Kurt Krueger’s work on the Westgate Residence in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles was featured in Architects News recently. The story detailed how Krueger turned a Fixer Upper meant initially as a second home for an older couple, and turned it into their forever home. Using techniques like seamless floors, a zero entry shower, and open concept for enhanced visibility and mobility, Kurt focused on a design that allowed the owners to age in place while enjoying their children and grandchildren which is why they’d moved to Brentwood.
“When you’re an architect builder, you can’t just come up with the wacky ideas and hand it off to the builder,” he says. “The solution has to both respond to the clients’ needs and be constructible.”
Kurt Krueger
This home was built using the design-build method, where Kurt functioned as the principal architect on the project and worked closely on-site with the construction team. It was during this project when Krueger decided he wanted to start his own firm and to specialize in the design-build method of house construction. Unlike the model of a separate architect and separate builder common in today’s home construction, the design-build method means the client hires one firm to do both the design and the building. Krueger realized that this method resulted in better design and better construction. Communication is greatly simplified in this method and time lost to misunderstandings in the drawings or specs and budget spent on change orders are both greatly reduced. Design-build projects result in projects that run more smoothly and ultimately have happier clients and homeowners.
