FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Nathalia Morales-Evanks AIA|Los Angeles Tel: 213.639.0763 Email: nathalia@aialosangeles.org www.aialosangeles.

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AIA|LA Announces Venice Vista As First Spring Home Tour! Offers Exclusive Reduced Ticket Prices in February! February 16, 2012 - With 2012 well underway, spring is just around the corner, at AIA Los Angeles, this means that we're gearing up for our Spring Home Tours! Our first tour, on April 1, 2012, features 5 homes in the quaint beach side neighborhood of Mar Vista. Venice adjacent, Mar Vista is definitely a unique slice of West Angelino life and culture and the homes on our tour are no exception. The tour dubbed, Venice Vista, offers examples of affluences leveraged by high design, becoming a design lover's dream by emphasizing creativity and design in a variety of spaces. Among the many features these five homes have to offer, one of them was recently included in Dwell Magazines special issue Best Homes in America. (See descriptions for more details). Our next tour takes place May 6, 2012, using the glamorous and luxurious Pacific Palisades as its backdrop! These four homes are prime examples of Palisades living, reconciling luxurious dwelling with sustainable principles. Adding to the design elements, the views are amazing and the large lots exude wealth and privilege. Stay tuned for more information on designers and photographs! For a limited time only AIA|LA is offering the chance to buy tickets to both tours now at a reduced price!

Ticket information:
APR 1/MAY 6 COMBINED PROMO: http://aialaapr1may6hometourpromo.eventbrite.com/

APR 1 ONLY: http://aialaapr1hometour.eventbrite.com/ MAY 6 ONLY: http://aialamay6hometour.eventbrite.com/ In February only, buy both tours at a reduced price! A $50 value! Members: $100*/ticket Non-Members: $125*/ticket Or purchase one ticket at a time: Members: $65* Non-members $75* *Price does not include registration fees. The Venice Vista tour features the following homes: Alan-Voo Family House (Neil M. Denari, AIA NMDA) The clients for this house renovation / extension, a couple with three daughters, are a creative, democratic unit. The father directs film trailers, the mother is a graphic designer and illustrator, while the high school / middle school / elementary school aged daughters are all immersed in their own versions of their parents visual cultures. The family have asked that 1,000 sf be added to the site in addition to the existing 1,000 sf house. The scheme leaves half of the house for the daughters bedrooms and incorporates the other half plus new extensions in front and back into a public zone and a private bedroom for the parents. This strategy amounts to a new 16 ft wide linear house being inserted into the existing house. Multi-toned, bright colors accentuate the new pieces, which suggests a graphic expression representative of the familys interests.

 Ortiz & Wheeler Residence (Santiago Ortiz, Assoc. AIA Ortiz Mexia Projects, Inc.) A new 2-Story Single Family Residence was designed and built having in mind a sense of responsibility for the children, the environment, and the future. The design, components, and systems which make this home have been selected for their elegant simplicity, and endurance. Add to this the idiosyncrasies and desires of the family. Water purity, indoor air quality systems, and spatial layout are combined with our unique architectural language allowing for a very healthy home with a significantly reduced carbon footprint, yet rich in details, material, spatial, and lighting qualities. Choi-Pierson Residence (Douglas v. Pierson, AIA (fer) studio) The Choi-Pierson residence in Venice Beach, CA, the second home on a 3600 sq. ft lot, is a compact 3 story dwelling huddled between the neighborhoods densely packed homes and detached garages. There was just 700 sq. ft available to design the 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house for the ChoiPierson family of four. By establishing clear hierarchies in building materials, using innovative interpretations of roof requirements, and configuring open stairs and landings as

a means to interconnect floors, the homeowners, an architect and principal at (fer) studio and his wife, an environmental designer, have created a parsimoniously modern home that maximizes affordable sustainability and ultraefficiency out of just 1390 sq. ft of living space. The vertically stacked home hovers over an open two-car garage and garden on the first floor. The kitchen, living room and bathroom are situated above, with the master bedroom, on-suite bathroom, and two childrens bedrooms and shared bathroom on the top floor. To maximize every inch, there are just two interior walls in this home. All other separations are implied through spatial changes in structural millwork and glass. There are no interior hallways, and center-pivoting doors allow individual spaces, such as bedrooms, to open into larger combined family spaces. Built-ins do double and triple duty, like the credenza that guards the open staircase or the kids bathroom-closet cube that also divides their bedrooms. Custom-made furniture on casters provides additional flexibility to easily transform spaces from one use to another. Sheller-Borunda Residence (Richard Seltzer, Assoc. AIA Richard Seltzer Designs) A fluid connection between light, landscape, and the elements transforms the Sheller-Borunda Residence into a retreat nestled between private gardens, seemingly far from its Mar Vista neighborhood. Expressive structural elements project above the entry path; leading into the interior, past the gracious kitchen, and extending towards the open plan living space. The dining, office, and living spaces weave together, anchored by the central hearths articulated form. Spaces flow freely between inside and out. The quality of light shifts throughout the course of the day, from the wash of even morning light through recessed skylights, to the blue of the sky deepening over the treetops as the interior lighting illuminates shifting ceiling planes. From

precisely crafted custom fixtures and joinery, to curated compositions of form and color, a sculptural approach defines the Sheller-Borunda Residence. Pearson Trent Residence (Frank Escher, Ravi GuneWardnea, AIA Escher GuneWardena Architecture) The remodel of a modest post war bungalow in the Mar Vista neighborhood of West Los Angeles engulfs the L shape plan of the original building with a new shell to form a large rectangular mass. The garage, a series of bedrooms along the north, and a massive wall on the south define an open living/dining/kitchen area sheltered by a single sloping roof. The covered space gradually expands horizontally and vertically to meet the easterly view of the city. A 26 foot long glass disappears into a pocket, turning the living space into an expansive outdoor room facing the view. The exterior plaster finish, and grey quarry tile floor extend from the living areas out to patios, blurring the distinction of indoor and out. The handcrafted concrete block wall at the entry by Los Angeles artist Evan Holloway references a late work of Gerrit Rietveld. The clients are photographer Ramona Trent and the renowned artist Anthony Pearson. Among several other publications, the home was recently included in Dwell Magazines special issue Best Homes in America.