Completed in 2018 by Gluckman Tang, La Jolla Guest House is a cast-in-place concrete guest house that acts serves as a pool pavilion and guest quarters. This guest house is situated on a lot with an existing spec-house with 1,200 SF in size. It is designed with a simple form and basic materials that complement the main house.
Elements
A series of retaining walls and a floating concrete stair in this guest house connect the main house with the guest house and a pool deck that situated several feet below the existing house. For this new connection, a rock ledge is exposed to create an organic edge to the concrete pool deck. Fire pits, concrete tables, an outdoor kitchen counter, and retaining walls that double as benches are other concrete elements in this project.
Spaces
This guest house form is conceived as two concrete “boxes”, linked by trellis and a slatted wood roof. The concrete boxes contain a bathroom and bedroom on the east while the bathroom, laundry, and mudroom are located on the west side. These boxes frame large open spaces, housing a kitchenette, dining table, and living area.
On the north and south facades, the glazed pockets doors frame the stunning views of the landscape and allow the interior spaces to be opened to the outdoors, connecting the guest house to the terraced patio and pool deck, The terraced patio is carved into the site’s slope.
Materials
The board-formed concrete walls are tinted to correlate with the existing main house’s warm stucco. A nod to the hipped roofs of the main house is the inverted hipped roof with a low profile that minimizes the visual impact to the project site.
A continuous trellis to the south is formed by the slatted wood ceiling that extends out while an outdoor kitchen and lounge with fireplace are located under it. There is also a matching wood trellis installed at a new concrete patio that adjacent to the main house and completing a continuous sequence of outdoor spaces.
La Jolla Guest House Gallery
Photographers: Paul Rivera and Joe Dodd