Strandhouse

Hermosa Beach, California

2021 AIA|LA Design Award 2020 AIA|LA Residential Award

Located just south of the pier in Hermosa Beach, Strandhouse aims to be a model for the beach house typology and shotgun lot that is common throughout coastal Southern California. Positioned between two nondescript neighboring houses with an alley to the rear, the site’s context is deliberately reduced to the beach, the ocean, the sky, and the relentless activity of The Strand.

The house is divided into three levels each with a unique vantage point and distinct relationship to The Strand. The ground floor is conceived as an extension of the beach and its attention is absorbed by the activity before it. One level removed from the public, the second level observes the Strand from a distance.  It retreats from the activity below due to its raised position. All primary living spaces are combined into one light filled room open to the sights, sounds and smells of the Pacific Ocean. Completely detached from The Strand, the upper level focuses upward to the calm of the horizon and sky. A central stair core connects all levels and filters northern light down into the middle of the long narrow building.   

Volumetrically the house is expressed as a simple rectangle, conceived as a lens, focusing one’s attention to the beach, the ocean, the sky, while blurring the surrounding visual noise.

Photography by Art Gray