The converted 17th-century church also comes with its own private garden.
Architectural designer Sebastian Mariscal and project manager Jeff Svitak created a house in Venice, California, for Michael and Tamami Sylvester. Known as Dwell Home Venice for its role as an exemplification of modern architecture, the house is an homage to indoor-outdoor living. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.
The grandchildrens' room, on the same, well-lit side of the house as Ray's office, is adorned with dolls and books.
Always put contingencies aside. During any renovation, it is critical to set aside money for the "what if" or emergency scenarios. For example, there might be plumbing that you didn’t anticipate needing to replace. Conventional wisdom suggests adding 15 to 20 percent to your contractor’s renovation cost to safely consider these contingencies.
With the house often open to the outside, dust easily drifts in. Fortunately, the concrete floor, speckled with white aggregate mix, is easy to clean.
Colorful art, including an ice cream cone painting created by a local artist and friend, fills the house.
The bedroom enjoys ample natural light, thanks to the windows on either side of the Charles Rogers bed. “We centered all our bedroom doors around the central hallway skylight,” says Allison. The painting is by Pat Diaz.
The most popular properties on the site had white walls and wood parquet flooring.
Upstairs, each daughter’s bedroom was designed as a sanctuary, with cozy touches like Simon Key Bertman quilts and cushions. The bed and Pile bedside table by Jessica Signell Knutsson sit on top of a Carpet Honeycomb by designer Maria Löw.
The limestone-clad volume at the east end of the house extends to the second story, housing Shino and Ken’s master suite, which opens onto the planted roof deck.
The semi-outdoor space extends the living room outward. Inside, a layer of glass sliding doors further facilitate breezes. The occupants can enjoy the sound and smell of rain behind shelter.
In this house in downtown Miami, lightweight, shuttered Western red cedar doors wrap the front porch to provide privacy and protection from the weather but support natural ventilation, which is important in biophilic design. The unstained wood will age naturally.