High in the hills of Los Feliz, where the horizon of Los Angeles blends with the canyon’s vegetation, lies a house that has held almost a century of history. Built in 1926 in Spanish Colonial style, this residence has been reimagined today as a contemporary manifesto thanks to the vision of Australian architect Jordana Maisie, who has managed to reinvent it without betraying its essence.
The challenge was ambitious: to transform a residence charged with memory into a warm, current home, deeply rooted in nature. The owners, a couple linked to the world of fashion and parents of two young children, sought a house that would breathe authenticity while offering the comfort of modern living.
Two iconic references: Barragán and Slim Aarons
Maisie’s proposal draws on two iconic references. On one hand, the architecture of Luis Barragán, master of turning light, color, and space into emotional experiences. On the other, the photographic universe of Slim Aarons, chronicler of the carefree sophistication of California’s mid-century high society. The synthesis of both perspectives results in a vibrant project that breathes equal parts spirituality and glamour.
The interior unfolds its narrative through dark hardwood floors, Moroccan-inspired tiles, and bespoke millwork in noble woods such as red elm and burl. Custom furniture pieces act as sculptural elements that accompany the stepped geometry of the house, while the chromatic palette — luminous whites and earthy tones, reinterpreted with pigmented concrete and stucco — reinforces the Mediterranean and timeless character of the whole.
A choreography of spaces and landscapes
The heart of the project beats outdoors: a system of terraces, gardens, and patios cascading across different levels, following the topography and celebrating life in the open air. Here, the pool and spa become an intimate oasis, where the calm of water blends with whitewashed walls and soft arches of colonial inspiration.
Maisie speaks of a “stepped choreography”: a sequence of architectural scenes in which each level invites pause, contemplation, and the discovery of new perspectives over the canyon and the city. The landscape enters the home through large windows and strategic openings, creating a constant dialogue between inside and out.
Light as material
But it is light that ultimately gives soul to the project. As evening falls, the white walls capture the setting sun and transform it into a sundial of shadows and reflections. White turns into amber, ochre, and dusty pink, and the house becomes a living stage where architecture and time intertwine. A poetic union between matter and emotion that confirms this residence as a place to be lived, felt, and remembered.
In the hands of Jordana Maisie, this historic house in the Hollywood Hills not only recovers its splendor, but is reborn as a contemporary refuge. A work where tradition and modernity, nature and design, memory and future come together in perfect harmony.
Project: Casa Cazaux.
Location: Hollywood Hills. Los Ángeles.
Site area: 1.672 m2.
Architecture, Interior and Landscape Design: Jordana Maisie Design Studio.
Construction: MODAA Construction.
Pool and Landscape Construction: Johnston Vidal Projects.
Photography: Kort Havens.
Production: Karine Monié.
Jordana Maisie
For Jordana Maisie, architecture is a medium to spark wonder, to open spaces for pause and reflection, and to weave connections between people, communities, and nature. Her projects carry an almost cinematic quality: light becomes raw material, revealing hidden narratives and blurring the thresholds between the visible and the invisible. The extraordinary emerges from the everyday, in those interstices where inhabitation unfolds as experience.
Founder of the Los Angeles–based studio JMDS, Maisie approaches design as an expanded practice that encompasses architecture, interiors, public installations, furniture, and lighting. Her work is nourished by research and material innovation, while intertwining history, culture, and site-specificity to give shape to meaningful spaces. In parallel, she directs JMDW, an experimentation and fabrication workshop that reinforces her pursuit of new ways of inhabiting.
Her artistic and professional journey is singular: trained initially in orchestral music, photography, and film, she found in Berlin fertile ground to explore the interaction between body, space, and technology. A residency in her native Australia culminated in a large-scale public installation and marked the transition toward architecture and design. After earning a Master of Architecture and an MFA in Lighting Design at Parsons School of Design, along with a strong background in photography and audiovisual production, she brought her interdisciplinary vision to the studio of Diller Scofidio + Renfro in New York.
Jordana holds a Master of Architecture and an MFA in Lighting Design from Parsons School of Design, a BFA in Photography from the Glasgow School of Art, and an MFA in Video Production and Sound Engineering from the College of Fine Arts in Sydney.
She currently combines professional practice with teaching as an adjunct professor at USC’s School of Architecture in Los Angeles. Her work has been recognized with the Art & Australia / Credit Suisse Private Banking Contemporary Art Award, and featured in leading publications such as FRAME, Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times, Surface, and WWD.
Each of her works reveals this profound conviction: architecture is experience, light embodied in space, the art of unveiling what remains hidden in the everyday.
Jordana Maisie Design Studio (JMDS)
Los Ángeles
jordanamaisiedesign.studio
Project by Jordana Maisie
