It was fate that connected Culver City–based Sylvia Rocha and her partner Pedro Alipio with architect and contractor Marcos Santa Ana. “I had purchased the property next door as a development project and was touring the home when Sylvia came out to greet us,” explains Santa Ana.

Sylvia bought her 1941 single-story home 25 years earlier, and she had considered selling it before deciding to hire a designer to work out some potential renovation plans. After meeting Santa Ana and discovering he was an architect, she asked him to review the plans for a second opinion—and the rest is history.

The single-story one-bedroom, one-bathroom ranch-style home had been modified piecemeal over the years. A 2002 renovation added a new family room and a second-story principal suite, bringing the home to 1,600 square feet. However, Santa Ana points out that the resulting layout “forced guests through narrow passages and blocked backyard access to the living room and kitchen.” What’s more, a dangerously steep staircase led to the second floor, and the rooms generally felt small and segmented.

Sylvia, a vice president for a large national shopping center, and Pedro, a tennis instructor for children and youth, knew that they wanted to open up the home, connect the indoors and outdoors, and create space for an office that could also work as a guest room.

Photography by Nils Timm
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Santa Ana’s solution was multifold: to create a simplified and open layout, enlarge the existing home by 600 square feet, provide integrated storage solutions, and incorporate his firm’s knowledge of energy-efficient design. As head of Los Angeles–based Alloi Architecture + Construction, he leveraged his team’s design and construction knowledge, as well as their insights as certified passive house designers.

The gut renovation began by addressing mold issues caused by the aging roof. Alloi reconstructed the roof and created a large, lofted space that visually connects the kitchen and dining room to the upstairs office and open corridor.

On the ground floor, they completely redid the kitchen, dining, and small sitting room with the original wood-burning fireplace. From the dining room, a large sliding glass door system with integrated drapery opens up to the backyard, bringing in light and some greenery.

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The ground floor also holds a sunken family room and the new principal suite, which is located near the front entry with easy access to the kitchen and dining room. The family room can easily be partitioned off with two large, white floor-to-ceiling pocket doors when Pedro watches particularly exciting US Open tennis matches, explains Santa Ana.

The fully renovated home measures 2,250 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. The exterior also received a major revamp with vertical wood siding, a new roof, and new insulation. Alloi sought to introduce features that would reduce thermal bridging, improve indoor air quality, and enhance the overall energy efficiency of the home.

The firm used high-performance glass for the windows and doors, planted flora that provides solar shading, installed a high-performance membrane to make the home airtight and waterproof (no more mold issues!), and laid continuous rigid exterior insulation at the roof to reduce heat gain. This insulation “keeps the home cooler, because it wraps the exterior of the home continuously without any leakage points,” says Santa Ana. “Conventional insulation is placed between wall cavities, which allows heat to transfer through the wood studs.”

The exterior material palette was inspired by Japanese minimalist architecture, explains Santa Ana, with smooth white plaster set beside warm wood siding and accents of black steel. The interior follows a similar scheme, with European oak flooring, white lacquer custom cabinetry, and blackened stainless-steel guard rails and cabling at the staircase to the second floor.

Finally, Alloi addressed the landscaping to improve curb appeal and cater to Sylvia and Pedro’s love of entertaining friends and family. “Our team incorporates landscape design as a critical extension and continuation of the architecture,” says Santa Ana. The front and back yards are now inviting spaces for gathering and enjoying the sunny Southern California climate.

Related Reading:

A 1920s “Hunting Cabin” Gets a Sea Ranch–Inspired Overhaul in L.A.

19 Laudable Midcentury Modern Renovations in Los Angeles

Project Team:

Architect: Alloi Architecture

Contractor: Alloi Construction

Structural Engineer: MMC Associates

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A 1940s Los Angeles Home Levels Up With an Energy-Efficient Revamp