Photo courtesy Reinhold Andris Office, Walddorfhäslach.

Orpilla pecks, Apolo pedals.

Design-build firm Blue Truck, working with Rough Workshop on the construction, expanded a split-level midcentury house in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles for a family of four: Noel, an entrepreneur, Satoko, a freelance creative director, and their four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter. A partial second-story addition adds necessary square footage, and also opens up new views of the city.

Sunlight is plentiful at every level of the house.

Looking from the open-plan dining area, through the kitchen to to the new living space, one gets views of the tree canopy through a high-level band of frameless glazing.

The couple made the house feel even more spacious by flooding a series of levels with natural light.

Split Table by Staffan Holm, $2,950

Leveling the wood framing.

Although the two apartments were stacked vertically, their individual systems and layout were quite different. The limited horizontal overlap meant that the owners and design team had to give careful thought to the connective elements, and how the family would ultimately circulate through the home. One of the key pieces to the puzzle was finding a place for the interior stairs. Says Bangia Agostinho principal Anshu Bangia, “There was a challenge to find an appropriate location to cut a new stair opening between the apartments, and then have the new stair coordinate with the existing one to form a logical sequence of circulation between the three levels.”

Arik Levy for Ton, Hall 12 Stand C05 at Rho.

A series of levels gives the house a sense of separation between the main rooms.

The kitchen fits neatly on one wall. The architect reads at a black Ligne Roset dining set, beneath a Col pendant lamp by Francisco Luján. The tublar steel mezzanine rails were designed by Mikulionis, who enjoyed being exempt from the safety concerns that a client would force on him.

From her bedroom on the lower level, Schneider can walk out onto her balcony and take in the spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean. The wall behind the bed is the thermal-mass wall that provides heat throughout the night.

Works on so many levels.

Using a straightedge to level the surface.

With one half covered in light brick and the other in ipe, the SPLIT house in Toronto reveales two distinct personalities.

Windows transcend floor levels to discretely frame views of the surrounding neighborhood, offering slices of the vistas beyond.

The Level platform from FluidStance is meant to increase one’s range of healthy motion in the workplace

The relatively simple construction incorporates clever sustainable design: a two-level wood roof structure keeps the sun’s heat away from the interior, and small windows at either end facilitate powerful cross-ventilation. It’s natural air-conditioning, and it works beautifully.

The living area and the office are arranged on split levels, adding an open, convivial quality to the home. A small staircase is incorporated into the desk and accesses the living area.

The family that works together stays together: Hachigian and Day at his-and-hers workstations in the shared lower-level study.

The living room structure soars to two stories, with banks of glass louvers at the upper level providing cross ventilation.

Clear glass panes set strategically into the otherwise translucent curtain wall expose the mezzanine to fresh air and rear views.

The split-level roof deck was splendid. And the views of the city, which I'm taking in here, are pretty stellar too.

A porch at the bottom floor level serves as a rest space, play area, and work spot when Hale pulls out his tools. The horizontal window above connects the first floor to the deck so Hale and Edmonds can keep a watchful eye on the girls when they play outside.

The lounge at the back of the entrance level exhibits the wide plank flooring common throughout the house. The view through the windows is made more compelling by the strip of green roofing extending the treetop canopy and the glass curtain wall that climbs just high enough to draw a sightline to the patio.

Venice has always been a community that embraces art, grit and anything that’s a bit rough around the edges. This, Anderson and Woitunski say, has always been the foundation of the local culture and the way people have created their spaces in the area. Photo by Marc Alt

“The access and position of the house provided only one facade, so the distribution [of the rooms] had to be open towards that facade,” the firm says. “By breaking the levels we could drag the light deep in the house.” As for interior lighting, the wall-mounted lamps throughout the house are from Faro, a Barcelona-based lighting company.

From the second level of the house, Griffin climbs the stairs his own way.

Jorge’s office is on the basement level which provides easy access to the outside.

Maple flooring was used on the second level.

Split Box shelving by Peter Marigold at the Frozen Fountain.

The home's exposed concrete skeleton, wrapped in oak, creates a warm, layered space for living. Oman split the floors by function, with common areas on the ground level, followed by the kids' rooms and then a third-floor suite for the parents.

The house’s street-level entrance shows an openness to its surroundings, and a glass door allows curious passersby a glimpse of the interior.

On one side of the house, a white central staircase leads to a split-level landing the Robertsons call "the reading room." "We needed a place to hang out and for the kids to read," explains owner Vivi Nguyen-Robertson. Awaiting the birth of the couple's son, she relaxes in a built-in reading nook in the library.

The bottom level houses the bedrooms where Pilar, José Roberto, Patty, and Jimena loll.