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Designed by José Guedes Cruz, César Marques, and Marco Marinho of the Portugal-based firm Guedes Cruz Architects, The Wall House is laid out in an open-box plan, and is fitted with plenty of glass windows to enhance the synergy between its interior and exterior spaces.

Perched below the Griffith Observatory and overlooking Hollywood is a lush lot crowned with four towering olive trees and a 1965 home designed by modernist architect Craig Ellwood. When a young couple purchased the home in 2018, it needed substantial work. For a historic restoration, they called on Woods + Dangaran, a local firm fluent in modernist history. The team completed a meticulous restoration of the home while keeping original components like the linear shape, open plan, and expansive windows. One of the most striking features is the original koi pond (a feature deemed so essential that its preservation was a condition of escrow) that is now crossed via a bridge that leads to a new lap pool—perhaps the biggest intervention on the property.

DeNiord designed a simple concrete bench with a honed top to run parallel to the randomly sized concrete pads that lead to the covered entry. He planted blueberry bushes behind the bench and a river birch tree behind the boulder. To conjure a wabi-sabi feel outdoors, diNiord poured concrete around a boulder. “It represents the interruption of perfect geometry,” he says.

“Metaphorically, the cabin’s exterior is like a cut log,” Lane says. “The black-stained Western red cedar is the bark, and the Douglas fir siding under cover is the exposed wood once the log has been cut.” Beyond the house and native sod gardens, a meadowscape blends into the mature pine forest at the lakefront. “We wanted a woodland garden quality,” landscape architect Soren deNiord says.

In the living room are a sectional by American Leather for Room & Board, an Eames lounge chair and ottoman, and a custom floor lamp and coffee table by Jeremy Clark and Ed Haynes.

Arcadia windows and doors with bronze finishes help achieve the homeowners' goal of indoor/outdoor living.

Homeowner Jay Longtin served as the general contractor and performed the majority of the remodel work, aside from the outdoor floors, concrete, and pool, which were done by Architectural Blue.

Setback from the street, this extremely private one level property has sliders with outdoor access, solar panels, and mountain views from every room.

The bathroom floor is covered in Porcelanosa Boston Stone.

The bathroom has been entirely clad in large Fior di Bosco marble panels, creating a simple backdrop for the arrangement of plants overlooked by the tub.

A section of the facade—a cross between a shoji screen and a barn door—slides open. Planter boxes contain edible varieties that fuel Mary’s culinary explorations.

The sloped roof of Carlton’s art studio grows a colorful mix of sedum species.

Walls of glass blur the boundary between indoors and out in this bathroom. The floors are Jerusalem Bone limestone.

"We really wanted to enhance natural lighting so the shower has a skylight in it to luminate the space during the day," Frank Lin says. The spa-like space includes concrete countertops, antique white oak cabinets, and limestone tile floors.

A Wyndham Collection freestanding tub anchors the master bath. Low-flow fixtures are installed throughout.

Tweak, another kitty, sits at the brass-clad kitchen island on a Ghost stool by Philippe Starck.

The living room structure soars to two stories, with banks of glass louvers at the upper level providing cross ventilation.