Los Angeles-based architect Dan Brunn has redesigned the 3,600-sqaure-foot former Janss Family residence – a hub associated with the contemporary LA art scene in the 1970s and the 1980s – by using a minimalist aesthetic, while also incorporating design cues from the home’s original architect, Frank Gehry.
Dan Brunn, of Dann Brunn Architecture, took various cues from the work of the Pritzker Prize-winning Canadian-American architect to create ‘The Hide Out’ with a simple material palette of walnut, concrete and glass inspired by Gehry’s most popular work.
The home’s staircase, which features an angular slatted balustrade, is intended to reference Gehry’s overly sculptural structures – including the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Guggenhaim Museum in Bilbao and the Foundation Louis Vuitton.
“I took inspiration from current and past Gehry,” Dan Brunn explained to Dezeen. “The stair form with undulating geometry pays homage to works we know Gehry by, such as the Guggenheim or the Disney Concert Hall.”
"The construction means and methods reflect more of the handmade nature of where he got his roots," he continued.
At the top of the stairs, Brunn has also created a meditation garden enclosed by glass to realise Gehry’s original intention of creating a greenhouse. The interiors across the property are kept relatively simple to reflect the aesthetic of an art gallery and to react to the client’s changing art displays.
The house is located in LA’s Sawtelle Japantown, or little Osaka neighbourhood as it is also known, an area that is renowned for its Japanese-American significance across modern culture and history. As a result, there is an array of Asian influences across the home, especially on the ground floor where there is a sweeping wooden volume with a sloped roof detailed with a thin strip of light. Designed as a reference to traditional Japanese tea houses, the volume offers the resident a place for relaxation, socialising and meditation.
Photos: Brandon Shigeta
