VEER:
Meaning sharp turn or sudden change in direction. A contrast of hard angles and corners located on a small, corner lot in Echo Park. With an intersection of materials, raw textures meeting in an unexpected way. We aim for multiple uses of the same space, crashing into each other.
Together, my architect partner and I purchased a small slice of land and designed and built our house. As of 2020, it also serves as our studio/office/and social life center as well.
With our interior plants thriving, and dripping down the banister as well as vines climbing along the exterior horizontal bars....a new nickname has emerged;
"Jungle Gym House"
As seen in recent press:
Under construction: 06/30/19
Todd and I after we first bought the lot, imagining what future mornings in the living room might be.
SITE PLAN
A personal note:
At first we were going for a sloped lot: 1. they are more affordable, and 2. those LA views! We ultimately landed on a flat, corner lot to avoid investing so much money underground, so we're building up! The site boasts beautiful downtown LA views to the south, The Griffith Observatory to the East, palm tree lined hillside by Dodger Stadium to the West, and some snow capped mountains in the distance to the North.
Land is very different than buying a preexisting structure to tear down/renovate. The pros and cons need evaluating if you are considering making the jump. We've been searching for the right location for about a year and a flat, clear lot is rare. Many lots we liked, we couldn't retrieve the information on from the city, and the agents representing them had no idea if it was even permitted to build or not and kept passing us off. We were very surprised how many realtors we had to follow up with and track down. We worked with Gabriela Bauer with Exclusive Listing, as she stayed on top of checking in, (even when we weren't), and in the end, got us the deal we wanted.
My partner Todd Sussman, A. AIA, LEED AP BD+C has spent the majority of his career designing resort and hospitality projects all over the world previously with firms such as HHCP and WATG and now with prolific electric car company, Lucid Motors.
I can't share this news without mentioning the lot's history.
The lot was owned by accomplished and respected local architect, Norman Millar, who passed away in 2016.
His previous residence and office is located on the same street, and is known as the ArkHouse, and was featured on the Dwell on Design tour in 2011. We will continue the mutual love and respect for modern architecture and we aim to contribute and enhance the Echo Park community as well.