The land of the American Dream is the land of the American Dreamer, or really, mythmaker. Apple employees once described Steve Jobs’s uncanny ability to make reality out of fiction, by telling untruths that people got so hyped about that they helped accomplish whatever he was after, as the operation of a Reality Distortion Field, a term they borrowed from Star Trek. The garage has been the site of RDFs since its inception—from startups to garage bands to teenage escapes and mancaves. Even its very history, told through Lloyd Wright’s careful distortions, has been one of reality disconnect, distortion, and re-invention.
The Beverly Estate is a property built in 1926 The estate was designed by architect Gordon Kaufmann and was the residence of actress Marion Davies and her partner, William Randolph Hearst. The mansion is influenced by multiple architectural styles. It predominantly showcases the Mediterranean Revival style. There is a Spanish colonial facade. The exterior has French-style gardens, fountains, and statues. Grecian columns are along the exterior with large terraces outside the home. The landscaping was designed by Paul Thiene.
Adapted from artist Olivia Erlanger and architect Luis Ortega Govela's 2019 book Garage (MIT Press), this documentary explores the history of the garage, from its invention by Frank Lloyd Wright to its transformation into an incubator for subcultures and tech entrepreneurship. Filmed on location in Merced, California, the film considers the evolution of this architectural turned cultural construct, exploring how the garage has come to serve as guest room, game room, home gym, wine cellar, and secret bondage lair. This provocative deconstruction employs the garage as a lens through which to view the advent of suburbia, the myth of the perfect family, and the degradation of the American dream.
The project proposes to turn a detached 1930's garage with an eighties extension into a Wellness Centre for guests. The reconversion integrates both Roman and Turkish programs into the building.
Historical relocation of Craig Ellwood's Case Study House 18. The house originally built in 1956 was bought in 2020 and the new owner had plans of demolishing the home that had been extensively renovated in the eighties in a Hollywood Regency Style. The studio salvaged the remaining structural and architectural elements in an archeological process to relocate and reconstruct the historical home. The project is ongoing.
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The design and spatial direction for Bleach LA, the hair salon and store, is based around the principle of creating a social experience for the patrons. The project focused on the transformation of an existing store front into a space that answers to the contemporary needs of a hair salon. There is a dialogue between the store and the salon that is choreographed with the use of a ramp.
Hillside Home in Glasell Park
An exhibition at 83 Pitt Street in New York. The shell of a house is installed inside a flooded gallery. The balloon frame, known as such for both its ability to fly away and to burst, is a historical building technology from the 19th century. The construction method developed during an era of expansion with the aim of being light, portable and most importantly parasitic. Intended to be built by two generations in unison, this frame consisting of nailed studs, went on to propagate and colonise the American suburb.
Educational mini series directed by Luis Ortega Govela and Olivia Erlanger that distills the book into a three part short series.
The project is a housing model located in Silicon Valley that takes the typological knowledge of the garage as a way to re-address suburbia and its non-nuclear family subjects.
Set design for I LOVE YOU a film by Brooke Candy.
A secret history of the garage as a space of creativity, from its invention by Frank Lloyd Wright to its use by start-ups and garage bands.
Addition of an existing hillside home to accommodate a new program for an art collector.
