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Project Portfolio – February 2007

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Museum of Design Art and Architecture

Culver City, California
Studio Pali Fekete

Studio Pali Fekete architects imagines a new version of the L.A. dream with its multitasking MODAA

	Photo: © John Edward Linden

By Russell Fortmeyer

The Culver City that Zoltan Pali, FAIA, and Judit Fekete found in 2006 when they moved their home from Venice, California, to this nearby Los Angeles suburb looks nothing like that found by Eric Owen Moss more than two decades ago. Moss inherited a vast postindustrial landscape of warehouses he contorted with twisted decoration conveying the contemporary urban confusion that was 1980s Los Angeles. Pali and Fekete’s quieter, more fully resolved project, the Museum of Design Art and Architecture, or MODAA, builds on a foundation rejuvenated by Moss’s ongoing, formally wild urban interventions, as well as a host of other celebrated projects throughout the city.

But behind MODAA’s assured, checkerboard facade, a programmatic complexity lurks. In their design of the 46,000-square-foot building and garage, Pali and Fekete combined nearly everything they wanted in their life under one roof—a sprawling residence for themselves and their two boys; live/work lofts for creative neighbors; spacious design offices for their growing architecture practice, Studio Pali Fekete architects (SPF:a); sleek galleries to show their favorite artists; and a diminutive, yet comfortable neighborhood restaurant, Wilson. With Southern California land at a premium and vanishing opportunities for young architects to experiment with building their own homes, MODAA represents a fundamental revision of the famous Los Angeles dream of the single-family residence. And it’s not a notion lost on its architect-developers.

Fekete and Pali’s four-bedroom, four-bath residence combines two units, which leaves six 1,800-square-foot lofts the couple rents out as live/work spaces. To qualify, occupants must maintain a Culver City business license; already, the building counts a producer, a marketing strategist, and Wilson’s chef as occupants. Connected by an exterior corridor, each loft includes a full kitchen, bathroom, flexible living space, an enclosed room for a bedroom or office, and a mezzanine. While similar materials surface in each loft, such as sealed, unpolished concrete floors, exposed wood truss ceilings, and white gypsum board walls, the couple softened the industrial edge of their own home with rift-cut white oak veneer for cabinets and woodwork.

Negotiating boundaries defines the building in more ways than one—between polished and rough finishes, private and public spaces, and gentrified and emerging neighborhoods. The private spaces occupy the second floor, which allows the first floor to open up as a fluid, double-height field that includes the SPF:a offices to the east, the clean gallery spaces for the museum in the center, and the tightly contained restaurant to the west. A sealed, unpolished concrete slab unites the entire floor, which abuts the street with a lively glass curtain wall that adds some lively moments to an otherwise impermeable streetscape.

Want the full story? Read the entire article in our February 2007 issue.
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the People

Owner

Judit M. Fekete, LEED
Owner/Managing Partner
MODAA, LLC

Architect

Studio Pali Fekete architects (SPF:a)
8609 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
T: 310-558-0902
F: 310-558-0904
www.spfa.com

Design Principal:
Zoltan E. Pali, FAIA (registered architect)

Principal in Charge:
Judit M. Fekete, LEED

Project Manager:
Gregory Stutheit, AIA (registered architect)

Project Team:
Joe Fedorowich AIA (registered architect), Jacquie Hernandez, Matthew Lunn, Richard McNamara, Shaheen Seth, Luciana Tagliaferri, Jeff Temple, Yvonne Wong

Interior designer:
SPF:a

Engineer(s)

Structural:
John Labib

Mechanical:
L & M

Electrical:
Amelect

Consultant(s)

Exterior Lighting:
Kathy Pryzgoda Lighting Design, Kinetic Lighting

General contractor:
Blackwell Construction

Photographer(s)

John Edward Linden
(818) 888-8544

Renderer

Renderings by SPF:a Project Team

CAD system, project management, or other software used:
A-CADD
www.autodesk.com

the Products

Structural system

ELI Construction (steel)
Reinforced concrete basement; Steel moment & braced frame with plywood shear walls - Superstructure TJI Joists for floors and roof.

Exterior cladding

SlateScape Xtreme Cement Panels, manufactured by American Fiber Cement Corporation
www.americanfibercement.com

Rear Upper Screen:
Cedar

Roofing

Spray-applied foam roofing:
Resin Technology Company
www.resintechnology.com/

Windows

Aluminum:
Fleetwood
www.fleetwoodusa.com/

Milgard
www.milgard.com/

Glazing

Glass:
Industrex, Low-e, Dual Glazed
www.industrex.com

Skylights: Lane-Aire Manufacturing
www.lane-aire.com

Doors

Entrances:
Arcadia
www.arcadiaproducts.com/

Metal Doors:
Ceco Door
www.cecodoor.com/

Wood doors:
Haley Architectural Doors (Haley Brothers Inc.)
www.haleybros.com/

Sliding doors:
Fleetwood
www.fleetwoodusa.com

Fire-control doors, security grilles:
Lawrence Roll-Up Doors, Inc.
www.lawrencedoors.com/

Hardware

Locksets:
Schlage
www.schlage.com

Hinges:
PBB, Inc.
www.pbbinc.com/

Closers:
Norton
www.nortondoorcontrols.com/

Cabinet hardware:
HÄFELE
www.haefele.com/

Blum
www.blumhinge.com

Accuride

Interior finishes

Cabinetwork and custom woodwork:
ALLWOOD Designs
www.allwooddesigns.com/

Spacemaxx Designs
www.spacemaxxcabinets.com/

Hillside Interiors
www.hillsideinteriors.com/

Pali-Fekete Residence -- rift-cut white oak veneers. Other live/work lofts -- brown maple veneers.

Floor and wall tile (cite where used):

Alternate live/work lofts feature Foster Michael 4” x 4” glass tile
www.fostermichael.net/

Daltile 1” mosaic tiles
www.daltile.com

Pali-Fekete residence features all custom glass tile by Regal Glass in bathrooms

Carpet:
Live/Work lofts feature Karastan in mezzanine
www.karastan.com

Pali-Fekete residence features Bentley Prince Street in mezzanine
www.bentleyprincestreet.com

Furnishings

Office furniture:
Custom, designed by SPF:a. Workstations feature steel framing, walnut veneer & aluminum trim.

Reception furniture:
Custom, designed by SPF:a. Reception desk features steel framing, walnut veneer & aluminum trim. Lounge seating in reception area – Bottoni Sofa by Marcel Wanders, Wassily Chairs by Marcel Breuer.

Chairs:
Office desks & reception area: Herman Miller, Aeron Chairs. Bottoni Sofa by Marcel Wanders
www.marcelwanders.com/%20

Wassily Chairs by Marcel Breuer
www.marcelbreuer.org

In Pali-Fekete Loft: LEM Piston Stools
www.dwr.com

Bottoni Sofa & Chairs
www.marcelwanders.com

BRNO dining chairs by Mies van der Rohe
Tables in Wilson Restaurant: Custom tables with Caesarstone tops.

Lighting

Interior ambient lighting:
Gallery and Pali-Fekete Loft: Elliptipar
www.elliptipar.com

Uplights:
LSI Industries
www.lsi-industries.com/

Downlights:
Delray Lighting Inc.
www.delraylighting.com/

Floorlamps in Pali-Fekete Loft:
Linea
www.linealight.com

Task lighting:
Delray Lighting Inc.
www.delraylighting.com/

Exterior:

Floodlights:
Genlyte Thomas
www.genlyte.com

Colored LED Lights:
Color Kinetics
www.colorkinetics.com

Exit Lighting:
PACE Lighting
www.pacelighting.com/

Conveyance

Elevators/Escalators:
ThyssenKrupp
www.thyssenkrupp.com

Plumbing:

WC in public spaces:
Geberit
www.geberit.com/

WC In Residences:
Toto
www.totousa.com

Residential Water Heaters:
American Water Heater - Polaris
www.americanwaterheater.com

Installation of Concrete panel façade detail, special thanks to Sharpe Interior Systems.
www.sharpeinteriorsystems.com

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