Stradella House
1200 sq. ft. addition
With an existing house sited on flat ground above a canyon in Los Angeles, the clients were interested in taking better advantage of their breathtaking views of the Santa Monica Mountains, Stone Canyon Reservoir, and downtown Los Angeles via the addition of a new master suite and family room. The site proved to be both dynamic and difficult as we looked at options that would have placed the addition: on the hillside; in an excavation in their patio; or in two stories replacing the existing master suite.

2000 square meters, new construction.
Siedi - Arctic Hotel
competition (with Luke Ivers).






in ancient sami belief, the sacred rock formation known as sieidi were believed to be to created by divine forces. contemporary scientific thought speculates that these rock formations were not created by the hand of the divine but by a process of deglaciation which left these large boulders sitting precariously in the landscape. although the lat-ter appears factual, the truth may lie closer to sami revelation: whether it be a god or a glacier, the sieidi offer a sacred wisdom about the mystery and potency of nature and the reverence one should feel when in its presence.
thinking of this tradition, our proposal for the arctic hotel makes ref-erence both formally and conceptually to the notion of a sacred rock formation. as such, it is an architecture simultaneously at one with, and standing out from, the surrounding landscape, aiming to connect people with the environment and elemental aspects of its constitution.
further, this project is a direct response to the existential insulation that we as modern human beings tend to wrap around ourselves in an effort to erase extremes, dulling our senses to such a degree that even the most remarkable parts of our world struggle to touch us. the goal in invoking the sieidi is to offer a place of hallowed encounter that provokes a return to a more sensual and attuned human existence. in short, this is a project that aspired to activate the subtle, often over-looked, often unseen, often unappreciated, aspects of being, which are obscured by modern comforts and habits. it is a project where hu-man bodies are brought back into contact with the power of the wilds.
there are two primary aspects of this project: one, the sauna/restau-rant; the other are the sieidi huts. those staying in the huts come to be situated in the forest, connected to its mystery and beauty, and experience the total light and total dark as equally powerful forces; we combine this with the finish sauna tradition, which unlike other cultural bathing traditions, is rooted in extreme heat and cold. in this way, our design seeks to formulate a renewed relationship with the earth, one that cherishes, protects, and nourishes so that future generations can gaze upon the ethereal colors of the aurora borealis and witness the sacred protection of the night sky.
with glaciers continuing to recede and melt at an ever-increasing rate, we stand in a time where it a recollection about the elemental, the vital, the living planet must occur. our design hopes to provide a reminder.



