“When I’m working with clients who are just as creative as I am, there seems to be an unspoken permission to explore the process without always having to be perfect or professional about it,” Anthony Laney, principal of Laney LA says. “There’s a kindred-spirit quality of the work that makes it really enjoyable.”

As Laney looks back on how this property in Culver City, California, came to be, he strings all of his sentences together with positives. The home is set on a quiet cul-de-sac, and yet it’s steps away from public transportation and some of the best restaurants in the area. The lot itself is 5,300 square feet and surrounded by trees—a rarity in dense Los Angeles.

But he saves most of his praise for the partnership he had with owners Aleks and Erica Kocev, a filmmaker and a business manager, and how they seemed to be just as delighted as he was with the sometimes grueling steps involved with building a new home.

“They were actually drawn to the grittiness of what a new build means—they wanted to understand the nuances of everything, rather than just the economics,” he says. “What was so wonderful, too, was that they weren’t prescriptive with their design. For them, it was more about creating a mood.”

After meeting through Laney’s former colleague, Aleks and Erica introduced the architect to the future address of a low-impact home for them and their young daughter. They didn’t want to cover the entire expanse of the lot, nor were they seeking something that fit the traditional confines of a “family home.” Instead, they asked for every space to feel intentional within a cohesive palette that winked at Scandinavian minimalism. It had to be calming, but it needed bold contrast, too.

“They knew they wanted a darker palette on the outside and a light one on the inside, and they showed a keen interest in what the angles of the exterior would be,” Laney continues. “They wanted simplicity and craftsmanship.”

There were two structures originally on the lot. The one closest to the street—which Laney describes as a “creaky wooden bungalow”—was demolished, and Aleks and Erica moved their family into the back house as their new home was being built in its place. They were so close to the process, in fact, that only a few feet separated them from construction on a daily basis.

Together, Laney and the couple decided on two special features for their project: a carport for the black exterior, and cathedral ceilings for the white interior. Each feature would make its own distinctive impact.

“When you enter the home, it opens into a massive, double-height space that’s surprising for a smaller footprint of 2,500 square feet,” Laney says. “If you’re standing in the kitchen or living room and you’re looking up, you have all these skylights—it’s still a play on light and dark, because you see the blue sky and light fall on the dark concrete.”

Shop the Look

In its own way, the carport lends a certain airiness to the exterior’s raven finish and sharp edges, too. Aesthetics aside, Laney and the owners chose a carport so that they could devote more space to Aleks’s home office. His studio sits beside the pantry and kitchen on the ground floor, while two bedrooms, a master suite, and a study can be found upstairs. When the rooms were primed for furnishings, Laney’s team partnered with the owners to create a neutral yet inviting palette. The project was completed after about a year of work in March 2019.

“One day, when it was finally ready, they just walked into their new home and we demolished their back house,” Laney says, laughing. His team manicured the site into a verdant backyard, which sits below the master suite’s inviting picture window.

“It really was like a dream, as far as this whole process goes,” Laney adds. “As an architect, I’m always thinking about how to make it a positive process from beginning to end—because it’s not just a building, it’s someone’s home. I think our relationship made that possible.”

Related Reading:

A Black Gable Home Opens Wide to the Appalachian Landscape

18 Black Gable Houses With Seriously Witchy Vibes

Project Details:

Architect of Record: Anthony Laney, Laney LA Inc. / @laneylainc

Builder: Dustin Cunningham

Structural Engineer: Padra Bayani, P.E., Beyond Engineering, Inc.

Landscape Design: Anthony Laney, Laney LA Inc.

Cabinetry Installation: Frank Gatewood, EAW Inc.

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