ARCH TOUR FEST: Horizon House 2

Photo Credit: Karl Tso, Geoffrey von Oeyen

ARCH TOUR FEST: Horizon House 2

Horizon House 2 explores Robin Evans’s idea of Mies’s paradoxical symmetries, using mirrored views—horizontally and vertically across the horizon—to register the architecture within its natural context. Oblique views of ocean and sky are framed by low-e multi-slide doors and large, strategically placed mirrors, referencing Southern California’s Light and Space art movement.

The house transitions from the familiar typology of a traditional ranch at the entry into a sequence of geometric viewing frames along the southern facade. A bisected gable roof, appearing to cantilever, is suspended by a hidden steel structure and a visible 57-foot clear-span truss that enables spatial continuity between the interior and the pool deck. A sand-finished concrete floor—an abstract beach at low tide—features a saw-cut grid that reconciles the original house’s orientation with the east-west pool axis.

Designed for resilience and flexibility in a post-pandemic era of remote work and climate change, the home includes a pool-fed exterior fire sprinkler system and a protected mechanical room that doubles as a belvedere. Every space frames the horizon, either visually or conceptually, and each architectural element serves multiple purposes. Bedrooms are separated from open living areas by semi-private courtyards, allowing for events while maintaining privacy. Varying ceiling heights support classical music performances and live recordings.

Ten days after the owners moved into the house, it was violently destroyed in the 2018 Woolsey Fire. In the aftermath, Horizon House 2 was built on the existing deep foundations, reinterpreting the original with improved daylighting, passive ventilation, and fire resilience. This project has been nominated for the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize, and is the subject of several published articles and interviews regarding wildfire rebuilds and resiliency. This would be a unique opportunity to tour the project after its completion but prior to its architectural publication.

Tour Led By:

Geoffrey von Oeyen, Associate AIA, Los Angeles Chapter – Principal of Geoffrey von Oeyen Design and von Oeyen Architects, Associate Professor of Practice at the USC School of Architecture

Geoffrey von Oeyen is a Principal of Geoffrey von Oeyen Design and von Oeyen Architects, based in Los Angeles, and is an Associate Professor of Practice at the USC School of Architecture. The recipient of multiple national awards including the Architectural League Prize, Next Progressives, and a MacDowell Fellowship, his built architectural projects in North America and Asia have been widely published in international architectural publications such as Architect, Architectural Record, Dezeen, Architizer, and the Architect’s Newspaper. In 2025, Geoffrey von Oeyen Design was selected as one of ten architecture firms to reimagine the iconic Case Study Program published by Arts & Architecture magazine through Case Study:Adapt and Architectural Digest in response to the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

Von Oeyen’s built work was exhibited in the 2023 Venice Biennale “Time Space Existence”, curated by the European Cultural Centre. In 2019, Geoffrey von Oeyen Design was internationally longlisted by Dezeen for “Emerging Architect of the Year”, and was selected by the Dezeen readers as one of the top ten firms in all disciplines of architecture, design, and landscape architecture. Geoffrey von Oeyen served as the president of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, an Associate at Gehry Partners LLP, and received an MArch from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and an AB from Stanford University.

Architect: Geoffrey von Oeyen Design

Building Credits:

General Contractor: TSO Construction, General Contractor
Structural Engineer: Thornton Thomasetti
Architect: Geoffrey von Oeyen Design & von Oeyen Architects

AIA CES: 1.5 LU|HSW Approved

Learning Objectives:

1. Adaptive Reuse and Geometric Reconciliation
Understand how to transform existing structures through strategic geometric interventions, specifically learning techniques for introducing new axes to unify disparate building elements while working within restrictive planning constraints and limited addition allowances.

2. Environmental Integration and Optical Design
Explore methods for designing buildings as optical instruments that frame specific views, examining how mirror placement, strategic fenestration, and roof bisection can amplify natural panoramas while creating spatial continuity between interior and exterior environments.

3. Climate-Responsive Design and Resilience Strategies
Analyze integrated passive environmental systems including mechanized skylights, solar chimneys, operable clerestory windows, and fabric awning light shelves that achieve superior energy performance while addressing contemporary challenges of wildfire resilience and climate adaptation.

4. Programmatic Flexibility Through Spatial Acoustics
Study how varied ceiling heights and clear-span structural solutions can create multiple acoustical environments within a single residence, enabling diverse programming from intimate living to classical music performances while maintaining architectural cohesion and visual connections to the landscape.

These objectives focus on practical design strategies that architects can apply to their own projects while highlighting the theoretical underpinnings that make Horizon House 2 an exemplary case study in contemporary residential architecture.

Parking:

Street Parking Available