Saturday, September 25, 2010

Clean & Minimalist Openhouse on Hollywood Hills

The Openhouse was designed by XTEN Architecture.

It is embedded into a narrow and sharply sloping lot in

the Hollywood Hills. The house looks both integrated

into the landscape and open to the city below. Retaining

walls are configured to extend the first level living area

into the landscape and to create garden terraces on

the second level. The front, side and rear facades of

the house slide away, opening the interiors to gardens,

views and the hillside landscape.

Glass, in various renditions, is the primary wall enclosure

material. There are forty-four sliding glass panels designed

to disappear into hidden pockets and allow for uninterrupted

views and access to exterior terraces and gardens. There are

also fixed glass walls, mirror glass walls, and light gray mirror

glass panels which lend lightness to the interior spaces.











The glass walls are visually counter weighted by sculptural,

solid elements in the house rendered in stone, dark stained

oak and plaster. The use of quartz flooring throughout the house,

decks and terraces continues the indoor-outdoor materiality.

Building finishes are few in number but applied in a multiplicity

of ways throughout the project, furthering the experience

of continuous open space from interior to exterior. With all

the glass walls completely open the house becomes a platform,

open to hillside gardens and cinematic views over Los Angeles.


XTEN Architecture


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