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Hillside Design in The Flats of Brentwood

Vertical Placement on a Hillside Lot

Designers face many tasks but typically, placing the improvements on the lot is clear cut.  In the case of 171 Anita 3, the designer-builder, Mark Keckeisen and Rob Hussey, saw an opportunity to embrace the entire lot.

 The natural grade of 171, like many lots in this affluent Brentwood neighborhood, has an elevation drop of 30 feet, front to back.  Development of these neighboring lots has, until now, abandoned integration of the lower lot.  Further complicating this situation, Los Angeles had just adopted significant restrictions on the height of retaining walls.

 The developer of 171 felt the arroyo canyon views warranted the time and expense of creating a rear yard that integrates with the lot.  Almost 2 years were spent gaining regulatory approval from a variety of national and municipal environmental agencies for a swimming pool that is mounted on a 12 high pedestal only a few feet from Kenter Creek.  The pool creates the retaining wall which would be too high under current regulations.

 The pool was tied to the Lower Level of the house.  This Lower Level is a walkout basement lit with abundant natural light provided thru a skylight above the centrally located circular stairway.  The stairway is the dominant architectural fixture of the interior.  Each level has a short set of risers that allows one to reach any elevation without facing a cumbersome level of stairs for any climb.   The Main Level is only 4 steps below the Driveway/Detached 4 car garage.  Additional height integration is provided thru the garage as it is structural engineered to function as a two story loft which can also stack several cars.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 8:04 am and is filed under sellers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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