The King Residence in Santa Monica | John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects

John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects projected the king modern residence located in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Santa Monica. The two tone exterior color pattern white and green is designed to mimic the dappled light coming through trees. More important, the architects placed the four-bedroom, four-bath house toward the back of the lot, not only creating a large yard in front but also exposing the heart of the L-shaped home to the neighborhood.

Homeowners Erin King, a landscape designer, and husband Matt King, director of the Santa Monica-based nonprofit Heal the Bay, had lived in Spanish-style homes in Santa Monica and Brentwood. But Erin says her husband, who is 6-foot-6, found them to be claustrophobic. “Matt always said that he wanted to build a modernist home one day,” she says. “He wanted something that he belonged in.” Here, one of several broad glass doors leads to the dining room.

The dining room also opens to a more private garden behind the house. It gives the Kings a quieter outdoor space that they like to use for breakfast or barbecues.