For modern architect Patrick Killen, each house he builds writes a story: who are the clients, what do they want and what can be actualized? In “The Modern Californian Beach House” (Images Publishing Group, 2012), co-written by Killen and San Francisco-based architectural photographer Russell Abraham, Killen regales with the backstories of his past residential projects, all stamped with his signature high-style modernism throughout the beach towns of Los Angeles. Since remodeling his first beach house in 1984, Killen, an Ohio-native, has established himself as a leading residential-modernist architect, bringing style, functionality and originality to old-school beachfront lots established decades ago. The buildings featured in the book are the works of his Manhattan Beach-based firm Studio 9one2, which he established in 1992.
“The Modern Californian Beach House” features 20 unique projects undertaken by Killen and his firm Studio 9one2. Each project spans eight to 10 pages with full-page shots of the house and its interiors as well as the home’s floor plan. Killen walks the reader through the process, from the initial introduction to the clients and their specific requests to Killen’s ultimate design solutions to actualize those requests. He pushes the boundaries of modern architecture to make this happen.
The 139 Hermosa Avenue site is one example. His firm was hired to “create an eye-catching facade on a busy street corner in a commercial district that served both a residential and commercial use,” he writes. He took inspiration for the design from the original iPod, using a blue mosaic tile clad tube to stretch across the entire property. It certainly is eye-catching, and much like the rest of his work, is an intersection of modernism, regionalism and humor.
“It is the architecture of our time and shouldn’t be ignored,” Killen writes.
