California Houses: Creativity in Context

This elegant coffee-table book by architecture journalist Webb (Architects’ Houses) takes readers inside 36 homes that “capture the spirit of California in distinctive ways and respond creatively to context and the environment.” Highlighting the “marriage of architecture and nature,” Webb offers closeups of a Montecito house that resembles a massive, succulent-covered mound with slices cut out for windows, and a Mendocino County abode whose cedar floors and Douglas fir plywood walls provide a sense of continuity with the surrounding woods. Webb delves into the architects’ inspirations, noting that the five pitched roofs on a home in L.A.’s Silver Lake neighborhood riff on the abstract sculptures of Joel Shapiro. California’s zoning laws play a recurring role as the impetus for architectural creativity. For example, Webb discusses how a couple rebuilding their home after a wildfire were required to make the new structure no more than 25% larger than the original’s size, a challenge architect Brandon Jorgensen met by starting with a cube model and cutting away portions until the result met the size limit. The judicious selection of houses emphasizes the playful and unusual (a Santa Monica home designed by Frank Gehry’s son features gabled sections that come together at odd angles, as if a cubist tried their hand at creating a Craftsman-style house), and Webb’s assured commentary illuminates the inventive ways architects engage with municipal and natural constraints. It’s a striking survey of some of the Golden State’s more remarkable homes. (May)