Freeze Frame

A closer look at the hottest solutions from March

Staff -- Interior Design, 3/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Hollywood Hills Hideaway

Costume designer David Norbury's backyard would be the envy of any Angeleno—but not for the reasons that usually draw people to the Hollywood Hills. Instead of taking in panoramic night vistas of the city, Norbury's patio and black-bottom pool are surrounded by eucalyptus, pine, bamboo, and Australian tree ferns. "Isn't the view amazing?" he asks. "You can see every kind of tree." The cultivated area is natural and un-fussy, and the foliage filters sunlight in a particularly beautiful way—as does the extended slat roof of the house, built by architect John Sjoberg in 1954. The patio's flagstone continues inside to encircle the sunken center of the indoor living area, furnished with appropriately mid-century vintage Egg chairs by Arne Jacobsen. "Go With the Flow," page 176. —D.K.

Frame It

At the hillside Los Angeles house that Aleks Istanbullu built for animator Gabor Csupo, the architect created a striking entry procession through two antechambers. The first is an 8-foot-wide, 9-foot-deep, 11-foot-high wood-framed trapezoid finished in Venetian plaster. Within the passageway, one long wall is embedded with fiber optics in a random pattern meant to recall a night sky. The tunnel leads to a 2-inch-thick mahogany front door, which opens to a vestibule. This glass enclosure, 5 feet 9 inches wide and 8 feet tall, is topped by a MechoShade for sun control. As a sun shield for one of the third-floor master suite's two decks, Istanbullu built a steel, redwood, and vinyl-mesh canopy. "Suspended Animation," page 202. —E.C.