Schubert’s “garage” is breathtaking. Beautiful. Exquisite. But where are the tools, the work benches, the girlie calendars? Schubert concedes that it isn’t a typical, oil-on-the-floor garage, and he’s comfortable with that. “I wanted to create a backdrop for the car as a piece of art,” he says.

“I like very pure, minimalistic, empty space,” the German-born Schubert says. Think polished concrete, lots of glass and halogen lighting. “I like to be in a space where things line up and nothing stands out.”

It’s not just a Ferrari though: Schubert used to have a Maserati in there too, if only for a few photo shots.

One wall is covered in Homasote, a special type of recycled paper-fiber board, with a single-tier bookshelf built in. Two walls are floor-to-ceiling glass with retractable exterior shades to cut down on the afternoon sunlight. Overhead, the central skylight is artfully bisected with an aluminum enclosure for halogen lights.

To avoid exhaust fumes when the car is started, Schubert built a hydraulic ramp into the floor. The ramp tilts up about six inches at the front, enabling the car to roll back across the bridge and into the street before it’s started.

Further proof that the automobile role as machine has been abandoned in favor of its status as objet d’art: There are no wrenches, screwdrivers or battery boosters lying around – and Schubert will need them if the Ferrari remains true to form. Such a garage is consistent with the fact that modern cars are largely inaccessible to the tinkering, shade-tree mechanic. Most people never open the hoods of their cars. Instead, this garage has a lovely modular couch, two Dodo recliners by Toshiyuki Kita, a metal and stone coffee table and a flat-screen TV on tracks that can traverse the length of the room. “People in L.A. care so much about their cars and then the cars wind up stuck out in garages,” says Schubert, whose garage truly brings the car into the living space.

There has always been good reason to separate cars from living space. Cars are kind of stinky and oily. In modern cars, the passive reeking of gas and oil has largely been overcome by strict clean-air requirements that limit out-gassing. Soon, emission-free electric cars will “really open up the design of houses,” says Schubert, so that people will be able to drive directly into the home. It would make unloading groceries easier. Schubert looks forward owning an electric car, and his garage is pre-wired for a high-capacity charger and has 49 solar panels on the roof. But the electric car will have to sleep elsewhere. The Ferrari, he says, “has found its permanent home.”

When he found this loft in an arts district downtown, he knew it was a perfect fit. Rigaud wanted the vibrance of his art collection to provide the color to the space and opted to keep the concrete walls and white painted drywall just as it was.

“I wanted to keep everything open,” he says. In planning out how to use the space, he focused on the entertaining he wanted to do, keeping things uncluttered, choosing the right light fixtures and providing the right backdrop for his Haitian art collection.

“I love to cook, I love to entertain, and I love to throw dinner parties, says Rigaud. So he took the space most people use as the living area and made it the dining area.

Large windows on two side of his unit flood the home with natural light.

This is a TV-free zone. “When I entertain people, we don’t sit around and watch TV,” he says. Thus, he turned the second bedroom into a den and relegated the television to that space

You can get a good feel for the layout of the public spaces in this image. The bedrooms and public spaces form a U-shape around the kitchen and two bathrooms. “I already had this table, and because it was wooden and so heavy, the wire chairs were a good match,” says Rigaud. He also installed the light fixture, called Larmes, which means “teardrop” in French. It is composed of 24 teardrop-shaped bulbs that cast a wonderful light for entertaining.

“I didn’t want to leave this area empty, or fill it with too many things,” says Rigaud of this space next to the front door. Four Barcelona chairs surrounding a marble coffee table from CB2 create a conversation area. A perfectly-scaled drum pendant, also from CB2, hangs overhead, and a floral painting by his mother, Jeanne Rigaud, brightens up the space. In fact, most of the paintings of flowers and women you see around the loft are his mother’s work.

“My mother is 86 years old and is self-taught,” says Rigaud. “She started painting about 20 years ago, in her 60s.”

Rigaud kept the cabinets and granite counters that were already there when he bought his loft. He added a beautiful and reflective glass mosaic tile backsplash he found at Clad Tile and Stone.

Acrylic counter stools give guests a perch where they can keep Rigaud company while he prepares dinner

A bookcase separates the master bedroom from the main living space. A mix of books and Buddha heads fill the shelves. Rigaud has been collecting Buddhas from all over the world for many years.

The mermaid on the wall is from another Haitian artist who creates sculptures from junk found on the streets

The vibrant floral painting over the bed is by the late Haitian artist St. Pierre. It extends draws the eye up from the headboard.

Two fun owl table lamps from West Elm provide reading light.

Tate Bed and nightstands: Crate and Barrel

Here you can see how bedroom number two is tucked away beyond the public areas of the loft. In order to keep those areas TV-free, Rigaud transformed this room into a television den.

More paintings by his mother, a Noguchi coffee table and a comfortable sectional outfit the cozy space

While this is a fairly well-sized balcony, there isn’t room for a lot of stuff,” says Rigaud. “I wanted to provide seating and room to move around.” A well-timed visit to a DWR closeout sale provided him with the sofa and chairs, which he says he got for “just about nothing.” The West Elm stools work double-duty as cocktail tables and extra seating

At a glance, all the space you can go and see each of the units stay open publicly . Stresses in the living-room shelving unit, multifunctional and created specifically for this space. Perhaps living in the fashion district in Los Angeles, inspired part of design and decoration of the whole area, full of industrial buildings, abandoned warehouses with art galleries and fashion showrooms. The loft is in a fashion manufacturing building built in 1916 and has been declared local landmark. The spirit of the old city inspires the design.

The recovery and conversion of materials giving other use is a passion of Chris. Stresses the coffee table that he made with wood from pallets, creating a solid piece and maintained over time. Thousands of men’s details stand out in this unique space: the movie screen that unrolled takes up the entire wall, the sober and neutral color palette, the industrial touch, lack of decorative …

One bedroom completely minimalist and uncompromising color , a rack full of clothes exposed male, a bar open kitchen-office, view facilities and spaces without walls …

A project full of personality and a clear commitment to the industrial design and functional masculine touch of this young designer, who makes his creativity, a real home.

The current owner, a Italian businessman who lives there with his wife for three months a year, purchased the building in 2005. Abandoned by the clergy in 1960, the building changed its identity several times: it was a dance studio, a woodworking shop and a photographer’s atelier.The former prayer hall, built for the followers of the Protestant movement founded around 1740 by the Anglican clergyman John Wesley, however, dates back to 1854 and recorded in the register of national monuments. It is located near the urban area occupied until the seventies by the notorious District Six, evacuated and razed by the apartheid regime.

Perry Harrison-Hyde, an architect commissioned to adapt the building, preserved its authentic atmosphere and created modern, unpretentious, functional interiors. Retaining original heritage of the building reqired removing all the changes done by the previous owners. For example, scraping off several layers of paint, accumulated over a long period of time, revealed beautiful wooden floor.

Sharp contast between raw, authentic architecture of the building and well balanced mixture of furniture styles makes the interiors absolutely unique. Rustic floors and white cabinets in the kitchen correspond with gothic-style, arched windows. Metal chairs and lamps work as contrasting elements. Avant-garde art pieces add colour and spice up the white, airy, breathing interiors.

Christopher Losa freely admits to being “OCD.”

“I need to exist in a space that’s free of clutter,” he claims, and it’s this compulsion that led him, in 2003, to his present home in San Francisco. At first glance the empty loft condo seemed run-of-the-mill, but Losa had a strong vision for the space and high hopes for his new life in the Mission Disctrict. He and his wife, Elizabeth,  tired of the Beltway-driven life in Washington, DC,  moved to the Bay Area to find an environment with more cultural stimulation. Losa, an independent supply-chain management consultant for 16 years, an excellent cook, and longtime food connoisseur, dreamed of opening his own restaurant.

They opted for a loft because “it’s a clean way of living,” says Losa. “It’s a beautiful thing to come home to a space that opens up. In a way, it’s everything that ‘urban’ isn’t.”

The transplanted couple’s 1,400-square-foot unit had the usual: tall ceilings, concrete floors, large windows, no walls; “a big white box,” in Losa’s words. In order to remodel it to fit their needs, they hired Joshua Aidlin (of Aidlin Darling Design), who based his eventual design around what he calls “a generous amount of eastern morning light” that streams in from tall ground-floor windows.

Aidlin conceived a plan made up of five architectonic elements: “the cradle,” “the zipper,” “the hearth,” “the stage,” and “the scrim.” After two years of renovation, the loft was transformed into a radiant interior dotted with mid-Century treasures .

Sitting in the exposed expanse of the Cambridgeshire fens, the Stealth Barn is a bold, simple form, reminiscent of the barn it accompanies. Built as a guest house, studio or meeting place, depending on time of year and workloads: the Stealth Barn is also a retreat, a place of inspiration and enjoyment.

Placed perpendicular to the existing barn, it stands to create and define a slightly more sheltered and casual garden which melts into the fens, a hint at the memory of a former farm yard. Stealth Barn is a sharp black mass – a shadow of the adjacent barn or a silhouette on the horizon. It is a robust exterior wrapped with a restricted palette, devoid of fussy detail, and formed to withstand its exposed position.

The interior inverts this toughness through the use o warmer OSB wrapping fully around the space to form angles reminiscent of the adjacent barns divided with straw bales. It creates an immersive interior landscape.

The Stealth Barn was shortlisted for the Architect’s Journal Small Projects 2012.

Photography by Damian Russell, Tim Crocker and Jeremy Phillips

This renovation looks amazing. The neutral palette, the wood and the bricks create a beautiful and modern place, definitely a great place to live.

The house has had a series of renovations over the past century; the original Edwardian home was converted into apartments in the 1930s and then a substantial family home in the 1980’s. The brief was to restore the Art Deco facade, retain the existing footprint and add a third level.

The house is located directly opposite the beach in Middle Park and is constantly filled with beautiful light. Morning sun strikes the garden aspect, and at the end of the day the sun sets across the bay.

The planning has been carefully considered to create a series of distinct rooms, rather than an open plan. Joinery is placed to create spaces, but still allow views to flow from room to room and then to the horizon.

Materials have been selected to provide understated tones within a neutral palette. The neutral colour palette supports the play of light at different times of day. The overall feeling is extremely soft and one feels visually and emotionally connected at all times to the expansive sea, sky and garden views. At the same time the house has a feeling of intimacy & warmth, perfect for family living.

The client’s original intention was to demolish the existing house and build a completely new structure. After living in the house for a year, the architects thought the existing building worked well with the views and light and had a distinct ‘personality’. In short, it would be a shame to demolish a house which had stood for 100 years.

Trades that existed 100 years ago, don’t exist anymore, or are considered too expensive. The architects therefore chose to restore the existing building and protect the craftsmanship of the Art Deco period.  So, the most substantial decision regarding sustainability was to work with the existing fabric of the house.

Once this decision was made, materials and servicing were all designed around principles of sustainability, including a smart managed hydronic heating system, double glazed windows, and positively shaded windows with curtains and screens.

The building uses only natural materials such as stone, and stained (not painted) timber, windows are either steel or timber, and not aluminium. Additional ESD attributes include solar hot water booted system, solar pool heating and rainwater harvesting for drip feed garden irrigation systems.

 Photographs  © Derek Swalwell

A dining room is defined through shifting materiality within the larger living space. Secondary rooms are united with the main space with large-scale swinging doors. The apartment abuts the highline, and two loading dock apertures, formerly blocked off, are blown open and filled with glass block to let in sunlight but obfuscate direct views. Now entering visitors can see through the main space, through the guest bedroom out to the sunlit shapes of highline guests.

From the street, 7691 Mulholland Drive has an unassuming presence. A twisting driveway is the only indication of the 5,800-square-foot structure below. Situated on steep incline, the design meets the challenges of the terrain and physical constraints of its L-shaped lot, presenting an optimal solution to a unique set of conditions. Its sunken nature not only guards against the harsh western sun, but also serves to maximize energy efficiency. As a result, the house seems to gently cascade down the hillside, allowing each level to have an unobstructed panoramic view of the landscape.

The slope of the site informs the organization of the interior, with a privacy gradient that flows downward through the various levels and terminates at the guesthouse. The upper levels hold the main living spaces and encourage interaction by maintaining a visual connection to each other, with the bedrooms and more intimate family spaces tucked below. Access to the outdoors is maximized by utilizing the rooftops as decks.

The home can be accessed in two ways. An attached two-car garage provides a private entry through the kitchen, while guests approaching the residence from the street are invited in by the majestic staircase leading up to the front door. The thirty-six foot descent is minimized by the expansive unenclosed steps, with the western edge serving as a platform for seating or display.

The kitchen, dining area, and lounge are located to the right of the entrance where a staircase lures you down to the aptly named grand room just one half-level below. This vantage point offers a truly incredible view of Los Angeles, drawing you out to the upper deck complete with an infinity pool.

Another set of stairs leads from the grand room to the private quarters below. Here, the building peels away to form a small courtyard, allowing sunlight to seep in and illuminate the hallway. A path of light guides you from a home theater on one end to a modest family room and two bedrooms, connected by an exterior deck. The master suite is separated by another half-level descent and extends the entire length of the floor plate. It includes a spacious bathroom and wine room, creating an isolated ambiance that encourages a state of repose. On the lowest level rests the guesthouse. Secluded from the main house, the guesthouse features a private entrance, bathroom, and kitchenette.

The design aesthetic represents a departure from the traditional architectural styles in Los Angeles. While the project seeks to reflect the complexities of a fast-paced environment, the tone of house is one of simple living.