PROJECT TYPE
Renovation
LOCATION
Los Angeles, California
PROJECT STATUS
Under Construction
SIZE
1,500 Sq ft
LOT AREA
7,500 Sq ft
CLIENT
Private
DESIGNERS
Maxi Spina, Jia Yi Gu
TEAM
Esin Karaosman
CONSULTANTS
Nast Enterprises (Structural Engineers), Argos Construction (General Contractor)
The 1920s Craftsman Bungalow sits within a historically preserved neighborhood of Los Angeles, where the existing exterior and relationship to the street remain intact. The intervention turns inward, working within the existing structure to reorganize the house for contemporary life while retaining and extending what is already there.
The renovation approaches the existing house as a material resource. Existing structural elements are retained and repurposed wherever possible, where interventions are understood an extension of an existing material history.
1-2 FOYER
Together, the bedrooms, living and kitchen spaces comprise 1500 square feet. The expansive front porch opens directly to a distinctive entryway and airy living room. For the interior, red maple wall paneling exudes a domestic warmth. Graphic cutouts and playful profiles are wrapped around surfaces to distinguish entryways and provide distinctive spaces.
Rather than treating the plan as a collection of rooms, the project reorganizes the bungalow as a sequence of shared domestic spaces unfolding from the street toward the garden. The traditional space is rearranged into a continuous gradient of living spaces, allowing movement, light, air, and views to extend through the depth of the house and allowing living spaces to overlap and connect while giving both the bedrooms and living areas access to the garden.
The bedrooms are gathered around a generous central corridor conceived less for circulation and more as a shared social threshold—a small interior shelter that operates as foyer, passage, and threshold.
5 The kitchen is organized around a generous central island that defines the primary work zone while maintaining a direct relationship to the dining area. Continuous counter space, integrated storage, and open circulation allow the island to function simultaneously as a place for preparation, serving, and informal gathering.
