John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects
1461 E 4th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90033
213 253 4740
jfak.net
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c. JFAK, 2020
Club Sugar
This 3,000 square foot nightclub was designed to intensify the looking at and meeting of people – to both reinforce and poke fun at the inherent narcissistic and voyeuristic behavior. To this end, it brings people together in surprising ways, such as the space in the polycarbonate “tunnel” that allows people to see inside the restrooms through clear acrylic doors.
The design experiments with a palette of clear, translucent, and mirrored materials that affect the perception of the body and allow it to be presented in as many ways as possible. These include epoxy floors, stainless steel mesh curtains, zinc siding, and a number of new acrylic and polycarbonate materials.
The new programmatic elements that make up the club were designed as semi-discrete set pieces that would slip into the existing wood and brick shell: the DJ booth, the bar, the raised seating area, the restrooms, and the polycarbonate “tunnel” that screens the restrooms from the dance floor. In this project, light is used as a material in itself. In the restrooms, it creates a sensuous, ethereal atmosphere.
The Brig
Located in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles, this 2001 renovation of a well-known but down-on-its-heels bar helped catalyze the transformation of Abbot Kinney Blvd. into one of the most vibrant commercial streets in the city.
The richness of materials, colors, and textures in the new design creates a sensuous public space that welcomes the diverse spirit of Venice. Its mixture of elements from high and low culture maintains the original, ad-hoc quality of the bar’s interior while appealing to a new generation of patrons. A fourteen-foot long steel table with an integrated ashtray moves in and out of one of the bar’s two front doors and creates a lively space for smokers to gather on the public sidewalk. In the early evening, it serves as a communal dining table.
Suggesting that the ubiquitous parking lots in LA can also do double duty, the parking area for the Brig was conceived as a public plaza where both cars and people can intermingle. The building’s iconic mural, which has served as the unofficial gateway into the neighborhood since its creation by Art Mortimer in 1972, has been restored and lit with fluorescent lights.
Falcon
Located on Hollywood’s famed Sunset Boulevard, the project transformed a dilapidated craftsman house into a high-end eatery and watering hole. Channeling the glory days of Hollywood, from when Rudolph Valentino lived in the home he called “Falcon’s Lair” (for which the restaurant is named), to the Rat Pack, the Brat Pack, and today’s “celebutantes,” the design calls to the voyeuristic behavior of popular “Industry” hangouts.
The restaurant is composed of a series of related but distinct spaces, much as in a film. A long ramp psychologically transports the patrons from the grittiness of Sunset Boulevard to the restaurant’s main entrance. The dining and bar area functions as a lounge, taking the theater as its primary design metaphor. From raised seating areas, diners can view – and be viewed by – the action in the lounge. Dark and earthy materials combine with low ceilings, and even lower light levels, to create an intimate mood.
For many, the outdoor patio is the final destination in this carefully choreographed sequence. A calm space with tall white walls, a large fireplace, and a series of wood bleachers, the purity and lightness of this space are in direct contrast to the darkness of the interior.
Lucky Devils
Located in an existing storefront building on Hollywood Boulevard, this 2,000 square-foot prototype for a new, organic, “fast-casual” restaurant, contributes to the resurgence of this iconic district. The target patrons of this restaurant are local business people, tourists, and late night club hoppers who desire high-quality hamburgers and hot dogs in a stimulating, authentic environment.
The project utilizes a simple layout that includes a main eating area on one side of a central banquette and a high eating and drinking counter on the other. To create an environment that is both warm and dynamic, the project utilizes a range of materials and colors that come from high and low culture, the past and the present. These include terrazzo, concrete, walnut, vinyl, wallpaper, stainless steel, aluminum, acrylic, and various types of glass.
The signature element in the project is its ceiling, which is articulated with a number of light slots and three ‘boxes’ which fold down into the main dining space. Out of these boxes come ‘flames’ of light that animate the ceiling and contribute to the identity and branding of this new venture.
Shinsa Shell
The upscale but chaotic Shinsadong district in Seoul is home to many of the city’s trendiest boutiques and cafes, housed in hastily designed buildings pasted over with mismatched materials and signs. As a counterpoint, Shinsa Shell was designed to create a place of refuge for both the eye and the body.
Six stories tall, and 20,000 SF in size, the building’s relatively monolithic form stands up to the many fragmented structures nearby, as well as the existing power pole and wires that were impossible to relocate. Clad in limestone and utilizing punched openings rather than large expanses of glass, its solid walls and reduced palette resist the colorful cacophony of their surroundings.
Subtle angles on the structure’s long side intensify the narrowness and intimacy of the adjacent side street. Following local daylighting codes, the building’s top two floors step back to assure adequate sunlight for the street below, as well as create rooftop terraces with views of the surrounding city.
LA Design Center
Located in the heart of South Los Angeles, an economically disadvantaged neighborhood at the center of the city’s 2001 civil disturbances, this project was conceived by furnituremaker Cisco Pinedo as a commercial center to highlight the area’s multi-talented young furniture design and fabrication companies and bring much-needed support and attention to this part of town.
How does/should one design for South Central Los Angeles? That was the question we asked ourselves, not even a decade after riots had broken out following the acquittal of the LAPD officers who had beaten Rodney King senseless for nothing more than speeding in his Hyundai.
As a start, we hypothesized that by reusing the existing buildings, by treating them with respect and affection, we would, in a sense, be communicating respect for the neighborhood as a whole. We then took that idea further, layering the structures with a set of light, heterogeneous materials and screens that would seem both permanent and impermanent at the same time – a set of new clothes that would provide a strong identity for the spaces and buildings, but also seem flexible, open-ended, and inclusive. We placed long, lightweight sheets of iridescent polycarbonate on existing heavy steel columns, over walls of warm brick; a “woven” stainless steel door in an existing window opening we extended to reach the floor; a porous fabric canopy over the existing parking lot; and a gate and fence at the entrance that didn’t pretend to be for any purpose other than security but was unique, nonetheless. Inside the buildings, we created an environment to showcase our client’s furniture, which was fabricated onsite using the same materials and strategies that we used outside. Our client opened his property to community usage. People came. No one defaced or graffiti-ed a single square inch, in a neighborhood that is regularly vandalized.
Casa Namorada
Set amongst mostly traditional homes in northern Santa Monica, this house privileges space, light, and form over adherence to neighborhood conventions. It also reflects the aesthetic and cultural preferences of its owners, a Brazilian woman and first-generation Moroccan man with two young children.
From the street, there is no visible “front door;” one finds instead a large, high window (a play on the traditional “picture window” that is found next door), an orange garage door, and a pink gate leading to the entrance. The front gate and entrance courtyard are a typical feature of North African and Brazilian homes, providing an outdoor greeting area, a transition from public to private, and extra security.
At the entrance, a separate formal living room welcomes less familiar guests. The dining and family rooms are situated more deeply inside the house and welcomes close friends and family. Both inside and outside, fluid volumes and curves activated by natural light reference organic forms commonly found in Brazil. However, whereas the front of the house is defined by more abstract, two-dimensional curves, at the rear, their controlled energy explodes in an exuberant composition of three-dimensional curved volumes that expresses the vibrant multiculturalism at play here.
Peace Creek Villas
This project provides for four different villa types to be located along a man-made lake and canal, on a site within the new Luxe Lake housing and mixed-used development in Chengdu, China. Each of the villa types is three stories high, with the public living areas located at the middle levels which are accessed from the road. The upper levels are given over to private bedrooms, and the lower levels to additional recreational and communal spaces that open out to the lake or canal. The structural system for all villas is poured-in-place concrete, with various cladding materials that include hard-troweled plaster, wood, metal, stone, and glass.
The houses are alike enough – in character and materiality – that they create a strong sense of a community, but different enough that the environment is not homogeneous or predictable. Inside of each of them, there is ample natural light through skylights, views to the natural landscape, and also the unexpected, surprising, playful views that one would not necessarily expect, marking each house as special, and designed with care and thoughtfulness. It is these small details, as much as the big moves and overall character of the villas, that make them unique and timeless.
Pinedo Stealth
Comprised of three new architectural elements, this project is located in the backyard of a typical Mediterranean house in San Marino, a city well known for mandating traditional styles for all structures visible from the public domain. The design utilizes contemporary forms that are sculptural, dynamic, and bold – but that still “fit in.” They combine with the existing house and garage to create an intimately-scaled, heterogeneous family compound.
The most prominent of the new elements is a triangular shade structure that frames a view of a new pool and creates a clear focal point at the rear of the yard. It provides maximum shade at the terrace, where it is most needed, while allowing full sunlight over the pool and spa. Additionally, the angle of its roof addresses the commonly-used backyard entrance that is located at the opposite corner of the backyard.
The shade structure also frames a compelling view of a new fountain, which is constructed of both smooth and board-formed concrete, articulated with inserted bronze channels. Beyond the obvious aesthetic qualities of the fountain – it also addresses a basic functional need: it hides the pool equipment and masks its incessant hum.