Design elements were looked at carefully to enhance flow and emphasize Southern California lifestyle that connects the indoor spaces to the outside. The kitchen is now open to the living room and the new Great Room and has an eat-in counter. The laundry room is off of the main living spaces but enclosed and staged off from the garage. A new master suite has a spacious walk-in closet, a “hotel style” separate powder room off the vanity area, and a large luxurious shower room. Both the master bedroom and the Great room have direct access to the backyard.

Here are some photos taken earlier this week as we enter the plumbing and electrical installation stage in construction.

Renderings of Dow Residence.

About Houzz

Houzz (www.houzz.com) is the leading online platform for home remodeling, providing inspiration, information, advice and support for homeowners and home improvement professionals through its website and mobile applications. Houzz features the largest residential design database in the world, articles written by design experts, product recommendations, a vibrant community powered by social tools, and information on more than 1.2 million remodeling and design professionals worldwide who can help turn ideas into reality.

Site elements are being constructed and this progress update unfortunately doesn’t allow you to see the entry in its immediate context.  Site is always important for every project and certainly for a Japanese restaurant.  No matter how tight space is in Tokyo, Japanese restaurants have some type of sequence of approach, sort of an interstitial space between public and private areas.  With more space available here, emphasis is placed on perspective view from the driver and pedestrian level.  Here are some views of the exterior still undergoing construction.  

Some more updates to come as we near completion.

This house has high ceilings and spacious common areas, yet the rooms were designed efficiently in comparison to comparable residences in the area.  As you walk through the house, you get a sense that the house was designed to offer the greatest views to the common areas rather than restrict the site’s amenity to private rooms.  This type of house encourages interaction and offers flexibility when entertaining guests.

Here are some pictures that start to tell this story.

This picture was shot in the morning but you can still see the ocean and city view beyond the arches.

The view from the backyard looking at the balcony and loggia.

For more on this bathroom and to read the Houzz article featuring the Newton Residence, click on the image below:

After construction, the owners will be enjoying a new open kitchen with lots of natural light, a new master bathroom suite with custom vanities and sink, a new great room, and many more improvements.  For construction updates, go to our facebook page at www.facebook.com/NaritaArchitects.

Below is the rendered elevations showing the new entrance aiming to integrate a large part of the existing facade while transforming the feel to a new Japanese style restaurant.

A look at the construction progress

By maximizing use of existing space and structure, all of the above can be done in less than 1800sf.  The house still has all the bells and whistles of a modern day house–dedicated laundry with direct access to garage and the exterior trash yard; open living room, dining room, kitchen with a separate walk-in pantry, and a new great room with lots of windows and a fireplace that leads directly to the backyard, and a spacious master bedroom suite with a walk-in closet, and more.

Here is a sneak peek at the street elevation options we have been studying.

The following is another elevation option showing a more modern approach with vertical siding and an urban color scheme.

Risa Narita, A.I.A., featured in LALALA weekly magazine, 9/30/2011 – 10/6/2011 edition, Vol 205.

To read the article, click link below:

http://lalalausa.com/digitalmagazine/weeklylalala405/index.html