Y House
Venice CA
Architecture, Construction, Landscape, Entitlements
Completed 2019
2020 AIA|LA Residential Architecture Award
Photos: Eric Staudenmaier
The gold-paneled Y House faces the street and shares a similar spatial diagram to the neighboring X House. It contains a spiraling switchback stair from the ground to the third floor, with a straight stair connecting to the roof. The roof stair’s enclosure is used to shield the street-facing roof decks from one another by strategically employing the 100 sf allowed for roof access structures. In contrast to the live/work X House, the Y House is conceived as a more concealed home for a family. The ground level kitchen faces a small garden, with the living room past the open staircase. The middle level contains a large suite shielded off from the stairwell. The third floor is divided into a secondary bedroom and a large studio/playroom with a kitchenette for entertaining on the roof.