We were hired to design a single family house, on a very small irregular site with a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean, which could readily be used for parties and entertaining. The neighborhood required that the design adopt one of three styles. We selected the International Style option. Deciding on a take toward history, we developed the house as a sampling or collage of well-known elements from this period: a conceptual “Best Hits” from that period including Mies’ cruciform column, Duiker’s glass curtain wall, Raymond Roussel’s 1903 poem “The View”, and Joseph Albers’ framing strategies. In addition, the client asked that the house be as “green” (beyond provisions already in place in Santa Monica) and “networked” as possible.

Photo Credit: Monica Nouwens