SOUTH BAY DIGS | Digital Edition Online

December 16, 2022

DIGS is the premiere luxury real estate lifestyle magazine serving the most affluent neighborhoods in the South Bay and Westside of Los Angeles, California.

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70 DIGS.NET | 12.16.22 A R C H I T E C T U R E + D E S I G N S W E E T D I G S | C O N C R E T E J U N G L E environment—the most alluring expression of a concrete jungle. Having beauty at its back door liberates the minimalist interior from superfluous oversteps. The sparse, open-plan interior design borrows—not extravagantly, and most noticeably in the natural tones of the materials and the nuanced use of yellow, blue, and green hues—from its naturally textured surround. A pattern of an existing Madagascar Blue Bismarck palm tree on the site, for example, informed the proj- ect's stripped-down decorative scheme, if "decorative" can be applied. A busier and less-localized interior might not draw the eye where it should be: on lamps by Natu- ral Urbano studio, bamboo pieces by Tiago Solís Van Beuren, and furniture built by master carpenters from Puebla, Guadala- jara, and Oaxaca. Each element of Casa TO—from the work of artisans and Mexican design studios, to plant-infused products, to the setting itself—root the structure firmly to its place. Though the structure is soundly of its time, as well, even as one traverses the temple-in- spired terrace steps and thoughts turn to Mexico's sky-high archaeological ruins. This is a temple, too—to honest, unambiguous contemporary architecture. A new dawn for a work inspired by an older age. ludwiggodefroy.com all defining features of the architecture. The latter element, a stairway to heaven no matter how one slices it, guiding guests from suite to water or suite to rooftop, also serves the more impromptu purpose of providing seating or a place to sunbathe. The architecture flourishes when green- ery is left to scale exterior walls and sheath exposures in a kind of picturesque privacy shield. As a form meets flora homage to its context, Casa TO trades on the tropical setting at every turn, embracing nature as a bridge between indoor and outdoor thresh- olds. Vibrant green vegetation against grey concrete revitalizes the eye even as it refreshes the spirit and also helps to soften the strong profile and hard edges of the architecture's heavier, more dura- ble surfaces. The result is a living, thriving

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