Westwood, California

The long anticipated Ocean Breeze affordable senior housing complex located at 1458 14th street in the city of Santa Monica, California celebrated its grand opening today.  Officials and dignitaries from the City including Councilmember Richard Bloom and members of Santa Monica Department of Housing and Economic Development as well as MacFarlane Costa Housing Partners’ President, Mr. Michael Costa, the Owners of the project were amongst those present at the ceremonies.  The project initially received its Architectural Review Board (ARB) approval back in February of 2006 but did not start construction until fall of 2008. 

The complex sits atop a standard 7,500 sf corner lot at the intersection of Broadway Avenue and 14th Street in the Braodway Commercial District (BCD) with the main entry off Broadway Avenue.  It consists of 20-low income senior units on 4 above grade levels plus an 1,800 sf commercial component on the ground level.  There are 16 subterranean and one grade level parking spaces in the project.  Typical unit sizes are approximately 600 sf on a single loaded corridor configuration with a considerable set back on the fourth level allowing for generous open-air balconies.  The total project is approximately 15,700 sf taking advantage of a density bonus as well as reduced senior’s parking requirement that the City of Santa Monica offered.  ” The small site, limited access, differential grades, the program and the city zoning requirements presented unique challenges that we had to overcome.” says Mark Vaghei , AIA, atelier V’s Principal in charge of design.  Due to the differential of at least 18 inches in such a small site , atelier V had to devise a “Double Slab” solution to the problem.  The first slab is the projects main structural slab topped by a secondary sloping slab with structural foam separating the two.  This solution “…allowed on grade entrance and no steps to all units as well as to the commercial space thereby eliminating the need for handicap ramps.” says Mark Vaghei, AIA. 

Westwood, California

Last Thursday afternoon, The Glendale Arts Commission unanimously approved the public art proposal presented by Internationally acclaimed Artist Michael Hayden (www.thinkinglightly.com)  for atelier V’s 300 N. Central project (http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2010/02/20/politics/gnp-proposal022010.txt). atelier V and Legendary Development LLC (Project Developer) had conducted a national search for an artist well versed in the vocabulary of light and sound. ” Michael Hayden’s selection was a direct result of his thorough understanding of the nature of our Public Space, the architecture of the building, the limitations of a private residential project,  as well as our desire to have a 21st century piece that continuously spoke to the users of the space and the community at large” said Mark Vaghei, AIA (www.atelierv.com) .  Michael Hayden’s works have graced public spaces world-wide and enchanted millions that have been exposed to them.  He is the recipient of many awards and honors.  One of the most recognizable of Michael Hayden’s sculptures is the sculpture of light within the concourse of the United Airlines terminal at the Chicago’s O’Hare airport viewed by millions of travelers daily.

The house at 1285 Angelo Drive in Beverly Hills, California started out as a tired looking cliffhanger badly in need of a yard of its own.  Fortunately, the owners Tim and Jill Gerrity had the stamina to stick through months of battles in filing for conditional use permits, variances and sitting through neighborhood hearings to finally secure the permit for an unprecedented new concrete yard and pool structure.  While at it, Gerritys decided to overhaul the residence by asking atelier V to give it a new entry sequence and an entrance tower, a new expanded driveway and whole new Tuscan (Gerritys’ Choice) appearance.  The result is a complete transformation.

You walk into the entry courtyard off Angelo Drive through and old wooden gate into a quaint exterior space with a fountain on one side and the entry stairs to the main residence on the other while at all times getting glimpses of the new yard/pool a few steps below.  The new yard which houses the pools, the Jacuzzi and the exercise room was created entirely on a suspended/elevated concrete structure supported by at least twenty (20) caissons of 5 feet diameter each and rising about 70 feet from the natural grade in the canyon below.   The existing house always enjoyed magnificent views of the LA basin but without a real platform to view it!  Our newley “ Manufactured Yard” gave it the much needed viewing point.

Westwood, California 11/01/09

Dr. and Mrs. Shahidi’s residence was completed in early 2009 but we never got a chance to photograph it until recently.  The 3,400 sf Los Altos residence belongs to Ramin Shahidi, a Stanford University Professor of biomedics.  Ramin came to atelier V nearly 3 years ago requesting a contemporary “Compound” for his newly purchased lot in Los Altos which had an old house, a barn and a garage on it.  We found the idea of the Compound or village as a home very interesting as it reminded us of the way homes were designed back in the Middle East in the old days.  This idea treats a residence not as a singular all inclusive element but as a complex of functional actors around a central space/courtyard.  Fortunately, the stage was already set for this Parti to take shape.  There was an existing barn (we won’t tell you the story about the hundreds of silver dollar coin treasure chest that Ramin found hidden beneath the barn while surveying the house with his metal detector) and a detached garage which we could not remove because removing them meant that the existing zoning laws would not allow us to recapture the lost footage and maintain existing setbacks.  While keeping the barn and the garage structure intact and remodeling them, the main bungalow was demolished and in its place was designed a single two story mass with a single level in-law quarters attached to it via a glass enclosed hallway.   A pergola/arcade would connect the main house, the in-laws quarters, the barn and the garage together completing the village/compound scheme.  The other determining factor of the geometry was the huge 70 year old existing Carob tree (this species of tree smells bad and it makes a mess, but due to its age, it was very special to Shahidi’s) which we planned for to be in the middle of the courtyard.  Bear in mind that the pragmatic idea of the compound with a protected courtyard was due to Shahidis’ requirement to have a safe environment for their two children to play in while they could be watched from practically anywhere in the house (who can blame them for that?).  The result has been what we feel is a modern home with a lot of warmth and charm.  We cannot wait for all the bougainvillias to grow over the pergolas.