my design fix

Skyline Residence – Belzberg Architects

The Skyline Residence by Belzberg Architects is located in the Hollywood hills overlooking the San Fernando Valley and was designed and built by all 13 staff members of Belzberg Architects for director Hagy Belzberg.

To combat a narrow and difficult site with cliffs on two sides, the house is arranged in a long pavilion containing the bedrooms, kitchen and bathrooms with the living area protruding to the north east. There is also a guest house that has been strategically separated from the main building to create a terrace space and car parking court between the two buildings. This space also doubles as an outdoor theatre. Movies can be projected onto the southern wall of the guest house and viewed from the terrace above the garage.The form of each of the two buildings is derived from a single, solid, folded plane with glazing infill on the remaining sides. These folded forms act to shelter the interiors from the sun while still allowing views to be maximised. Timber slat screens on the western facades of both buildings also protect them from the afternoon sun while the corridor in the main building is situated to the west to act as a heat buffer. Large opening doors take advantage of cross ventilation and openings at either end of hallway encourage breezes to flow through the house and through the bedrooms.Other aspects of the house that aid in reducing its carbon footprint include sourcing recycled and local materials as much as possible, keeping granite excavated from the site for gravel paving and using products like reconstituted timber instead of hardwood for the slats on the western facade.

Aside from this house having the most awesome home theatre ever, I particularly like the suspended fireplace in the living area and the wet edge infinity pool overlooking the amazing view. But something like this doesn’t come cheap – According to la.curbed.com it was sold for $5.6 million US just last December!

To view more photos of the Skyline Residence along with other work from Belzberg Architects visit their website here.

Photos: Benny Chan of Fotoworks