Toulon / Studio William Hefner


© Roger Davies

© Roger Davies
  • Architects: Studio William Hefner
  • Location: Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, United States
  • Lead Architects: William Hefner, AIA
  • Area: 7745.0 ft2
  • Project Year: 2014
  • Photographs: Roger Davies
  • Contractor: Horizon General Contractors

© Roger Davies

© Roger Davies

From the architect. A  couple commissioned a new home with an emphasis on natural light and the surrounding landscape. The contemporary design rises from the site, presenting the street with a dynamic façade in which rugged walls of concrete and metal provide privacy to the first floor while soaring glass at the second floor fills the house with light. Tilted roof planes nod to the traditional sloped roofs of the neighborhood.


© Roger Davies

© Roger Davies

At the rear, the second floor features a louvered trellis that runs the length of the house and a thick floor system that extends far beyond the first-floor area below. Recalling le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, this accentuated horizontal volume conveys the sense that it hovers above the site.  At the same time, it integrates the house with its surroundings by creating shaded outdoor rooms to complement interior spaces for seamless indoor-outdoor living.


© Roger Davies

© Roger Davies

Site Plan

Site Plan

© Roger Davies

© Roger Davies

Inside the hard shell of concrete, metal, and glass, the interior is warm and open. Living spaces flow together in an open plan, with cues in the finishes and lighting strategies to subtly differentiate spaces. The palette of materials ranges from striated marble to finely grooved tile and backlit birch-wood ribbons. The textures and muted colors of the materials brings an intimate, human scale to the bright, airy volumes. The art studio, a uniquely serene and private space, is bare but for a window onto a private garden and a skylight system that composes its entire roof.


© Roger Davies

© Roger Davies