Adding a studio and a spacious deck facing the silhouette of the Angeles National Forest we extended the home of an LA-based artist.

The existing 1930s house is located on a steeply sloping site in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles. Taking advantage of the slope we located the studio a full level below the ground floor of the existing home so that its roof surface could double as a spacious deck. It offers an outdoor living and dining area protected from the sun by a large Eucalyptus tree overhanging the deck thus offering shade and privacy.

The north-facing studio wall features a large-scale bi-fold garage door. Its translucent corrugated and twin-wall cladding offer indirect natural lighting while abstracting the surrounding landscape silhouette into a fine vertical linear pattern. Opened up the garage door folds into a canopy orienting the studio to the outside and framing a panoramic view of the surrounding hills.

All surfaces of the deck and the exterior stair connecting it to the lower level are clad in tile creating a delicate three-dimensional grid. While its rhythmic precision sets the addition apart from the existing house, the color of the tiles matching that of the existing facades synchronizes the two.