California firm Edward Ogosta Architecture has dramatically transformed a corner-lot house into "an intimate pocket of luminosity, atmosphere, and serenity" in a local beach town.
The white Corner Pocket House sits beside a busy junction in Manhattan Beach – part of the Greater Los Angeles area.

Edward Ogosta Architecture remodelled and extended the 1950s bungalow, so much so that appears like a new project. The existing roof was flattened and all of the exterior walls finished in smooth white plaster.

The LA-based firm completed the project for Alison and Jeff Goad, and their three children, who wished "to buffer the house from street noise, yet requested large openings between a new living, dining, and kitchen space, and access to the outdoors".
The single-storey house measures 1,986 square feet (185 square metres) and is rectangular in plan, created by an old and a new volume, with a spacious courtyard that merges indoor and outdoor spaces.
Approximately 70 per cent of the house footprint was left in place. The front half was demolished, while the rear portion that accommodates three bedrooms and a two-car garage was preserved.

"Local codes severely reduced the available building envelope with increased corner site setbacks, height limits, and ordinances protecting the mature tree onsite," said Edward Ogosta Architecture. "In order to economise the budget, most of the existing house was to remain."

The extension is...