ILLUMINATING LIFE
By Sara Pentz
By Sara Pentz
Reality prevents man from changing the configuration of a rectangle. It is only at the hand of the artist that the edges of this harsh shape may be made soft, flowing and curvilinear. Architects have grappled with this issue for thousands of years. The best have molded solid materials, structural design and their imagination to fulfill that ‘miracle’. Such is the case with the home of Tom and Joan Riach in Newport Beach.
Faced with the problem of building their home on a confining ‘railroad like’ rectangular piece of property, deep and narrow, potentially dark and gloomy, with a spectacular watery view at one end and the street at the other, they wanted the interior to be all light and airy. They found a man who could magically transform that hard-edged, four-sided figure into a pool of light and considerable space by tricking the eye. Using semi-circled walls, ceilings that climb to the sky, cubicles and a rotunda, his design for the Riach home won him fame and respect.
Built on a solid piece of ground on an Isle in Newport Bay, this house is like the beacon of an oceanic lighthouse. Its stark white facade shimmers in the sun making its exterior configuration appear lightweight in design and surprisingly beckoning. Inside, the imposing three-story rotunda dominates the center of the home, rising in a column to a circular diamond-shaped skylight that invites the outdoor natural light to stream in, and bounce around and over rooms like a beach ball on the sand.
And, in reverse, sunlight travels in unbroken lines downward through the skylight to the basement through the hollow carved in the rotunda by the floating, steel reinforced, spiral staircase. A ‘suspension bridge’ connects the two third floor guest bedrooms on the street side of the house to the master bedroom on the ocean side allowing rooms furthest from the white glare of the Bay to echo in its radiance. Two opera house-like balconies, work areas - an office and an exercise room, - are seemingly poised in space.
Everything about this home is expansive. Nothing, it seems, is physically separated. It is open and unencumbered. It is all encompassing. It is graceful and uplifting. It is all smooth and white and honey colored. With few exceptions this home radiates the outdoor colors of white light, blue sky and maple leaves. While two luxurious and hearty red leather chairs dominate the family room, behind them on a desk stands a glass menagerie of animals as counterpoint. Refracted light is shot like sparklers from the interior hearts of these little souls.
As the outdoor light splashes onto everything in sight, one feels there is spaciousness to this home that, in reality, does not exist. The corners of the box have vanished; replaced by a freedom from confining walls and filled with sovereign arcs of light.
The magnificent view from both the master bedroom and the downstairs living room is inescapably the focus of this house. Like an animated still life watercolor, the scene encompasses the undulating waves of Newport Bay, the daily activities of neighboring Bay, Balboa, Harbor, Linda and Fashion Islands, and a sprinkling of sailboats and yachts cruising in the blue beyond.
Faced with the problem of building their home on a confining ‘railroad like’ rectangular piece of property, deep and narrow, potentially dark and gloomy, with a spectacular watery view at one end and the street at the other, they wanted the interior to be all light and airy. They found a man who could magically transform that hard-edged, four-sided figure into a pool of light and considerable space by tricking the eye. Using semi-circled walls, ceilings that climb to the sky, cubicles and a rotunda, his design for the Riach home won him fame and respect.
Built on a solid piece of ground on an Isle in Newport Bay, this house is like the beacon of an oceanic lighthouse. Its stark white facade shimmers in the sun making its exterior configuration appear lightweight in design and surprisingly beckoning. Inside, the imposing three-story rotunda dominates the center of the home, rising in a column to a circular diamond-shaped skylight that invites the outdoor natural light to stream in, and bounce around and over rooms like a beach ball on the sand.
And, in reverse, sunlight travels in unbroken lines downward through the skylight to the basement through the hollow carved in the rotunda by the floating, steel reinforced, spiral staircase. A ‘suspension bridge’ connects the two third floor guest bedrooms on the street side of the house to the master bedroom on the ocean side allowing rooms furthest from the white glare of the Bay to echo in its radiance. Two opera house-like balconies, work areas - an office and an exercise room, - are seemingly poised in space.
Everything about this home is expansive. Nothing, it seems, is physically separated. It is open and unencumbered. It is all encompassing. It is graceful and uplifting. It is all smooth and white and honey colored. With few exceptions this home radiates the outdoor colors of white light, blue sky and maple leaves. While two luxurious and hearty red leather chairs dominate the family room, behind them on a desk stands a glass menagerie of animals as counterpoint. Refracted light is shot like sparklers from the interior hearts of these little souls.
As the outdoor light splashes onto everything in sight, one feels there is spaciousness to this home that, in reality, does not exist. The corners of the box have vanished; replaced by a freedom from confining walls and filled with sovereign arcs of light.
The magnificent view from both the master bedroom and the downstairs living room is inescapably the focus of this house. Like an animated still life watercolor, the scene encompasses the undulating waves of Newport Bay, the daily activities of neighboring Bay, Balboa, Harbor, Linda and Fashion Islands, and a sprinkling of sailboats and yachts cruising in the blue beyond.
Taken as a whole, the place where Joan and Tom Riach live has wrapped itself around them in a comforting and gentle manner. The result is a peaceful calm saturating their haven, away from the oft-disturbing events outside the parameters of this house.
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