Sustainable and Visually Captivating Residential Addition: The Sapphire Gallery

The Sapphire Gallery was designed by XTEN Architecture and is located in Los Angeles, California. The owners wanted a home addition that would accommodate their contemporary art collection which includes works of famous artists, such as Gregory Crewdson, Uta Barth, Tomoroy Dodge and  Jennifer Steinkamp. Moreover, their collection is expanding and the Sapphire Gallery had to provide a suitable space for both present and future works. According to the architects ,” the new structure is grafted onto the circulation spine of the existing house and lifted off the ground to provide a minimal footprint. Freeing the ground plane creates a new multi-functional hardscape/landscape area for the family that they use as carport, children’s play area, for art parties and video projections .” The Sapphire Gallery is also a sustainable project:” An array of photovoltaic cells on the South facing sloped roof produces an average of 15kWh per day, enough to supply all the energy for the new building with a surplus directed towards the main house .” (Photography by Art Gray )