Gehry Residence Floor Plan Site

The Gehry Residence, located in Santa Monica, California, is a landmark of deconstructivist architecture that Frank Gehry transformed starting in 1978. The floor plan is a fascinating study of how an architect can build a "new" house literally around an existing one, creating a complex dialogue between traditional and avant-garde styles. The Floor Plan Concept: A House Within a House

Rather than demolishing the original 1920s pink Dutch Colonial bungalow, Gehry chose to "wrap" it with a new exterior structure made of industrial materials like corrugated metal, chain-link fencing, and plywood.

Layered Boundaries: The original house remains almost fully intact in the center, acting as a core while the new additions form an outer shell.

The Ground Floor: The additions primarily extended the ground floor, creating new, irregular spaces such as a sun-drenched kitchen and dining area that wrap around the north and west sides.

Blurring Indoor/Outdoor: The use of glass cubes and skylights creates patio-like spaces that make the interior feel like it is part of the exterior landscape.

Material Collage: The floor plan reflects a collage of old and new; for instance, you might see the original shingles of the bungalow from inside the new kitchen. Visualizing the Layout

The drawings below illustrate the first floor and ground floor strategies, highlighting how the original structure (the "bungalow") is nested within the deconstructed shell. Gallery of Gehry Residence / Gehry Partners - 19 Analysis - Xavier Bardina Xavier Bardina Frank Gehry, Santa Monica House - Lower Floor Plan Frank O Gehry: Gehry House, Santa Monica, California, 1979 Gallery of Gehry Residence / Gehry Partners - 19 Gehry House - Data, Photos & Plans - WikiArquitectura Gehry House - Archweb Frank Gehry's Santa Monica House Gehry Residence / Gehry Partners | ArchDaily

The layout is a radical rejection of suburban norms, choosing "freshess" and visible construction over polished finishes. Gehry House - Archiweb

The Gehry Residence (1978) in Santa Monica, California, is a landmark of deconstructivist architecture that famously "wraps" an existing Dutch Colonial bungalow in a new, raw industrial shell. Its floor plan is defined by a "house within a house" concept, where the original structure's rooms act as internal volumes surrounded by new perimeter spaces. Core Floor Plan Concept: The "Wrapping"

Frank Gehry expanded the original pink house by adding a roughly 800-square-foot shell around three of its sides—the north, west, and south. This creates a transitional zone between the old interior and the outdoors. Ground Floor Layout

The ground floor is characterized by a collision of traditional domestic spaces and raw, experimental extensions.

The Original Core: Contains a living room and two bedrooms. Gehry stripped some walls to their exposed wood studs and lath, treating the original structure as a found object.

The Kitchen & Dining Area: These are located in the new addition along the northwest frontage. Notably, the kitchen was built directly on the former asphalt driveway, which serves as its flooring.

Entry & Circulation: The house features two "front" doors. To enter the original house, one must first pass through a new corrugated metal vestibule.

Glass Interjections: Large glass cubes and skylights poke through the original walls to bring in natural light, most notably in the kitchen and dining zones. First Floor Layout

The upper level serves as the private quarters and underwent a radical transformation from its original "attic" state.

Master Suite: Contains the master bedroom and a dressing room.

Secondary Bedroom: A second bedroom and a bathroom are also on this level.

The "Tree House": By removing the original ceiling and exposing the redwood rafters, Gehry transformed the upstairs into a voluminous, light-filled space he described as a "tree house". gehry residence floor plan

Terrace: A private terrace extends from the first floor, overlooking the backyard. Spatial Characteristics

Blurring Boundaries: The plan lacks many traditional doors and closets, opting instead for exposed shelves and open connections to create a single, continuous "room" experience.

Materiality in Plan: The plan is organized by material transitions—asphalt for the kitchen addition, original wood for the core, and glass for the protruding skylights.

1991 Expansion: A second major renovation added a guesthouse (formerly the garage) and a lap pool, while refining some of the originally raw exterior finishes. Gehry House - Data, Photos & Plans - WikiArquitectura

Gehry Residence in Santa Monica, California, renovated between 1977 and 1978, is a seminal work of deconstructivist architecture where Frank Gehry wrapped a new, industrial house around an existing 1920s suburban Dutch Colonial bungalow

. The floor plan is a deliberate explosion of traditional spatial layout, designed to keep the original house intact within a raw, fragmented exterior. HIC Arquitectura Key Features of the Gehry Residence Floor Plan House-within-a-House Concept:

The original house remains structurally present, with its exterior walls often visible inside the new envelope. Deconstructed Flow:

Standard room divisions are broken down. The design connects spaces, with the old house acting as a central "room" surrounded by new additions. Raw Materials & Visibility:

The plan highlights the process of construction, with exposed wood framing, plywood walls, chain-link, and corrugated metal. Transition Zones:

The boundary between inside and outside is blurred, featuring patio-like interior spaces, large windows, and unexpected gaps that create a "perpetually under construction" feel. LA Conservancy Floor Layout Analysis Ground Floor:

Features an open-plan kitchen and dining area with asphalt flooring, which connects to the outdoor spaces, creating a dramatic, non-traditional interior landscape. The original "pink" house remains on the ground floor. Upper Floor:

Includes the master bedroom, a second bedroom, and a large attic-like "treehouse" space created by removing ceilings and exposing the wood structure.

The main entrance is designed to be confusing, navigating through both the new industrial envelope and the original residential front door. Design Intent and Impact Deconstructivism:

The project brought worldwide attention to the deconstructivist movement, prioritizing artistic intuition, unresolved accidents, and fragmented forms. Laboratory Concept:

Gehry treated his own home as a "laboratory," using cheap, everyday materials to challenge suburban norms and creating "disturbing" yet satisfying spaces. Industrial Aesthetics:

The "high-tech" materials like corrugated metal and wire-glass cubes—especially the kitchen cube—create a unique play of light, letting in natural light while maintaining privacy. For a visual understanding of the layout, refer to the Gehry Residence Floor Plan via ArchDaily. Gehry House - Data, Photos & Plans - WikiArquitectura

The Unsquare Life

When Miriam first saw the plans for their new house in Santa Monica, she laughed. Not a polite laugh, but the kind that bubbles up from disbelief. “Frank,” she said, “you’ve drawn a Dutch painter’s nightmare. Where is the right angle?”

Frank Gehry, already a restless architect with a wild nest of gray hair, tapped the blueprint. “There. And there. And the kitchen is at 88 degrees.” He grinned. “Perfect.”

The house was a collision: an existing two-story Dutch Colonial bungalow, preserved but violated. The old gable roof remained, but Frank had shattered its quiet dignity. He wrapped it in new geometries—plywood, corrugated metal, chain-link fencing. A glass cube pushed out from the dining room, intersecting the old like a transparent scream. Inside, the floor plan was a map of tilted walls, asymmetrical axes, and unexpected corners.

Moving in was a revelation. Their old life had been rectangular: bed at 6 AM, coffee at a square table, arguments in straight lines. Here, the hallway slanted. The living room narrowed toward a bay window that looked onto an alley. The master bedroom was a sliver of the original house, but Frank had knocked out a wall and replaced it with a raw plywood plane that cut the space diagonally.

“Where do I put the bookshelf?” Miriam asked one evening, holding a tape measure.

“Let it fall where the wall tells it to,” he said, not looking up from his tracing paper.

At first, she hated it. She bumped her hip on the polygonal kitchen island. The refrigerator—originally on a flat plane—now sat at a 15-degree angle to the counter. Every step required a recalibration. But after three months, something shifted. She noticed that the slanted floor of the hallway made the sunset linger two minutes longer, pouring orange light across the pine. The awkward 5-foot-wide nook behind the staircase (too small for any standard furniture) became their son’s favorite reading fort.

The floor plan taught them a new kind of living. No room was sacred. The dining table had to double as a desk because the study was a triangle. The chain-link fence in the living room—metal mesh meant for the street—carried their hanging plants. They learned to move diagonally through life.

One night, after a quarrel over money, Frank retreated to his studio—a glass shed attached by a narrow, tilting bridge. Miriam went to the living room and sat on the bay window bench, a ledge that followed an angled wall. From there, she could see Frank through the glass, scribbling furiously. She knocked on the window frame—three soft taps. He looked up. Instead of shouting across the rectangle of a normal room, she slid open the asymmetric sliding door and tossed a crumpled note toward him. It landed on his drafting table. The Gehry Residence , located in Santa Monica,

It read: I like the 88-degree kitchen. Don’t straighten it.

He wrote back: Never.

That was the year they stopped trying to be a perfect square family in a perfect square house. They became a family of nooks, slants, and surprises—a living floor plan where every corner was an adventure and every angle was permission to be imperfect.

And the floor plan itself? It never appeared in a glossy magazine as a neat, labeled diagram. Because you couldn’t read it. You had to walk it. And once you did, you understood why Frank Gehry never built a right-angled house again.

Key floor plan features embedded in the story:

• Existing Dutch Colonial bungalow (old) + new deconstructivist volumes
• Tilted walls and diagonal axes
• Kitchen at 88°, not 90°
• Plywood, glass, and chain-link as interior planes
• A slanted hallway and a triangular study
• A bay window on an angled wall
• An asymmetric sliding door
• A glass bridge linking to a separate studio

Gehry Residence in Santa Monica, California, is one of the most significant works of deconstructivist architecture

. Rather than tearing down the existing 1920s Dutch Colonial bungalow, Frank Gehry chose to wrap it in a new, unconventional shell, creating a complex dialogue between the old and the new. The Ground Floor Layout

The ground floor is characterized by the juxtaposition of the original house's structure and the new, expansive additions. The First Frank Gehry House in Santa Monica - ArchEyes

Gehry Residence in Santa Monica, California, is a landmark of Deconstructivism

where Frank Gehry transformed a 1920s Dutch Colonial bungalow into a "laboratory" of architectural experimentation. Completed primarily in 1978, the floor plan is defined by the "wrapping"

of the original structure with a new, aggressive envelope of industrial materials like corrugated metal, chain-link fencing, and plywood. Ground Floor Layout The ground floor exemplifies Gehry’s concept of

, where the new additions literally surround and intersect the old house. The Original Core

: The interior of the pink bungalow remains largely intact, though "edited". In some areas, plaster was stripped to reveal the raw redwood framing The New Perimeter : New spaces—the kitchen, dining area, and breakfast area

—were added as a wrap-around extension on the north and west sides. The "Asphalt" Kitchen

: The kitchen was built directly over the existing driveway, famously retaining the original asphalt floor to emphasize the building as an "addition" to the site. Tilted Glass Cubes

: Distinctive skylights and glass structures "poke" through the original exterior, flooding the kitchen and dining areas with light. Upper Floor and Private Spaces

The second level focuses on privacy while maintaining the experimental theme of exposed materials. The First Frank Gehry House in Santa Monica - ArchEyes

Title: Exploring the Innovative Gehry Residence Floor Plan

Introduction: The Gehry Residence, designed by the renowned Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, is a masterpiece of contemporary architecture. Completed in 1984, this iconic house in Santa Monica, California, is a testament to Gehry's experimental and innovative approach to design. In this post, we'll delve into the fascinating floor plan of the Gehry Residence, exploring its unique features and design elements.

The Floor Plan: The Gehry Residence is a 2,200-square-foot, single-story house that appears to be a collection of disparate volumes and shapes. The floor plan is characterized by:

• Non-orthogonal layout: The house has a non-rectilinear footprint, with walls that intersect at unexpected angles, creating a sense of dynamic movement.
• Multi-level spaces: The interior features a series of interconnected spaces with varying ceiling heights, creating a sense of layering and visual interest.
• Curved lines and irregular shapes: Gehry's signature use of curved lines and irregular shapes is evident throughout the floor plan, adding to the sense of fluidity and playfulness.

Key Features:

• Living areas: The open-plan living, dining, and kitchen areas are situated at the center of the house, with a dramatic, swooping ceiling that creates a sense of airiness and freedom.
• Private spaces: The bedrooms and bathrooms are tucked away in more subdued, rectangular volumes, providing a sense of contrast to the more dynamic living areas.
• Circulation: A sinuous path connects the various spaces, encouraging exploration and discovery.

Design Philosophy: The Gehry Residence is a manifestation of Frank Gehry's design philosophy, which emphasizes:

• Experimentation and innovation: Gehry's willingness to challenge conventional design norms resulted in a truly unique and groundbreaking house.
• Emphasis on experience: The floor plan is designed to create a sense of journey and exploration, engaging the occupants and visitors on multiple levels.

Conclusion: The Gehry Residence floor plan is a testament to Frank Gehry's innovative and playful approach to design. Its non-orthogonal layout, multi-level spaces, and curved lines have redefined the possibilities of residential architecture. As a work of art, the Gehry Residence continues to inspire architects, designers, and anyone interested in exploring the boundaries of creative expression.

Image Credits: [Insert image credits, if applicable]

Overview

The Gehry Residence is located in Santa Monica, California, and was designed as a renovation and expansion of a 1922 bungalow. The house serves as both a residence for Gehry and his family, as well as an office for his architectural practice. The Unsquare Life When Miriam first saw the

Floor Plan

The floor plan of the Gehry Residence is a complex, multi-level layout that reflects Gehry's interest in deconstructivist architecture. The house has a total living area of approximately 2,300 square feet.

• Ground Floor:
  • The ground floor features an open-plan living area, including a living room, dining area, and kitchen.
  • A staircase leads to the upper levels, and a doorway connects to the outdoors.
  • A small office and storage spaces are also located on this level.
• First Floor:
  • The first floor contains four bedrooms, including Gehry's studio and a guest room.
  • A bathroom and additional storage spaces are also located on this level.
• Second Floor:
  • The second floor features a mezzanine-level office and a small library.
  • A staircase connects to the roof deck.

Notable Features

Some notable features of the Gehry Residence floor plan include:

• Deconstructivist design: The house features a deliberately disjointed and fragmented design, with irregularly shaped rooms and levels.
• Multi-level layout: The floor plan incorporates multiple levels, with changes in elevation and floor-to-ceiling heights.
• Open spaces: The living areas are characterized by open, flowing spaces that blur the boundaries between indoors and outdoors.

Innovative Design Elements

The Gehry Residence incorporates several innovative design elements, including:

• Asymmetrical facades: The exterior facades of the house are asymmetrical and feature a mix of materials, including wood, steel, and glass.
• Steel framing: The house was one of the first residential projects to use steel framing, which allowed for greater flexibility and experimentation with design.

Influence and Legacy

The Gehry Residence has had a significant influence on contemporary architecture, and its innovative design elements have been widely studied and emulated. The house has also been recognized with several awards, including the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) National Honor Award.

Additional Resources

If you'd like to learn more about the Gehry Residence and its floor plan, I recommend checking out the following resources:

• The Getty Research Institute's collection of Frank Gehry's architectural drawings and documents
• The Canadian Centre for Architecture's (CCA) collection of Gehry's architectural works
• Various architectural publications, such as Architectural Record and House & Garden, which have featured the Gehry Residence in their pages.

Would you like to know more about a specific aspect of the Gehry Residence or Frank Gehry's design philosophy?

Gehry Residence in Santa Monica, California, represents a landmark of deconstructivist architecture, where Frank Gehry transformed a traditional 1920s Dutch Colonial bungalow into an "architectural matryoshka doll" by wrapping it in a new shell of industrial materials like corrugated steel and chain-link fencing. The floor plan is defined by this "house-within-a-house" concept, creating a unique spatial experience where the boundaries between old and new, and interior and exterior, are intentionally blurred. HIC Arquitectura The Ground Floor: Public vs. Private

The ground floor plan is organized around the original bungalow, which remains mostly intact at the center, though its walls were "edited"—stripped to their wood studs and joists to reveal the house's "skeleton". Interstitial Living Spaces

: Gehry extended the footprint by adding a new perimeter shell. This created a series of interstitial spaces—like a wrap-around porch—that now house the public areas: a dining area breakfast area The Asphalt Kitchen

: One of the most famous features is the kitchen floor, originally made of raw asphalt to give the impression of a driveway that had been enclosed. Dual Entry

: The house features two front doors—the new exterior entrance and the original bungalow door—forcing visitors to pass through multiple layers of the home’s history. Geometric Incursions

: An angled glass cube "protrudes" through the kitchen ceiling, flooding the space with light and framing views of the sky and trees, further disrupting the traditional room boundaries. The Upper Floor: The "Tree House"

The upper level of the residence serves as a more private zone, though it still adheres to Gehry's theme of exposure and transformation. Exposed Structure

: By removing the original ceilings, Gehry transformed the attic into a high-ceilinged, open space he called a "tree house". Material Warmth

: The exposed redwood framing and lath provide a warm, craftsman-like contrast to the industrial exterior. Flexible Layout

: Over time, as his family grew, the upper level was further renovated to include more "finished" rooms, though it maintained the original's raw, deconstructivist spirit. Evolution of the Plan

The floor plan was never static; it evolved over decades of lived-in experimentation. Life and Work of Frank Gehry | UKEssays.com

The New Addition (The "Deconstructivist" Wing)

Stepping through a jagged doorway (where the old exterior wall has been punched out), you enter the new kitchen and dining area. Here, the Gehry Residence floor plan shows a 45-degree rotation. Unlike the orthogonal grid of the original house, the new kitchen sits on an axis tilted by roughly 4 degrees—just enough to feel unsettling.

• Kitchen: Plywood cabinets face raw studs. An island made of laminated plywood and a stainless steel top sits beneath a clerestory window that looks directly into the neighbor’s driveway (intentionally exposing the mundane).
• Dining Area: The iconic glass-walled dining table is surrounded by chain-link fencing. On the floor plan, this appears as a "sunroom," but in reality, it is a semi-conditioned space. The HVAC system ends here; the outdoors begins.

The Plywood Cubes

Scattered across the ground floor plan are what Gehry called "cubes." One is a plywood structure surrounding the front door. Another is a plywood volume housing the master bathroom. These cubes act as "rooms within rooms." On the floor plan, they appear as solid, hatched areas—unmovable blocks that break the flow of the open plan.

How to Read the Blueprints: A Guide

If you search for the original Gehry Residence floor plan drawings (held by the Getty Research Institute), you will notice something peculiar: The drawings are messy. There are erasures. There are cross-outs. There is tape holding the velum together.

This is because Gehry designed the house by building physical models (the "Fish" and "Bang" models) and then photographed the models to create the construction drawings.

Key features to look for on the original blueprints:

1. The "Cut" line: A bold line showing where Gehry sawed the old roof off.
2. The 4-degree tilt: A notation showing the kitchen walls are not parallel to the old house.
3. The "No Demo" note: An annotation instructing contractors not to remove the old siding, but to build outside of it.