Kimridge Residence by Steve Martino & Associates
California / USA / Built in 2017 /
stevemartino.net
Walled garden of water & light
Site challenges: This stunning 1.8-acre Beverley Hills hillside site was extremely difficult and mostly unbuildable without massive site grading. It was so steep that the city required the slope be cut back to 2:1 for construction which was problematic to lower the grade at the neighbor’s property lines. The house was at the end of a long narrow street, surrounded on three sides by asphalt.
Privacy from adjacent and uphill neighbors was a primary concern. Storm water could not be allowed to percolate into the ground, it had to be collected at the lowest point and pumped back up to the street.
Design program: The client wanted to “take Philip Johnson’s glass house to the next level and float it on water,” what he did not say was to push it out into space. The goal was a difficult challenge for a glass house to create a private retreat and sanctuary.
Construction: The lightness of the glass pavilion belies the massive foundations that support it. Forty-nine pylons were sunk 30ft into the ground and connected with equally massive grade beams. A series of retaining wall-planters support the neighbor’s property and allow access to the mechanical room below. The 100-year-old olives are living sculptures while providing screening. The walls are 6’ x 11’ tall glass panels that are butt jointed together. There are no windows openings because of the high winds. The only openings are the 2 glass pivot doors. The only solid wall elements are the door portals.
Inspired by Persian gardens, the house is essentially a glass pavilion sitting in a walled garden of water. The swimming pool transitions into a shallow pool that wraps the house. The house is entered across stepping pads from the auto court. The reflections and the movement of light and shadows activate the garden throughout the day. The house has an ‘H’ form created by the water channels that divide the house. Water & light are the theme that visually connect the house & the ocean beyond.
Scope of work: The landscape architect was on the design team from the beginning. He was responsible for all the site work down to the mailbox design. His design work included the pool and water features, paving, walls, and fences, retaining walls and lighting, planting, and an underground rainwater collection storage system for supplemental irrigation. Most of the plants are outside the courtyard and downhill where they cannot be seen. The slope is planted with California native plants.
Quote, Charlie Mingus: “it is easy to make the simple complicated but to make the complicated awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” That is what we tried to do with this project.
• All architecture offices involved in the design:
Don Boss Associates
• Other credits you need or wish to write:
Patricia Barosh (Interior Designer)
