WANDERING
COURTYARD HOUSE
Ground Up, Single-Family House
Monterey Park, Los Angeles, California
Clients: Jian Zheng, Yi Kai
Size:
3,500 SF
Wandering Courtyard House is a single-family residence, just east of downtown Los Angeles, that combines elements of the American backyard with the Asian courtyard.
Designed for a first-generation artist couple who immigrated to the United States from China, the project is a collaboration between a group of engineers, artists and architects engaged in exploring the intersection of life, art and architecture through a multicultural lens. Distinctive formal and material references and thoughtful consideration of project site constraints are considered: a moon-shaped deck arcs across the site, creating in-between spaces that hover between indoors and out. Referencing its heterogeneous, typological roots, the street-facing façade maintains a veiled presence, while the backyard opens wide to expansive views of downtown LA.
Throughout the house, typical residential framing and residential material assemblies are explored as sculptural elements: an outdoor spiral stair, an interior atrium and a half-moon porch screen become occupiable sculptures — a house in which its occupants inhabit a space between art and life.