MARINA DEL REY, CA
STATUS: COMPLETED 2019
Duplex Redux
A stereotomic reconfiguration of a stacked section establishes new internal, threshold, and external relationships and itineraries. While experiential qualities are amplified, residential density is unchanged.
Team:
Todd Lynch and Mohamed Sharif with
David Harrop
and
Casey Knudsen
Jena Meeks
Nichole Tortotici
Connor Verteramo
Structural Consultant: CW Howe Partners Inc
General Contractor: ONYX Development.
Photography: Izumi Tanaka

The makeover reinvigorates the building's public faces and interlocking interior volumes by subtracting and redistributing area rather than adding it. The updated elevational expression modulates the western sun, heat, and wind to create private oases at the front and heart of the duplex. No longer hermetically sealed, it now opens outwards through a formal forecourt, a roof garden/Sky Patio, strategically positioned skylights, and generous windows and doors that brighten the interior while also protecting it with undulating, figural frames. The Sky Patio recovers the garage roof to extend the living space with a planted deck of dark, sustainably harvested wood planks and integrated sound insulation, to enclose a shelter from the bustling alley and
reframe the sky as a ceiling.





Sky Patio
Spartanly detailed, the three wood perimeter walls define an elevated outdoor room whose ceiling is the sky.
Double Height
Removal of this portion of the upper floor and reallocation to the Sky Patio creates a Great Room that is amply and diffusely lit from the east and from above.
Shadow Box
Effectively a visor, the chevroned, fluted fiber cement panel facade endows the building with a sharp, monochromatic model-like appearance that balances a haptic architecture with abstraction.







4:00 PM, December 21, 2020
4:00 PM, June 21, 2020
2:00 PM, December 21, 2020
10:00 AM, June 21, 2020
4:00 PM, December 21, 2020
4:00 PM, June 21, 2020
Shadow Box
The shared front stair and balcony give the community and walk-street facing forecourt a dignified and subtly dynamic backdrop.
A Shadow Box, this element creates a buffering volume of space that self-Shades and quiets the interiors while also opening them, both visually and functionally, to the green outdoor space.
Effectively a visor, the chevroned, fluted fiber cement panel facade endows the building with a sharp, monochromatic model-like appearance that balances a haptic architecture with abstraction.