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APRIL 2010

F I N E L I V I N G I N T H E G R E A T E R P A S A D E N A A R E A

OUTDOOR ROOMSA FRESH-AIR GUIDE TO RELAXING,COOKING AND ENTERTAINING YOUR GUESTS IN STYLE

DESIGNPASADENA2010

ARROYO ~ APRIL 2010 ~ 1312 ~ APRIL 2010 ~ ARROYO

DESIGNPASADENA 2010

A PleasurePalaceALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE FOR THE PASADENA HOMEOWNERSWHO BUILT THE ULTIMATE OUTDOOR ROOM BESIDE A POOL HIGH UP IN THE SAN RAFAEL HILLS.

BY B.J. LORENZO | PHOTOS BY STEVE NUETZEL

ARROYO ~ APRIL 2010 ~ 1312 ~ APRIL 2010 ~ ARROYO

DESIGNPASADENA 2010

A PleasurePalaceALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE FOR THE PASADENA HOMEOWNERSWHO BUILT THE ULTIMATE OUTDOOR ROOM BESIDE A POOL HIGH UP IN THE SAN RAFAEL HILLS.

BY B.J. LORENZO | PHOTOS BY STEVE NUETZEL

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IS IT A POOL HOUSE? A PARTY HOUSE? A GUEST HOUSE? IT MIGHT

BE ANY OF THE ABOVE, ALTHOUGH IT HAPPENS TO BE NONE OF

THEM. IT’S CALLED A PAVILION—A SUPERBLY SCULPTURAL SPACE

THAT RESTS ON THE CREST OF A RIDGE IN PASADENA. IT’S ALSO

THE NEWEST INTERPRETATION OF THAT LIVING SPACE DU JOUR,

THE OUTDOOR ROOM. BUT INSTEAD OF BEING DESIGNATED FOR

A SINGLE PURPOSE, AS SO MANY ARE—WE’VE SEEN OUR SHARE

OF OUTDOOR KITCHENS, LIVING ROOMS AND THEATERS—IT HAS

A VERSATILITY THAT MAKES IT SUITABLE FOR ANY PLEASURABLE

PURPOSE ONE MIGHT CONTEMPLATE.

You play cello? This would be the perfect venue for a string quartet toentertain a few dozen guests. You do 200 laps each day? The infinity pool andspa are just off to the left, and this is where you’d head post-swim for a shower,coffee and a change of dress. Your toddlers like to camp out? You could easilypitch little tents inside to avoid coyotes and creepy crawlers. You host fundrais-ers and big family shindigs? This is ideal for such a group sport. One dictionarydescribes this structure succinctly: “Pavilion refers to a freestanding structuresited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it anobject of pleasure.”

The dictionary goes on to say that a pavilion is usually intended for noth-ing but relaxation and pleasure. And that’s what owners Linda and RickMcKnight envisioned when they asked Pasadena architect Stephen HansNuetzel to design a little something for a particular spot near the home they’djust purchased on a crest in the San Rafael Hills.

“We never planned on living in this area,” says Linda, a Pasadena native andformer Rose Bowl Queen. “We’d sold our Hancock Park home and were lookingfor another one in that same area. Then we saw this property, and we couldn’tresist.” It was the view that drew them in, she says. “We fell in love with it.”

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Views of and from the pavilion

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“HE DESIGNED A PAVILION AS DRAMATIC AS THE VIEW—SO CLEVERLY DONE, AND IN SUCH GREAT DETAIL, WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT ANGLES IN PLAY. THE OPEN-AIRFEELING WITH ALL THE GLASS DRAWN AWAY IS REALLY EXOTIC, LIKE SOMETHINGYOU’D FIND IN BALI.”

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Nuetzel, who tends to talk in archi-speak, says he and the McKnightsdecided “to inform the new pavilion with an updated, upgraded interpretationof the post-and-beam aesthetic. I developed a vocabulary of structural mem-bers: L-shaped concrete block pilasters, laminated wood beams and 12-inch-diameter concrete ‘posts’ that we used to carry out the design. The pavilion is,therefore, a modern interpretation of a mid-century post-and-beam structure.”

Now that he mentions it, that seems obvious. But visiting pleasure-seekersprobably won’t care. What they’ll love is the soaring butterfly roof, with itsupraised wings (which carry solar panels that heat the pool). And the handsomebeamed 12-foot-high ceiling that shelters the simple open space of about 700 square feet, with a concrete floor and view that doesn’t stop.

Rick McKnight, an attorney and partner-in-charge at Jones Day in LosAngeles, says Nuetzel accomplished the near impossible: “He designed a pavil-ion as dramatic as the view—so cleverly done, and in such great detail, with somany different angles in play. The open-air feeling with all the glass drawnaway is really exotic, like something you’d find in Bali.”

When the glass walls are closed, Nuetzel’s design can also be an indoorspace. There’s a kitchen area along one wall that includes a dishwasher andrefrigerator, which are hidden behind cabinetry, as well as a stainless-steel sinkembedded in the colorful polished-concrete countertop. The spacious storageroom and luxurious bath area—also with concrete floors, walls and polished-concrete countertops—includes enough space for towels, robes and toiletriesto satisfy a boatload of party-goers and swimmers.

Cooking facilities are just a few steps away: A hand-carved 18th-centuryRajasthani counter from India forms the framework for a large outdoor foodpreparation area with a barbecue. It stands between the pavilion and thehouse, accessed by a path of Indian mahogany pavers designed and built byNuetzel. The pavilion has no built-in heating or cooling, and the McKnightskeep what Nuetzel calls “an armada of portable heaters on site” for warmthwhen necessary.

So far, the McKnights have used the pavilion for all manner of dailydoings and larger gatherings. “It’s a great place for Christmas andThanksgiving dinners,” says Rick, who with his wife hosted a wedding recep-tion there for their daughter, as well as a big birthday bash for himself. “Weactually have plenty of space in our house to entertain,” says Linda, “butsomehow we always use the pavilion because it’s just so perfect.” AM

It’s easy to see why. Their home, on four acres, is what Realtors wouldbreathlessly call “a spectacular view house,” and for once they’d be understatingthe case. Of course, Pasadena (and much of SoCal) is loaded with view homesperched on mountaintops, slung out over canyons, hinged onto cliffs above thePacific and so on. But the vista from this place is unlike most others because it isalmost dauntingly panoramic. It’s 360 degrees of unobstructed landscape, tak-ing in the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Catalina, Mt. Baldy, Mt. San Gorgonio, thedowntown tower cluster and all the smaller, closer landmarks like JPL, the RoseBowl and much more. It’s the sort of site a medieval overlord might have cho-sen to keep a close eye on his serfs and turf, yet is just aloft enough to safeguardhis superiority.

That said, the existing single-story house didn’t live up to the view whenthe McKnights bought it. And the property had no pool or spa, both of whichthe couple wanted. The former owner’s old greenhouse sat on a space they feltcould be put to much better use.

So they called on Nuetzel to update, upgrade and reconfigure the mainhouse, tear down the greenhouse and instead install a pool, spa and outdoorroom they could use for après-swim, entertaining or just hanging out withfriends and family—in other words, a pavilion.

Nuetzel, obviously inspired by the site and the opportunity to create amini–pleasure palace, says he didn’t have to wonder about where to build thepool and pavilion complex. “Most of the McKnight acreage is hillside and verysteep,” he says. “The only buildable part is the flat land at the top,” which isaligned with the main house. And the inspiration for the pavilion, which looks socontemporary, actually sprang from the design of that original house, he adds.

The existing house was a post-and-beam structure built in 1959. This typeof building, prevalent in Southern California construction after World War II,utilized vertical wood posts to support large horizontal wood beams, which inturn supported the roof. These homes usually had open-space interiors ratherthan a series of small rooms and featured glass walls to bring the outdoors in;roof beams were left exposed as an ornamental feature.

Nuetzel happens to know a thing or two about upgrading mid-centurypost-and-beam homes, not least because he lives in one just a few minutesdown the road from the McKnights. His was designed by Buff, Straub andHensman, Pasadena’s masters of the post-and-beam genre.

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ABOVE: Southwest façade FROM TOP: Northwest corner; skylit passageway; east courtyard

ARROYO ~ APRIL 2010 ~ 23

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DESIGNPASADENA 2010

Sleek New SchoolsRise on a StoriedHotel Site

TWO GENERATIONS OF PASADENA ARCHITECTS “COLLABORATE” ONTHE NEW CENTRAL LOS ANGELES LEARNING CENTER NO. 1 ON THESITE OF THE FORMER AMBASSADOR HOTEL.

BY MORRIS NEWMAN

Nothing remains of the hotel designed by Caltech and Occidental Collegearchitect Myron Hunt, with the exception of the Morocco-themed interior ofthe Cocoanut Grove nightclub, which has become the high school auditorium.But if the Ambassador is technically gone, the old building continues to “haunt”the campus, or at least inform it. Motorists on Wilshire Boulevard may not evenrealize the hotel no longer exists. The original front lawn, stretching back fromWilshire 400 feet, remains intact. And the hotel’s façade—at least its shape—hasalso survived: The new design of the four-story high school replicates the longhorizontal lines of the hotel’s original profile.

“The way the original hotel stood in relation to the boulevard was verypowerful and romantic,” says David Goodale, design principal of GonzalezGoodale Architects. Adding to the effect was the site’s slope, which lifted thehotel’s ground floor 30 feet above street level. “We did everything we could toretain some of the same sense of mass and scale that had been there,” he adds.

The Ambassador Hotel’s transformation into multiple school campuses canbe seen as a dialog between two generations of Pasadena architects: Hunt, a clas-sicist and one of the most respected designers of his era, designed the Pasadena

LOS ANGELES RESIDENTS MIGHT BE FORGIVEN FOR CONTINUING TO REFER TO THEROBERT F. KENNEDY COMMUNITY SCHOOLS AS “THE AMBASSADOR SITE,” EVENTHOUGH THE AMBASSADOR HOTEL AND ITS MANY OUTBUILDINGS WERE DEMOLISHEDFOUR YEARS AGO OVER PRESERVATIONISTS’ PROTESTS. THE GOAL WAS TO MAKE WAYFOR A NEW LAUSD COMPLEX—PRIMARY, MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOLS DESIGNED BYPASADENA’S GONZALEZ GOODALE ARCHITECTS TO SERVE MORE THAN 4,000 STUDENTS;THE 44-CLASSROOM PRIMARY SCHOOL HAS BEEN OPEN SINCE LAST FALL, AND THETWO UPPER-GRADE SCHOOLS, WITH 130 MORE CLASSROOMS, ARE STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION, SCHEDULED TO BE COMPLETED THIS SUMMER. —CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

The Ambassador Hotel

TWO GENERATIONS OF PASADENA ARCHITECTS“COLLABORATE” ON THE NEW KENNEDYCOMMUNITY SCHOOLS, ON THE SITE OF THE FAMED AMBASSADOR HOTEL.

BY MORRIS NEWMAN

ABOVE: Southwest façade FROM TOP: Northwest corner; skylit passageway; east courtyard

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DESIGNPASADENA 2010

Sleek New SchoolsRise on a StoriedHotel Site

TWO GENERATIONS OF PASADENA ARCHITECTS “COLLABORATE” ONTHE NEW CENTRAL LOS ANGELES LEARNING CENTER NO. 1 ON THESITE OF THE FORMER AMBASSADOR HOTEL.

BY MORRIS NEWMAN

Nothing remains of the hotel designed by Caltech and Occidental Collegearchitect Myron Hunt, with the exception of the Morocco-themed interior ofthe Cocoanut Grove nightclub, which has become the high school auditorium.But if the Ambassador is technically gone, the old building continues to “haunt”the campus, or at least inform it. Motorists on Wilshire Boulevard may not evenrealize the hotel no longer exists. The original front lawn, stretching back fromWilshire 400 feet, remains intact. And the hotel’s façade—at least its shape—hasalso survived: The new design of the four-story high school replicates the longhorizontal lines of the hotel’s original profile.

“The way the original hotel stood in relation to the boulevard was verypowerful and romantic,” says David Goodale, design principal of GonzalezGoodale Architects. Adding to the effect was the site’s slope, which lifted thehotel’s ground floor 30 feet above street level. “We did everything we could toretain some of the same sense of mass and scale that had been there,” he adds.

The Ambassador Hotel’s transformation into multiple school campuses canbe seen as a dialog between two generations of Pasadena architects: Hunt, a clas-sicist and one of the most respected designers of his era, designed the Pasadena

LOS ANGELES RESIDENTS MIGHT BE FORGIVEN FOR CONTINUING TO REFER TO THEROBERT F. KENNEDY COMMUNITY SCHOOLS AS “THE AMBASSADOR SITE,” EVENTHOUGH THE AMBASSADOR HOTEL AND ITS MANY OUTBUILDINGS WERE DEMOLISHEDFOUR YEARS AGO OVER PRESERVATIONISTS’ PROTESTS. THE GOAL WAS TO MAKE WAYFOR A NEW LAUSD COMPLEX—PRIMARY, MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOLS DESIGNED BYPASADENA’S GONZALEZ GOODALE ARCHITECTS TO SERVE MORE THAN 4,000 STUDENTS;THE 44-CLASSROOM PRIMARY SCHOOL HAS BEEN OPEN SINCE LAST FALL, AND THETWO UPPER-GRADE SCHOOLS, WITH 130 MORE CLASSROOMS, ARE STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION, SCHEDULED TO BE COMPLETED THIS SUMMER. —CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

The Ambassador Hotel

TWO GENERATIONS OF PASADENA ARCHITECTS“COLLABORATE” ON THE NEW KENNEDYCOMMUNITY SCHOOLS, ON THE SITE OF THE FAMED AMBASSADOR HOTEL.

BY MORRIS NEWMAN

40 ~ APRIL 2010 ~ ARROYO

Public Library and was Occidental’s principal architect until 1940. GonzalezGoodale, for its part, is a prolific designer of schools, housing and public build-ings, all in a Modernist mode.

If the high school echoes the shape of the original hotel, the resemblance stopsthere. Instead of the Ambassador’s pinkish stucco and red roof tiles, the new build-ings display industrial materials like curtain glass walls and zinc applied in hori-zontal bands. Another change was terracing the sloping site, giving each school itsown level and providing a “natural” separation between adjoining schools. Thismulti-level strategy allowed the architects to add visually exciting elementsthroughout the campus in the form of outdoor stairs, ramps and bridges.

And departing from standard school design, where windows are flush withthe surrounding walls, the windows at the Kennedy Community Schools areoften deeply recessed into the external walls, to keep direct sunlight from heat-ing up classrooms. From an aesthetic standpoint, the deep window frames alsomake the walls appear thick and massive while cutting stark, dramatic shadowsin the façades.

It is not difficult to understand preservationists’ sentiments about theAmbassador, both as an architectural and cultural landmark. With the exceptionof the former Bullocks Wilshire Department Store, the Ambassador wasarguably the most distinctive structure on Wilshire during much of its reign

from 1921 to the century’s end, especially during its early years, when the boule-vard was a magnet for Hollywood and high society. Talent agents “discovered”Carole Lombard and Joan Crawford at the Cocoanut Grove, and Bing Crosbymade his singing debut there. One of L.A.’s most prominent African-Americanarchitects, Paul Williams, created a coffee shop with arching ceilings and lunettewindows for the Ambassador, which the current architects have rebirthed as acafeteria. The Ambassador later became the notorious site of the 1968 assassina-tion of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, on the night of his victory in the CaliforniaDemocratic presidential primary.

If the site has lost the patina of old Hollywood, new school buildings, plus apark that will be open to the public after school hours, are vital new uses for theold hotel site. Beyond their architecture, the school campuses are most impres-sive for their abundant outdoor spaces. The 24-acre size of the three-schoolcampus, almost unheard of in L.A.’s densely built-up core, allows for vast, sun-filled playgrounds.

And wherever possible, the architects have emphasized views, as a way ofintegrating the school into “the fabric of the city,” Goodale says. One of the bestvantage points is the uppermost story of the high school, looking north towardHollywood. At a distance, the neighborhood looks almost like a Mediterraneanvillage of stucco-and-tile buildings. Says Goodale: “The view gives you analmost dizzying panoramic connection with the whole city.” AM

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South elevation, rendering and completion

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