When is a house finished? Is it when the last stone is laid? When are the keys handed over to the owner? José Selgas and Lucía Cano, the two halves of the Madrid studio SelgasCano, have overcome these phases and, perfectionists, they are not convinced. It is not enough with designer finishes, a furnished interior or a decoration studied to the millimeter. For them, the house is not complete until it has become the project that was in their head. And, in this one that they have just finished (well: almost finished, in their case) on Mount Washington, in the heart of Los Angeles, they are clear: it has palm trees, jasmine, some climbing plants, but the garden that they had in mind is not ready yet. Despite Southern California’s intense winter and spring rainy season (records say it has rained more in the last couple of years than Seattle), the green isn’t so green. So no, for them the house is not finished. But for the common mortal who passes through the hills and is left speechless when they see the bright colored tubes that make up its façade and balcony, La Canaria, as it has been named, is more than ready. Its inhabitants must think the same: if they moved just three weeks ago, it means they are ready.
Cano and Selgas are in love with the city of stars and this is not their first project in it. It arose from others, such as some offices (that resemble mushrooms or water lilies) that they have in Hollywood. Yes, it is the first home they have installed in the city and it is not exactly a commission. They decided to buy the land at a very good price (even for European pockets) in 2014 and in 2018 they started building, after reaching an agreement with a developer to build a home. But in this city nothing is permanent, and even less so with a pandemic involved. Luck smiled on them with a legal change that encourages an increase in population density (there are few houses and very expensive ones), and that allowed them to have two one-story homes instead of one two-story home. But then Covid-19 crossed their path and the work was paralyzed for three years.
Not them, but part of their team was in Los Angeles at the beginning of 2020 and, just in March, they decided to go to Spain to spend a few days off. The pandemic caught them there. They were not able to return and resume the project until 2023. During all that time, they were advancing with the project in Spain. The house is very Californian in its aesthetics, its colors and its layout: its back is attached to a mountain, it has the usual height in the area, a garage, stairs and an open upper terrace. But it is very Spanish in its composition. The couple had many of their elements made in Spain, such as their recycled aluminum railings lacquered in six colors or their wooden interiors, some of them in Oregon pine, which went to Spain to be treated and molded for the house and returned in containers per ship.
On Killarney Avenue, where the house is located, there are not many houses like this, at least from the outside. This is a middle-class, even upper-middle, residential neighborhood – some actors and also the former mayor of the city Antonio Villaraigosa live there – but very far from those mansions in Beverly Hills and Bel Air that are engraved in the collective imagination. . For example, it doesn’t have a swimming pool. A jacuzzi could be installed on the roof (both for space and weight), but that is not its goal. As its authors reflect, in a state like California, with constant droughts, it is almost obscene to design a modern house with such an element. But they take advantage of their privilege in other matters: the height, the breeze, the palm trees that cross their terraces, the fact of being able to convert their aesthetics, their striking tubes of color, into an asset also to be lived. No need to ask about inspiration. The yellow, orange, and reddish sunsets seen from its balconies are transferred to its aluminum bars, which make passersby raise their heads when they see it.
The two homes resulting from the work are connected and are very similar. The upper one, which is the main one and is already rented, has 100 square meters; the lower one, 80. Both open into a central living room and kitchen space completely paneled in wood, in that open and light pine that floods everything, and add two bedrooms on the sides, with a bathroom each and located discreetly. , almost hidden. It has a guest room and a guest toilet that, through a door, can be converted into a closed wing for guests.
“This is an ocean-city,” describes José Selgas, observing the urban prairie that extends in front of the house, the Los Angeles River park and the distant skyscrapers of Downtown, half-hidden by mountains. “With good insulators you don’t have to put in hot air in winter, nor hardly any cold air in summer.” The mandatory installation of elements such as air conditioning or fire alarms is covered with wooden grilles. There are many hidden elements in this house: doors, bathrooms, pantries, closets. On the outside the house is joy and color; Inside, it is austere, calm, friendly to the inhabitant, very comfortable.
Selgas and Cano also reflect on the difficulties of working in a country like the United States and in a state like California, with strict laws. Each step of construction has required endless paperwork. It was also not easy for them to find good craftsmen such as glaziers or carpenters; In the end they ended up discovering them among the neighbors, often Latino, in the neighborhood. Despite this, they are not discouraged. As soon as it was put on the market, the house was rented. A good sign. The architects affirm that they would like to develop other residential projects in the city, although what they are really interested in is collaborating with housing solutions that alleviate the terrible problem of homeless people that the city experiences. More than 75,000 citizens live on its streets, only in Los Angeles city, and although all administrations try to remedy it, the numbers continue to rise. But when they tried to contact the city to find housing solutions, they once again came face to face with the bureaucratic issue, which complicated and made everything more expensive to the point of making it impossible; So much so that they themselves urged changing the laws to facilitate the expensive and complicated process of creating housing. Time will tell if the Administration agrees with them. They, meanwhile, continue looking for land in Los Angeles, without pools but with soul. And with a lot, a lot of garden.
 designed by two Spanish architects | ICON Design){kind=link}