anonymous architects: big and small house, los angeles

anonymous architects has completed its ‘big and small house’, a residence located on a steep hillside in los angeles. overlooking the cityscape below, the slight 900 square foot home brilliantly uses a concrete pile foundation to cantilever off of the slope. this structural gesture serves to mimic the formerly vacant site’s open plan as well as pull in generous amounts of natural illumination. the residence contains only two full height walls, allowing for diffused sunlight to pervade the airy, lofted space.

all images courtesy of anonymous architects

the architectural approach favors floating volumes, both in that the building’s relationship to the ground is limited to four small pilotis and that the structure encloses an unusual geometry of an asymmetric parallelogram. white oak interiors and unadorned planes are dematerialized by the skylights and glazed apertures. the verticality of the seamed metal cladding creates crisp lines that define an elevation mirrored in plan. the result is a home that accesses the idiosyncrasies of the site and re-imagines them as beneficiaries of the architecture.

a slight footprint belies a brilliant orchestration of space 

the cladding delineates the asymmetric volumes

angled glazing is both light-capturing and provides cross ventilation 

the ground level contains a large room with an open plan and mixed program 

the residence contains only 2 full height walls which allow diffused light to help open the space 

an example of efficiently used space 

light, glazing and material differentiate the program 

the cantilevered form opens the house to the landscape 

a view of the hallway behind the stair 

(left) every square foot is maximized with program, especially niches and lofts (right) vertical circulation is pushed to the very limits of the plan

a lofted bedroom is punctured with light 

apertures are strategically cut to the ground and ceiling 

the geometries of light work in conjunction with the framed landscape 

the slight home maximizes the optimally positioned site 

site plan

floor plan / level 0 

floor plan / level +1 

wall section 

south elevation

east elevation 

north elevation

west elevation

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