Minimalism Maximized
Only in Los Angeles, perhaps, would an Israeli have the opportunity to design a Japanese-inspired house for a German. Architect Nikko Shabtai and his client, an arts journalist who grew up in Munich and now divides his time between L.A. and a second home in Yokohama, have known each other for nearly 20 years. They both love the purity of Zen temples and the soaring lofts of traditional Japanese farmhouses, but they wanted a modern, light-filled living space that would abstract from, not mimic, these models. The result of Shabtai’s efforts and the client’s perfectionism is a house that is Japanese in its emphasis on the beauty of natural materials and the absence of clutter. “It was important to keep it simple,” says the owner. “I’ve always lived with very little furniture and no art on the walls.”
The 3,200-square-foot house sits on a slope, high above a street in West Los Angeles, facing a canyon. Steps lead up to a deck and into a tiny entryway marked by an interior pool in which water bubbles softly over black pebbles and granite millstones. Light gleams off the polished floorboards, which extend from the great room, with its 32-foot pitched vault ceiling, into a second, smaller living room with an open hearth at its center. A wood-and-steel staircase rises from the floor like a free-standing sculpture to a steel bridge that links the two bedrooms at either end of the house.
These warm-toned, spare spaces are as soothing to the soul as a soak in a hot tub on a cold day. The open kitchen, with its half-moon concrete-topped counter, serves as a stage for the owner, a passionate cook, and a place to gather with friends. The rest of the handsomely proportioned interior, with its massive windows and sliding doors, is enhanced by wood throughout. “The client would have preferred the yellow cedar that’s employed in Japanese temples,” Shabtai says. “It proved too costly, so we settled on vertical-grain Douglas fir, using recycled stringers from logging bridges in British Columbia. For roof beams of equal quality, we had to search the country and wait three months.”
The owner ordered a handcrafted basswood cabinet with sliding slatted doors for the living area to complement built-in maple cabinets in the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms, then added tatamis, indigo-dyed cushions and a few chairs and stools. Today, just as architect and client had planned, the Douglas fir has darkened and the cold-rolled steel on the stairs and bridge is slowly acquiring a patina. “I didn’t want the house to look too sleek,” the owner says. “Like a person, it has to grow and age naturally. “
*
Styled by Barbara Thornburg
