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
The King House rejects the standard public front yard/private backyard typology, opting instead for a structure whose living spaces and bedrooms open onto a large garden and patio that faces the public streets and surrounding houses.
The house is a solid mass in which one corner has been carved away, revealing the house’s inner life, but where angled walls that respond to the site’s wedged shape also contribute a degree of privacy for the house’s bedrooms. Primarily composed of renewable materials such as plaster and cement board, the general permeability of the house is reinforced by its green and gray cement board painting pattern, designed to echo the dappled light one sees when looking through a tree towards a sun-filled sky.
Echoing the openness of the house to the neighborhood, the interior of the house is a series of free-flowing, continuous spaces that fosters a supportive, interactive family lifestyle. Generous use of skylights creates constantly changing light conditions that activate the interior. Extensive vertical glazing reduces the need for artificial lighting and enables ocean breezes to naturally ventilate the entire house, which does not include an air-conditioning system.