A small living ’pod’ in a dense urbanized part of Los Angeles.

This building is placed over a one-car garage to the rear of a single family residence and consists of a single room and study used as a retreat. We wished to minimize the impact of the new building’s appropriation of a large part of the yard and allow a coherent, ideal object to emerge. To accomplish both of these goals, we created a topiary wall which camouflages the building and allows the idealized object to develop out of a contingent condition. We could then use the building to explore the relationship between architecture and landscape.

 

The topiary wall is thick enough to make room for three small rooms that service the main space: a bathroom, a balcony and a desk alcove. An entry arcade at ground level leads to a stairway rising to the doorway. The materials refer to those already used on the site, and also describe the different parts of the building.