32 DIGS.NET
| 7.15.2022
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P R O F I L E | A N N I E B A R R E T T A N D H Y E -Y O U N G C H U N G
OR THE OWNERS of this Los Angeles home, it was
the right time to start a new chapter. "The project
was commissioned in anticipation of the couple's
semi-retirement, and they approached the design
process less as a means towards an end and more
as an opportunity to deeply consider how their
constructed environment would participate in shaping 'phase
two' of their life," says Hye-Young Chung (of HYCArch), who
worked collaboratively with Brooklyn-based architect Annie
Barrett (of aanda), an old friend of the owners.
"It was deeply important to all of us that the process be open,
inquisitive, and inspiring and I immediately thought of LA-based
Hye-Young and how we could cultivate exactly that together,
3,000 miles apart," confesses Barrett.
F
With its minimalist rectilinear form clad in charred shou sugi
ban rainscreen siding, the house contrasts with the San Pedro
cacti and other kinds of vegetation that welcome the inhabitants
and their visitors.
Called "Centered Home," the project was designed and is
organized concentrically. The perimeter of landscape marks the
spatial limits of the house. Within it, a mediating shell of space
is dedicated to communal activities such as cooking, eating,
watching TV, doing yoga and meditating. "The unexpected and
rigorously attuned geometry of the [kitchen] skylight itself and the
shaped living room ceiling below produces a fluctuating reading
of the room that shifts radically when viewed from north to south
as one passes across the space," says Barrett. Finally, the private
areas occupy the core of the home, favoring privacy and calm.
