Pacific Palace

aRchitects
nicholas/budd architects
AWAY FrOM thE citY, l.A. ArchitEcts DrAW PicturE FrAME hOMEs
thAt shOWcAsE icONic PANOrAMAs
by Katjusa Cisar
Honking horns drown out Susan Budd mid-sentence
as she discusses her architectural philosophy
from her cell phone. The Los Angeles traffic
jam is proving her point, as if on cue. “It’s gridlock,”
she explains, and it’s exactly what many of
her clients want to escape. Her company’s goal
for their residential clients is “to create an oasis
away from the city.”
“We’re interested in the experiential aspect of
architecture, in terms of how you occupy space,
walk through it, and experience it as an individual,”
she says. This is best exemplified, she adds, by the
Winebaum Residence, a two-story, single-family
home built on a mountain promontory with
a 270-degree view that sweeps from the Getty
Center to the Santa Monica Bay. The home acts
as a picture frame for the surrounding landscape.
“When you walk in, it’s about celebrating that view
from within, as opposed to simply existing as an
iconic object on the hill,” Budd says.
Budd and her partner, husband William Nicholas,
met at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design in
the early 90’s while studying under the Spanish
architect Jose Rafael Moneo. “He brought a
whole series of fantastic architects as critics from
Europe, many from Portugal, Spain, Austria and
Switzerland, and introduced us to a great range
of work,” Budd says.
Although they share a common educational background,
she and Nicholas approach their work
with different but complementary skills. “People
Winebaum Residence
“it’s a very quiet façade,” susan budd says of
this 7,500-square-foot home, situated atop a
canyon. “it’s not about presenting itself to the
street. You arrive and it’s very closed off.” Yet
from the inside, the views are “just spectacular.”
As architects, she and William Nicholas
aim to strike a balance between the fluidity
of open spaces and the coziness of closed-off
nooks where clients can read or enjoy privacy.
in the case of the Winebaum residence, Nicholas’
eye for details shines. he designed a giant,
customized pocket door that with the flick of
a hand transforms an open, flowing space to
into an intimate, private dining room. both architects
are lEED-accredited and have worked
with the client to set up the infrastructure for
a 10-kilowatt photovoltaic panel system on
the roof. “it was set up but not installed,” budd
says. the client’s sustainable choice paid off
a couple of years later when the cost of solar
panels dropped considerably, she added, and
the residents were able to install panels at a
cheaper rate. “Demand is increasing,” budd
says. “it’s definitely advantageous in southern
california where the sun is shining a lot.”
ask how we can work as husband and wife, but I
trust his judgment,” she says. “We tend to have the
same instincts.”
Both she and Nicholas like to involve their clients
closely in the design process and encourage input
sparked by personal desires and needs, not a
cookie-cutter replica of a magazine spread. Budd
advocates that clients follow their hearts. “This
is their opportunity,” Budd says. “It shouldn’t be
about real-estate resale. If you really want this
room for your family, it should be the way you
want it. A lot of times people will ask, ‘What style
of architecture do you design?’ We’re modernists
at heart, but we really shy away from the word
‘style’ because what we like to talk about with
clients is, ‘What kind of spaces are you drawn
138 luxury home quarterly SPrING 2012 luxuryhomequarterly.com
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