Slot House: Overlooking the Los Angeles Hills

ANX / Aaron Neubert Architects has designed Slot House, a 223 m² residence overlooking hills and the Silver Lake Reservoir in Los Angeles, California. The house is a compact, layered volume that naturally steps into the steep hillside. Despite the challenging grade, the architects delivered a dynamic, comfortable home.

Integrating the residence with the Silver Lake landscape

The project’s layered design is tailored to the specific constraints of the site. Embedded in the slope, the garage forms a structural base that supports the two residential levels above. This siting allows the building to recede into the hillside, where a series of retaining walls defines a private back terrace. Sheltered by the rising terrain, this outdoor space provides an intimate retreat that contrasts with the more open street-facing facade.

A bridge extending from the second floor connects the house to the upper portion of the lot, integrating the structure into the slope and creating a seamless flow between the architecture and the natural surroundings. The bridge encapsulates the primary design intent to merge architecture and landscape into a continuous experience.

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Balancing transparency and privacy

At the heart of the residence, a linear skylight aligned with the stairs, hallway, and bridge brings natural light into the interior, creating a visual axis that extends from the entry porch through to the back terrace. Light acts as a connective thread throughout the home, reinforcing the spatial continuity between the interior and exterior.

The interiors feature a neutral color palette and are organized as fluid open volumes designed to encourage movement and maximize views of the surrounding landscape. Sightlines extend from the entry porch through the living and dining areas to the private back terrace. Carefully positioned glazing captures views of the hills and Silver Lake Reservoir while maintaining privacy from neighboring properties.

Slot House is ANX’s solution to a challenging site. By balancing openness and privacy, exposure and retreat, the architecture reinterprets hillside living as a sequence of interconnected spaces where the building itself becomes a bridge between the resident and the landscape.

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