A Shipping Container Home Shaped by Rock and Water

Located in the Elysian Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, the residence and detached artist studio are positioned to perceptually inhabit the adjacent community garden, and present views of the downtown skyline and surrounding hills, in addition to carving out an introspective landscape for the enjoyment of the family. Organized as a staggered sectional volume distributing program over three levels, the residence is situated over the utilitarian spaces located at street level. Living spaces occupy the multi-level second floor with direct access to the outdoors via the front deck and the rear terrace, physically expanding the interior. The third floor, accessed by the expressed scissor stair, consists of the bedrooms and bathrooms. Strategically placed apertures around the residence and studio encourage the spatial reverberation and dialogue between the activities of the home and the multiple and diverse terraces, decks, balconies, and landscapes of the property.

Goldsmith Street beat out five other shortlisted nominees to scoop the coveted architecture award.

This is a full-time beach house for a car passionate family of four situated across from Burnt Cedar Beach in Incline Village, Nevada on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. Prior to being pulled up the hill to flumes and rails destined for Virginia City, logs were staged here as the mountains around the lake shore were logged during the silver mining years of the 1860s. Set into a neighborhood originally built in the 1950s and bordered by houses to the sides and rear, the house takes a simple box form, half buried into the slope. It faces the lake with full height glazing that encloses a loft-like plan with double height living spaces. The clients requested a space that felt like the landscape and maintained a feeling inside of being outside in the light and shadow play of the sixty to ninety-foot Jeffrey and Ponderosa pines that populate the lake shore.  Perforated wood ceilings and acoustical plaster walls soften the sounds of the concrete and glass pavilion-like house. An underground garage is excavated under the house with level access to the street, a must in this snowy climate for a family with an eclectic car collection.