Dwell Home Venice: Part 12

In this series, Sebastian Mariscal designs a home in Venice, California, that brings the outside in. We track the project from start to finish with future resident Michael Sylvester. Part 12, January 2012: Completing the Framing. A house springs up from the concrete foundations and slabs, seemingly overnight.

Text by

Michael Sylvester

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Several friends and colleagues told me that framing would feel like the quickest part of the project and this indeed turned out to be true. Almost eighteen months has passed since the project first started and yet, until recently, it felt like the only progress I could see was a couple of slabs on the ground. And then suddenly, in only a few weeks, a house-like wooden object appeared on the jobsite.

Looking west from the living room across the main courtyard to the master bedroom and garage beyond. The connecting bridge in the left of the photo will cover a dining pavilion underneath.

The main courtyard looking south. The bridge in the center of the photo connects the east and west parts of the house and was required by the City in order to meet building code. The need for this connecting bridge was discussed in our blog posts 2 and 3.

The Pine Needle Courtyard houses a mature Monterey pine tree. A carpet of needles was removed during grading but will return soon. The opening on the left is the entry vestibule and on the right is the living/dining/kitchen space.

Here's a shot looking east from the garage towards the main living room with its large door opening. On the right is the master bedroom courtyard. The box shown under the H-shaped steel members will eventually be a fireplace from Spark Modern Fires

Here's a view of the living room showing a large opening onto the main courtyard. The opening is where our big lift and slide door system from Archispec will be installed.

The stud frame is covered in Structural 1 plywood which is used as structural sheathing. This is called a shear wall and it increases the stability of the building. The inspector from the City had to approve of the nailing patterns on the plywood.