Nestled in its northeast Los Angeles site, UnStack is a feast of geometric green volumes - a series of 'boxes' cascading down a slope. It is also a family home designed by local architecture studio FreelandBuck, which responded to a commission by developers Urbanite Homes for a new, ground-up residence on a steeply angled lot.
Explore UnStack, a cascading home by FreelandBuck
Weaving their architecture into the hill, the architects crafted a home that twists and turns, making the most of angles and orientations in order for the interior to feel bright and comfortable at every turn.
'The house is comprised of a loose stack of boxes that cascade down the hillside, rotating and shifting to create outdoor spaces between and above that weave landscape into the experience of the building. These indoor-outdoor spaces have varied orientations with unique and unobstructed views to the San Gabriel mountains. When viewed from the street, alternating bands of color cohere into a clear stripe pattern that unites seven distinct volumes into a coherent whole,' the architects write in their statement.
Inside, the home feels flowing, with steps connecting different levels and views through creating an animated and rich living experience. At the same time, informal spaces occupying the thresholds between levels act as 'between’ rooms affording a generosity of space to the whole.
It is a design, the architects flag that wouldn't exist without its specific and challenging plot: 'Working with difficult site constraints is central to the design of this house. While hillside homes frequently perch on hillsides, this house is embedded into it, balancing an ease of indoor-outdoor living with the iconic views unique to hillside living in Los Angeles.'
-
Design beyond humans: a new exhibition argues that the world doesn’t revolve around us‘More Than Human’ at London's Design Museum (until 5 October 2025) asks what happens when design focuses on the perspectives and needs of other species, from bees to seaweed
-
Tuneshine is a new way of bringing back the lost art of the album coverThe compact Tuneshine screen uses LED tech to illuminate the artwork of whatever you’re currently streaming
-
Inside the new theatre at Jacob’s Pillow and its ‘magic box’, part of a pioneering complex designed for danceJacob’s Pillow welcomes the reborn Doris Duke Theatre by Mecanoo, a new space that has just opened in the beloved Berkshires cultural hub for the summer season
-
Inside the new theatre at Jacob’s Pillow and its ‘magic box’, part of a pioneering complex designed for dance
Jacob’s Pillow welcomes the reborn Doris Duke Theatre by Mecanoo, a new space that has just opened in the beloved Berkshires cultural hub for the summer season
-
A Rancho Mirage home is in tune with its location and its architect-owners’ passionsArchitect Steven Harris and his collaborator and husband, designer Lucien Rees Roberts, have built a home in Rancho Mirage, surrounded by some of America’s most iconic midcentury modern works; they invited us on a tour
-
Inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s Laurent House – a project built with accessibility at its heartThe dwelling, which you can visit in Illinois, is a classic example of Wright’s Usonian architecture, and was also built for a client with a disability long before accessibility was widely considered
-
Tour this fire-resilient minimalist weekend retreat in CaliforniaA minimalist weekend retreat was designed as a counterpoint to a San Francisco pied-à-terre; Edmonds + Lee Architects’ Amnesia House in Napa Valley is a place for making memories
-
A New Zealand house on a rugged beach exemplifies architect Tom Kundig's approach in rich, yet understated luxuryThis coastal home, featured in 'Tom Kundig: Complete Houses', a new book launch in the autumn by Monacelli Press, is a perfect example of its author's approach to understated luxury. We spoke to Tom Kundig, the architect behind it
-
Tour architect Paul Schweikher’s house, a Chicago midcentury masterpieceNow hidden in the Chicago suburbs, architect Paul Schweikher's former home and studio is an understated midcentury masterpiece; we explore it, revisiting a story from the Wallpaper* archives, first published in April 2009
-
The world of Bart Prince, where architecture is born from the inside outFor the Albuquerque architect Bart Prince, function trumps form, and all building starts from the inside out; we revisit a profile from the Wallpaper* archive, first published in April 2009
-
Is embracing nature the key to a more fire-resilient Los Angeles? These landscape architects think soFor some, an executive order issued by California governor Gavin Newsom does little to address the complexities of living within an urban-wildland interface
