Its 9,000 SF form rising above Beverly Hills’ Benedict Canyon, the Collected House, a home for art, defines a threefold ‘collection’: it is a purpose-built frame for the owners’ extraordinary assemblage of contemporary art; it is a canvas for the frequent gatherings of friends, artists and local luminaries for receptions, galas, and more informal fetes; and it is, itself a collection, its form a dynamic composition of various volumes, shapes, and figures united into a compelling whole.

As guests arrive, they make their way across a broad lawn stretching as far as the eye can see. The varied rooflines of the two-story residence rise to the north, the horizontal silhouette of its diagrid canopy above the glass walls of the spaces gathered beneath. The double-height atrium at the entry is thoughtfully shaped by a series of smaller windows, whose carefully configured apertures create a complex interplay of soft light and shade the artwork within.

No space within the home is designed individually: each room opens into the next, creating an interwoven set of galleries where spaces are understood and experienced in relationship to one another. Floor-to-ceiling glazing folds sunlight and landscape seamlessly into the interior. Marble and oak ground the light, airy interior; walls clad in CNC-milled tracery play counterpoint to the art throughout. A large living room, the formal dining room, family room, library, bar, and lounge all blend one into the next, opening to a wide patio sheltered by four large silk floss trees similarly ensconced by the canopy above.

The home is a home for art, designed around a collection that includes works by Kehinde Wiley, Sterling Ruby, Mike Kelley, Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, Raymond Pettibon, Mark Grotjahn, Oscar Murillo, Katy Moran, Martin Eder, Barry McGee, Vik Muniz, Danh Vo, and Franz Ackermann. The collection extends into more intimate spaces for the family, including a family dining room, the kitchen, a private lounge with adjacent service space, home offices, and a series of bedrooms, baths, and other private spaces arrayed along a series of long galleries. At the western perimeter of the residence’s upper floor is the master suite, its cylindrical volumes adorned in marble, glass, and lacquered panels, creating a sumptuous space for repose and reflection mirrored in the pool below. Beyond the pool, as the site slopes precipitously away from view, a colonnade traces the ridge top, a final frame for the panorama of the city below and the Pacific beyond.

“Discreetly tucked away at the end of a cul-de-sac above Benedict Canyon, the glass and marble house, home to a labyrinth collection of contemporary art, is full of surprise and wonder. The remarkably diverse array of canvases, sculptures, and installations within are counterbalanced by a living space that is more inviting than intimidating.”

S T E V E   C H A G O L L A N,   V A R I E T Y

S E R V I C E S

Architecture, Interiors, & Landscape

T E A M

Sean O’Connor Lighting | Lighting Design
SDP | Structural Engineering