Hasta La Ideas

A combined car park and terrace covers the roof of this hillside house in Los Angeles by Californian studio Anonymous Architects (+ slideshow).

Anonymous Architects designed the single-storey home for an actor. It is situated on the edge of a steep slope, so the floors are arranged from top to bottom, with an entrance on the roof and rooms on the level below.

“The added benefit of providing the parking and the house as the same structure is to eliminate the need for additional foundations and walls for a garage,” said architect Simon Storey.

“The inversion moves the typical ground floor of the house up on the roof, and makes the simple act of arriving home and driving onto the roof of the house a surprise every time,” he added.

Supported by chunky concrete columns, the house appears to be thrusting away from the edge of the slope. A recessed balcony offers views of the San Gabriel Mountains to the north east of the city.

A kitchen sits at the centre of the plan and forms the corner of an open-plan living room, while three bedrooms and two bathrooms are positioned around the other side of the house.

A bridge connects the roof with the street, providing an entrance for both cars and pedestrians.

Other projects by Anonymous Architects include a tiny house with only three rooms lifted off the hillside by a set of concrete pilotis and a 4.5 metre-wide house inspired by narrow homes in Japan.

See more projects by Anonymous Architects »
See more concrete architecture and design »

Photography is by Steve King.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Car Park House

Starting with a vacant lot with a very steep down-slope from the street, the design of the house places the carport on the roof with the residence below. In addition to being a dramatic shift of expectations, it is also a logical response to the building code which requires parking for two vehicles.

This inversion moves the typical ground floor of the house up on the roof and makes the simple act of arriving home – and driving onto the roof of the house – a surprise every time. The roof is also usable as deck space and has unobstructed views of the San Gabriel Mountains, which are to the Northeast of Los Angeles.

Because of the steep terrain the house is designed to float over the hillside. This reduces the amount of foundation required and also means that the only way to access the house is over the bridge – so it is truly a floating structure.

The added benefit of providing the parking and the house as the same structure is to eliminate the need for additional foundations and walls for a garage.

Date of completion: August 2013
Location: Echo Park, Los Angeles, California
Clients: Hal Ozsan/ Judson Williams
Architect: Simon Storey/ Anonymous Architects, Los Angeles
Lot Area: 8,477 sq.ft
Building Area: 1,405 sq.ft
Building footprint: 1,405 sq.ft – single level dwelling with roof deck/ parking. 3 bedroom & 2 bathrooms.
Method of construction: Concrete pile foundation with concrete pilasters above grade; steel (primary floor structure – cantilevers); wood floor, walls and roof

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Anonymous Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

This 4.5 metre-wide house in Los Angeles by Anonymous Architects was inspired by the narrow residences found in Japanese cities.

The three-storey house is named Eel’s Nest – a reference to the unusually narrow proportions of its plot – and is located in the hilly Echo Park neighbourhood in the north of the city.

Another small house had occupied the site before, but all that remained were basement walls which have been incorporated into the new structure.

To save space there are no corridors inside the building, but stairs lead up from the entrance to a first floor living room, second floor bedrooms and a terrace on the roof.

Other Californian houses we’ve featured include a writer’s residence in north Hollywood and a Malibu house with aeroplane wings for a roof.

See more houses on Dezeen »

Photography is by Steve King.

Here’s some information from Anonymous Architects:

Eel’s Nest
Echo Park, California

The name Eel’s Nest is often given to very narrow lots in Japan, those typically 5 meters or 15 feet in width. The width of this lot in Echo Park is exactly 15 feet and architect Simon Storey felt it was the perfect site to experiment with compact and efficient urban living.

By building vertically, simply and minimally, he was able to use every square foot of space to create a live-work house.

The lot size is 780 square feet and the original building on site was around 370 square feet. The permit from 1927 shows a small house on it’s own lot, which this rules out the possibility it was a carriage house.

It’s existence was so unique that employees at the building department said they had never seen anything like it.

In order to maximize the site and expand by an additional story special permission was required by the planning department. The original house was completely demolished except a few walls in the basement, which are still visible.

Because the house is built to the property line the code requires that the house be fire rated on the exterior.

To solve this challenge, Simon clad the house cement plaster for fire resistance. The interior space has now doubled to create a Warm wood floors and cabinets run through every level and light penetrates into the living and first level spaces by creating an open stair at the 2nd level.

A roof deck, which rises above the dense urban development, has views that extend as far as the Hollywood sign and the San Gabriel Mountains.

Architect: Anonymous Architects
Size: 960 sq.ft (approx 89 sq.m)
Lot size: 780 sq.ft (approx 72 sq.m)
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
Design and Construction complete in March 2011

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Anonymous Architects appeared first on Dezeen.