GRAPHĒ

It Took Over a Year to Bring This SoCal Midcentury From Flea-Infested to a "Soft Industrial Dream"

Designer and artist Bethany Brill added skylights to bring sunshine into her family’s Costa Mesa home, but the stainless steel kitchen and concrete floors make it anything but beachy.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Costa Mesa, California

Designer: Bethany Brill / @bbrill

Footprint: 1,378 square feet

Photographer: Kylie Springer / @kyliespringer_

Photographer: Bethany Brill / @bbrill

From the Designer: "When an off-market deal for a dilapidated house, 10 minutes from the beach on a big lot in Costa Mesa, California, landed in the lap of designer Bethany Brill, her husband, Jorge, (and three children), they couldn’t resist the challenge of bringing this 1950s gem back to life.

"The original angled fireplace and high ceilings were the main draw to the home, character-wise. Bethany removed the popcorn ceiling drywall to expose the rafters and added skylights throughout the home to let in more of that California sunshine. The primary bathroom was completely reworked and expanded, borrowing space from the utility closet to allow for an open-plan bedroom/bathroom which expanded the space significantly. From the bespoke kitchen door, vanities, and furniture throughout, brightly colored plywood was another theme—adding a down-to-earth perspective always seen in the designer’s projects.

"It took about a year and a half to bring this single-story three-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch from flea- and vine-infested into the soft industrial dream it is now—perfect for a busy family with its durable features of honed concrete floors and lots of stainless-steel elements. The house now embodies the homeowner’s POV with minimal and design forward materials without feeling too fancy or perfect."

See the full story on Dwell.com: It Took Over a Year to Bring This SoCal Midcentury From Flea-Infested to a "Soft Industrial Dream"
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The ’70s Are Alive and Well in This Curvaceous SoCal Home Seeking $2.5M

Designed by James Hubbell, Robert Thiele, and Rhoda Lopez, the organic residence has adobe walls, custom woodwork, and handmade ceramic details.

Location: 16512 Wilderness Road, Poway, California

Price: $2,500,000

Year Built: 1979

Designers : Earth Form Builder (architect Robert Thiele and artists James Hubbell and Rhoda Lopez)

Footprint: 2,232 square feet (4 bedrooms, 2 baths)

Lot Size: 1 acre

From the Agent: "Nestled in a granite boulder field in Poway’s Green Valley, the organic architecture of the Stonehill Residence (1979) by Earth Form Builder is unlike any home in the surrounding area. Arriving for the first time, visitors are struck by the organic, curvilinear walls that connect the structure to its surrounding landscape. The deep, scalloped eaves extend the roofline into the private 1-acre parcel. As you enter the James Hubbell–designed door and surrounding stained glass, you are welcomed into a circular living room anchored by a towering fireplace. Within moments of your arrival, you will recognize how the Stonehill Residence rests amidst a quiet valley. This four-bedroom, two-bathroom home of 2,232 square feet is available to tour by appointment only"

The fireplace is housed in a masonry tower off which the roof structure extends outward, sloping towards the earth. — The living room fireplace is set in a masonry tower that supports the roof structure.

Photo by Ollie Paterson

See the full story on Dwell.com: The ’70s Are Alive and Well in This Curvaceous SoCal Home Seeking $2.5M
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The Bricks of This Quito Home Were Handmade at the Foot of a Nearby Volcano

The hillside residence, built for a retired couple, circles a courtyard in a continuous loop.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Quito, Ecuador

Architect: Cordada / @cordada_arch

Footprint: 2,475 square feet

Civil Engineer: Patricio Cevallos

Carpenter: Alfredo Acosta

Photographer: JAG Studio / @jag_studio

From the Architect: "Arupo rises serenely before the Ilaló volcano, in the Cornejo neighborhood of Conocoto. It is the home of a couple who embrace retirement not as an ending but as a threshold into a different time: slower in work, yet more intense in love for their children and grandchildren. An intimate refuge, yet open—ready to welcome family, friends, and the flow of life itself. The memory of an accident gave them the certainty that living should mean freedom from barriers. The house embraces the slope with ramps linking three levels in a continuous journey, almost as if all were a single plane. Movement becomes fluid, accessible, uninterrupted.

"Its nearly square plan unfolds around an arupo tree embraced by a fountain in the central patio. Here, time becomes visible: the pink blossoms announce the seasons, drought and rain leave their traces on the walls, dawns and sunsets framed by the patio remind the inhabitants that each day is unique. This green and liquid heart brings together the social and the intimate, while gently opening to Ilaló and its gardens.

"The construction rests on three principles: comfort, proximity, and intimacy. Load-bearing walls of handmade brick, produced on the slopes of the very volcano that dominates the view, reveal in their irregularity the imprint of human labor. Above them, a wooden roof multiplies the warmth of light, creating spaces woven with shadows—refuges inhabited by time."

This hillside residence, built for a retired couple, circles a courtyard in a continuous loop.

Photo by JAG Studio

See the full story on Dwell.com: The Bricks of This Quito Home Were Handmade at the Foot of a Nearby Volcano
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Between Power Lines and a Protected Pecan Tree, This Texas Home Found a Way to Fit In

Architects José Minguell and Laura McQuary rose to the occasion when neighbors asked them to design a home like their own, on one of East Austin’s trickiest lots.

The second-level terrace was designed to take advantage of Austin’s southeast to northeast prevailing winds.

In 2021, Matt and Leah Ray—a pair of outdoorsy college sweethearts from Texas—had just moved into a shabby mobile home in East Austin when they were driving through the neighborhood, seeking inspiration for their dream home.

Around the block, they locked eyes on one residence in particular with a geometric form that Leah says "was unlike anything else I had really seen."

Leah left a note for the homeowners, who happened to be longtime Austin-based architectural duo José Minguell and Laura McQuary of the design-build firm Minguell-McQuary. Her message got right to the point: Can you make us a place like yours?

Matt (a solutions engineer) and Leah (a medical writer) Ray met at the University of Texas Austin—coincidentally the same school where architects José Minguell and Laura McQuary met years earlier. — Matt (a solutions engineer) and Leah (a medical writer) Ray met at the University of Texas Austin—which is coincidentally the same school where architects José Minguell and Laura McQuary met years earlier.

Photo: Casey Dunn

"It’s kind of nice when a client comes to you because they saw your work," Minguell says. And when Leah and Matt shared that they recently moved to the neighborhood, McQuary remembers thinking, "Of course we’re gonna do your house."

But what began as a serendipitous pairing turned complicated when it came to the couple’s property.

"They probably found the smallest lot in the neighborhood," McQuary says, estimating that it’s about a third the size of an average residential parcel in East Austin. To make matters trickier, the property is sandwiched between immovable power lines and a grand pecan tree, the latter of which is protected as a "heritage tree" by the city.

Nevertheless, the lot’s ideal two-block proximity to a trail along the Colorado River meant that Matt and Leah were motivated to make it work.

To get the home to fit, Minguell and McQuary had to think diagonally.

First, they situated the ground floor on the north side of the lot to avoid the pecan tree’s roots. Then, they designed the second-floor bedroom, office, and terrace (along with the third-floor primary bedroom) to jut southward, in order to create distance from the power lines.

"It’s basically a series of masses that are offset from each other," McQuary says about the design.

Photo: Casey Dunn

Viewed from the street, the home’s gray brickwork base gives way to corrugated steel that’s colored, according to Leah and Matt, in a "very Austin" green to blend with the trees behind. The front door is accessible through an inviting steel arch that leads into the property’s inner courtyard.

Beyond the number of rooms, the only specific design request that Matt and Leah had was for the home to emphasize indoor/outdoor living.

"Ninety percent of the year, it’s blazing-lava hot," Leah says about the south-Texas climate. Having a shady retreat would help them make the most of Austin’s temperate spring and autumn months.

A sprawling second-floor terrace accordingly became the centerpiece of a design that blurs the line between inside and out. Made from waterproofed bamboo, the terrace was a splurge that effectively gave Matt and Leah a second living room outdoors.

See the full story on Dwell.com: Between Power Lines and a Protected Pecan Tree, This Texas Home Found a Way to Fit In
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This $7.3M Whistler Ski Retreat Is All Angles

Designed by Patkau Architects, this surreal ski retreat juts out from a mountainside with a complex, geometric facade.

Location: 3801 Sunridge Place, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

Price: $9,950,000 CAD (approximately $7,274,395 USD)

Year Built: 2013

Architect: Patkau Architects

Footprint: 4,497 square feet (3 bedrooms, 4.5 baths)

Lot Size: 0.26 Acres

From the Agent: "A statement in modern alpine design, this award-winning residence in the exclusive Sunridge neighborhood captures panoramic views across Whistler Valley through soaring ceilings, dramatic geometric lines, and expansive walls of glass. Designed by Patkau Architects, the home is a masterful expression of light, form, and its seamless relationship with the surrounding alpine landscape. Privately positioned within this sought-after ski-access enclave, the property offers rare quiet and discretion while remaining moments from the mountain and just minutes to Whistler Village. As much a work of art as it is a welcoming home, this residence presents a rare opportunity to own a property of architectural pedigree in one of Whistler’s most prestigious neighborhoods—where privacy, design excellence, and mountain lifestyle converge."

Photo courtesy of John Ryan and Patkau Architects

In 2008, the home received the Canadian Architect Award of Excellence. — The home received a Canadian Architect Award of Excellence in 2008.

Photo courtesy of John Ryan and Patkau Architects

See the full story on Dwell.com: This $7.3M Whistler Ski Retreat Is All Angles
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Windows Boated Over for This Hawaiian Cabin Were Brought to Shore on—What Else—Surfboards

The out-of-time Molokai home by designer and builder Jay Nelson was an exercise in characteristic improvisation.

Jay Nelson is a dreamer who creates kid forts for grownups (and some for actual kids). I have been a fan of his aesthetic for decades now, but I was first exposed to his tree house installations and mobile experiments through Mollusk Surf Shop in San Francisco. Seeing that shop was like a dream come true for me—everything I loved about surfing and its connection to the arts encapsulated in a rootsy reinterpretation of a traditional surf shop. Jay’s architectural imprint helped define the shop’s now-iconic style.

Mollusk opened their second location in Venice Beach, just down the street from where I bought my first home, a dilapidated foreclosure. When I renovated, I took direct inspiration from Jay’s imaginative body of work and focus on reclaimed wood. A few years later, as I began documenting creative surfers’ homes for my Surf Shacks book series, Jay’s projects became the inspirational North Star—it became like a scavenger hunt to find his projects and feature them. I showed his own home, in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset neighborhood, in Vol.2, and the house he designed and built for Jess Bianchi and Malia Grace Mau on Kauai, featured in Vol.1, is still one of my favorites that I’ve covered over the years.

Now 1o years later, that same project inspired this house on Molokai, designed and built for Hawaii local, waterman, and rancher Galen McCleary. It’s important to note that Jay doesn’t just design these homes. He builds them with his own hand-picked team of friends and curates all the materials, with every detail considered. Each of his case studies is special in that way—they feel like livable works of art. A lot of love goes into them, and it shows.

These interviews have been excerpted from Surf Shacks Vol. 3: Exploring the Spirit of Coastal Living by Matt Titone, published by Gestalten.

Matt Titone: How did this particular project come about for you?

Jay Nelson: My client, Galen and I first crossed paths at a restaurant by my house. He had seen the house I made in Kauai and asked if I would be interested in doing something similar for him, also in Hawaii. I was feeling a little unsure about taking on a big project far from home and family. But Galen invited me out, and when I saw the site and experienced the place, I felt like it was something I had to do. I knew it had the potential to be one of the great projects of my lifetime. In the end, it worked out pretty good because when the plans were approved, my kids were out of school during Covid, so we all went out there and built the majority of the house during that time.

Describe your design process for the home. Where did you draw inspiration from?

Well, I thought a lot about the place. I made a few trips before I started drawing. Where the house sits is a very special site. There are no other homes in the sight line, so I wanted to make something that blended as much as possible. It’s a big responsibility placing a home in a landscape but the location felt even heavier than normal, so I needed to get it right. The Big Sur architecture of the midcentury is a big inspiration, Northern California in general actually. I buy tons of books even if I’m just remotely interested in the subject. I pull a lot of inspiration from my books.

Were you staying on-site the whole time? What were some of the challenges during the build process?

It was a very challenging place to build. For the whole project, we were off-grid, and the closest hardware store is an hour away. The cement truck couldn’t cross the bridge, so the foundation had to be hand mixed, one shovel at a time. There were five primary builders on the project. Jerry Stauber was on-site almost every day and lives on the island full-time. Max Shultz and Sam Buchanan, who worked for me in California, they also had to make the commute back and forth. And then Galen, who ended up helping a lot. Plus lots of other friends who came for short stints. We were constantly traveling back and forth.

See the full story on Dwell.com: Windows Boated Over for This Hawaiian Cabin Were Brought to Shore on—What Else—Surfboards
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This San Francisco Architect Has Some Thoughts On the City’s Many Vacant Spaces

Anand Sheth’s presentation at the San Francisco Art Fair shows how designers are thinking about adaptability and reuse.

This story is part of Fair Take, our reporting on global design events that looks up close at the newest ideas in fixtures, furnishings, and more.

For the second year in a row, Dwell has partnered with architect and curator Anand Sheth on an exhibition at the San Francisco Art Fair, held at Fort Mason. Called "Inheriting San Francisco," the show celebrates San Francisco’s historic adaptability and explores what Sheth calls the city’s "aesthetics of vacancy" and the values shaping its urban landscape today. "It speaks to a kind of resourcefulness and innovation that feels very true to the Bay Area," adds the fair’s director, Kelly Freeman. "The constant push to create more with what’s in front of you, and to keep stretching what’s possible. "It feels incredibly of the moment."

Sheth, who’s called San Francisco home for 20 years, filled the stage of a theater with furniture, lighting, and other objects by emerging designers that represent the ideas, preoccupations, and obsessions animating the Bay Area’s creative community right now. Ahead of the show, which is now on view and runs through April 19, we spoke with Sheth about his curatorial approach, the ideas driving San Francisco design, and some of his own custom work he created for the fair.

Untildef Studio, Lam Arm Chair, Nomad Chair, and Off Cut Side Table — Untildef Studio, *Lam Arm Chair*, *Nomad Chair*, and *Off Cut Side Table*

Photo courtesy Anand Sheth

What does the theme "Inheriting San Francisco" mean to you?

"Inheriting San Francisco" is a response to supporting my emerging creative community in taking responsibility as stewards of the city. We’re at a certain place in our careers where we’re not just accepting information and getting inspired by San Francisco; we’re building our businesses and shaping institutions. With that comes this potential burden of inheriting all of the good and also the challenges that San Francisco presents.

What does it mean for you to act as both architect and curator in this context?

A real through line of my curatorial practice has been less about finding beauty in the world, though that’s important, and more about unearthing a more experimental version of beauty. In an art environment that prioritizes beauty, how do we allow people to make space in their palette for confrontational concepts and ideas? And how can those concepts align with beauty while being just as valuable as the beauty itself?

I’m trying to relate my curatorial practice to the process of architecture, where we’re promising to complete something that doesn’t exist yet, but we’re committed to its realization nonetheless. For the San Francisco Art Fair, we don’t exactly know the final look and feel of the objects we’ll be presenting, but we do know a lot about the narrative they’re communicating.

Untildef Studio, Nomad Loveseat — Untildef Studio, *Nomad Loveseat*

Photo courtesy Anand Sheth

The background, surrounding, and threshold of the stage, as well as the capsule furniture collection on stage, are made from ordinary Oriented Strand Board (OSB). What drew you to elevate that material?

OSB is an extremely ubiquitous and cheap material. When you sand it down to a certain level, it has an interesting grain pattern that feels really fluid. Last year, I was invited by a friend to be the architect and curator of a pop-up concept, and I selected OSB as the guiding material. We played into the DIY aesthetic a little bit because OSB is an inexpensive and solid material that’s often used to board up storefronts. Vacancy is not an accident; it’s programmed into the structure of our economy. I wanted to express the creative community’s discontent about not having enough space, while there’s all sorts of vacant space across the San Francisco. In this concept of inheriting San Francisco, it’s about the relationship of this material in our pedestrian experience.

Untildef Studio, Offcut Side Table A — Untildef Studio, *Offcut Side Table A*

Photo courtesy Anand Sheth

See the full story on Dwell.com: This San Francisco Architect Has Some Thoughts On the City’s Many Vacant Spaces

It Took Over a Year to Bring This SoCal Midcentury From Flea-Infested to a "Soft Industrial Dream"

The ’70s Are Alive and Well in This Curvaceous SoCal Home Seeking $2.5M

The Bricks of This Quito Home Were Handmade at the Foot of a Nearby Volcano

Project Details:

Between Power Lines and a Protected Pecan Tree, This Texas Home Found a Way to Fit In

This $7.3M Whistler Ski Retreat Is All Angles

Windows Boated Over for This Hawaiian Cabin Were Brought to Shore on—What Else—Surfboards

These interviews have been excerpted from Surf Shacks Vol. 3: Exploring the Spirit of Coastal Living by Matt Titone, published by Gestalten.

Matt Titone: How did this particular project come about for you?

Describe your design process for the home. Where did you draw inspiration from?

Were you staying on-site the whole time? What were some of the challenges during the build process?

This San Francisco Architect Has Some Thoughts On the City’s Many Vacant Spaces

What does the theme "Inheriting San Francisco" mean to you?

What does it mean for you to act as both architect and curator in this context?

The background, surrounding, and threshold of the stage, as well as the capsule furniture collection on stage, are made from ordinary Oriented Strand Board (OSB). What drew you to elevate that material?

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