The Office and Museum
BEVERLY HILLS, CA
3,500 SF
2 Story
Interior Design
Rennovation Construction
Retail / Commercial / Office
When Dan Brunn of DBA began the renovation of Kurt Rappaport’s company headquarters at a quintessential Beverly Hills building on a well-known corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Canon Drive, he found the real estate magnate to be a creative partner as equally invested in the design and finishing touches as himself. As an avid collector of fine art and vintage furniture, so many of the furnishings and artworks came from Rappaport’s personal collection that the two story, 3,500 square foot spread also serves as a private art museum and gallery. Under the eye of Rappaport and Brunn, every piece was sourced and placed with intention, or custom designed and built. “Kurt is a tastemaker in life and work,” Brunn points out. “Everything here either has a provenance that carries a special meaning to him, or its an all new creation by DBA. It’s all very lush and filled with great artifacts and curiosities.”
Rappaport’s initial intention for the building was to renovate and lease to commercial tenants. However, Brunn is a modernist architect who takes pride in drawing out the synergy of a site and its environment, and renovated the facade to its original heyday of historic, 1930s era Beverly Hills design. The Los Angeles businessman fell in love with the restored building design and enlisted DBA to help make it his own, with the prominent corner as the public-facing entry for Westside Estate Agency, Funke restaurant capping the opposing corner, and the deeper interior as his private offices and executives’ inner sanctum.
DBA designed the space to unfold in layers from public to private, a seamless spatial progression from one functional area to the next. The first area encountered by guests is the serene threshold that sets the gallery tone for the agency. The Roy Lichtenstein painting at the entry is a friendly nod to the iconic neighborhood, speaking to the Lichtenstein placed outside at the well known (former) CAA headquarters. Reflective surfaces and natural light from manifold windows and skylights is a theme throughout, beginning with the custom stainless steel reception table and terrazzo staircase rising to the second floor. The one-half-inch thick stainless steel railing was polished at an aerospace lab to create its mirror finish, an homage to Anish Kapoor grounded by the live tree anchoring the soaring, double height entry to the outdoors. This inclusion of nature living indoors, punctuated by the light from the oculus skylight in combination with the use of terrazzo, is a DBA signature that helps to create the linear movement from level to level and creates a clean, streamlined backdrop for a gallery setting.
Every step is an invitation to engage with the artworks that pinpoint the entire interior, from the hanging Calder mobile merging the first level to the second. The choice of materials in the walnut and marble stonework echoes the patina of the vintage furnishings, from the original Eames and Jean Prouve chairs, to the elegant Ron Arad metal desk. The backlit cubicles and spotlit corridors recall the lineup of a museum wall, punctuated with focal points like the conference and dining room featuring a Dan Rees.
The passage through the layers of privacy truly begins at the massive pivot door leading to the inner interior. The ten-foot-wide slab (painted to a finished gleam with white auto body paint) swings open from the cocktail and coffee bar, and guides guests to the hidden office beyond. The English style library is an unexpected sanctuary, with mahogany wood-clad bookshelves, foot-level windows and pill-shaped skylights that anchor light and highlight the custom bean sofa, bulletproof Marc Newson Micarta table, and historic Starck chairs. The final spaces reveal themselves through a hidden door in the library panels to the executive suite and beyond. A cocoon of luxury and private moments, the fabric-lined suite functions as a bedroom with a full marble clad bath and shower, closet and dressing area, replete with inlaid brass “KR” initials in the terrazzo floor- a purely personal nod to the serene aesthetic of Rappaport’s friend and favorite designer, Tom Ford.
The final scene concludes as guests walk down a wood-lined corridor, interspersed with circular skylights and a gallery wall showcasing the collection of photographs of classic Hollywood movie scenes, and ultimately through a second hidden door that leads back to the restaurant and the rest of the executive suite. The entire impression of moving through the structure, Brunn says, is that of a single circular band unweaving from space to space, where the overlapping experiences of work and entertainment, business and relaxation transition naturally through a sensuous flow of movement and purposeful space.