Bridge House | Dornbracht

Bridge House takes us to an intimate but well-known enclave of Los Angeles known as Brookside, a community comprised of just eight tree-lined streets. Here, many of its inhabitants enjoy a beautiful brook that runs through the neighborhood called the Arroyo de los Jardines (Brook of the Gardens). While most of the homes in the neighborhood revel the running water feature by building beautiful, lush gardens or charming backyard bridges, architect Dan Brunn’s pragmatic approach led him to build his home directly over the stream.

A quick glance at Bridge House’s exterior may tell you that Brunn was highly influenced by his childhood in Tel Aviv, a city known for its concentration of Bauhaus-style buildings and architecture. The influence of his upbringing goes much further however, beyond just the facade of the exterior architecture. The home is impressive in terms of the number of thoughtful, eco-friendly features. It was important to Brunn that Bridge House was built to zero net energy standards, meaning the home’s total amount of energy used on an annual basis needed to be equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site. Brunn achieved this through a combination of meticulous installations while also making the most of the home’s natural surroundings including the land, water, and sun.

On the outside, a solar panel system was installed on the roof and the placement of the windows face north, which allows less heat gain in the home while still letting in a lot of light. The windows themselves are made of special aluminum and dual-pane low-E glass. Bone Structure which was also implemented in the formation of the home, is a unique steel structural system that uses nearly 90% recycled material and produces minimal waste on a building site. Architect Dan Brunn designed his home directly over the Brook of the Gardens.

Inside the home, which is relatively spacious at 4,500 square feet, certainly could have felt narrow and long if it hadn’t been for Brunn’s thoughtful planning. Twenty feet wide, the home elegantly flows from one space into the next.

The northern corridor is comprised of the living room, kitchen, dining area and an outdoor terrace. The southern corridor is more private in nature where the den, three bedrooms and two bathrooms reside. There is also a master suite with its own private garden. Also on the south side of the home, one of the exits leads to an outdoor infinity pool that is solar-heated. The lower-floor of the pool house even has its own kitchen, music room, outdoor shower and grill.

As a child, Brunn recalls his showers were powered by a passive-energy water heater which did not use a pump to circulate water. Rather, it collected heat from the sun to warm up the natural resource. It was this mindset to conserve, conserve, conserve that changed his approach to working with water, for example, installing the solar panel system and having a solar-heated pool. His approach to water consumption is perhaps best conveyed through his approach to landscaping. He decided on several drought-tolerant plants that only needed drip irrigation to become established. Naturally decomposing materials such as granite and rock were also added as part of the landscaping, further reducing the need for water consumption by eliminating water reliant plants. Brunn also installed a reverse osmosis water system in the house so he and his guests could drink straight from the tap.