A Spanish-style Los Angeles house has been transformed into a minimalist, contemporary domestic haven, peeking behind a screen of San Pedro cacti. This is Centered Home, a project by Annie Barrett (of Aanda Architects) and Hye-Young Chung (of HYCArch), a team of architects who redesigned the existing property into a design-led abode with unexpected geometries and angular skylights, for a couple about to enter semi-retirements ‘and programmatic shifts that a new phase of life brings’.
The project’s street façade does not reveal much. A simple, clean, low rectilinear box is set back from the street behind the cacti garden, with a set of paved steps leading up to a discreet entrance, which is set to the one side of the building. Charred shou sugi ban rainscreen-cladding bridges the natural landscape in front and the minimalist architecture behind.
Stepping inside, the feeling is one of simplicity and brightness, underlined by the choice of materials – light colours throughout, broad, natural-timber Dinesen plank flooring, custom millwork, and crisp white plaster surfaces. The internal arrangement is built around a central ‘cube', a space off which spread the different functions. The most private areas are at the core, while communal and more public-facing spaces dot the perimeter of the floorplan.
‘While inside the house, one is either within the cube, or living between it and the visually porous exterior envelope of the building, creating direct connections to nature and amplifying the sense of the cube as a volume within a volume – or, a home within a house,' says Barrett.
Skylights at the top of angular, pyramidal ceiling shapes and skylights offer both a sense of drama and a meditative touch. Some are playfully concealed from different views, giving the sense of ‘a game of peekaboo as you circle the space’, says Chung, adding a touch of fun and the unexpected to this domestic interior.
INFORMATION
-
Wallpaper* Design Awards: how David/Nicolas reimagined a 1990 Porsche 964 TargaThe two-seater convertible Porsche was given a makeover by the designers, featuring an oiled teak handbrake, machined brass dials, and Connolly leather interiors
-
Wallpaper* Architect Of The Year 2026: Marina Tabassum on a building that made her smileMarina Tabassum discusses Geoffrey Bawa’s Lunuganga, and more – as we asked our three Architects of the Year at the 2026 Wallpaper* Design Awards about a building that made them smile
-
Cult accessory brand Déhanche unveils chunky hardware jewelleryAfter three years of creating jewelled belt buckles, Déhanche jewellery joins our wish list
-
This remarkable retreat at the foot of the Catskill Mountains was inspired by the silhouettes of oak leavesA New York City couple turned to Desai Chia Architecture to design them a thoughtful weekend home. What they didn't know is that they'd be starting a farm, too
-
Wallpaper* Best Use of Material 2026: a New Mexico home that makes use of the region's volcanic soilNew Mexico house Sombra de Santa Fe, designed by Dust Architects, intrigues with dark, geometric volumes making use of the region's volcanic soil – winning it a spot in our trio of Best Use of Material winners at the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2026
-
More changes are coming to the White HouseFollowing the demolition of the East Wing and plans for a massive new ballroom, President Trump wants to create an ‘Upper West Wing’
-
A group of friends built this California coastal home, rooted in nature and modern designNestled in the Sea Ranch community, a new coastal home, The House of Four Ecologies, is designed to be shared between friends, with each room offering expansive, intricate vistas
-
Step inside this resilient, river-facing cabin for a life with ‘less stuff’A tough little cabin designed by architects Wittman Estes, with a big view of the Pacific Northwest's Wenatchee River, is the perfect cosy retreat
-
Remembering Robert A.M. Stern, an architect who discovered possibility in the pastIt's easy to dismiss the late architect as a traditionalist. But Stern was, in fact, a design rebel whose buildings were as distinctly grand and buttoned-up as his chalk-striped suits
-
Own an early John Lautner, perched in LA’s Echo Park hillsThe restored and updated Jules Salkin Residence by John Lautner is a unique piece of Californian design heritage, an early private house by the Frank Lloyd Wright acolyte that points to his future iconic status
-
The Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s houses of the monthFrom wineries-turned-music studios to fire-resistant holiday homes, these are the properties that have most impressed the Wallpaper* editors this month
