Setting Sail
The 3,200-square-foot house that architect Stephen Kanner designed for his family is securely anchored to a hillside in Pacific Palisades, but it looks as though it’s ready to set sail. Nautical touches such as a tilted frame that looks like a ship’s bow, the portholes in the blue mosaic stair tower and the crossed steel rods providing structural support evoke a feeling of being at sea. The entry lobby, with its blue terrazzo floor and railed steps, suggests a ship’s bridge. However, this is much more than a set of playful references. Despite a tight budget and a confined site, Kanner has created a house that maximizes space and light.
“The only reason to move from the house we had remodeled a few blocks away was the opportunity to build from scratch, and the site drove the design,” Kanner says. The land was no bigger than a tennis court, and the ground dropped sharply down the hillside. His wife, Cynthia, who heads post-production for HBO Films, loves the small-town feel of the neighborhood, as does their 7-year-old daughter, Caroline, whose friends live nearby.
The Kanners decided to build along the north side of the property, with three bedrooms extending from the garage and the living spaces tucked below. By stacking the rooms, Kanner freed up the rest of the lot to serve as a sun-filled patio and, thanks to expansive double-glazed windows, gave every room abundant natural light, even when the sea fog rolls in. There is little need for blinds, since bamboo hedges screen out the neighbors.
The best place to enjoy the sensation of being indoors and out at the same time is the lofty living room, which opens up on two sides through glass sliders to the yard. The easy flow of space around and out to an Orr Studio water sculpture on the terrace makes the room seem much larger than it is, and the sleek modern furniture provides a sense of scale. There’s a consistent use of inexpensive, hard-wearing materials such as a polished concrete floor that reflects the light, a pale-green mosaic wall that turns yellow where it’s illuminated by a concealed fluorescent strip, and a fir-plywood and steel column bookshelf, which is cut away to frame the dining area and open kitchen. Kanner also used corrugated fiberglass for garage and closet doors, fiberboard for storage units and white marble that proved almost as affordable as Formica for the kitchen and bathroom counters.
Upstairs Caroline chose the colors of her bathroom--silver mosaic “stars” on deep blue walls. Caroline and her baby sister Charlotte’s closets, splayed to accommodate storage trolleys, jut into the corridor leading to their parents’ bedroom. The master bedroom overlooks the space above the living room, which is sealed off by glass to create the illusion that there is another room between this and the tilted glass wall at the west end of the house. The master bathroom is full of large and small portholes with pivoting windows and two overlaid circles of mirror glass that reflect the cylindrical shower.
The house is typical of the pop style for which Kanner’s architectural firm has been known, but it’s also a unique vision he’s created for his family. “I wouldn’t design another house like this,” Kanner says. “It’s time to move on.”
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Resource Guide
HOME, Pages 26-29: B&B; Italia “Solo” sofa, $8,576, ottoman, $1,948, web chairs, $1,242 each, and Cappellini “Felt” chair, $2,640, all at Diva, Los Angeles, (310) 278-3191. Drowned rose floral arrangement, $200, at Flavia Rocco, Valley Village, (818) 335-8045. Cappellini “hi-pad” leather chair, $1,157 each, at Diva.
