Long Beach, California
Multifamily, Renovation
4,000 SF
2019 - 2025
On a site overlooking Alamitos Bay, MSTMA renovated a three-unit residential building with formally inventive, thoughtful interventions that both bring architectural unity and preserve the building’s stylistic variations. The building, which dates to 1945, was already a mish-mash of different eras: a low-slung, boxy modernist massing with formal flourishes and layered with Mediterranean elements introduced as part of an early-aughts renovation. Rather than attempt to homogenize these features, MSTMA took the approach of respecting what was already there while introducing a new architectural language that unifies the idiosyncrasies and layers of changes that the building has accumulated over time.
Working with the clients, the architects developed a list of basic requirements: larger windows, shade for the outdoor spaces, and, most importantly, preserving the multi-family arrangement—an increasing rarity in the neighborhood, which has gone through multiple periods of downzoning and is itself an amalgam of architectural styles. MSTMA identified elements with which to do away: oversized balusters around the terrace and large, flanking columns at the entrance that were part of the 2000s renovation, and the small original apertures on the upper floors. The rest—including the terracotta tiles on the roof and the added outdoor spaces—was allowed to remain as it was.
On the outside, MSTMA replaced a short, steep stair with a longer, more comfortable one, whose positioning creates an oblique approach to the building’s second floor units. New and extended walls help to define the building’s perimeter: quarter- and half-circle cut-outs in these planes reference the original building’s porthole windows, as well as the shaped Mission style parapets popular in the region, to create a new—and highly constructible due to its simplicity—architectural language that bridges the gap between old and new.
The largest addition, a metal trellis whose shape is balanced between playful formal moves and optimizing shade for the hottest times of the day and year, was also constructed from straight lines and circular segments. Perched on long, thin columns informed by the building’s original plain round supports, the trellis provides shade for a number of outdoor spaces: the ground floor unit’s patio, the second floor unit’s terrace, and the breezeway that spans between the upstairs units, fostering a generous sense of space and true indoor-outdoor living without expanding the building footprint. Its matte aqua finish contrasts with the warm orange-red of the roof tiles and references nearby mid-century towers with similarly colored spandrels as well as Long Beach’s lifeguard structures. The trellis’s metal louver elements are tapered in profile, a shape that discourages birds from making the structure their home. At the hottest times of the day and the year, the structure casts a solid, cooling shadow that extends into the interior, and in moments when the sun is less intense, the louvers cover the building with stripes of shadow that become a textural element in the broader material palette.
Low-contrast, bright finishes—white stucco, powdery terrazzo, whitewashed brick and painted steel—paired with the terracotta roof lend the exterior a relaxed timelessness that harkens to the owner’s childhood along the Bosphorus and Marmara Sea. This effect extends into the owners’ unit, where MSTMA revealed the existing timber joists over the living area, creating a spatial separation on the overhead plane, but kept all of the ceiling elements white to lend unity and lightness. The removal of a hallway and creation of a new powder room sent structural load to the exterior, where MSTMA added columns—in the same aqua as the trellis—that also serve as seismic stabilization and visually bridge between adjacent existing plain round supports and the new trellis above. The overall effect is that of a layered cohesion, true to the building’s history and reflective of its surroundings.
Photography: Leonid Furmansky
Bay Shore Multi-Family
Long Beach, California
Multifamily, Renovation
4,000 SF
2019 - 2025
On a site overlooking Alamitos Bay, MSTMA renovated a three-unit residential building with formally inventive, thoughtful interventions that both bring architectural unity and preserve the building’s stylistic variations. The building, which dates to 1945, was already a mish-mash of different eras: a low-slung, boxy modernist massing with formal flourishes and layered with Mediterranean elements introduced as part of an early-aughts renovation. Rather than attempt to homogenize these features, MSTMA took the approach of respecting what was already there while introducing a new architectural language that unifies the idiosyncrasies and layers of changes that the building has accumulated over time.
Working with the clients, the architects developed a list of basic requirements: larger windows, shade for the outdoor spaces, and, most importantly, preserving the multi-family arrangement
—
an increasing rarity in the neighborhood, which has gone through multiple periods of downzoning and is itself an amalgam of architectural styles. MSTMA identified elements with which to do away: oversized balusters around the terrace and large, flanking columns at the entrance that were part of the 2000s renovation, and the small original apertures on the upper floors. The rest—including the terracotta tiles on the roof and the added outdoor spaces—was allowed to remain as it was.
On the outside, MSTMA replaced a short, steep stair with a longer, more comfortable one, whose positioning creates an oblique approach to the building’s second floor units. New and extended walls help to define the building’s perimeter: quarter- and half-circle cut-outs in these planes reference the original building’s porthole windows, as well as the shaped Mission style parapets popular in the region, to create a new
—
and highly constructible due to its simplicity
—
architectural language that bridges the gap between old and new.
The largest addition, a metal trellis whose shape is balanced between playful formal moves and optimizing shade for the hottest times of the day and year, was also constructed from straight lines and circular segments. Perched on long, thin columns informed by the building’s original plain round supports, the trellis provides shade for a number of outdoor spaces: the ground floor unit’s patio, the second floor unit’s terrace, and the breezeway that spans between the upstairs units, fostering a generous sense of space and true indoor-outdoor living without expanding the building footprint. Its matte aqua finish contrasts with the warm orange-red of the roof tiles and references nearby mid-century towers with similarly colored spandrels as well as Long Beach’s lifeguard structures. The trellis’s metal louver elements are tapered in profile, a shape that discourages birds from making the structure their home. At the hottest times of the day and the year, the structure casts a solid, cooling shadow that extends into the interior, and in moments when the sun is less intense, the louvers cover the building with stripes of shadow that become a textural element in the broader material palette.
Low-contrast, bright finishes—white stucco, powdery terrazzo, whitewashed brick and painted steel—paired with the terracotta roof lend the exterior a relaxed timelessness that harkens to the owner’s childhood along the Bosphorus and Marmara Sea. This effect extends into the owners’ unit, where MSTMA revealed the existing timber joists over the living area, creating a spatial separation on the overhead plane, but kept all of the ceiling elements white to lend unity and lightness. The removal of a hallway and creation of a new powder room sent structural load to the exterior, where MSTMA added columns—in the same aqua as the trellis—that also serve as seismic stabilization and visually bridge between adjacent existing plain round supports and the new trellis above. The overall effect is that of a layered cohesion, true to the building’s history and reflective of its surroundings.
