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Benson's residence is composed of flowing interiors rather than rooms, built with strong and handsome woods and concrete; filled with sunlight and space and free of doors. The thoroughly 21st century refuge Benson shares with her husband also honors mid-20th century style, as it is built around the site's original structure, a 1950s California modern, 2 bedroom and one bath by designer George Mueller.
My favorite quality that the house embodies is serenity, says Benson. There is also a sense of discovery in her living spaces. Each space in the house leads to a
surprise, she notes. Something is always being discovered, whether it's a view of the outside or something unexpected inside. My husband's favorite thing about the house is
that it's in the middle of the city, yet feels isolated. He loves the indoor/outdoor
aspect and the glass and the trees.
In the original house, Benson reports, the rooms were very small, and as we were using the same footprint, we tried to make the kitchen, dining room and living
room all one connected space, with each of those spaces spilling outside.
As Danziger tells it, I was trying to do homage to Mueller's work, while aiming to make peaceful compositions for those living inside as well as looking outside. There are steep angled roofs, with thick wood that runs around the perimeter of the roof,? he says. It is redwood and we kept that organic look throughout the addition.
A furniture and interior designer who has designed thousands of tables for Starbuck's as well as corporate offices around the world, Benson's residence is the first home Danziger ever designed. With its fluid spaces, long sightlines and natural light, the house is geared towards Benson's clean, meditative and fit lifestyle. Other than to get into the house, there really are no doors, except for the bathrooms.
Robin runs a television commercial and music video production company called Villains, says Danziger, who designed the firm's offices in Beverly Hills and New York.
As Benson details, I love colors that are subdued, yet rich and natural. I work in a very high stress business and I suppose I may have even subliminally been trying to create a serene counterpoint to my work life. I wanted it to feel comfortable and user friendly, but also wanted it to be a place where I could recharge.
When Robin gets home, she plays the cello and piano and she practices yoga and Pilates, says Danziger. My design, he explains, was guided by Robin's preference for large, calming spaces as well as lovely views outdoors. There are giant pivot doors (8 feet wide by 7 feet high) in the 500 square foot yoga area, which also includes a baby grand piano. When Benson opens those doors, she is outside and at one with the elements.
In the Hollywood Hills, Danziger explains, the challenge is creating restful compositions. I would say, he continues, that only 30% of the views in this area are pretty, because most of what you see are people's air conditioning units and cars, asphalt roofs and power lines and old cars on blocks.
Embodying that classic California look of the indoors is outdoors and vice versa, some of the most visually intriguing and calming details of the house would have to be its corner windows. These open up so that the corners of the house visually disappear when the windows are open, creating a very open, tree house-like effect, says Danziger. Indeed, natural light filtered through leaves and trees suffuses the rooms with serenity when the corner windows are open.
In sybaritic style, the master bath tub is built into the foundations of the house. The tub sits next to a 6-foot square awning window that pivots up and looks onto the pool and a beautiful oak tree. Hence Benson can bathe in the tub (and the fresh air) when she wishes. "I'm a water baby and love the bathtub. I think I took a bath every night for the first year after moving in," Benson says. "The tub is heaven."
In another inspired stroke, Danziger designed the giant kitchen cabinet to be made out of Kapour, the wood that is used for building floors on semi-trucks. I chose it because it is really sturdy, he says. The cabinet bursts out of the wall and the cabinet is the wall, you can see right through the cabinet into the pool area; talking about sightlines, the house is really long, it's really a one-bedroom house designed for a couple's peace and harmony.
Working with Lee on the house was my greatest pleasure of the process, says Benson. Lee did indeed honor everything about the house/lot/original structure. The gift he gave us is that he infused his spirit into the whole space every day I'm grateful that I live in such a special place.
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