"The inimitable modernist architect Louis Kahn used to carry a small notebook he would fill with punctilious phrases such as “light and silence” or “the eternity of the spirit.” When these sentiments are read while confronted by his designs, an appreciable calm sets in. His wide-ranging work has influenced generations of architects, including those at the L.A.-based firm Standard Architecture. Inspired by Kahn’s legendary design of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, the architects built a farmhouse-shaped home located in the unlikeliest of places: Los Angeles.
“I took a course on Kahn’s work in architecture school and studied his buildings closely,” says Jeffrey Allsbrook, a partner at Standard Architecture. “In the Kimbell, the stairs are between the galleries; that helped us conceive the idea of making the main living spaces open from front to back.”
This family home was built on the scheme of three parallel gabled volumes with stairs between them. Each volume of the structure houses a different type of living space. Yet all three volumes open to an outdoor patio that overlooks the city. Much like so many of Kahn’s designs, this home reinforces the connection between the built environment and nature.
Tour this remarkable modernist home below.
