Passive (Aggressive) House

Although the footprint and floor plan of the existing single-story house and garage remained relatively the same— in order to help maintain continuity for the family in the new design— a long and narrow rectangular volume was added to the second story to contain the new house addition and ADU. This new volume serves as a direct response to the property’s favorable east-west orientation which allows for maximum exposure to the sun for natural daylighting and passive (free) heating in winter. From this simple second-story volume, a series of smaller articulations were made such as the addition of shading elements across the south facade that help prevent the house from overheating in summer while the house’s new roof planes were articulated in such a way as to not only help reduce the building’s scale in relation to its smaller next door neighbors and to better define the interior spaces but to also promote air flow for passive cooling during hot summer days and nights.

In addition to the primary passive design strategies used to shape the exterior form of the house, a number of major strategies were also incorporated on the interior. The first strategy was to position the daytime living spaces in the taller and more open southern volume where they could receive the most daylight while nighttime sleeping spaces were separated by the new central staircase and positioned in the opposing shorter, darker, and more intimate northern volume. This approach also mirrored the existing ground floor spatial organization helping to tie together the old first floor and new second floor functions more seamlessly.

Interior materials were also carefully selected to further compliment the major exterior and interior passive design strategies. All new and existing interior walls— with the exception of the existing ground-floor kitchen and dining spaces which were refinished with a thin stone veneer and highlighted as one of the house’s focal points— were covered with painted white drywall to not only help keep costs down but to also reflect light and make the spaces feel larger and more open. Thicker stone tile flooring was used in the more occupied southern living spaces to add durability and to act as a thermal mass surface (thick gray line in graph above) in order to help temper (thick red dashed line) exterior temperature swings (blue dotted line) and enhance occupant comfort while natural wood flooring covered the northern sleeping spaces for added warmth.

The design of the house reflects not only the specific site and environmental conditions of Southern California but also the specific requirements and styles of the family. This required a careful balance between integrating the new house and ADU while also expressing the unique qualities of each. As a multi-generational Lebanese family with different styles and tastes, the primary residence incorporated Middle Eastern architectural elements such as arches, stone walls, mashrabiya screens, and Islamic patterned railings, while the ADU reflected a more simple and contemporary style.