2019 AIA|LA Residential Architecture Award Winners
Announced by American Institute of Architects Los Angeles

+ 2019 Residential Architecture Award Winning Images

(For a complete list of winners plus jury notes, scroll down.)

April 30, 2019 (Los Angeles, CA) – Twenty-three stunning and meticulously-designed residential projects were bestowed Residential Architecture Awards (RAAs) by the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Chapter (AIA|LA) last night at a ceremony in Los Angeles.

Recipients of the awards ranged in scale from additions or small homes of less than 2,500 square feet to large residences and multi-unit projects comprised of more than 50 units.

“The Residential Architecture Awards demonstrate that quality architecture is at the service of clients, no matter the scale of project,” noted 2019 AIA|LA President Barbara Bouza, FAIA. “Our members are committed to bringing their expertise and the quality of life that design excellence facilitates to projects throughout the region and beyond.”

Winners include what the public has come to identify as “architecture” in the single-family home. Innovative or aspirational treatments of the residential typology; exquisite expressions of modernism, and forward leaning, and progressive design. But these design ideas were expressed across scale, for instance, in a 26-unit project located in South Los Angeles, that welcomes previously-homeless veterans and inhabitants whose income qualifies them for affordable housing. And, this year, as the AIA|LA continues its advocacy for more housing in the region, a new category was added to honor design excellence in Accessory Dwelling Units.

Entries were reviewed, and winners selected, by a prestigious jury composed of: Margaret Griffin, FAIA – Co-Founder & Principal, Griffin Enright Architects; Tara Barauskas, Affiliate AIA|LA – Executive Director, Community Corporation of Santa Monica; and Mary Ta, Affiliate AIA|LA – Founder, Minotti Los Angeles, Co-Founder, MASS Beverly. The group considered 131 entries submitted in six categories: Single-Family Residential, Adaptive Re-Use/Renovation/Historic Preservation, Retirement, Affordable Housing, Additions and Accessory Dwelling Units, and Multi-Unit Residential.

Recipients in each category were recognized with Honor, Merit or Citation awards, “Honor” being the highest.

SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL – SMALL
(up to 2,500 square feet)

Honor

Lipton Thayer Brick House (Chicago, IL)
Brooks + Scarpa
The rethinking of the brick to turn it into a very light screen was brilliant. | To take this material that is traditionally used in a heavy way and make it this seemingly light screen that encloses a courtyard is fascinating.

Second House (Culver City, CA)
FreelandBuck
Architecturally very stunning. | There is a space in the center that creates this unique take on indoor outdoor quality—giving the feeling that the inside is outside and the outside is inside. Complex yet balanced, with a great combination of all elements.

Merit

Apartment of Perfect Brightness (Beijing, China)
asap/adam sokol architecture practice
Innovative use of space for an apartment interior. | Offers many transformative elements that provide for a large amount of storage but which is not seen. The use of lighting and curves was very subtle creating a warm creative use of space.

Piaggio House, (Rosario, Argentina)
Spinagu
The very internal, focused house to the courtyard is a great way to gain more density in a tighter urban condition as well as a way to create a private oasis within.

Citation

Stack House (Los Angeles, CA)
FreelandBuck
Innovative use of materials to rethink the way to making a façade. | Breaking the house into components of boxes creates an interesting relationship to the rooms on the inside of the house. | Great use of the topography of the challenging site and looks cost effective. | The design is beautifully done: incorporating the curves of the walls inside in comparison to the boxy exterior.

SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL – MEDIUM
(up to 5000 square feet)

Honor

LR2 Residence, Pasadena, CA
Montalba Architects
The jury appreciated how the ends of the volumes have a concavity that remakes the side of the building into a volume. | It’s really a fascinating strategy for the massing of the house, adding to the elegant and refined design.

Merit

Casa Namorada (Santa Monica, CA)
John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects
The curves of this building are stunning. | Excellent use of the floating elements in the front façade and then having the back side open up and completely connect to the garden; it’s a great duality.

Slither (Los Angeles, CA)
Patrick TIGHE Architecture
Aesthetically stunning and masculine. | Pushes the boundaries without going too far. | The design is very brave and there’s an interesting use of materials.

Citation

Spectral Bridge House (Venice, CA)
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
The use of variety of elements came together nicely. | There is this contrast of materials and the inner sections of the volumes that creates these new thresholds between the indoor and outdoor.

Single-Family Residential – Large
(5,000 square feet and up)

Honor

Spring Road (Ross, CA)
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
There is an elegant set of volumes set into the landscape in a really fitted manner that makes this design responsive. This flows with the topography and is a sophisticated and evolutionary concept.

Merit

Casa per Amici (Santa Monica, CA)
Kovac Design Studio
The jury loves the interior volumes that are defined both in places like the stairwell and the skylight and also within some of the living spaces. | Having the elements of the entry come together is a creative use of design.

Orum Residence (Los Angeles, CA)
SPF:architects
This is simply an amazing site plan: the Y shape works well with the siting of the project. | It’s very light in design, giving it that floating metropolitan shape what maximizes the views.

Taller Estrella Jafif (Mexico City, Mexico)
Belzberg Architects
This is a really innovative use of materials with wonderful variations of textures and shapes of concrete. | The rethinking of the house as more of a public space along with the quality and combination of materials elevates the character of the house.

MULTI-UNIT RESIDENTIAL – SMALL
(up to 20 units)

Merit

HI55 (Los Angeles, CA)
Arshia Architects, LTD
This is a creative and unusual duplex that’s something you wouldn’t normally see but it’s really beautifully done. | The way the units interlock with one another is part of what makes this project unique and innovative.

MULTI-UNIT RESIDENTIAL – LARGE
(50 units and up)

Merit

2510 Temple (Los Angeles, CA)
Patrick TIGHE Architecture
This is really innovative with a lot of different architectural elements to it that breakup the massing beautifully. | The use of the windows was particularly interesting especially when you step back away from the building. | The sculptural structure adds to the design vitality.

Citation

The Line Lofts (Hollywood, CA)
SPF:architects
This invokes an international feel, in terms of aesthetic, and felt very sensible in terms of quality and design. | Certain elements, such as the façade, were restrained yet powerful.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Honor

MLK1101 Supportive Housing (Los Angeles, CA)
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects [LOHA]
Architecturally stunning. | This is something to be proud of to see in LA as “public architecture.” | The green roof is a great example of how you can showcase the sustainability element by having it front and center for everyone to see. | The sectional condition of the courtyard is great.

Mosaic Gardens at Westlake (Los Angeles, CA)
Lahmon Architects
Outstanding example of space and how you can make affordable housing beautiful and stunning and yet also warm and vibrant for the residents living there. | How it sits in the city and the way it makes that public space is quite noteworthy.

ADAPTIVE REUSE/RENOVATION/HISTORIC PRESERVATION

Honor

½ House (Sherman Oaks, CA)
Now Here
photo: Joshua White
Super simple strategy that has a maximum effect on the interior in terms of combining a new piece with an existing piece and yielding a completely new condition. | Brilliantly done—the way it fits into the neighborhood and brings both a new element and keeps with the traditional. | For the size that it is, it isn’t massive and proves that architecture can just be that—innovative and adaptive at the same time.

Citation

Modern Spanish (Los Angeles, CA)
Standard
We moved this to Adaptive Reuse from single-family residential because it seemed to be a really subtle rethinking of an existing house in Beverly Hills. It’s a very wonderful combination of old and new adding modern elements while dramatically changing the whole appearance of the house and doing it in a creative and tasteful way.

ADDITIONS AND ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS

Honor

Rodgers ADU (Los Angeles, CA)
Martin Fenlon Architecture
Extremely creative. It makes something very small into something with such a strong point of view. | The personality of this is quite joyful and the design is done in a very strategic way that makes it both smart and efficient.
Merit

Case Room (Malibu, CA)
Geoffrey von Oeyen Design / von Oeyen Architects
An innovative addition to an existing home that really speaks to the character of the home. | Taking a traditional Malibu emotion and giving it a more modern take adds to the unique element of it all.

Citation

Plús Hús (Santa Monica, CA)
MINARC
Aesthetically really beautiful. Anyone would be proud to have it in their backyard. | The design is super simple, cute, fresh and has a great flow to it.

About the Residential Architecture Awards
Southern California has always been a dynamic global incubator for dazzling residential architecture. The AIA|LA Residential Architecture Awards (RAA) were founded, in part, to highlight the area’s contemporary contributions to the typology. Celebrating a multiplicity of approaches, the RAAs recognize both simply beautiful design and projects that offer the innovative or edgy as they address new urban and environmental conditions.

About the 2019 Awards Ceremony
Winners received their awards at an elegant reception and cocktail party on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 in Los Angeles. The evening was graciously hosted by MASS Beverly and Minotti Los Angeles.

For print quality images and/or further information, contact: Tibby Rothman, Hon. AIA|LA at the AIA|Los Angeles, tibby@aialosangeles.org