PODCASTS > Arcat Detailed Podcast Episode

105: Feng Shui | Zen Modern Residence

40m 53s |

In this episode, Cherise is joined by Marcos Santa Ana, licensed Architect, General Contractor, and high-performance building designer. Marcos founded Alloi, a Los Angeles-based architect-led design-build firm.

The Zen Modern Residence, a 2,650-square-foot home, seamlessly merges poetry and pragmatics. Originally a traditional 1,650-square-foot house, it underwent a thoughtful transformation, resulting in a stunning two-story home. True to its name, the Zen Modern Residence incorporates Feng Shui principles to promote harmony and tranquility.

Photos Credit: Nils Timm

Project Name and Location: Zen Modern House, Los Angeles, California

The 2,650 square-foot Zen Modern Residence balances poetry and pragmatics through a transformation of a 1,650 square-foot traditional home, which included adding a second-level master suite, children’s bedroom, and a reconfigured ground floor.

The resulting new street-facing façade presents three distinct volumes that communicate the house's interior organization - pure white for Garage, patina black stucco for Bedrooms, and custom horizontal raked stucco for the generous open-to-below stair and hidden roof deck.

These differentiated architectural volumes are unified by careful attention to their overall composition, proportion, and visual balance; the home exists in dynamic tension as forms and materials pull forward and recede from different vantage points.

True to its name, the Zen Modern Residence emphasizes Feng Shui methodologies providing visual protection at the entry via the distinctive screening element that sits atop the concrete landscape wall.

Further Feng Shui values are exemplified through the home’s natural ventilation system, which expels hot air through the stair tower’s skylight and also doubles as a west-facing wind catch.

A floor-to-ceiling corner window floods the Master Bedroom with light, a singular break in the otherwise monolithic cantilevered black box.

This cantilever also serves to create a sense of enclosure at the entry, which in concert with the screening element lends a sense of privacy to the entry.

Marcos Santa Ana, AIA, CPHD, Architect, General Contractor, High Performance Building Designer, Alloi, [email protected].

Marcos Santa Ana, founder of Alloi, is a licensed architect, general contractor, and certified high-performance building designer. Leading the Los Angeles-based architect-led design-build firm, he brings a global educational background from New York, Barcelona, and Aarhus.

Since launching Alloi in 2009, Marcos has been pioneering sustainable and energy-efficient design, inspired by his diverse studies and rich family heritage in the arts and building.

Alloi specializes in contemporary design influenced by Southern California's mid-century modernists including Neutra, Schindler, and Lautner. Guided by Zen minimalism and Feng Shui, our design ethos aims for architectural harmony and serene spaces, drawing inspiration from Japanese architects such as Sakamoto, Apollo, and Ando.