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ArchDC Spring 2019.qxp_Spring 2019  2/20/19  5:15 PM  Page 37



















































        View from stairwell toward dining room.


        to maximize views and light with large picture windows, creating          “We wanted a contrast between high and low spaces, and we
        a double-height space that unifies the house both literally and  weren’t worried about light given all the glass we introduced to
        figuratively. The kitchen and den now open up to this space. The  the renovated space,” Loosle-Ortega explained. “We thought the
        main entrance is on axis with the fireplace, which is now framed  black would enrich the materials, particularly the ash paneling, and
        by large glass panels that provide views of the landscape beyond.”  set apart the white kitchen cabinetry. An all-white ceiling was too
        The staircase in the entry hall even employs open risers so as to  obvious, and would have dumbed down the kitchen and entry areas.”
        not interrupt this view.                                The dark ceiling, in contrast, “dresses them up and is unexpected.
                 “A collage of materials and textures ties together the new  The clients were unsure—and nervous—but they trusted us, and
        spaces into one cohesive composition,” Loosle-Ortega continued.  now they love it.”
        “A wood wall of custom-stained ash wraps around the kitchen and          Many houses built in recent decades employ double-height
        library, creating a cross-axis and seamlessly joining adjacent rooms.”  entries or living rooms that are supposed to generate an air of
        Doors hidden in the ash wall lead to the pantry, a laundry and  grandeur, but succeed only in evoking a sense of boxy, useless
        mud room, and the powder room. “The family room’s Macassar  emptiness. KUBE’s design for the new living room avoids this
        ebony storage wall and [fiber-cement board]-clad chimney serve as  problem by articulating the space with changes in materials and
        vertical focal points within the composition, while adding warmth  the insertion of a new second-floor balcony. Although the balcony
        and texture at the heart of the home. A continuous black ceiling  takes up some of the room’s volume, it actually makes the space
        frames the spaces, creating a horizontal datum [i.e., central  seem larger, because it allows occupants to experience the space
        organizing element] through the first floor.”           more directly from the second floor, and because it creates on the
                Given that ceilings are often painted white or some other  first floor a sequence of compression and release as one moves
        light color to help bounce around available light and keep a  further into the room.
        space from feeling too closed in, the black-painted ceiling is an          “The previous balcony was much smaller and had no view of
        unexpected element, particularly in a design aimed at opening  the exterior except through the narrow skylights,” Loosle-Ortega
        up a house’s interior.                                  said. “We purposely enlarged the balcony and added the library



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