ARCH TOUR FEST: THE TATTUPLEX

Photo Credit: Taiyo Watanabe

Arch Tour Fest: The Tattuplex – 2:30pm

Additional information regarding the tour and check-in process will be emailed directly to registrants 24 hours before the event.

Tour Organizer: Thomas Fleming Marble

The Tattuplex is kit-of-parts steel prefab duplex overlooking Silver Lake and built on a 3-axis equilateral grid for a Zen Buddhist Hospice nurse and his Roshi.

Building Credits:

General Contractor: Ken Stack

Structural Engineer: Ecosteel

Interior Designer: Tim Tattu

Landscape Architect: Tim Tattu

Hardscape: TMA

Native Beds: Margaret Oakley of Oakley Gardens

Tropical Garden: Hank Jenkins, the Plant Provocateur

Tour Led by:

Tom Marble, AIA and Tim Tattu, Client

Tom Marble, AIA

Tom Marble is interested in the often complicated relationship of people to their environment. From “Twelve Minutes with Frank & Dolores,” a short fiction film presented at the 1989 Monterey Design Conference, to “After the city, this [is how we live]” published by the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, to his just completed an urban noir, “The Expediter,” Tom employs design fiction to explore the tension between our inner and outer lives.  Tom earned his BA in Architecture from UC Berkeley and his Master of Architecture from Yale. After working for firms as diverse as Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Morphosis, RIOS and The Irvine Company, he started his own practice, Tom Marble Architecture, in 2001.  Tom’s work has been published in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, California Home + Design, ArcCA – the Journal of the AIA California Council, www.dwell.com, the Architect’s Newspaper, Metropolis and in the most recent edition of Gebhard and Winter’s “An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles.”  Tom has taught at USC, Cal Poly Pomona, Woodbury, and SCI-Arc and has led two urban design studios at Colorado College.

Tim Tattu, Client

When Tim Tattu, a Zen Buddhist monk and hospice nurse, approached us to design a house for him, he had two very specific needs: the first was for the house to be as sustainable as possible; the second was for it to be sexy – because even a monk wants to have fun from time to time.  Bored with a design for a generic box of a house that came with the purchase of the lot, Tim gave TMA a simple yet evocative sketch depicting his intent, which began an ongoing interaction that shaped his home.  The end result combines exactly what Tim was hoping for the project – for sustainability, the use of steel cut directly from Revit files reduced construction waste; the insulated panels, deep overhangs, and operable windows reduced energy consumption; and the herb and vegetable garden provides Tim with home-grown meals.  Tim has listed both units on AirBnB; he lives in whichever one is not rented, giving him not only the lack of attachment his Zen practice demands, but exactly the social life he was seeking.

Learning Objectives:

Sustainability: The herb and vegetable garden allows Tim to create home-grown meals at will.

Waste Reduction: This kit-of-parts pre-fab was built using steel cut directly from Revit files, which significantly reduced construction waste.

Daylighting: Tim wanted to take advantage of the light and views, as well as capture cross breezes, which was facilitated by shaping the plan using equilateral triangles.

Energy Efficiency: Tim’s goal was to go without HVAC. The insulated panels, deep overhangs, and operable windows reduce energy consumption throughout the year.

Parking Information:

Street Parking available; Please do not park in the cul-de-sac.