1 ANDERSON RESIDENCE AIA Pasadena & Foothill 2026 Rebuild Design Awards - Best Overall Design
The Anderson Residence is a 2,510-square-foot wildfire rebuild in Pacific Palisades that reimagines the single-family home as both sanctuary and safeguard. The project responds to profound physical and emotional loss for the client, who was raised on this site by his adoptive parents, making this residence an act of honoring memory, legacy, and place. Rooted in a modernist ethos of restraint, proportion, and logic, the design rationalizes the previous footprint into a singular rectilinear volume, simplifying the massing and organizing the plan around a preserved driveway and a northwest garage whose 22’-6” depth establishes a disciplined north–south structural spine. Inside, aligned windows, a kitchen glass door, and a continuous clerestory draw diffuse daylight deep into the home, maintaining constant views of the landscape; secondary bedrooms line the east, living spaces open west to expansive light, and the primary suite anchors the south end facing the patio and Pacific Ocean. A gently sloped roof improves drainage while increasing interior volume, and fire resilience is seamlessly integrated— eliminating attics, vents, and overhangs, employing a layered brick veneer assembly, Class A roof, exterior sprinklers, and defensible concrete and gravel, with a freestanding steel canopy designed to be sacrificial in extreme conditions. Despite its rigor, the Anderson Residence feels open rather than fortified, balancing resilience with transparency and permanence with lightness while offering a thoughtful model for rebuilding with clarity and dignity.
Anderson Residence Front Elevation & Approach
The Anderson Residence excels in Best Overall Design through its disciplined form, structural clarity, and integration of resilience with spatial experience. The previous footprint is rationalized into a singular rectilinear volume that establishes order and restraint. A clear north–south structural spine organizes the plan, creating efficiency while allowing open, light-filled living spaces. A continuous clerestory window introduces controlled natural light, reducing glare and deepening spatial depth. The project balances protection and transparency, demonstrating how a wildfire rebuild can be formally rigorous, materially grounded, and quietly powerful without sacrificing livability.
Ground Floor Plan of Anderson Residence
Kitchen & Prep Space
Living & Dining Space
FIRE-RESISTANT DESIGN STRATEGIES EMBER-RESISTANT FEATURES
DESIGN QUALITIES
STYLE FEATURES
CONSTRUCTION METHODOLOGY
Ember resistant exterior materials including class ‘A’ fire retardent roofing.
No overhangs and columns bend away from the house in firestorms.
CUSTOMIZATION POTENTIAL
The brick facade offers a variety of colors and patterns.
Rectilinear alignments for structural, plan, and cost efficiency.
Framing cavities are properly blocked and foam filled allowing for oxygen prevention and fire spread prevention.
EFFICIENCY
The plan and building is based off of efficient modules and rational uses of readily available building materials.
SUSTAINABILITY
High performance envelopes, triple-glazed windows, foam-filled double-layed facades, operable metal screens, and strategic shade structures are integrated alongside passive strategies like natural ventilation and photovoltaic panels.
VENTS
There are no attics or vents, and the concrete is a slab on grade.
ROOFING
Single-ply PVC - class ‘A’ fire retardent over a fire-rated sheet of Dens Glas Gold.
DEFENSIBLE SPACE INTEGRATION
All yeard areas - front, side, and rear - are designed with 24”x24” concrete pavers spaced 3” apart and infilled with gravel, creating low-fuel, non-combustible surfaces that help slow the spread of fire
FIRE RESISTANCE
The building is clad in fire-resistive assembly methods such as a sheathing and a brick veneer and includes a thermal-responsive envelope. Short Section of Anderson Residence
SF-01