Mildred Residence | Venice, California | 2018

Architects: MINARC
Client: Private
General Contractor: Dobkin Construction
Photographers: Art Gray Photography

Artfully situated in Los Angeles' world-famous Venice neighborhood sits the Mildred Residence, the latest architectural creation from award-winning southern California design firm, Minarc. As experienced designers, the Minarc team views space and function as mutually important factors to consider when creating well-defined and inhabitable areas wherein design elements are oriented to take full advantage of natural light and cross-ventilation. As such, the layout of the Mildred home is multifaceted and places a simultaneous focus on clean simplicity, thoughtful sustainability, and aesthetically pleasing functionality.

Inspired by the beautifully dramatic landscapes found in nature, the design for the Mildred Residence creates subtly contrasting interior spaces to stimulate the senses. The glacier-like kitchen island plays an important role within the open living area, with its angular white mass rising in stark contrast to the polished concrete floor flowing throughout the space. Combined with the striking black marble backsplash, this intentional juxtapositioning of dissimilar design elements evokes visions of crystal glaciers effortlessly traversing Icelandic black sand lava beaches.

Adding functionality to beauty, the kitchen island is also incorporated into the staircase, its diagonal cut offering a perceptual frame for the passageway to the main living area. A profusion of natural light streams through expansive windows, increasing the home's overall fluidity while blurring the line between the interior and exterior courtyards.

The Mildred Residence has a mid-level entryway, allowing entrants direct access to the master bedroom suite, bathroom, and office space located on the second floor. From the entrance, one can also go downstairs to the ground floor guest suite, second bathroom, wine cellar, and laundry, or upstairs to the main common areas of the home. The third floor opens to the living and dining areas, all of which are surrounded by floor to ceiling windows and sliding glass doors that open wall to wall.

The sweeping panoramic city views available to the home's residents are breathtaking and help to further draw the outside, inward. Also on the third floor is a well-appointed powder room and access to the rooftop deck and recreation space. The rooftop area takes optimal advantage of the home's location and modest lot, providing residents with significant additional living space that, thanks to Southern California's temperate, Mediterranean climate, can be enjoyed all year long.

Whether absorbing a peaceful morning sunrise, engaging in vigorous daytime activity, or sharing a calm and relaxing evening with friends, dazzling views of the surrounding neighborhood and majestic Santa Monica mountains abound.

Minarc's intense interest in simple, eco-conscious design demands placing a continuous focus on creating comprehensively healthy environments throughout the entire home. Because of this long-standing passion, the choice was made to utilize the highly efficient mnmMOD building material in place of lesser traditional methods. mnmMOD is a sustainable, VOC-free panelized building system developed by Minarc that features the economy and waste reduction of prefab construction while yielding net-zero efficiency and a range of other builders and homeowners advantages.

Chief among these advantages, the mnmMOD system affords builders a streamlined construction process, significantly reducing necessary workforce needs while entirely replacing traditional wood framing techniques. Utilization of mnmMOD was instrumental in ensuring the Mildred project attained Minarc's goal of maximizing environmental sustainability without sacrificing aesthetics and functionality.

The sublime and beautifully understated interior design concept for the Mildred Residence was created and implemented by the home's resident, Erik Lindström. A creative master in his own right, Lindström is the founder of Lindström Rugs, an LA-based boutique that produces some of the most luxurious rugs in the world. A true nature-inspired sustainable masterpiece, the Mildred Residence epitomizes Minarc's vision of merging architectural design and environmental awareness to bring the outside, in.