Technology apartment, California

20 May 2009

Technology apartment, California

This converted loft pad employs more technological innovations and gadgetry than most bachelors could ask for.

Project description

On the 8th floor of a Californian 1920’s ex-Cadillac dealership, Logue Studio Design (LSD) has built a gadget-filled penthouse with custom made furnishings. In contrast to the interior’s exposed concrete and industrial style, the design concept arose from the client’s interest in entertaining and in technology.

Architect Michael Logue of LSD worked closely with his client, a Danish-born, Silicon Valley software engineer, to discover what forms and textures appeal to him. ‘He gravitated towards an old-school Danish aesthetic, focusing on images of glass and steel,’ says Logue, describing the resulting style as ‘technological modernism’.

LSD began by gutting the 1999 loft conversion. It was important to the client to have a large and practical kitchen and a bedroom on the lower floor. With these specifications, the architect devised a way to maintain private and public areas and at the same time, achieve a consistency and movement through the apartment.

Originally, the master bedroom was on the upper floor, but this was replaced by a home cinema and a balcony where the client could entertain guests. The bedroom was moved to the entry level and wrapped in a brushed aluminum pod – fabricated by furniture designers Blank and Cables - to separate it from the main living space and kitchen. Inspired by an airplane’s fuselage, its distinct airstream shape was a direct response to the owner’s desire to create a sense of buoyancy and lightness. ‘The form came about from the client’s interest in aerodynamics; the fins carry on the idea of movement or something set in motion,’ says Logue.

This exploration of the concept of flight is evident in much of the apartment’s design elements. Panels in the fuselage pivot open, and underneath there are shelves flush with the unit that can be rotated out into the living room. A button pulls out a motorized platform, constructed like a plane wing, and cantilevered over the floor. By building the bedroom unit on a ‘linear motion track’, it appears to float. Plywood ribbing, found to be stronger than aluminum, is subsequently clad in metal for rigidity. The platform is 14 feet long, but only eight feet projects outwards. Hovering one inch off the floor, it reveals a red B&B Italia sofa with adjustable back rest that smoothly rolls out to offer a reading space. ‘You might say one can architecturally modify the space depending on your mood,’ says Logue. Wonderment is a constant theme here, where concealed technology is only revealed by exploration.

Reflecting two sides of the client: pragmatic and high-tech, kinetics also plays a prominent role in the scheme. This is particularly true in the kitchen, where the client’s particular whims and idiosyncrasies were fulfilled. The centerpiece is the island designed by Logue and fabricated by Peter Malak off. Called Alchemy, it has a polished surface made up of recycled aluminum shavings cast in resin. A custom-built, motorized, retractable counter top extends to reveal a deep-frier set into backlit, fritted glass. The upper cabinets are custom-made to accommodate a frame that works on a ‘switch-light’ system. Touch sensitive, it rearranges molecules in the glass to either make the cabinet opaque or transparent. ‘There is an incredible level of technology that at the same time magically tucks away and is non-flashy, and is all craft-oriented,’ says Logue.

In front of the kitchen, a Saarinen Tulip Table by Knoll and Interstuhl chairs provide an office area, and next to it a Robert Austin Gonzales’ 4L Combo dining table, with Verner Panton chairs buffering the B&B Italia sofa in the living room.

A striking lighting system draws all the spaces together. Initially thought of as a ‘cable and conduit’ chain, the systemwas conceived as a circuit board diagram, ‘so there was an idea of energy moving from one side of the place to the other,’ says Logue. The ‘wing canopies’ provide a direct source of illumination – one drops down in the entrance, leading the user into the living room space where there is another.A third canopy under the stainless steel cooker hood, by Independent Incorporated, re-enforces the idea of flight

A suspended steel trough – designed by Logue Studio and manufactured by Blank and Cables - provides ambient lighting. In between, a stainless steel frame holds a tightly stretched film of plastic with LEDS inserted inside. Chosen primarily for its lightness, the shimmering material sweeps overhead providing a strong and continuous element throughout the lower floor.

From underneath the bedroom theatrical hues burst forth – projected up on to a panel above the bed - ‘to emphasize the energy-flow metaphor’ says Logue. Water jet-cut patterns that allow light to filter in from the fuselage are repeated on the stringers of Blank and Cables’ stainless steel staircase.

The main bathroom is an extension of the bedroom: the Blank and Cables leather tiles that cover the bedroom floor and the stairs reoccur as panels on the bathroom’s concealed storage. Clad in burnt-brick-colored tiles that curve at the ceiling to mirror the bedroom, the sauna room recalls the semi-industrial interior, with smooth, stainless steel benches designed by Logue and made by Blank and Cables that fold gracefully against either end of the room.

The spa bathroom is known as the ‘car wash’ by LSD, for the shower’s recycling function that throws water back at the user as a form of massage. Its white undulating wall, directly referencing water, is made by Modular Arts, in which cast gypsum board tiles are mounted to the wall, filled in and painted white. A tap concealed behind a mirror and seven spigots in the ceiling (Laminar Flow by Kohler) pour water into the oversized tub with color changing chromatherapy lights.

Despite the enormous amount of gadgetry and effort gone into creating this ‘peek-a-boo architecture’, Logue’s penthouse is by no means overwhelming, and strikes a coveted balance between technology and human experience.