Z House
Venice CA
Architecture, Construction, Landscape, Entitlements
Completed 2019
2020 AIA|LA Residential Architecture Award
Photos: Eric Staudenmaier
The Z House spans the width of the site and is positioned above its own two-car garage, a storage room, and tandem carports for the other two houses. The front door is on the second level, accessed by way of an exterior stair/ramp located in the slot between the X and Y houses, perpendicular to the street. The Z House is an open plan double-story loft space with perforated steel stairs to the upper floor and roof. The interior is screened from the south-facing alley by bamboo and a perforated corrugated screen façade. Other than fixed bathrooms on both levels and the kitchen, the layout is flexible, allowing many iterations of programmatic organization. The tiled middle level currently contains dining and living spaces organized around the large double-height atrium. The top floor wraps around the central void, overlooking the living spaces below and contains the primary bedroom, library/office and a sauna.