Photo: Nic Lehoux

Collywood

West Hollywood, California

This high‑tech West Hollywood home is located just above the Sunset Strip and overlooks Los Angeles with views stretching from the San Gabriel Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. This “big view,” with all its varying personalities depending on time of day and climate, was the key design driver.

Maximizing access to these breathtaking views from all parts of the home was a key design directive. Other design goals were to blur the boundaries between inside and outside as much as possible—because the client comes from a background of outdoor adventures, he wanted the house to feel like an adventure to him and his many guests. Many custom-designed and automated elements throughout all three levels contribute to the home’s uniquely modern identity.

On the home’s main level, which contains the kitchen, dining and living areas, a series of retractable window walls open the home completely to outdoor terraces wrapping the exterior. Sliding window walls in the living area, kitchen, and north bedroom complement a pair of “guillotine” window walls in the dining area and two pivoting window walls on the south side of the living area. Together, this substantial series of operable window walls merges indoor and outdoor spaces, extending the livable space outside into the temperate Southern California climate. The main terrace off the dining and living area leads to a swimming pool overlooking a grove of olive trees on the hillside below, with the Los Angeles city skyline stretching out in the distance.

This connection to the outdoors continues on the upper level, which contains the master bedroom and a den, home gym, and a series of roof decks. The lower level reflects the client’s personal interests and hobbies, containing an auto gallery, game room and media room. A large outdoor terrace extends from the auto gallery, cantilevering out over the hillside with unobstructed views of the cityscape.

This home navigates many different scales: the larger landscape scale of Los Angeles, the scale of entertainment and large group gatherings, and the intimate scale of spaces for daily living. I’m most excited about how the design intertwines these scales and allows the client to expand or contract the home depending on changing needs. Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA
Design Principal

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