Manhattan Beach House by Olson Kundig

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

Architect:Olson Kundig 159 S Jackson St, Suite 600Seattle, WA 98104www.olsonkundig.com206-624-5670

Personnel in the firm who should receive special credit:Design principals: Tom Kundig, Edward LalondeProject manager: Nate BoydDesign team: Kozo NozawaLandscape 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 ServicesBuilding Envelope Consultant: RDH Building Sciences

General contractor: Dowbuilt

Photographer: Aaron Leitz

Exterior Cladding Masonry: 8”, 12”, and 16” Concrete Masonry UnitsMetal panels: Custom 12-gauge painted metal sidingOther 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