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The entry is full of function, including a washer/dryer that hides behind a mod arrangement of floor-to-ceiling cabinetry made from painted MDF with walnut detailing.

With a few small changes and regular maintenance, existing buildings are some of the most sustainable around.

Is it or isn’t it by the modern master? We figured it out after architects Erik Amir and Dora Chi pulled off a reverent revamp.

At the front of the house, where a band of windows opens to what is now a family room, Amir and Chi designed landscaping that echoes the original.

Amir and Chi retained the house's flat roof and reworked the fenestration in the section at right, which was a later addition.

The primary bathroom was completely redone, with a floating vanity finished in travertine from Elements Room and a freestanding tub and faucets by Kohler.

Though they modernized the kitchen with white oak cabinetry and marble counters, the couple were able to restore details such as the original terrazzo flooring that extends from the entrance and the dropped ceiling just above.

The architects replaced Lord's former freestanding studio with a structure of their own, which connects to the pool cabana and mechanicals room by what they describe as "a floating canopy.

Amir and Chi aimed to restore the integrity of Neutra's original design and his signature blurring of indoors and out.

Amir and Chi replaced the hearth's broken tiles and stuccoed the sides of the open fireplace, which Lord had originally detailed with a gravel mosaic.

The architects reimagined the office with oak cabinetry and new shelving.

New sliders by Fleetwood open wide to the pool deck, which was redone to match what had been there originally.

The couple planted a Japanese black pine bonsai alongside the entrance path that mirrors one in a sketch Neutra had made of the space.

Stephen Lord's original office occupied a windowed corner off the living room. Built-in cabinets concealed a Murphy bed.

An undated photo from the Lord family shows the front entrance of the house, with decorative details added by Stephen Lord.

Once a favorite spot for gatherings, the backyard featured a 13-foot-deep, curving pool that contrasts with the horizontal lines of the house. Lord added the changing room at right.

A sketch of the home Richard Neutra designed for Stephen Lord.

Before: An early color drawing on cardboard of the house by Neutra rests on a table in the dining area.

Amir (seated) and Chi had spent 15 years living and working in Asia before moving to Southern California. "This wasn't a reconstruction," says Chi, "but a major renovation. The bones were there."