Freeman Jardini Studio

The program is a free-standing painting and drawing studio, distinctly contemporary but complementary to the existing historic shingle-style residence: the J.B. Merrill House by H.M. Patterson (1909), designated as an LA Historical-Cultural Monument. We positioned the studio to the edge of the property and set it into the slope of the site to maintain views of the site from the main house. A new courtyard links the studio with the existing deck. Together the sequence from house to deck to courtyard to breezeway to studio interior is a choreography of movement and space, seamlessly integrating site, topography, and horizon. A tectonic idea allows achievement of the site intentions: the thin, wing-like steel roof — a square folded upward along the diagonal — floats above the cave-like masonry enclosure, allowing transparency from house and deck through the studio clerestories, toward the landscape beyond. There is no active heating or cooling system; natural cross-ventilation, deep overhangs, lush site microclimate, and the thermal mass of walls, floor, and site keep the studio workspace comfortable year-round.