News

XTEN traveled to Madrid to present the first design concepts for the Madrid Villa, a family residence for an art collector located in the La Moraleja district. Meetings with the client, the local engineering team and suppliers culminated in a visit to the Capa Ecultura workshop where we reviewed artworks being fabricated for the project by Manolo Valdes.

Design work is nearly completed for this dramatic cliffside residence on a mountain overlooking the city of Limassol on the southern coast of Cyprus. Structural engineering of the main cantivlevers and roof forms is in process.

XTEN's Downtown LA Hotel receives 2012 NEXT/LA AWARD from the American Institute of Architecture. Awards ceremony will be held October 22 at the Santa Monica Performing Arts Center/Broad Stage. More information: http://www.aialosangeles.org

XTEN's Sapphire Gallery, an art gallery extension to a private residence, will receive an AIA Deisgn Award at the annual AIA Los Angeles Design Awards ceremony to be hosted by Moby, Richard Montoya and KCRW's Frances Anderton. More information: http://www.aialosangeles.org/article/aia-la-announces-2012-design-award-winners

Luzern Stadtarchiv and Nakahouse receive the 2012 American Architecture Award from Chicago Athenaeum and European Centre for Art and Architecture. More information: http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/archawards/2012/AA12-19/index.html

Openhouse on cover of Residences Magasin, France. More information: http://www.residences-decoration.com/sommaire-n-106-100--design-_178.html

The Surfhouse has been awarded a 2012 AIA California Council Architecture Award for outstanding design and innovation, one of 15 projects selected from several hundred projects received statewide. The jury commented on the "use of windows, creative circulation plan" and "bringing indoor and outdoor spaces together and cleverly placing the living room on the top floor to take advantage of an ocean view." More information: http://www.aiacc.org

XTEN has completed Schematic Design for a new residence located on a ridge in the Hollywood Hills.  The house is conceived as wood-clad pavilion with deep cantilevered porches. The largely transparent living/ entertaining floor opens onto extensive outdoor living and pool areas with views out over Los Angeles.  Bedrooms are enclosed on the second floor, with garages, gym, media and service areas carved out of the hillside beneath the house.

Nakahouse received a 2012 AIA Housing Award this past week on the floor of the AIA National Convention in Washington D.C.  The jury of the prestigious award commented on the "feeling of serenity" and that the "spectacular framing of the views and the folded geometry of the enclosure makes for some beautiful interiors." More information: http://www.aia.org/practicing/awards/2012/housing-awards/Nakahouse/index.htm

XTEN's Desert Panorama House received a 2012 Custom Home of the Year Award, announced in the May/June issue of Custom Home magazine (Hanley-Wood).  The jury liked the "interlacing of exterior and interior" and called the residence "brilliant in its flow of space".  One judge commented "its translucence with the landscape is amazing." More information: http://www.customhomeonline.com/award-winners/announcing-winners-of-the-2012-custom-home-design-awards-.aspx

XTEN has completed Concept Design for a new hillside house in Coldwater Canyon, Beverly Hills.  The house is designed as a series of glass enclosed platforms, open decks and terraces configured around a pair of majestic 200 year oak trees. The interiors will open entirely to nature under and within the oak tree canopy - a two tree house.

Nakahouse was selected as a 2012 Record House from Architectural Record, the prestigious 110 year old US monthly architecture publication.  From hundreds of international submissions, the issue features just eight to publish as Record Houses.  Christopher Hawthorne wrote an insightful essay about the house, with great photos by Steve King. More information: http://archrecord.construction.com/residential/recordhouses/2012/nakahouse.asp

XTEN has completed concept design for a new 45-room 65,000 square foot hotel which will include an artist in residency program, restaurant, 2 bars, rooftop lounge and infinity pool looking West over the Nokia Theater and Staples Center. The building is proposed as a monolithic poured in place concrete structure, with multi-story slots cut through the building to bring light deep into the hotel and provide views between different hotel spaces and out to the city.

The Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Council held their annual party at the recently completed Desert Panorama House in La Quinta, California.  Over 120 people enjoyed the house, the grounds, the sunset views over the mountains.

XTEN has been commissioned to design a custom indoor-outdoor villa in Limassol, Cyprus.  The hillside site has expansive views over the city and the Mediterranean Sea which the new multistory villa will open out towards.

XTEN's Nakahouse in the Hollywood Hills has been featured in Azure magazine "The Annual Houses Issue - 5 Brilliantly Bold Homes" this month, with photographs from Steve King and an inspired article by Katya Tylevich. More information: http://www.azuremagazine.com/magazine/backissues/features.php?id=2238

XTEN has won the award for Best Architecture Single Residence USA 2011 for its Openhouse, at the International Property Awards in London, UK.

AIA Los Angeles announced the 2011 Design Awards winners at Pacific Red LLC on Wednesday October 26, 2011. XTEN's Stadtarchiv Luzern won Next LA Citation Award and Nakahouse won Design Awards Merit. More information: http://www.aialosangeles.org/article/aia-la-announces-2011-design-award-winners

XTEN's Nakahouse was featured on Archdaily, Dezeen and Designboom. Check them out at http://www.archdaily.com/166226/nakahouse-xten-architecture/, http://www.dezeen.com/2011/09/04/nakahouse-by-xten-architecture/, http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/16207/xten-architecture-naka...

For an exhibit on the future of Los Angeles, XTEN proposed relocating a 7 mile section of the 405 freeway known as the Sepulveda Pass underground in a massive tunnel linking the San Fernando Valley with the Beach Cities.  The tunnel would accommodate high speed rail and vehicular traffic in a series of stacked tubes.  Above ground, the 250+ acres formerly used as highway would be freed for a mix of cultural, recreational, park, residential and related uses.  On view in LA through September 4, 2011. More information: http://aplusd.org/exhibitions-future/rethinkla

XTEN's Nakahouse in the Hollywood Hills has been featured in MARK magazine No. 33 this month, with photographs from Steve King and article by Michael Webb.

XTEN's Nakahouse was featured in the Tokyo/LA Houses Exhibition during Little Tokyo Design Week July 14-17.  An interesting symposium on the implications of the house designs exhibited for Future Cities took place on Sunday and included Joe Day, Neil Denari, Christopher Hawthorne, Sou Fujimoto, Masataka Baba, Akihisa Hirata and Lisa Iwamoto. More information: http://www.ltdesignweek.com

XTEN has been invited to share our ideas on the future of Los Angeles in the ReThink/ LA exhibition at the A+D Museum Los Angeles in August 2011. In response to the present global and local shifts, the exhibition imagines a city in transition, fifty years in the future. More information: http://aplusd.org/exhibitions-future/rethinkla

Angelo Drive Residence in Bel Air has received the 2011 Los Angeles Architecture Award for Single Family Residence. The jury commended the architectural concept for creating a series of terraced spaces that trace the natural contours of the hillside. XTEN received the award at a ceremony downtown hosted by Frances Anderton with a provocative address on the future of LA by Thom Mayne. More information: http://www.labusinesscouncil.org/programs.php

The Nakahouse has been awarded a 2011 AIA California Council Architecture Award for outstanding design and innovation, one of 29 projects selected from several hundred projects received statewide. As an abstract remodel of a 1960's hillside home, the house is reconfigured completely from the inside out, opening the interiors to the views of the hills, Hollywood sign and the Griffith Park Observatory. More information: http://aiacc.org/2011-aiacc-design-award-recipients/