who has two grown children. The main living spaces on the second floor are encased in glass and lead to a terrace and pool. But it's the third floor, which appears to float, that provides the poetry. This steel-moment-and-wood-frame level is wrapped in corrugated-aluminum panels with perforations that spell ahava—“love” in Hebrew. “We tend to not open the screens because it's almost like they're not there,” says the architect. “They read more like a cloud and create great shadows.”
They represent something immaterial, too. His first wife of 23 years died in 2006, and, he says, “I was fortunate enough to fall in love again.” It is Hale's new wife, Maxine Morris, who had the idea for the ahava perforations. “It was like, OK, let's really start over and make a new way,” says Hale. “I didn't start out to make a home wrapped in love, but in fact that's what I ended up with.”
Completion Date: November 2012
Gross Square Footage: 5,000 square feet, including garage
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PeopleOwner: Architect: Personnel in architect's firm
Interior designer: Engineer(s): Civil Engineer: Incledon Consulting Group Geotechnical: Grover Hollingsworth Consultant(s): Lighting: E2 Lighting Design, Erin Erdman Other: Metal Fabricator: Paul Jacobs - P.J Metal Worx, General contractor: Photographer(s): CAD system, project management, |
ProductsStructural system: Exterior cladding: Rainscreen: Moisture barrier: VaporShield Roofing: Windows: Glazing: Doors: Sliding doors: Fleetwood: 1070 EX Multi Slider Hardware: Pulls: FSB Hardware Lighting: Interior finishes: Kitchen: Family Room: Rear Exterior: Balcony: Master Bedroom: Master Bath: Hallway/Stairway: |
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