2345 Beach

Single Family Dwelling + Recreation Room over Garage

Venice Beach, CA

completed 2004

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In LA homes the biggest room with the biggest door (strongest interior/exterior relationship) is usually in the one room legally unoccupiable.  This irony has not been unnoticed as most homeowners reprogram and renovate this space into the de-facto multi-purpose/ anti-living room.  With finishes and build conducive to both work and leisure of the casual persuasion, the garage is the under appreciated hub of the single-family home.  Low cost of construction and maintenance and high variation of usefulness and utility, the garage has long risen above the mere “storage” capacity of its program.

 

Planning codes allow for a “Recreation Room” with a half bath and mini-bar to be built detached from the “Main Building” in an R-1 zone.  This has been the source of a varied and flexible space not confined by the sometimes dogmatic program of the single family home.  It has also facilitated temporary shelter for the owner during design and construction of the main building especially in consideration of alternate quarters that could impact the budget