The Bar House (LJ1) roots itself in a single longitudinal service core. As a solid mass, spaces, niches, and utilities are carved from its surface to produce an exaggerated line of action that animates the life of the house. The garage sits as an opaque box shielding the inner workings of the house from the street. Living slides from the transparent inside to the covered outside to the open courtyard and pool. A large screen at the rear of the house animates each of these as a constant projection wall. The adaptable layers of the curtained cabana beneath the bar allows for the house to grow in use and blur in boundary. The glass office at the end of the porch sits as a jewel in the landscape.
A levitating bar floats above the open space below. The service core metamorphosizes into a carved linear hall connecting a string of bedrooms. Each bedroom overlooks the courtyard having a reciprocal interior and exterior space. A family room anchors at the top of the stair and connects the living below through a double height space to a retractable roof skylight. A detached tube leads to the master suite that acts like a detached entity.
The strong volumes and open plan allow the optimization of indoor-outdoor living through an evolutionary and dynamic spatial sequence through the house transitioning spaces and experience as the user moves from public to private.