Vignes Street Loft

Designed for a lawyer and an artist, the 5,200 square foot loft is located in a portion of the shell of a former dairy in downtown Los Angeles.

Aside from basic functional requirements – three bedrooms, two and one-half baths, a studio, a wine storage room, a professional kitchen and wall surfaces sufficient to accommodate an art collection – the clients wanted a living space with metaphysical presence. A team was formed between the architect and an artist, Eric Orr, after the owners suggested the possibility of commissioning artwork as a part of the design. The intent was to create an integrated whole rather than an architectural space containing discreet artworks.
The expansive scale of the 97-foot long main living space is accented by the original flaring capital concrete columns, bush-hammered to enhance their texture. A polished concrete platform with broad steps serves as a porch to the master bedroom suite.
Selected panes in the loft’s original windows have been sandblasted, providing privacy as well as framing desirable views while obscuring others.
The integrity of the original space has been enhanced through the careful use of new elements and materials. The introduction of ideas from subatomic physics, mathematics and alchemy, the anechoic entry chamber, and the manipulation of light through skylights and graded obscure glass, reinforces the idea that experiences take precedence over abstract order.