As we mentioned before, James Jean (interviewed) has a live and work space in West LA near Little Osaka. Called Hide Out, the house has already won multiple awards including the A+ Award from Architizer and the Honor Award for Residential Adaptive Reuse from AIA LA. The design of the remodel by Dan Brunn Architecture includes features like a 12′ x 14′ pivot door, a Japanese tea room inspired library, and wood stairs created by using an algorithm to calculate the most optimized curve based on a selection of Jean’s drawings (it is also a nod to Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2).
Brunn further explains – “Hide Out started as a house originally designed by Frank Gehry in the 1970s, but the clients, art collector Edwin Janns Jr and his wife had radically altered the plans. The house became a private gallery and entertaining space with just a handful of Gehry’s original ideas intact. Interestingly, the design choices I made align to Gehry’s original intentions for the house, although expressed in my own language. My intent was to take inspiration from James’ own work and mesh it with Gehry, and yet create a unique feel to the space and elements. Picking up cues from the arabesque strokes in James’ paintings, combined with some sculptural Gehry geometry, we created an entirely new experience that is at once DBA.”
Photo credit: Brandon Shigeta.
Discuss James Jean here.
