Mesa Drive Renovation in Los Angeles, California by Rios Clementi Hale Studios

Article source: Rios Clementi Hale Studios

Built in 1992 by the husband-and-wife architecture team of Cigolle X Coleman, the house originally served as an experimental project of industrial materials consisting mostly of glass, steel, and concrete. A young family purchased the home and hired Rios Clementi Hale Studios to give their new residence a complete renovation to make the house warm and comfortable, and conducive to entertaining. Rios Clementi Hale Studios worked in the capacity of architect, interior designer, and landscape architect to extensively update the interior and exterior, and refine the home’s organization, while still respecting the “bones” of the original design

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

• Architects: Rios Clementi Hale Studios
• Project: Mesa Drive Renovation
• Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
• Photography: Undine Pröhl
• Size: 5780 square ft

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

The driving concept of the house encourages a seamless flow between indoors and outdoors, opening up the home to spectacular canyon views, and treating outdoor spaces as an extension of the living room. Custom furniture and floor finishes help to tie in the outdoor living areas with the interiors. The top floor exterior finishes feature teak decks and the middle floor includes ceramic tile with wood-like texture just outside the living room. These two flooring materials are similar in color and texture to diminish the threshold between inside and outside.

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Because the house descends down a canyon, the entrance is on the top floor. The home’s first introduction to indoor/outdoor living spaces is evident in the top-floor library. With open views to the ocean, the room is bracketed with terraces at two sides and one with a built-in spa oriented to catch the sunset. With floor-to-ceiling glass sliding doors, the library is open to natural light and allows the homeowners to easily move between spaces. The library furniture—including a built-in home office—consists of clean, modern pieces in neutral earth tones. The pops of color in orange and shades of ocean blue are drawn from the landscape. The furniture pieces in the recreation room feature vibrant hues such as a purple velvet couch and upholstered chartreuse bucket chairs. Although the color palettes are different, the interiors within both rooms harmoniously blend together.

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

A staircase serves as the central circulation hub for the home. This vertical core is anchored by a glowing white-onyx wine case and a jewel-like chandelier that cascades 34 feet down the stairs, uniting all three levels of the home. The modern chandelier’s light comes from hand-blown glass globes in amber, smoky-grey, and aubergine. The staircase features custom stair treads that match the wire-brushed, hand-scraped European white-oak floors, extending throughout all three floors of the living spaces.

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

The middle floor serves as the main living area. The predominant industrial building materials of glass, steel, and concrete are softened by luxurious fabrics and woods, warm colors, and an oil-rubbed bronze fireplace. The living room features a custom-built bar, made of the same white onyx as the wine case, and is also dramatically backlit. Serving as the new focal point of the living room, the bar features oil-rubbed bronze and St. Laurent marble for the counter top and stands out against the onyx wall. Deep brown and taupe sofas echo the dark/light contrast of the bar. The living room also includes a glass window wall that slides fully open to the outdoor terrace, which has its own bronze fire table. Beyond the living room is the family room, which features the same dark wood used in the bar, but has a decidedly more casual and cozy feeling. The accents of gold, eggplant, and rusty orange are brought over with the addition of fuchsia for a fun pop. Looking out to surrounding trees, large-scale windows enclose the room, giving it a tree-house effect.

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

The kitchen features a modern minimalist design and complements the hand-plastered, then lacquered, dining room table. The dining area is a clean, modern ensemble of silk velvet chairs in hues of burgundy, fuchsia, and rusty orange. The kitchen is a sleek design of white and graphite-color cabinets, and fuchsia bar stools are used at the kitchen table to warm the space. In the kitchen and living room, as well as other rooms of the house, sandblasted ceiling rafters and recessed track lighting hang from above. Another highlight of the middle floor is the guest wing. This space consists of two guest bedrooms that have en suite bathrooms.

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

One of the most dramatic transformations occurs in the bedroom suites on the bottom floor. The graciously sized master suite consists of a sleeping area, sitting room, and a master bathroom that extends to an outdoor meditation space. The furnishings in the master suite include neutral tones with saffron and watery blue for pops of color. The focal point of the sitting room is an organic-shaped Kagan sofa and coffee table. The bedroom features a mildly geometric-shaped bed made of woven leather, an accent chair with shearling upholstery, and a sculptural side table. Vein-cut silver travertine lines the walls, shower, and countertops of the master bathroom and a large Staghorn fern has been planted outside as a focal element in the meditation garden. The children’s suites include two bathrooms, incorporating hand-made ceramic tile, and integral stone travertine basins. Full-height glass walls, and pocket and bi-fold walls, allow the bedrooms to open up into a large, shared playroom.

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

At night, updated interior spaces look out to dramatically lit trees, above a color-changing swimming pool, to complement the views of the canyon at dusk and for evening entertaining. The middle floor features two fire elements—a fireplace in the living room and an adjacent fire table just outside, surrounding guests with flickering light and warmth on a chilly LA night. Rios Clementi Hale Studios had a holistic design approach as it considered the architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture with each element contributing to the house’s overall design.

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Image Courtesy © Undine Pröhl

Tags: California, USA

Category: Residential

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