Although designed without a specific client in mind, Radius House in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles is both livable and sculptural. Designer Ben Crawford of Los Angeles-based Pentagon and his partners Paul Stoelting, Tyler McMartin, Dale Strong and Paul Trussler, have conceived a 3,700 square-foot (344 sq. metre), four-bedroom, four-bathroom residence that allows for flexibility and modifications yet doesn?t look like just an empty shell.

The two-storey structure itself has distinctive characteristics that suggest what would work inside in terms of furnishings and living arrangements, but it also has a breezy feel of freedom and openness as the indoors connects with the lush outdoors through a multitude of windows and openings of various sizes.
?We are particularly happy with the front and rear facades,? Pentagon?s Ben Crawford tells The Cool Hunter. ?In the front, it is the careful composition of the windows on the curved volumes. The rear alley-facing facade, an often-ignored elevation for homes in Venice, has a dynamic massing because the office appears to cantilever over the carport and the garage creates a smaller base. The window to the upstairs hallway is recessed and creates a counterpoint to the flat glazing on the front facade.?

Discussing the challenges presented by the project, Crawford adds: ?Designing a home without a specific client in mind is never easy. Also, organizing the house around the central stair/atrium even though the lot has such narro...