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Light Construction

Charles Ward designs a restrained Los Angeles residence that emphasizes art and architecture.

Edie Cohen -- Interior Design, 7/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Driving through a still ungentrified stretch of Venice, one gets scant street-front cues about the extraordinary quality of a compact, yet perfectly realized 3,000-sq.-ft. residence. But once beyond the rolling steel gate, the visitor leaves this rough-and-tumble neighborhood for an oasis reflecting the shared vision of designer Charles Ward, landscape architect Jay Griffith, and the clients themselves. Together, they transformed a nondescript multiple-dwelling structure built in the '40s into a project exemplifying the best aspects of southern California and East Coast loft living.

From the outset, the clients regarded Charles Ward as their undisputed choice for designer. Seeing Ward's own house clinched the deal. "It was a modern structure, but used organic elements," they remark. "We can't live in New York, but we still wanted a loft with its vocabulary of rusted steel, plaster walls, and concrete floors."

Ward's first decision was to retain the structure's basic skeleton, with its perimeter walls, fenestration pattern, wooden ceiling joists, and pitched roof. Cost-effective, the choice also "provides a patina that comes from age," he comments. But within that envelope, he rebuilt the entire interior, carefully orchestrating views using varying combinations of obscure wire glass and transparent glass within new, patinated steel frames.

The plan is open, but still relies on a sense of progression through defined areas rather than amorphous space. The entry, through a gridded door of translucent glass with a clear pane above, leads to a compressed hallway with a 10-ft.-high ceiling. From here one moves into the 20-ft.-high open space, and the extension of the house through another glass grid to the landscaped garden beyond. "The glass," Ward says of the end wall, "is just a way to keep the weather out."

Closer inspection allows one to focus on both spatial distinctions and details. The living room has a sense of enclosure provided by the end panel and by the stepped-down ceiling sector of the original joists. Raised walnut flooring defines the kitchen/dining area. Even the end wall, conceived as a rhythmic horizontal plane, is a composition of articulated views thanks to the pivot doors.

Upstairs, Ward's structural detailing simultaneously addresses privacy needs and a desire for overall connection. There are no full-height dividing walls. Partitions that stop short of ceiling height demarcate the balcony-like den and the master and guest suites. The fenestration and sliding doors, again of obscure wire glass, heighten the quality of translucency and the sense of unfolding space. Ward executed floorplans and elevations, but he worked closely with the clients, developing the details and custom furnishings on site as the project progressed. Concrete counters, stair treads, the banquette, bookshelves, and the entire master bath were poured in place.

When it comes to collecting, nothing can replace the virtues of editing and an eye honed by years of looking at art. The collection assembled here is eclectic, but still imparts a vivid sense of the owners' tastes. Blue-chip modern masters commingle easily with emerging L.A. artists. Thus Pablo Picasso, Frank Stella, Francis Bacon, Milton Avery, David Hockney, Max Pechstein, and Cindy Sherman keep company with lesser-known figures who include Marc Fichou, Pamela Stockamore, Barry Russakif, Helene Slavin, and Squeak Carnwath.

Art and architecture hold center stage. Furnishings have been kept to a minimum, reflecting the restraint characteristic of the project as a whole. Designer Susan Rosen assisted in making judicious selections of modern classics and more recent designs. Anything more would be superfluous.