The Beautiful House That Made Mayer Rus Anxious—At First

Concrete Box Supreme

I confess, I was a bit intimidated by the prospect of writing about the work of architect Tadao Ando for the first time in my career. Lorenzo Hadar, founder of the LA avant-garde fashion mecca H.Lorenzo, had commissioned the illustrious Japanese architect to design a house in the Hollywood Hills (AD, January 2025), and the proud homeowner was kind enough to share the results with our readers. Recalling my first visit to the property to scout the place for a potential story, the beauty and spiritual resonance of Ando’s design was palpable. Despite the fact that the home was barely furnished—or perhaps because of it—the serene energy of the architect’s taut volumes and origami-like spatial manipulations registered on a visceral level.

As much as I was concerned about capturing that sensation in words, I was equally anxious about the photography. Given the flattening effect of the camera and the frailty and subtlety of Ando’s pas de deux of light and shadow, I feared that the pictures would fail to register exactly what makes one concrete box different, and better, than all the others. Fortunately, photographer Yoshihiro Makino and stylist Lisa Rowe understood the assignment perfectly, crafting images that speak in the same hushed tones of restraint and simplicity that give Ando’s architecture its undeniable power. It didn’t hurt that Hadar had populated his halcyon rooms sparingly, with a limited range of lovely, unimpeachable classics by the likes of George Nakashima, Pierre Jeanneret, and Jean Prouvé.

As for the writing, I decided to leave the hosannas and philosophical musings to the many finer authors who have already weighed in on Ando’s mastery. Buoyed by the homeowner’s irresistible air of generosity and gratitude, I simply tried to tell the story of the house through Hadar’s personal lens. He had enough eloquence for the both of us.

—Mayer Rus, West Coast Editor, AD

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