12 DIGS.NET | 6.12.2020
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P R O F I L E | L R 2 H O U S E
A STRIKING ARCHITECTURAL SOLUTION WITH MODERN
CREDENTIALS RANGING FROM CLEAN LINES TO RAW MATERIALS,
THE AWARD-WINNING LR2 RESIDENCE FEATURES ELEMENTS,
LIKE ABUNDANT GLASS WALLS, DESIGNED TO CREATE A NATURAL
FLUIDITY BETWEEN INDOOR AND OUTDOOR SPACE.
LR2 House
reads as
complex,
but the
experience
of it is
simple and
peaceful.
dramatically dark, yet unambiguously
modern building is not the type of
architecture one necessarily expects
to find in Pasadena. But the LR2 House, a
remarkable 4,200-square-foot dwelling by
Santa Monica practice Montalba Architects, is
the very definition of unexpected.
Featuring organized indoor and outdoor
spaces connected by a series of staircases, LR2
House reads as complex, but the experience
of it is simple and peaceful, explains David
Montalba, AIA, founding principal of Montalba
Architects. The design follows the matchbox
concept, which he describes as "driven by the
idea of expansions of interior and exterior space
in relationship to volumes of the building, like
when you slide out the interior box of a matchbox
and it expands the volume or space." For LR2
this manifests in rectangular masses rotated
on top of one another and terraced down the
hillside. While the landscape sets the backdrop,
the volumes of the architecture ultimately serve
as guides to direct one's passage in and around
the structure. "The covered bridgeway, covered
breezeways, terraces, outdoor rooms, and the
folding in and out of the architecture as one
moves through the house is really the heart of
the idea for this home," notes Montalba.
A structure of such mass might well
appear heavier were it not for the generous
expression of glass, which offers the entire
composition a kind of weightlessness. More
relevant to this floating effect, however, is that
the house is cantilevered to appear as if it is
hovering above the site. One also considers
the intentional contrast in materials—a skin of
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