Offcuts From the Renovation of This ’70s SoCal Home Were Repurposed Into Furnishings

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Project Details:

Location: Encinitas, California

Designer: Unfold Projects / @unfold.projects

Footprint: 3,790 square feet

Architect of Record: Ritual Architecture / @ritualarchitecture

Builder: Urban Renovation Company

Civil Engineer: Enginuity Consulting

Landscape Design: Rana 

Photographer: Justin Chung / @justinchung

From the Designer: "This project marks the first major residential renovation by Unfold Projects  in Encinitas, California. The future home of the Unfold Artist Residency, the property—a jewel of Californian organic modernism designed by Shanna Kellogg—offers a new model for adaptive regeneration, knitting together artistry, process, and reinvestment in the local community.

"Rediscovery is at the core of the three-bedroom Encinitas residence and guest house (‘The Artist Flat’). Designed by Shanna Kellogg—with structural collaboration from her father, renowned California architect Kendrick Bangs Kellogg—and built by Pat McGriff over a decade beginning in the mid-1970s, the 2,500-square-foot home had undergone a string of updates that distanced it from its initial design intent.

"Purchasing the property in 2022, Unfold Projects founder and creative director Mel Meagher conceived the residence as a place for purpose-led co-design—a slower, more deliberate, and collaborative alternative to conventional development projects. Commissioning an ensemble of contemporary craftspeople and artists, Unfold has rebirthed the home as a thoughtfully restored version of its older self, with an eye on its future resilience.

"Rather than treating the structure as a time capsule, Unfold used the opportunity to return the house to its original design intent, weaving regional artist commissions into its fabric. This approach foregrounded the notion of long-term stewardship and adaptation over literal re-creation. Unfold’s work began with an assessment of the home’s resilience to weather extremes. Unfold added a new, copper roof, scraps of which were repurposed into 21 pieces of art and furniture for the home. Systemic interventions included replacing an asphalt driveway with permeable hardscape and a ‘driveable meadow’ that will allow native plants to re-emerge.

"Inside the home, where Unfold worked with Briana Ellis of Ritual Architecture and Megan Heacock White of House of Heacock, the team embraced a palette of natural materials: teak, clay, and limestone. Careful interventions in the interior have now helped reunite the home with its early design intent. Removing newer introductions—such as built-in bookcases and layers of paint that obscured the home’s original textures and sightlines—has opened the house back up as the light-filled, organic oasis it was meant to be. The renovation also fulfilled deferred elements of the early design, such as the copper roof, which highlights the house’s unique geometry. Kellogg’s vision for a tree-filled atrium in the primary bath—a room once dotted with neglected plants—now takes shape in the form of a living wall and a Song of India tree that reaches toward the skylight.

"Circularity was a driving force of the reconstruction: The majority of elements taken apart during renovation were reused in rebuilding. This included creatively repurposing components for site-specific works by craftspeople and artists, including furniture, sculpture, lighting, rain chains, and even a guitar (made from salvaged redwood from the home). Remaining deconstructed materials funneled to Habitat for Humanity for reuse. Meagher and their team also dedicated extensive resources to restoring the original wood craftsmanship of the house.

"Starting this summer, the newly programmed ‘Artist Flat’—the original builder’s woodshop, and the origin of many of the home’s architectural elements— will begin hosting artists and designers for long-term stays through the twice-yearly Unfold Artist Residency. Providing space, time, and resources—including a $10,000 stipend and access to local connections—the program will invite artists, designers, writers, chefs, researchers, ecologists, and craftspeople to deepen their creative practice in whatever form it takes. Participants will explore radical approaches to circularity and regenerative processes while tending to their own rest and well-being. Resident artists will have the opportunity to educate and share their practice and reflections with the local community through a partnership with the Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego North. This program embraces thinkers and doers in an array of disciplines, united by a regenerative mindset."