Blanchard Fuentes
Design Build

Describe the project.

Extensive remodel of a ’60s era, two-unit residence on a half-lot in North Manhattan Beach. Our project began in the fall of 2019, working closely with the owners and city planning to rehab the existing structure while elevating a neglected corner lot property with thoughtful design choices. Essentially three disjointed levels, efforts focused on a series of new stair flights to reunite the floors and their new program elements. The stairwell, as the central design feature, was designed to collect natural daylight from above and softly diffuse it to spaces below.

The kitchen and baths were rethought in subtle, simple finishes of white oak and petra grey porcelain with rose gold fixture accents. White plaster and anodized aluminum were chosen as exterior finishes for their clean, understated presence. The garage door was designed as a flush panel and clad in cedar with the building address recessed into it, as a lone, ornamental indulgence to an otherwise minimalistic shell. 

Tell us about your business.

Blanchard Fuentes Design Build is a full-service architectural firm aiming to create uniquely crafted buildings and spaces, exploring the relationship between site, surface, user experience, material application and contextual relevancy. Our projects range in scale from residential work and interiors to select commercial projects and product, where each informs the other with a slight lean toward progress. We build the projects we design, considering a hands-on approach as central to our mission.

How does architectural design make a difference in the way we live?

Architecture, as we see it, does its job quietly and in the background—though we feel its presence each time we engage it, even when we’re unaware. The calculated proportions of a space, the crafted detailing of its features and the way daylight reaches its corners are all examples of how design can create impact. 

Architecture activates our civic spaces, enriches our institutional settings and promotes the daily well-being of our families at home. It has the power to generate, transform and inspire and does so at its most basic level without splashy announcement. Architecture is durable and resilient. It bridges time periods and doesn’t go out of fashion. It was good then and is still good now. 

Above all, architecture gives selflessly each day for the human condition with its influence wide-reaching and felt in many forms—from the comforts of home to our engaging business spaces, halls of justice and higher learning academies. It houses the arts and enlivens our sporting arenas and transportation hubs while offering solitude and reflection in our places of worship. Architecture is all-encompassing. 

Photographed by Shane O’Donnell (team shot) & Deborah Fuentes (project)