Stiff Peaks / Byben & Skeens

The client, a filmmaker, and a poet, acquired an eclectically terraced hillside property abutting Elysian park in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. The previous owner decorated the backyard in a lyrical antique style with circuitous crumbling stairs winding up the hill and a hand-made shack on the brink of collapse. Inspired by the whimsical setting, the client wanted to replace it with a writing studio and guest house that evoked the past but was firmly contemporary.