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“We like to provide different ways of experiencing the environment,” says architect Alice Fung of her outside-in approach to design at her firm Fung + Blatt. Such was the case with the slow but steady development of her and partner Michael Blatt hillside property in San Marino, where a constellation of pavilions now dot the landscape.
In San Marino, Fung + Blatt Architects updated the property with a midcentury house originally designed by Calvin Straub. In addition to renovating the main house, shown here, the designers added a series of pavilions to the landscape.
While the property was sold to Mary Blodgett and Carlton Calvin as a demolition, the couple saw its potential. “It was falling apart, but beautiful,” recalls Mary. “I’m a conservationist when I can. In the main house’s living room, a Patricia Urquiola sofa surrounds a Nathan Young coffee table, topped by an Achille Castiglioni floor lamp.
On the headland in the center is the original 1954 house designed by Calvin Straub in a Japanese-influenced midcentury style. Over a five-year period, the architects remodeled the main house and added a ceramics studio, library, guest house and pool house to match the owners’ artistic inclinations and love of entertaining.
The ceramics studio was built with the pillars and beams of an abandoned pergola from the old estate.
The ceramic studio housing consists of a roof that is raised from the original rafters and glazing applied directly to the shelves that are suspended between the original columns.
Inspired by the rigorous geometry and post-and-beam construction of the original home, but wanting to evolve it into something more playful and open, the architects designed the pavilions one by one to be in dialogue with the site.
The approximately 1.5 hectare property is dotted with huge old oak trees. “When people come here, they’re amazed,” Mary says. “It’s very peaceful—it feels like an oasis of peace and tranquility in the middle of Los Angeles”
The pool house has many different views of the landscape, with one end nestled in the treetops and the other cantilevered over the water. “We think of it as a boathouse, a treehouse, and a cave,” says Fung.
From the glass-backed shelves that form the ceramic studio walls to the massive sliding doors that transform the pool house into an outdoor pavilion that floats over the water, the architects embraced the mid-century California spirit of indoor-outdoor living. “We always try to relate to the site so that the architecture is not just an object that is there,” says Fung. Blatt agrees: “Buildings are made to become landscape.”
“The original house was more about observing nature from afar,” says architect Alice Fung of the 1954 structure, which sits on the highest point on the site. “The new buildings are very connected to the land and allow people to get outside at every level.”
Fung and Blatt slowly worked on the project over five years. But it was a rhythm that Mary and Carlton appreciated, as it allowed the design to emerge in close dialogue with the site.
“Alice and Michael designed one building at a time,” says Mary. “They were drawing as fast as we were building.”
“Alice and Michael designed one building at a time,” says Mary. “They were drawing as fast as we were building.”
San Marino House Floor Plan by Fung + Blatt Architects
Interior designer: Fung + Blatt Architects
General contractor: Westmont Construction
Civil engineer: Fung + Blatt Architects (remodeling of main house, library, guest house, ceramic studio); Poson + Lewis (pool house)
