The site is one of the most ubiquitous urban housing forms in Los Angeles: a standard lot in Venice with a main house, courtyard and rear garage with a studio unit above. Both structures were disheartening stucco boxes organized around a generous courtyard that was both secluded and serene. It appeared that the basic structures already on the site could be altered to create both a home for everyday use and a special pied-a-terre for their visitors.

After some study the firm decided to completely renovate the front house and increase its size from 1,700 sf to 2,300 sf with a rear addition. The interior of the apartment was renovated, and both the front and rear structures were clad in a perforated metal skin that wraps, stretches and reaches out across the central courtyard. The perforated metal was painted a subdued color, and the house and apartment walls underneath were painted a more saturated color.