From a Sunken Tatami Lounge to a Glass-Enclosed Stream — This Los Angeles Home Has Cracked the California-Japan Design Code
Honoring the pioneering American architect Ray Kappe's original vision, OWIU Design's most personal project weaves Eastern philosophies and artisanal traditions into the fabric of a modern West Coast abode
There is a new generation of designers who no longer think in terms of geographical boundaries or rigid cultural references. Influences overlap, languages blend, and the home becomes the place where these layers find a tangible expression. Glass Ridge House, the Los Angeles residence of OWIU Design's co-founders Amanda Gunawan and Joel Wong, is perhaps the most personal embodiment of this approach.
Here, Ray Kappe’s Californian modernism meets Japanese-style rituals and sensibilities, while architecture and landscape merge into a narrative shaped by multiple identities, memory, and everyday life. The result is not simply an aesthetic fusion, but a home that reflects how more and more people, including the couple, live today: between different cultures, global influences, and a growing desire to reconnect with nature.
Part of OWIU Design’s success lies in its ability to bring different cultural influences into conversation without reducing them to stylistic references. Their design language is not the result of a calculated exercise, but rather the product of years spent traveling throughout Asia, family memories, and a life built in Los Angeles. Their home becomes a kind of spatial autobiography.
The Japanese art of bringing the outdoors inside takes centre stage at Ray Kappe's Glass Ridge House.
Nestled among the hills of La Cañada Flintridge, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, the founders of OWIU Design have transformed a residence originally designed by Ray Kappe in 1973 into a quiet manifesto of their design philosophy.
A key figure in Californian modernism, Kappe was redefining the language of West Coast architecture during that period through a more organic, human approach — "one rooted in landscape, light, and spatial openness," Gunawan and Wong say.
Rather than a straightforward modern home restoration, the intervention developed alongside Inflexion Builds extends Kappe's original vision into the present. Left vacant for nearly three decades, the house has been revived through a series of thoughtful interventions that preserve its architectural character while adapting it to contemporary living, the designers explain.
Like in the finest Japanese stays, the nature surrounding Glass Ridge House complements and informs the interior scheme.
Image credit: Pablo Veiga. Architects: OWIU Design
Greenery, tactile textures, and sunshine set the tone at this landmark Ray Kappe restoration by OWIU Design.
Image credit: Pablo Veiga. Architects: OWIU Design
Glass Ridge House unfolds through a carefully considered renovation that honors both Eastern philosophy and California's enduring relationship with the landscape — "the surrounding mature trees, light, and terrain shaped nearly every spatial decision of the property".
Architecture and nature had already grown together in a remarkably harmonious way, and Wong and Gunawan chose to preserve that quality throughout the project. The relationship between indoors and outdoors became the guiding principle of the renovation.
Expansive glazing, generous openings, and natural materials dissolve conventional boundaries, making nature an active part of the domestic experience. Water flows throughout the project as a recurring presence.
Natural light penetrates the building through large glass surfaces, casting shadows on the surfaces of wood, natural stone, and Shikkui plaster.
The veranda was transformed into a glass-enclosed stream, while a koi pond wraps around the entrance alongside a minimalist Japanese zen garden.
The redesigned swimming pool now blends seamlessly into views of the surrounding hills. Existing nature becomes as integral to the experience of the house as any piece of furniture or lighting element.
This dialogue forms the basis of the house tour right from the beginning. Natural light penetrates the building through large glass surfaces, casting shadows on the surfaces of wood, natural stone, and Shikkui plaster. There are fewer materials used here; their purpose is to generate a warm, inviting ambience.
"We are interested in creating spaces that feel calm, tactile, and emotionally grounded. The work often blends Asian spatial sensibilities with the openness and informality of Los Angeles living." — OWIU Design
One of the home’s most significant spaces is the sunken tatami lounge. In order to create an authentic cultural touchpoint from Japan, OWIU partnered with the traditional tatami maker Kuboki Tatami, who have been manufacturing tatami for 280 years in Fukushima prefecture, Japan.
The idea is not to look at tatami as a heritage piece but rather to reinvent its purpose. The tatami-clad living area creates a more intimate and flexible environment designed for gathering, pausing, and informal moments of connection.
Need an example? "It also happens to be the favorite spot for our new born to freely explore his 'little world,'" Wong and Gunawan note.
In order to create an authentic cultural touchpoint from Japan, OWIU partnered with the traditional tatami maker Kuboki Tatami, who have been manufacturing tatami for 280 years in Fukushima prefecture, Japan.
Image credit: Pablo Veiga. Architects: OWIU Design
Warm wood paneling, wall-to-ceiling windows, and iconic pieces of furniture punctuate the interior of Glass Ridge House.
Image credit: Pablo Veiga. Architects: OWIU Design
Suspended between East and West, this rediscovered jewel of modernism offers plenty of inspiration for a home that straddles continents and aesthetics.
Image credit: Pablo Veiga. Architects: OWIU Design
The tea bar is one of the project’s most refined moments. Framed in marble, it features custom ceramic tiles created by Japanese artist Tomonari Hashimoto. Here, tea is not approached as a simple domestic function, the OWIU Design co-founders explain, but as a ritual.
The space establishes a deliberate separation from the kitchen, creating an emotional hierarchy between the speed of everyday life and the slower rhythms of contemplation.
The kitchen designed by Inflexion Builds truly represents the social nature of the OWIU. With its double volume and large windows, this area is characterized by plenty of natural light, which emphasizes the light-colored wood surfaces of the furniture.
Right next to the kitchen there is the dining room that provides quite a different atmosphere: the low ceiling covered in dark wood, combined with a black wood bar area, creates a cozy environment.
Crafted by Inflexion Builds, the kitchen captures the social nature of OWIU Design. With its double volume and large windows, this area is characterized by plenty of natural light, which emphasizes the light-colored wood surfaces of the furniture.
Every detail in the house conveys a sense of life accumulated over time. Objects collected during travels, handcrafted ceramics, artworks, gifts from friends, and vintage pieces come together to create a layered and deeply personal domestic landscape. Nothing feels purely decorative; every object appears to carry a memory.
More recently, the house has continued to evolve with the addition of a nursery designed as a natural extension of the home’s overall language. Soft tones, gentle curves, ambient lighting, and custom millwork create an intimate and protective environment, reflecting a new chapter in the family’s life.
What might be the most provocative aspect of the Glass Ridge House is the question, perhaps, of whether the future of the house has anything more to do with the addition of new uses than with rebuilding our connection to space, nature, and how we inhabit time in it.
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