Los Angeles
Lorcan O'Herlihy

Lorcan O’Herlihy creates a dwelling, Jai House, where cinema and Eastern meditation meet the rugged Santa Monica Mountains

	Photo © Jonn Coolidge

By Sarah Amelar

When a vodka company was scouting for two quintessentially Los Angeles buildings to feature in a billboard campaign, the ad directors ultimately chose Frank O. Gehry’s Disney Hall and Lorcan O’Herlihy’s Jai House. Though Jai—with its sleek, planar Modernism and a swimming pool flowing from outdoors in—has a certain Hollywood glamour, the unspoiled canyon setting, a few miles inland from the Malibu coast, apparently didn’t strike the vodka people as quite L.A. enough. So they Photoshopped the building onto a dramatic beachscape—perhaps lifted from Hawaii.

But without resorting to special effects, imported talent, or body doubles, Los Angeles is actually well cast to play itself here—just not in its clichéd wave-splashed role. This project, like the city, has multiple sides to its personality. Set in the rugged Santa Monica Mountains, the house responds to the clients’ interest in Eastern meditation and communing with nature, as well as their life in the film world and flair for entertaining at home. Since the owners, documentary filmmakers with three children, are as much involved with yoga as with cinema, they asked O’Herlihy to design a house with a yoga studio—where they could practice meditative exercises and host occasional retreats—and a rooftop, where they could throw parties and screen movies.

Set behind a gate, the house parallels the road, 70 feet away. From the entrance, the main volume—a 130-foot-long, one-story bar, finished in white plaster—forms a screen, offering only teasing glimpses of the mountains to the south. While large sandblasted windows on the north (or entry) facade reveal a tantalizing shadow play of figures in the living/dining area, a section of clear glass at the elevation’s center draws your eye in along the trajectory of a 75-foot lap pool that stretches perpendicularly into the landscape. Just outside the glazed entry, a square koi pond extends the swimming pool’s lines, as if that narrow body of water had ducked underground briefly and reemerged on the opposite side of the threshold. On the pool’s west side, two glass-paneled walls enclosing the living/dining area slide apart, dissolving a corner and turning the main room into a poolside veranda. Near the opposite edge of the water, riserless treads (over an open-air shower) lead up to the second floor, where O’Herlihy has perched an 815-square-foot, partially cantilevered volume, clad in black plaster, to house the master suite.

Inside, more boundaries blur. Living, dining, and den areas merge with the kitchen, where a stainless-steel counter acts as a quiet piece of furniture. And upstairs, a sybaritic bath, with no partitions around the tub, becomes one with the sensual master bedroom, where floor-to-ceiling windows—an off-the-shelf storefront—offer expansive views of the landscape.

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the People Owner Julie Piatt and Richard Roll Architect Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects 5709 Mesmer Avenue Culver City, CA 90230 T: 310.398.0394 F: 310.398.2675 www.loharchitects.com/ Principal in Charge: Lorcan O’Herlihy, AIA Project Manager: David Thompson Project Team: Juan Diego Gerscovich, Michael Poirier Engineer Paul Franceschi Interior Decorator Julie Piatt General Contractor Michael O’Malley Construction Photographer(s) Various photographers.

the Products Structural system Type: Wood frame construction with steel moment frame. Exterior cladding Metal/glass curtain wall: Custom Aluminum glazing Aluminum sliders: Fleetwood www.fleetwoodusa.com/ Concrete: Smooth-finish concrete slab Roofing Elastomeric: protected-membrane roofing Dexotex www.dexotex.com Windows Aluminum: Aluminum storefront system Glazing Glass: single glazing low E Doors Metal doors: Aluminum storefront system Sliding doors: Aluminum sliders Fleetwood www.fleetwoodusa.com Hardware Locksets, hinges, closers: Baldwin www.baldwinhardware.com Interior finishes Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: Boffi www.boffi.com Paints and stains: Elastomeric Resilient flooring: Cork Flooring Furnishings Chairs: dining chairs: Verner Panton by Vitra www.vitra.com Glowing Orb Urchin Lamp: Tao Living www.tao-living.com/ Sofa: Cappellini www.cappellini.it/ Standing lamp: Sundayland Lighting Exterior: Bega Lighting www.bega-us.com/ Plumbing Sinks: Boffi www.boffi.com Toilets: Duravit www.duravit.com Spoon Bathtub: Agape www.agapedesign.it Kitchen Appliances Refrigerator: Sub Zero www.subzero.com Dishwasher: Miele www.miele.com Stove/Oven: Gaggenau www.gaggenau.com Swimming Pool custom concrete lap pool