Architecture, Interior Design, LA Iconoclasts

Richard Landry Dreams of Home

Richard Landry, AIA, created the award-winning Landry Design Group in 1987.  With clients throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada and the Middle East, the firm continues to raise standards in high-end residential architecture.

Internationally renowned for their designs in a variety of architectural styles and for their service-oriented philosophy, Landry Design Group produces residences ranging from classical estates to cozy rural villas and cutting-edge contemporary structures. The firm has received several national and international design awards, including twenty-five Gold Nugget Awards and the coveted Builder’s Choice Award.

Fabrik had the pleasure of engaging Richard Landry in conversation about L.A., architecture and intuition.

FABRIK: The dream homes you create for clients reflect a sense of timelessness, often by incorporating cherished memories of particular places from travels.  Would you share something about the house you grew up in and how you’ve captured some semblance of it in your own home?

RL: I come from a little town of about 5000 people in Québec.  I grew up in a tiny little house of 1200 square feet with my three siblings and my mum and dad, sharing one bathroom.  It was really a very humble house.  My dad was a carpenter and they still live there to this day so it’s always fun to go back to spend time with them.  My dad had actually designed the house although he’s not an architect.  His dream had always been to become an architect but his father died when he was really young and he had to start working.  What’s interesting is, as I became an architect, when I started to do high-end residential, when I came to Los Angeles actually, I had never really seen a big house before.  All the houses in my home- town are tiny little houses.

When I did my own house in Malibu, I was kind of drawing from that concept of going back deep inside to your childhood, saying what is it that moved me when I was young, what is it that appeals to me, and remembering all the barns, the countryside and the warmth of the wood, the character of that wood.  So I went back to Québec and purchased an old barn and brought all the barn wood back.  The barn was actually 2 miles from my parents’ house.  And I brought all the barn wood here, to L.A. but I didn’t want to just recreate or copy the barn.  I wanted to use it but in a more contemporary context, to adapt it to today’s lifestyle.

Landry Design Group’s work has been featured in numerous publications around the world with several inclusions in Architectural Digest, Robb Report, California Homes and Trends magazine.  Their work is frequently seen on television programming including HGTV, Travel Channel, E! Entertainment and A&E.

The firm’s current projects continue to be as diverse as their clients, and even with a portfolio of more than three hundred homes, every new project is viewed as an opportunity to further challenge the imagination, produce quality architecture, and display versatility.  The thirty-person firm offers a full range of architectural services, including architectural interior and landscape design.

FABRIK: Do you think architects have their own distinct language and approach to design and building? How would you describe your approach?

RL: What’s interesting when you look at the work that we do, we do such a wide range of architectural styles, and the reason is what we really want is to hear from the clients, to get into their heads, to understand their lifestyle.  I’m not going to live in their house.  I just want to understand what turns them on in a way, and create something very special with that.  I look at every single house we do, and I can honestly say, I see my clients in them.  I see their personality.  And that’s why those houses work so well.  We have clients that call us, right after they move into their house, and they say, ‘Richard, I feel like I lived here for the last 40 years and I just moved in.  I can’t believe how I feel.’  There’s a reason for that.  We listen really really well.  We ask a lot of questions.   It’s about us then creating something where you know who the user is and you want to do something for them, and that’s where you have to, in a way, leave your egos aside, and say, ‘I’m going to do something for you, and make it your house.  I’m going to bring all the creativity that I can to the project, and make it a lot of fun for you.’

Now, the other approach is, I look at architects like Richard Meier, or Frank Gehry, a lot of those guys that have a signature look, and I totally admire what they do, I think it’s fantastic that they’ve developed a language and a look that’s them.  And when you see a Richard Meier house, you know it’s a Richard Meier house.  It’s very difficult to copy that.  It’s great that there are these people that inspire us and inspire a lot of architects by what they do and for many of them, I’m not saying that they don’t listen to their clients, but I think there’s a lot of young architects today that don’t spend enough time really listening to the client, hearing what they say.  I think they’re too busy trying to sell their architecture, how they think the client should live.  And again, if it works for them, fine.  To me, for this world to go around, you need a lot of different types and personalities, and for them, they really believe, they’re committed to a very specific style of architecture and that’s what they want to focus on.  They want people that come to them, that will actually commission them, to be the type of people that say, ‘I want your architecture,’ and that’s totally fine too.  So, I’m not saying one is wrong.  Architects have a tendency to mystify the process, to make it so mysterious and complicated.  I’ve always tried to demystify it, to really educate my client so that they understand the process of architecture, the process of creating, and make them a part of that process.  Because we specialize in residential, you know that people will live in them.  The architecture that you create will influence their life on a daily basis.

In 2006 Landry Design Group published their first monograph “MODERN TO CLASSIC: Residential Estates by Landry Design Group” featuring some of the firm’s most inspiring projects and illustrated with more than 350 color photographs.

The firm’s commissions include work for such notable clients as Eddie Murphy, Rod Stewart, Kenny G, Wayne Gretzky, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sylvester Stallone, and Keyshawn Johnson.

FABRIK: It has been said that a large part of your extraordinary success as an architect stems from your ability to really listen to your clients, many of whom are celebrities.  How and/or when did you develop this capacity?

RL: It’s a good question.  Architecture comes easy to me.  And sometimes I think, you know, I admire singers or musicians, and say, ‘my god, how can they sing so well, how do they hear music, and compose so well?’  I think you’re born with a certain talent and if you’re able, through your life, to really develop that, then you can do something that I believe can be very special.  You try to be sensitive to your clients’ needs.   I think maybe it’s a choice to say,  ‘it’s very important for me to listen.’  Not just listen to the words but understand the meaning.  Because a lot of time you have to read between the lines.  Many of our clients, we would present or design to them, and they say “How did you know that this is what we wanted? This is so much what we had in mind but we didn’t know how to tell you that.’  I guess that’s the part where you really have to have a sixth sense.  There’s a gut feeling that you can perceive words that they are not saying.  You can look at pictures that they show you and by listening carefully, you understand the meaning of what it is they’re trying to tell you.  So I think it’s very intuitive.

FABRIK: How does the ecology or geographical landscape of Los Angeles inform your work?

RL: When we start with a piece of land, we’re always very careful to study everything that land has to offer.  When you work in L.A., and the client buys a piece of land, we look at any views you want to capture, if there’s any noise we want to screen, we look at the patterns of the sun, the prevailing winds, we look at the geology and try to really be responsive to it.  We have projects now where we’re very careful, where we’ve redesigned entire driveways and paths so that we can save some beautiful trees.  It’s not always the easiest solution but it’s about being aware of what the land has to offer and to try to capitalize on that.  We have several projects in Malibu where you have to deal with ESHA (Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas), and you have to stay away from those kinds of habitats.  So you have to know what’s there and you have to be able to take advantage of it and also respect the things that we say we don’t want to disturb in those areas.

FABRIK: Does working on homes with clients in Los Angeles differ in any way from doing so in other places or countries?  If so, how do you perceive the difference?

RL: I’ve been in business now for 21 years and what’s interesting is more and more, the clients coming to us really understand what we have to offer to them and to the project.  They know who we are and they know what we do.  They’ve seen our work.  And I can honestly say we have amazing clients.  People always ask me, ‘How do you select what projects or clients you want to work with?’  To me, the number one thing is to have fun.  I always say to people, ‘I want to have fun, you’re going to be spending all this money, creating this estate, I want you to enjoy the process, because I believe the process is as important as the end result, and I just want us to enjoy the time we spend together working on this thing.’  That, to me, is what we’re about.  We want to really change people’s lives by creating a great experience.

I don’t think our clients are different in any country around the world.  All our clients, whether we’re working in Dubai or Singapore or Malaysia, Russia, I find our clients are just nice people that understand the value we have to bring to the project.  Of course there are cultural differences, which is wonderful, that I get to be exposed to so many different cultures.  But within L.A., we have all these cultures.  We work with clients of a really wide range of cultures and professional backgrounds, and we’re totally blessed with the kind of clients that we have.  But I think part of it is because I’m very selective.  They interview us but at the same time, we interview them.  To do a great project, you have to have a great client.

FABRIK: What are some local architectural landmark(s) you are inspired by?

RL: I’m a fan of Frank Gehry.  I love the Disney Hall. I think it’s a great sculpture and great piece of architecture.  It’s interesting for a city like L.A. to have those types of really strong international architects coming in and creating architecture that will challenge people’s minds.  You look at that building and a lot of people will be puzzled by it.  As architects, we have a trained eye to appreciate a lot of what this is about but I think it’s always fun to push the envelope, and do things that are special like that.  So many things inspire me.  I love to drive around Hancock Park and look at all those old Spanish Colonial houses.  They’re little gems.  I love the early California type of architecture.  Many times there are little pieces of architecture done by completely unknown architects, and there’s a detail in there that’s appealing to me.

FABRIK: Many of your commissions are grand estates that require considerable resources to build, profoundly affecting the environment.  In light of this, how do you view the current trend towards building structures to be more sustainable?  Do you find clients having a deeper consciousness around this issue?

RL: The consciousness is definitely there.  We established, a few years ago, in our office, an in-house committee we call the ‘Green Committee,’ that focuses on gathering all kinds of information on new systems and products, in terms of how we can apply them to the homes that we do.  In the very high end of the market, it’s rare that you have a client that wants a French Chateau and wants to see solar panels on the side of it.  So it’s how can you be green conscious if you want and at the same time incorporate that without affecting the architectural look of a house.  We take advantage of flat roof portions where we can conceal solar panels.  Green is not just solar panels, it’s also the materials that we use, the kind of insulation used in your walls, the zero VOC paints, the wood from sustainable forests.  A lot of things out there are presented to the client, and it’s always up to the client to decide if it’s good for them.

We’re doing a few homes in L.A. now where we’re using geothermal for the heating.  That’s where you drill really deep in the earth.  You go down 400 feet, with a series of holes, and you get the energy from the earth to heat or cool your house.  Now that’s technology that we’re using in Russia, or in Canada, where in extreme climates, they’ve been using this for quite some time now, but it’s very new here.  In L.A you don’t hear about that so much.  You look at the valley and it does have extreme temperatures.  It gets really hot in the summer and people have all those condensing units that are very loud and noisy in their side yard. Here with geothermal, it’s very quiet and a very eco-friendly system.

Technology is changing so fast.  And with any new trend, when everybody now is talking about sustainable design, there are a lot of new products in the market that are maybe not as good as others.  So, there are consultants that we work with also that are total experts in this, that have their pulse on every new product and we’re able to do some studies, some calculations, as to does it makes sense in terms of the initial cost of the product versus how long it will take to recuperate the money that you invest over tax breaks that you get for using this or that product.  It’s definitely more and more on people’s mind.

FABRIK: Who are some artists you are influenced by?

RL: I’ve always been inspired by the whole Barbizon period, where the French painters in the late 1800s started to go and do plénière painting.  I look at the imagery they created and the mood that comes out of those paintings, and that is something that is of interest to me because in a way, there was a transition in the movement when they got out of their studios and finally went outdoors where they painted with the natural light.  They would go back day after day, sit in the same spot and just capture moods.  In those years, Pizarro, Degas…I love Manet, Impressionist painters have always been appealing for me.   I love a lot of French painters like Lautrec, Monet.  I’ve always admired Picasso’s pieces.

FABRIK: Does fashion influence your design sensibility?

RL: We have to always draw the difference between fashion as a trend because when people ask me about trends in architecture, I tell them I really am not a follower of trends.  As fashion changes with the season, when you build a house, you want it to be there for many many years.  And that goes back to your first question about timeless architecture.  I try to do architecture that is not trendy.   I think you try to go deeper.  Fashion can influence in colors.  You can have colors in a house, that’s easy; you can repaint your walls or change your fabrics. Fashion, for me, is something you wear and architecture is something that you live in and they’re very distinct, with very distinctive purposes.

In one word, the ideal home in Los Angeles is one that makes you… happy.

More information about Richard Landry and the Landry Design Group, can be found at http://www.landrydesigngroup.com.