RILUXA CLIENT PROJECTS

A Transatlantic Journey: Building a Southern California House in Berlin

After chancing upon Ray Kappe's work through a documentary, Lars Triesch and his wife were inspired to build their very own Southern California-style house in Germany. The featured Kappe residence was adrift in nature, on a total of seven different elevations and at one with the hillside. Upon a visit to Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, Lars knew he was embarking on a journey of a lifetime as they worked alongside the Kappe family to achieve their dream home.

We spoke to Lars to find out more about this project, to learn about their inspirations, to understand the challenges they faced and to discover how they weaved Riluxa products into their home.

First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself - are you a homeowner or a design professional and where do you live? 

I’m Lars Triesch the owner of Original In Berlin, a shop that specialises in Mid-Century Modern furniture. I’m a design enthusiast, proud father of two and husband to my Austrian wife. We live in south-west Berlin, Germany, in our newly constructed house that we began planning four years ago!

Tell us about your project - what were your inspirations and how was the journey?   

In 2018 my wife and I were watching the documentary "Coast Modern" which featured the remarkable home of the American architect, Ray Kappe. Kappe is considered the natural successor to Southern California modernist architects, such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler, and his own home has been described as “the apotheosis of the California House''. Needless to say, we were blown away by his work and started to dream of creating our very own Ray Kappe-style house in Berlin.  

The Kappe Residence in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, that so captivated the Triesch family – it appears to be floating in vegetation over its 7 elevations.

The Gertler Residence, an emblematic Ray Kappe home from 1970, composed of four redwood and glass boxes set among dense vegetation.

To achieve this dream, we thought there was no better way than getting in touch with the architect himself. After proposing the project to the Kappe family, trips out to Los Angeles to see his work and meet his family, Ray Kappe agreed to design our entire house. We immediately dove into the project and worked with over 50 professional partners, including Riluxa, to create this masterpiece that we now call home.  

The landmark Keeler Residence visited by Lars Triesch on his Southern Californian tour.

A Ray Kappe home is famously elegant, forward-thinking and ageless in style with a natural flow from room to room and a seamless finish. At the end of 2019, the talented architect sadly passed away at the age of 92 and his son, Finn Kappe, carried on his father’s legacy by working hand-in-hand with us to complete the project. We were extremely grateful to have the experience, support and expertise of the Kappe family and our partners throughout this whole process since it ended up being a much bigger project than a furniture craftsman, such as myself, could have ever imagined!  

Meeting the Kappes: Lars Triesch and family with Ray and Shelly Kappe, in front of the Kappe Residence.

Did everything go as planned or were there any unpleasant surprises along the way?

There were many factors that made this project challenging: the language barrier, time difference, distance and online communication during the pandemic are some examples.

The biggest challenge, however, was the stark difference in climate between California and Berlin which impacted both the planning and construction to a whole new level. A traditional Ray Kappe house has slim (less than 20cm) walls, for example. To ensure that the house’s walls would be suitable for a German winter but not exceed 20cm in width, we had to calculate the ratio of insulation to American Redwood using the laws of physics!

It was equally time consuming to do the conversion from an imperial measurement system to a metric one so that European traders could understand and provide the equivalent measurements of materials that Ray Kappe used in his own work.

Tell us the story of your Riluxa relationship – how did you find us and how has your experience been?

My interior design team, Quattro Architectura, discovered Riluxa's website and we were impressed by the extent to which it was possible to customise our bathroom pieces. As you can imagine, an American bathtub is significantly bigger than the average European bathtub, therefore it was very convenient for us to be able to modify the measurements according to our needs and liking. The pricing is also very reasonable considering the quality of the materials used to make each product.

We are extremely pleased with the two spacious and comfortable Integrated Corian bathtubs that we installed in both the master bathroom and children’s bathroom. The other furniture pieces that make up this room are from our own collections, Ray Kappe Design, and we are delighted with the finished look.

Riluxa products used in the first bathroom: a custom-built Cassiopeia Built-In Bathtub in Corian®.

What design style were you going for in your bathrooms – and what inspired your choice? 

What we love most about Ray Kappe’s design are the Redwood, the concrete and the open space floor plan. So, we made sure to carry that through to the two bathrooms. Both are on the second floor, with large skylights to let natural light flood in. They both have an abundance of warm wood throughout, Rauriser Green Stone on the floors and walls and no enclosures of any kind around the shower or bathtubs, in order to keep everything open. And the larger floor plan means that we have ample space for extra-large bathtubs. We are also delighted with the Dornbracht tapware which gives the bathroom a sophisticated finished look.

Riluxa products used in the second bathroom: a custom-built Cassiopeia Built-In Bathtub in Corian®. Lars was so impressed by the architect’s own Mid-Century Modern furniture designs that he agreed with the Kappe family to begin producing exact reproductions of Ray Kappe’s designs. The pieces, including this cabinet, can be found within the Ray Kappe Furniture Line on the Original in Berlin website.

What’s left to be done to the house and what are your future plans? 

By Autumn this year, the entire house should be finished and we are delighted to announce that it will feature in AD magazine! It would be an honour to host the Kappes in the house project that they have dedicated the majority of their time to but haven’t been able to see yet in person.

We are fully aware of the legacy we’ve been entrusted with in Berlin. Our home is, to date, the only example in Europe of acclaimed architect Ray Kappe’s work. We are determined to honour that legacy by building more Ray Kappe-style houses throughout Europe in the years to come, giving more people the opportunity to experience the warmth and openness that Kappe’s designs provide.

The Triesch Residence nears completion.

Do you have any advice that you would give to readers wanting to create a Ray Kappe house? 

The secret to a Kappe house is placement: it’s important to consider where sunlight and shadow play will take place throughout the day as this is constantly changing. If furniture and window placement is carefully thought through and the right materials are chosen, a room’s beauty will be enhanced naturally.

I would also recommend using flat and smooth materials such as wood, stone, concrete and Corian - their smell, feel and overall look play an important role in bringing character to a Ray Kappe house.

Exquisite examples of Ray Kappe's original furniture within the Keeler Residence.

Make sure to check out @lartriesch on Instagram and read about their house project in more detail in their blog!

Photos courtesy of: Lars Triesch and Jácint Halász.

If you would like your bathroom project to be featured on Riluxa's Client Projects Showcase, tag #riluxa @riluxa on Instagram or upload your images directly by clicking here. We love nothing more than seeing how our customers have used Riluxa products to create their dream bathrooms!