Korman Residence
Wood Design & Building
Printed Issue: Fall, 2008
Modern remodel leverages techniques and treatments appropriate for a house tucked into a wooded California canyon.
Cory Buckner, Architect
In 2005, Dr. Jeremy and Ann Korman sought to remodel their Brentwood home. With two daughters and a French bulldog, they had long outgrown their 1,700-sq.ft. ranch house built in the 1950s. They longed for contemporary, comfortable space for their family.
The client was drawn to the postwar post and beam architecture of the modernist era. The house is located just outside of Crestwood Hills, formerly called the Mutual Housing Association tract, designed by A. Quincy Jones, Whitney R. Smith, and Edgardo Contini in the late 1940s.
The program for the project included a second storey addition to house a master suite, a home office and a painting studio. Situated at the bottom of a canyon, the entrance to the original house was 66 steps from the street to the front door. The new design incorporated a bridge to an entrance at the second floor addition reducing the steps to 44. The former master bedroom on the lower level became one daughter’s room and two small bedrooms at the rear of the house were combined to make a suite for the other daughter.
The entire house was impacted by the remodel with most of the house being demolished. The former master suite, kitchen and dining roof structure remained intact but many interior walls were demolished or reconfigured.
A butterfly roof structure was designed for the second story addition in order to capture light from high clerestory windows that reach up to the ceiling. Some of the window configurations on the original house incorporated
posts and worked well with the second story addition designed as an exposed post and beam structure. Skylights were added in the kitchen and over the fireplace, which in addition to adding light in the living room accents an articulated tiled fireplace mass. All bedrooms face patios or decks with sliding glass doors that dissolve the boundary of indoor and outdoor space.
The second-storey addition and 719-sq.ft. addition were complete in October 2006. The finish material palette was kept appropriate for a house tucked into a wooded canyon. The existing house was finished in rough sawn board-and batten with a composition shingle roof. The new house is clad in new growth cedar tongue and groove siding with a roof covered in slate green gravel. Douglas fir flooring and cabinets were used throughout the project. The significant use of wood as a structural and finishing product has given the Kormans a residence that reflects its wooden surroundings.
Architect: Corry Buckner, Los Angeles, CA
Client: Dr. Jeremy and Ann Korman, Los Angeles, CA
Structural Engineer: Scott Christiansen, Los Angeles, CA
Soils Engineer: Mark Kruger, Geosystems, Los Angeles, CA
General Contractor: David Stumfall & Randy Hayden, Supervisor, Palisades Construction, Los Angeles, CA
Interior Designer: Owner and Architect
Photographer: Sunshine Divis, Jonnu Singleton