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Choosing dark-coloured materials for the exterior of their home – ones that blend with the adjacent parkland – architects Chris McCullough and Peggy Hsu intentionally continued these indoors for a seamless outdoors-in flow. They include an irregular- shaped slate flagstone floor and seeded stucco wall. -
“Water drainage from a roof garden into a steel catch basin provides fantastic theatre, as hummingbirds and dragonflies catch sips in midair, and coyotes play and wash themselves,” says Peggy of the home’s unusual water feature. -
“Water drainage from a roof garden into a steel catch basin provides fantastic theatre, as hummingbirds and dragonflies catch sips in midair, and coyotes play and wash themselves,” says Peggy of the home’s unusual water feature. -
Curvilinear furniture dominates in the living room, and includes Lina Bo Bardi’s Bowl chair and a sectional sofa in velvet from Anthropologie. -
Sliding doors that fully pocket, combined with large indoor plants, create a pavilion on the ridge. -
Dark surfaces abound, like in this passageway, where the couple explore the architectural chiaroscuro of light and shadow. -
A brick fireplace – all that remains of the original home – divides the open-plan entertaining area. -
With lines reminiscent of Mid-century Modernism, the home – perched atop a ridge – takes in views across the valley. -
“The site begged for a second-floor perch to read and relax with fantastic views,” says Peggy of the home’s upper level, which includes the master suite. -
In a passage off the kitchen, Chris’s mixed-media work Here There Everywhere (2021) is made, in part, from cassette tape cases. -
“Guests will use, see and ask questions about our bathrooms, so let’s give them something to talk about,” says Peggy of the brass-sheet cladding in one of two statement-making guest showers. -
Brass-sheet cladding, a concrete sink and Douglas fir countertop make for unusual materials in a guest bathroom. -
With strong Mid-century Modern lines, the master bedroom overlooks the parkland and city below, and includes a Triumph lounge chair from CB2. -
Another of Chris’s artworks, JB (2011), made from cassette tapes, adds interest to an upstairs reading room. -
Monstera vines and an artwork by Aakash Nihalani in a stairwell. -
In the same room, a feature wall comprises Mexican beach pebbles, decorative gravel, sand and cement. -
“We think the simplicity of the walnut staircase with the layers of trailing vines from above, and against the backdrop of seeded stucco, is beautiful,” says Chris of the entrance. -
The kitchen, with its lowered ceiling, reclaimed wood cladding, American black walnut countertop and concealed appliances, was designed to feel cocooning, and is one of Peggy’s favourite spaces. -
The architects chose a long-coveted Calacatta Viola marble for their en-suite bathroom.
WORDS Martin Jacobs PHOTOS Jo Fletcher & Dan Arnold
A moody palette and exaggerated use of materials create drama in the self-designed clifftop home of two Los Angeles architects. Innovative artworks inspired by music complete the look.
“No homes. Just trees, landscape and wildlife with hundreds of bird species, including hummingbirds and hawks that guard over the ridge” is how architect Chris McCullough describes the view from the “back yard” of the home he shares with partner and architect Peggy Hsu. When asked what the primary inspiration for their striking new build was, the Los Angeles couple are quick to answer: the plot of land itself. “Our property frames an uninterrupted view of Fossil Ridge Park, a protected parkland that can never be developed.” Perched hillside above Sherman Oaks on the northern side of the Santa Monica Mountains, the palaeontological park is bordered by a community that dates back to the 1960s. “Many of the homes along the ridge were developed in the early ’60s, when the 405 freeway was first built,” explain the principal architects of Hsu McCullough. “They’re mostly Mid-century Modern, ranch-style, single-storey homes.”
It was in an equally dated house on their newly purchased plot that the couple took the time to fine-tune the design of what was to become their future home. “We lived in the former house on the property for more than two years, mapping the natural light and wind movement throughout the year and tweaking our design,” explains Peggy.
The Modernist vernacular that characterises their neighbourhood (low-slung rectilinear structures with walls of glass and seamless indoor-outdoor flow) served as inspiration. “We are students and fans of Los Angeles’s rich residential history,” Peggy says, pointing out the living-room fireplace, all that remains of the former structure and a nod to a bygone architectural era. “But we also drew influence from modern Brazilian homes, as well as a visit to Mexico City during early construction.” The latter provided material inspiration for the couple’s considered continuation of unusual surfaces from the outdoors in. “Because the home emerges from the ridge, there was a conscious effort to select darker earth tones for the exterior materials,” says Chris. “We wanted several of these to cross thresholds.”
One such material is an irregular-shaped slate flagstone, used as flooring on the entertainment level. Alongside it, equally interesting surfaces are used to similarly moody effect. A charcoal stucco exterior wall treatment is repeated on selected interior walls and ceilings, and a seeded stucco treatment extends into the entrance and dining area. “The reclaimed, painted wood cladding that wraps the street-side facade and continues into the entrance also folds into the kitchen, hiding the pantry,” explains Chris.
The darkness of the material palette is intentional;the couple view it as an exploration of architectural chiaroscuro. “Darker interiors can have a cosiness in a location such as Los Angeles, where available natural light is sometimes just too intense, overexposing material colours,” says Peggy.
If texture and colour were key to the design of the architects’ home, so too was music. “We collect and listen to a wide range of music, and have nearly 10 000 records,” explains Chris. “Our kitchen is heavily used, and when we cook, we play records. So, a cosy kitchen with a seamless flow into living spaces – all with great acoustics and views of the ridge – was important to us.” The couple’s passion for music is unmissable. A steel-and-black-walnut shelving system that’s home to their record collection is a feature of the living room, while numerous artworks created by Chris hang on the home’s walls. Inspired by the music he listens to, these were assembled from obsolete media formats, and include a pixellated portrait of The Notorious B.I.G in the dining space that was created from compact discs.
Furniture, too, offsets the dark interior. The architects paired the moody material palette with bold pieces. “We wanted to contrast sharp interior angles with bulbous, curvy and colourful furniture,” says Peggy. “The first piece we purchased was the pink sofa; we also gathered and commissioned pieces, or made them ourselves,” she adds, referencing a log bench and brass dining table the couple designed. The duo’s creativity is visibly multifaceted, and their home is its perfect showcase. “We hope that our house inspires future clients to embrace the use of materials in an equally creative manner.”
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