STYLE: ARCHITECTURE : A Cliffhanger

With fond memories of the New York loft in which they had lived and worked before moving to Los Angeles, architects Mark Cigolle and Kim Coleman set out to duplicate the experience, and also have the space to raise a family. They found a spectacular but “impossible” site: an almost vertical sliver of hillside in Santa Monica Canyon. The challenge was irresistible, and they began sketching a house-studio that would step down from the street and embrace the views.

They decided to divide the rooms between a three-story gray stucco block that looks out over the canyon and a metal-clad tower that rises 45 feet from the hillside and faces the ocean. Rooms and decks bridge the steel-framed structures--like a crossword puzzle, you can read the house down or across. Each level plays a different role.

The drafting studio and garage, at the top level, open off the street; living areas occupy the middle, and bedrooms are on the lowest level. On each floor you move from group areas in the block and bridge to more intimate rooms--study, kitchen and master bedroom--in the tower.

This is a house of many parts that cleverly conceals its size and fits right in with the picturesque jumble of the canyon. Glass doors lead to a balcony or deck from almost every room, flooding the interiors with light and giving a feeling of floating in space.

Wood floors and ceilings are framed by muscular, red steel beams. Warm tones play off silvery gray and metallic surfaces, and the sophisticated black and white living room contrasts with the joyful colors in the sleep-play area that two small children share. “This was an opportunity to take risks and explore fresh ground,” says Mark. “But we were also the owners and needed a house that would grow with us, our kids and our practice,” adds Kim.