Sited on a cramped corner lot in Manhattan Beach, California, this midcentury bungalow was renovated and enlarged with a 1,000-square-foot addition to create a total of 1,986 square feet of functional space for owners Alison and Jeff Goad and their three children.

Culver City–based practice Edward Ogosta Architecture demolished and remodeled parts of the existing house to include a larger master bedroom and a new bedroom, bathroom, and powder room. The project also included updates to the two existing bedrooms, the laundry room, and garage.

The design responds to the house’s challenging location at a busy, suburban intersection at the bottom of a bowl-shaped dip in the terrain.

“Local codes severely reduced the available building envelope with increased corner site setbacks, height limits, and ordinances protecting the mature tree onsite,” says Ogosta. “In order to economize the budget, most of the existing house was to remain.”

An open-plan living room, dining room, and double-height kitchen are housed within the 1,000-square-foot addition. Rift-cut, white oak millwork brings much warmth to the pure white interiors.

The original structure and the new addition were unified with a restrained material palette inspired by the raw concrete sea walls, driftwood, sand, and beach grasses in the Manhattan Beach area, and the whitewashed bungalows in the neighborhood.

The client wanted to minimize noise from the street, but they still wanted large openings to connect the new living, dining, and kitchen spaces to the outdoors. As a noise buffer, Ogosta created an interior lining of cabinetry, which serves as a thick acoustical barrier along the street-facing length of the house.

Elevating the house from the street helped to add privacy to the front entrance and patio.

On both ends of the common area, massive folding glass doors open to maximize cross ventilation and light penetration, and enhance spatial flow through the courtyards.

To create a more homogenous look, the existing roof on the original bungalow was flattened, and its walls were finished in smooth white plaster to match the new addition.

Ogosta left approximately 70 percent of the footprint of the existing house intact to conserve construction materials and resources.

The sections of the roof that aren’t shaded by trees were fitted with photovoltaic panels to generate 100 percent of electricity used by the Goads, making the house a net-zero energy building that is able to function off-the-grid.

“Through clarity and restraint, the house resolves its active corner condition, resulting in an intimate pocket of luminosity, atmosphere, and serenity,” says Ogosta.

Project Credits:

Architecture: Edward Ogosta Architecture

Builder: MFR Construction

Structural engineering: Orland Engineering

Doors: LaCantina Doors

Photography: Steve King

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A Cramped Midcentury Bungalow Gets a Luminous New Addition