Rancho Road Residence by Studio AR&D Architects

Studio AR&D Architects brought a 1940s California desert home into the contemporary realm with a considered extension that honours the original while embracing a new architectural language.

When architect Sean Lockyer of Studio AR&D Architects stumbled across a 1940s Californian bungalow in Rancho Mirage – about 20 kilometres south-east of Palm Springs in California’s Coachella Valley – he could see the untapped potential of not just the home but the capacious block, home to an established garden that included a collection of century-old olive trees. Working with interior designer Anthony Cochran of Anthony Cochran Design, Lockyer and the Studio AR&D Architects team transformed the mid-century house into a contemporary family residence that embraces the old and new in equal measure.

Integral to the renewal was respecting the original character and language of the original dwelling while incorporating a new structure that would expand the property’s potential.

Integral to the renewal was respecting the original character and language of the original dwelling while incorporating a new structure that would expand the property’s potential and better suit contemporary living. “We realised that the original structure wouldn’t be able to meet the needs of the expanded program,” says Lockyer. “So we began by dividing the project into two wings, using the original bungalow for the guest wing and main living area, then utilising the new structure for the kitchen and main bedroom suite.

“At the same time, we wanted to honour and, often times, salvage the architectural texture of the original dwelling, juxtapose it with a more contemporary addition and then create a hinge point that married the two separate spaces and languages. The goal was to make this transition feel less like a collision and more like a marriage of the two fabrics.”

Creating interiors that nodded to the home’s mid-century origins without resorting to well-worn tropes was key.

The transition point takes the form of two striking black steel boxes. The lower iteration sits in what was a former 45 degree angle in the original floor plan and creates a dramatic main entry door; step inside and warm, welcoming wooden floors, walls and ceilings create a counterpoint to the metallic cool. The taller steel mass marks the beginning of the contemporary wing and comprises a large floor-to-ceiling window, which “protrudes up between the two spaces much like a blip on a heart rate monitor and serves as a kind of node for the intersection of two very different ideas,” says Lockyer.

For Cochran, creating interiors that nodded to the home’s mid-century origins without resorting to well-worn tropes was key. “The design mission was to deliver a well-edited and decidedly contemporary home – not a caricature of a mid-century one,” he says. “Using mostly neutral colours, with a touch of pale blue-grey, also assured we didn’t end up with a retro palette.” By mixing wildly disparate pieces – from a 17th-century Dutch portrait in the hallway to 1970s Castelli Alky armchairs in the lounge room – Cochran has created spaces that are anything but predictable.

Lockyer has created a stunning sense of indoor-outdoor connection, embracing a landscape that is spectacular in its own right.

Lockyer has created a stunning sense of indoor-outdoor connection, embracing a landscape that is spectacular in its own right. “Marrying landscape and architecture is very important to all of us at Studio AR&D Architects, and I would hope that shows itself in all of the studio’s projects,” he says. “For Rancho Road, the landscape became equally as important as the architecture when it came to making the transition between the old and the new. We also enjoy the variations between how some spaces relate to the landscape. Sometimes there is a very open connection between architecture and garden. At other times, this relationship is intentionally architecturally heavy with more of a curated, framed view.”

In contrast to its desert environment, Rancho Road Residence exists as an oasis of considered calm, where mid-century and modernist vernaculars coexist beautifully – a paean to Studio AR&D Architects’ meticulous processes and forward-thinking vision.

Architecture by Studio AR&D Architects. Interior design by Anthony Cochran Design.