LIBRARIES

Hughes’ collection of hundreds of books is stored on a vertiginous two story bookcase, which takes up the whole of the northern wall of the living room. It’s an ingenious solution to the small-space dwelling that draws the eye up, adding texture and interest to the room without taking up floor space.

Architect Gustavo Costa calls the home library the “project’s heart.” This central space houses the owner’s expansive collection of about 5,000 books, and acts as a meeting place for friends and colleagues. A Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Red and Blue chair completes the space.

When the firm first arrived on the site, the second floor of the property was so badly damaged that it was at risk of collapsing. The first floor was remade with shotcrete for reinforcement, and two walls of the first floor were “rebuilt in rendered polystyrene blockwork to reduce the weight of the building while providing a thick insulating layer,” Simpson says.

When Libby May and Eoghan Mahony purchased a 1950s post-and-beam house in Los Angeles’ Santa Monica Canyon, they envisioned someday transforming the garage and adjoining workshop into livable space, with an office for each of them and a family room they could share with their sons, Wes, 14, and Duncan, 10.

The flooring in the hallway, and elsewhere in the apartment, is manor oak by Kährs. Photo by Jim Stephenson.

In the living room, the Brillharts created a “unified, simple and clean design” that incorporated a bookcase and fireplace along the continuous 30-foot long anchor wall. The shelves are inset several inches away from the glass walls on either side. Each individual layer cantilevers outwards to create a floating effect that mirrors the way the house itself floats above the ground.

A 606 Universal Shelving System by Dieter Rams for Vitsœ dominates one end of the living room.

One wall of the living room houses a library.