AIA SB Merit Award

While the upper/street level of this hillside walkout came with an airy, open, LA-canyon-in-the-seventies vibe, the lower level most definitely did not. Working with light and space, and regulated by the rhythm of natural materials, we opened wide the once highly compartmentalized lower portion of the residence in keeping with its formerly better-half upstairs. A new office+theater space replaces a small, dark bedroom+bath on one sub-level, and a few steps below that, a fully transformed master bed+bath is now a precisely built–but not precious–Zen-like retreat.