The project is located on Santa Monica Bay, in a renowned and coveted residential street overlooking Santa Monica canyon, with views to the beach and the blue and white surf of the Pacific.

The client requested the demolition of a 1940s house to build his new home to live with his family and where he can feel at ease and cultivate his passions.

This project reflects a collaboration between Livia Tomiselli of LTA+D and Marc Whipple of Whipple Russell Architects who designed the building.

Livia had worked for this client previously and she knew that he wanted a house were the boundaries between work, life, passions and family blend together giving life to a place that is peaceful and joyful but also for party and family reunions.

Marc designed the building, Livia designed and created the interior, landscape and lighting designs (together with Fabertechnica) and procured the details and palette of materials for the building.

To make the house welcoming and original, Livia chose to repeat the use of simple materials of value mixing them with great balance: stone, teak, steel and brass are the base materials mixed with walnut wood flooring large porcelain slabs, artistic mosaics and glass.

She chose “Grigio Perla” stone (extracted in the Tuscan Maremma) as the main material inside and out. This stone is characterized by a significant surface porosity and is a very strong sandstone with a rather uniform light gray color tone, which gives it a very delicate appearance. It is a sedimentary lithotype with yellowish veins and reddish patches that blends very well with other natural material like wood or steel.

“The stone pattern that you see in the facade, is the same as in the interior. We designed the pattern and had the pieces fabricated, numbered, shipped and then assembled there.”

To compliment the stonework, the upper-level façade is accented with custom-assembled extra wide teak planking that is brought inside as well.

Livia also knew that his client was a collector of model ships, matchbox cars, actual vintage cars, vinyl records, and many objects d’art. Also, he enjoyed a bit of the whimsical. Curating and displaying these objects provided an unusual challenge within the project. She and the client also wanted to incorporate some of the special items that were salvaged from the 1940s house that was originally on the site. They wanted to preserve and show appreciation for these singularly beautiful, artistic elements from the past.

What makes this villa really unique is that every part of it has been designed and custom made. The synergy between technical solutions, Italian craftsmanship and design is reflected in environments that combine innovation, custom-made furnishings, exclusive finishes and keeping the project under control in all its aspects: aesthetic, functional and economic.