RYB House

This overhaul of a 1956 Ojai ranch preserved the original mid-century footprint and massing. Above the foundation, though, the house was in desperate need of repair. The owner, architectural designer and ceramic artist Ren von Hasseln, opened up the floorplan, adding steel structure to allow for lofted ceilings throughout and a north elevation of floor to ceiling glass. The latter includes 5-panel bifold door spanning nearly the entire facade, opening onto a deck overhung by a cantilevered roof and views of the Los Padres National Forest foothills. A bulbous hanging Fireorb woodstove is suspended from one eave.

Influenced by the Bauhaus palette, and by the architectural work of graphic artist Alexander Girard, von Hasseln used a bold primary color scheme grounded by by black porcelain tile and overhead beams, as well as by lots of warm wood tones. Prominent masonry features in vibrant red, yellow and cobalt, were a main design driver for von Hasseln, acting to pull an occupant through the spaces of the house, inviting or in some cases obscuring, and staking out the striking color scheme. Before entering the home, as you stand outside the front door, a vibrant red masonry feature extends through a large plate glass window into the interior space. Once inside, the red brick wall screens the entire north facade from view until you take several steps into the interior, when all at once the glass and light and outdoor space is revealed, as well as the yellow brick feature adjacent. Stepping out onto the deck, this yellow brick feature becomes the backdrop against which the hanging Fireorb is centered. Re-entering the house from the deck, your sight line is through the wood clad mass of the primary bedroom nested within the lofted space, into the primary bath with its deep cobalt masonry. Here again, this feature traverses plate glass to enclose an outdoor shower that mirrors the primary shower, protected by swooping mexican weeping bamboo.

The home is filled with von Hasseln’s ceramic pieces; vases of all sizes and shapes but also the tiles of the range backsplash, a pendant fixture, and several large planters. Tiles for a hearth beneath the Fireorb are in the works. von Hasseln uses the attached garage, renovated as an ADU, as her studio.