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Building On The Past

Edie Cohen -- Interior Design, 7/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

You wouldn't know it. But Katsuhiko and Amy Kimura's Los Angeles house dates back to the 1930's. Well, at least part of it does. Call it selective preservation.

"I was interested in a historical continuum," recalls Michael Sant, principal of Sant Architects. Hired to renovate the 70-year-old Brentwood cottage, he retained a portion of its core, covering its wood exterior in zinc, he says, "to resemble a cast-lead object." Then, on either side, he built a perpendicular two-story wing in order to form an H. As a result, the rear elevation now appears rather grand, due to the expansive window walls' grid of Douglas fir frames, which add dimension to the facade.

For interiors, the architect drew cues from the cottage vernacular. "I made an efficient plan, compressing elements yet providing ample storage," he explains.

The original house became a living room on the ground level and a guest bedroom and bath above. One wing's ground level accommodates the kitchen; the other wing's is a dining area and den. And each wing has a bedroom upstairs, for a total of three, plus three baths. A central stairwell addresses vertical circulation, while a corridor runs past the guest room to bridge both wings on the second story.

Materials are consistent, a seamless blend of Zen and modernist leanings. Sant used Douglas fir for window frames and flooring—except in the kitchen, dining area, and den, which feature floors of stained, waxed concrete slabs. For custom cabinetry and shelving, his composition of single, double, and triple layers of plywood imparts visual texture. The walls are all white, detailed with only a reveal at the baseboards.

The living room is essentially original, simply raised a few steps above grade, but the fenestration, poured-concrete hearth, and adjacent redwood deck are new. When it came to furnishings, Sant went Italian—selections are spare, elegant, and essential. Antonio Citterio's daybed, covered in cream linen, faces his cocktail table of wengé and oak to compose a study in minimalism.

The Citterio table's cousin, a wengé console, resides in the master bedroom. The dining area's polypropylene chairs by Vico Magistretti surround Paolo Piva's aluminum table topped in frosted glass. In terms of objects, that's about it.

Total square footage comes to an equally restrained 2,500, an anomaly in posh Brentwood. "The Kimuras opted for a house that's modest in scale," Sant explains, "so the gardens could dominate." And they're not just any gardens. Designed by premier L.A. landscape architect Jay Griffith, they combine a glorious assortment of plants—all framed by views of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Clockwise from top: A pair of stucco wings and a wall of glazing transformed a 1930's cottage in Los Angeles. Michael Sant installed a poured-concrete hearth, plywood shelving, and Douglas fir flooring and door frames in the living room, then added Antonio Citterio's Charles daybed, covered in linen, and his Apta cocktail table, topped in wengé and oak. Yusuke Kimura skips along the concrete slabs in the Jay Griffith–designed garden.

From top: In the dining area, Vico Magistretti's polypropylene Maui chairs surround Paolo Piva's Atavola table topped in frosted glass. Sant designed plywood cabinetry for the kitchen. In the second-story master bedroom, a print by Howard Hodgkin sits on an Apta wengé console by Citterio; sliding doors open to a redwood deck.

RUG (LIVING ROOM): THROUGH LINEA. DAYBED (LIVING ROOM), TABLE (DINING AREA): BB ITALIA. COCKTAIL TABLE (LIVINGROOM), CONSOLE (MASTER BEDROOM): MAXALTO. CHAIRS (DINING AREA): KARTELL. CUSTOM CABINETRY (KITCHEN): SYSTEMS 32.