24 DIGS.NET | 8.30.2019
P R O F I L E | J F A K
W R I T T E N B Y J E N N T H O R N T O N
PHOTOGRAPHS:
COURTESY
OF
JFAK
ARCHITECTS
Stealth Mode
I
n gracing a conventionally lovely San Marino home with an unconventional
architectural solution, John Friedman, principal of John Friedman Alice Kimm
Architects ( JFAK), breathed new life into an otherwise quintessential Southern
California backyard with a shade structure whose design announces itself as a bold
anecdote to a very pretty, but largely homogeneous, residential enclave.
JFAK's work on the structure—one part of the "Pinedo Stealth" project, which
also includes a board-formed concrete fountain designed under a tree—is dynamic
in its idea yet conservative in size, a proportionately appropriate 800 square feet.
Set in the rear of the yard, the firm's approach was to "both challenge and enter
into productive dialogue with the surrounding historical styles," says Friedman.
With the confidence of the client—a furniture designer and manufacturer—JFAK
set the pool in the most logical spot, pushed the shade structure to the corner,
JFAK Architects bring manicured San Marino out
from under its Mediterranean influence with a sharp-edged
modern form.
and angled one side of it to embrace the yard and open to the house's rear entry, as well as the gate
from the driveway. To achieve aesthetic fluidity, the firm used the same materials of the existing
traditional house and garage (a smooth white plaster).
e shape of the structure is not just imaginative, it's improbable for these parts, but " just seemed
to fit perfectly, and we liked the way you could actually see the contemporary structure from the
street, even though the City's design guidelines do not allow modern architecture." ( JFAK calls
the architecture a "gentle critique" of the codes.) Currently with projects on the boards including a
custom home, an arts building for a private high school, a park for the City of Los Angeles, and a
30-story residential tower in Glendale, it remains to be seen how JFAK might use future structures
to buck architectural strictures. "We don't care about how big a project is, or its type or budget, as
long as it has a design challenge that can be solved with innovative design," says Friedman. jfak.net
THE PINEDO STEALTH PROJECT BY JFAK
ARCHITECTS INCLUDES AN INNOVATIVE
ARCHITECTURAL SOLUTION BY WAY OF A
ANGULAR SHADE STRUCTURE AND A BOARD-
FORMED CONCRETE FOUNTAIN.
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