This private residential compound sits on three large lots at Pacific Ave. and Navy St. This is the first street into Venice from Santa Monica and serves as a gateway to Venice. Because the corner is very noisy, Hertz used large tilt-up concrete slabs to create an acoustic and visual wall to reinforce the edge condition between the street and the residence. Large charcoal-colored individual concrete slabs are floating and separated vertically with narrow glass windows, step along the diagonal side yard to maximize interior square footage while allowing for light without fenestration in the exterior elevation.
The building has two faces, one for pedestrians coming in and another for leaving Venice. Motorists see the building as a minimalist sculptural object, which reads differently from the opposite direction. The main house sits on two parcels over a 12-car underground parking garage and basement. A guest house and pool are created on the adjacent property, and the walls and landscape create a serene, verdant retreat away from the urbanity of the surroundings.
The residence uses large sliding glass and wood walls to create ground floor interior and exterior spaces. Structures are pushed to the site extremities to allow for outdoor spaces, which become continuous to the interior when opened. The house is linked with an enclosed bridge across an outdoor fire pit and seating area to the kid's wing and media room, creating a compound feel as the interstitial spaces between structures are utilized and integrated into the landscape. A central open floating steel stair and elevator core are used as a vertical element to connect the basement to the roof deck and serve as a solar chimney to promote natural ventilation. This element is expressed on the exterior and interior with rusted Cor-ten steel shingles. The use of unfinished, raw concrete, stucco, and wooden sidings, doors, and windows creates a naturally harmonious material and form composition. Abundant natural light, solar hydronic radiant heating, solar thermal and electrical systems, and stormwater collection and reuse make this project a state-of-the-art sustainable building for harmonious California living.
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