In the climate of Los Angeles, indoor and outdoor blend effortlessly, but seldom has their interplay been as beautifully choreographed as in Janna Levenstein’s stunning creation, Rising Glen, set on ½-acre above Sunset Plaza. “It’s all about circulation,” says Levenstein. “The property was designed around the interplay of indoor and outdoor architecture.”

A green yard wraps around the entire house as if it’s a theater in the round, an open look that is especially dramatic viewed across the pool at night. The kitchen reinforces this concept with a massive, monolithic island that radiates from inside to outside, intensifying the indoor/outdoor circulation.    

The stainless steel and glass bi-fold doors were designed by Levenstein because she couldn’t find what she had envisioned. The doors fold away and nature rushes in. You can push a floating window back into its hidden place inside the wall if you want to pass things inside while working at the grill.
    
“Integral to the design of this kitchen and the entire home is a kind of tango between subtle and bold,” says Levenstein. “The subtlety comes from gentle colors, greenery and soft feeling woods. This is balanced by strong visual lines and the bold, contemporary structure of the Viking Designer Series.”

 Levenstein first worked in Los Angeles as a professional voice-over actress. With her background in art, after she bought her first home in Los Angeles, she designed and remodeled it room by room. Realizing she had a new passion for construction and remodeling, Levenstein continued to work independently, completing multiple housing remodels in Southern California, Chicago and Hawaii. She eventually opened her own firm, Tocha Project.

For more information about Janna, download a PDF of her story here.

See more of Janna’s designs.