Pittman Dowell Residence

Michael Maltzan Architecture, Inc.
David Freeland, Job Captain 2005-2007

This single family, one bedroom home is generated largely by the context of its unique hillside site which was originally planned as a 4 house development by Richard Neutra.  Though the grading for each of the building pads was completed, Neutra built just one house at the top of the hill.  The proposed house sits below, and references the existing house through calculated views that generate the geometry and incisions into the envelope.  Playing off the extroverted transparency of modernism, the house turns decidedly inwards on a complex courtyard that is in turn captured by adjacent rooms.  The spatial sequence unfolds around the courtyard, an extension of the winding drive that circles up to the building pad.

Photos: Iwan Baan
www.iwan.com