Inside an Architect’s Experimental Japanese-Inspired Home in Los Angeles (House Tour)

Ridge Residence by Hsu McCullough is an architect’s own home. Conceived as an experimental, pavilion-style form in Los Angeles’s Sherman Oaks neighbourhood and designed by owners and architects Peggy Hsu and Chris McCullough, the experimental, Japanese-inspired house embraces its topography and provides a feeling of solitude in California.

Peggy and Chris – an avid collector – were drawn to the site’s potential for an experimental, Japanese-inspired architecture. Peggy says, “the area is less densely populated on the hillside and most properties have deep backyards. Ours frames an uninterrupted view of Fossil Ridge Park – it can never be developed and there are no homes, just a natural landscape featuring hillside oak trees and unique wildlife.”

The interior design of this Japanese-inspired house features a textural materiality, and plants blur the boundaries between inside and out. Inside, texture, art and materiality converge in a layered interior. An architect’s own home can often lead to experimental and deeply personal design outcomes – a sentiment that rings true in this house. The kitchen sits beneath a picture window that captures western sun and provides sightlines to the street. Given its proximity to the living room, its aesthetic relationship to the rest of the home was an important experimental consideration. As such, Peggy and Chris looked to Fisher & Paykel for appliances, tapping into the company’s integration capabilities and refined aesthetic to match their experimental vision.

The Column Refrigerator and Freezer are integrated into the kitchen cabinetry, the black glass induction cooktop complements the charcoal joinery, and the Downdraft Range Hood allows for considerable flexibility. “Fisher & Paykel helped us specify this retractable exhaust, which sits behind the induction cooktop so when it’s not in use, it disappears into the counter space,” Peggy shares.

As an architect’s own home, Ridge Residence’s tactility and experimental undertone result in a meaningful architectural expression. As the timber silvers and the roof gardens grow, this home will be enveloped by its environment, melding into the hillside upon which is sits.

00:00 - Introduction to the Experimental Japanese-Inspired Home
00:54 - The Private Location
01:14 - External Materials
01:36 - An Original 1960's Home
01:52 - The Functional and Balanced Design of the Kitchen
02:50 - The Internal Material Palette
03:48 - Integrating Japanese Wet Rooms
04:06 - Showcasing Collections
04:41 - Working with Dark and Brawny Materiality

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Architecture, Design, Interior Design, Styling and Landscape Design by Hsu McCullough.
Photography by Mike Kelley and Joe Fletcher.
Build by Dynamic Builders of Southern California.
Structural Engineering by Parker Resnick Structural Engineering.
Geotechnical Engineering by Ralph Stone and Company.
Appliances by Fisher & Paykel.
Filmed and Edited by The Local Project.
Production by The Local Project.
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Location: Sherman Oaks, CA, Unites States

The Local Project acknowledges the traditional territories and homelands of the Indigenous peoples in the United States. We recognise the importance of Indigenous peoples in the identity of our respective countries and continuing connections to Country and community. We pay our respect to Elders, past and present and extend that respect to all Indigenous people of these lands.

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