Architects Annie Barrett and Hye-Young Chung design Centered Home, a reimagined Los Angeles Spanish-style househas been transformed into a minimalist, contemporary domestic haven, peeking behind a screen of San Pedro cacti.
The project’s street façade does not reveal much. A simple, clean, low rectilinear box is set back from the street behind the cacti garden, with a set of paved steps leading up to a discreet entrance, which is set to the one side of the building.
‘While inside the house, one is either within the cube, or living between it and the visually porous exterior envelope of the building, creating direct connections to nature and amplifying the sense of the cube as a volume within a volume – or, a home within a house,’ says Barrett. Skylights at the top of angular, pyramidal ceiling shapes and skylights offer both a sense of drama and a meditative touch. Some are playfully concealed from different views, giving the sense of ‘a game of peekaboo as you circle the space’, says Chung, adding a touch of fun and the unexpected to this domestic interior. §