Shared Sensibility – Venice Beach House by Tribe Studio Architects and Arabella McIntosh

Fusing an Australian and Californian sensibility, Venice Beach House captures the spirit of its owner and a resonating sense of place. Tribe Studio Architects and Arabella McIntosh bring a unique globally inspired approach in crafting the Los Angeles home of Armadillo co-founder Jodie Fried.

While the similarities in climate and an embrace of the natural elements bind both Los Angeles and Australian design, Venice Beach House is founded on the creation of a series of spaces that capture the global spirit of its owner. As the occasional home to Armadillo co-founder Jodie Fried and her family, the resulting residence speaks to a combined methodology, drawing on the renowned Californian outdoor lifestyle with that of familiar nods to home in Australia. Located amongst an assortment of established bungalow-style homes, the surrounding context plays a key role in the shaping of the proposed form, scale and proportion of the home, while referencing a key Australian influence. Tribe Studio Architects together with Arabella McIntosh merge an approach to architectural and interior design that flows effortlessly and speaks to Jodie’s own global nature and lifestyle.

Expressed through an openness between inside and out, the home invites a conversation with the surrounding landscape, and ensures a natural spill over of function into the outdoor destination spaces.

Built by Tatum Constructions, Venice Beach House is, at its heart, a laid-back family home. Expressed through an openness between inside and out, the home invites a conversation with the surrounding landscape and ensures a natural spill over of function into the outdoor destination spaces. The established fig tree within the front garden was a key inspiration and directed the planning to optimise natural shading and orientation to create key connections to natural elements. With Venice Beach known for its dense vegetation and landscape, drawing that narrative into the design and integrating living elements became a keen and necessary expression of context.

The four-bedroom home for its family of five incorporates multiple outdoor opportunities for play both inside and out, while also acting as an escape for the older residents. The sanctuary feeling is further reinforced through an open embrace of the landscape and the welcoming of solar gains, natural ventilation and a feeling of immersion within living elements. As a one-story form, the home sits comfortably in relation to its neighbours, responding delicately to the established surrounds while drawing a focus on the outdoor spaces as their own rooms with unique functionality. A textural and tactile palette reinforces the connection to nature both inside and out, with robust underfoot elements that facilitate the openness of the home, encouraging movement and flow.

As a one-story form, the home sits comfortably in relation to its neighbours, responding delicately to the established surrounds, while drawing a focus on the outdoor spaces as rooms that have their own function within the home as a whole.

Celebrated through gestures of contrast, Tribe Studio Architects and Arabella McIntosh conjure Venice Beach House as an open and embracing home that is also a place of reclusive calm and retreat, beautifully capturing the spirit of place and heritage.