Kevin A. Clark: Classical Forms, Contemporary Function

Follow along with Kevin A. Clark at kevinaclark.com

00:00:00:06 – 00:00:18:07
Kevin A. Clark
I had no intentions of working in architecture because I was throwing pottery. And as for living and also playing drums, you know, and that wasn’t going to work out. My father in law was a builder, and we had gone out one night and he, of course, had his concerns. It’s his daughter. And like, what are you going to do type of thing?

00:00:18:10 – 00:00:35:21
Kevin A. Clark
We were in a movie theater and watching the movie, and he got up and he said, I have an idea. He went to a payphone and you got me an appointment with the architect that he used. I did work for him very hard for seven years. I decided, you know, this this architecture thing is, you know, is a lot of fun.

00:00:35:21 – 00:00:38:12
Kevin A. Clark
And this for me.

00:00:43:08 – 00:00:55:21
Constance Dunn
Welcome to Titans of Trade. I’m your host, Constance Dunn. And today we welcome someone who is very accustomed to building big, beautiful classical structures and many other types. Welcome, Kevin A. Clark.

00:00:56:01 – 00:00:56:15
Kevin A. Clark
Thanks.

00:00:57:06 – 00:01:05:16
Constance Dunn
Yeah. So is there something you want to talk about that you’re working on right now that’s particularly exciting or interesting or evocative to you?

00:01:08:14 – 00:01:40:00
Kevin A. Clark
Well, there is, yes, because I’m I’m about to take on two new projects. One of them is to add a guest house to the house of mind. That was actually in a recent book by Rizzoli. So is becoming more of an estate is growing as his family grows as well so. And it’s it’s a nice challenge, you know, to sort of get back in the mindset of the the house that I had done before which which is it’s a very comfortable house.

00:01:40:00 – 00:01:55:19
Kevin A. Clark
It’s not a huge house. When I say that, sometimes it sounds stupid because it is it’s about 6000 square feet. But compared to some of the homes that I’ve done in the past, it’s it’s it’s not modest, but I don’t know how to put it. It’s a comfortable house.

00:01:56:03 – 00:01:56:11
Constance Dunn
Right.

00:01:56:23 – 00:02:23:01
Kevin A. Clark
Of a human scale, which is the same as the house that I did this client. I did the home in Hawaii that that you would come in contact with me about. And he’s in the process of selling that. And he’s gearing up to do another one in a different spot that is probably more conducive to his lifestyle and his family and so forth, because it’s growing.

00:02:23:08 – 00:02:42:08
Kevin A. Clark
They’re nice challenges because, well, maybe it’s not such a challenge in the sense that this this person has become a very good friend of mine and and a client. And so it’s nice to be able to, you know, add something new to what he has and and do something new. So because we know each other so well at this point.

00:02:43:04 – 00:02:48:16
Constance Dunn
And the house that you’re doing a guest, you’re adding a guest house, is that a Spanish colonial revival style?

00:02:49:18 – 00:03:22:16
Kevin A. Clark
Yes, it is. It’s one that’s on my my website. And it was recently in a new book. And it’s it’s very much a period accurate Spanish colonial revival. However, the inside is you know, you might have a question about this later, but the inside is really more well, it has all the classic detailing, but it is it flows more openly than I think people envision, you know, Spanish architecture.

00:03:22:16 – 00:03:51:17
Kevin A. Clark
We’ll just shorten it down to to, you know, darker, you know, maybe smaller rooms that aren’t, you know. So that’s that’s sort of part of the challenge with that style, trying to create something on the exterior that that you’d think, oh, this is this is built you know in the twenties which was the golden sort of age of, of that style with the architects that we’re working at the time.

00:03:52:08 – 00:04:24:05
Kevin A. Clark
So, so and then the to do another Hawaiian plantation style or Hawaiian bungalow style inquires is that’s again a challenge because it’s it’s I think it came out successfully in the first one and getting a second second opportunity to tune up things that maybe I didn’t feel weren’t. That’s exactly right. The first one. So it’s always a challenge.

00:04:24:05 – 00:04:50:13
Kevin A. Clark
There’s always a challenge because, you know, you you create these things and then you have to put them in front of people and hope that they, you know, hope they like it. I always I always hate that initial drop of putting things in front of people because sometimes that can be that pause, you know, that is either they react immediately or the longer the path, sometimes the worse I feel about, you know, the result.

00:04:51:11 – 00:05:16:20
Constance Dunn
Right. Yeah. And sometimes that pause can just be someone taking it in, because I’ve done that before too. And someone asked me a question and I just I really just want to think it. It’s almost like socially the pause. It’s like we’re supposed to answer really quickly. Yeah, it’s is so it’s it is. It could be that they’re taking it in especially your projects are very significant in terms of their scale and complexity.

00:05:16:20 – 00:05:26:14
Constance Dunn
The Rizzoli book that house Which one? What is it called? So we can go check it out or it is.

00:05:26:14 – 00:06:02:21
Kevin A. Clark
I think they’re calling it Montecito Estate. I think I there is no technical sort of name for that house. There’s one house in there that the owner had called it El Sueno. And and so it’s not that one. And it’s not there’s a smaller home that’s in the book, too. So there’s there’s three of them. And among others, you know, the book was supposed to be about, you know, currently working architects that are creating that style almost basically, you know, showing that it can be done.

00:06:02:21 – 00:06:24:23
Kevin A. Clark
I think people look at they just figure it’s an old house or old houses, you know, look that way because they’re old. And it’s not really the case. I mean, George Washington Smith was and Meisner, they were they were doing the same thing we do now. They were trying to make something look old. And so with that time, I think it it looks that much older.

00:06:24:23 – 00:06:48:01
Kevin A. Clark
And there’s some people that are just they really want that. They really want that. They if they could have found the home that they ended up in, they would have purchased it without having to go through sometimes excruciating ordeal of building a home. No, no, no, if you know what I mean. It’s it’s usually a four year process.

00:06:48:12 – 00:06:49:05
Constance Dunn
Is that right?

00:06:50:00 – 00:07:14:19
Kevin A. Clark
Yeah. Between between the time I get a project and the time they’re in now, some of them have gone much quicker for for several reasons. If there’s somebody very, you know, decisive, they make quick, you know, and they don’t make changes later on. They they understand what they were, you know, the product and result better than a lot of people.

00:07:14:19 – 00:07:39:16
Kevin A. Clark
Now, things have changed so much because because of, you know, computer aided work, you know, SketchUp and everything else. And and sometimes I don’t know if we were supposed to delve into this just yet, but oh, it is. Sometimes I feel like the client almost knows too much in the sense that, you know, I’ve been doing this for God.

00:07:39:17 – 00:08:01:19
Kevin A. Clark
It seems strange, but it’s like 35 years or something. And so along the way, people, they just had to trust that it was going to be good. You know, you didn’t have to have every single angle of, you know, of a space or a room. You know, I always provided renderings and drawings, so forth that that hopefully they understand.

00:08:01:19 – 00:08:24:11
Kevin A. Clark
And I do make quite an effort for that. But now, you know, you can look through every every room. My son works for me and he is pretty amazing. And it’s it’s a good thing that I didn’t have to do that to get where I am because I didn’t have that type of skill set, you know? Anyway.

00:08:25:02 – 00:08:32:02
Constance Dunn
Yeah. And they I’m curious, is this a Rizzoli book about, like, Spanish colonial revival style homes?

00:08:32:10 – 00:08:33:00
Kevin A. Clark
Yes.

00:08:33:03 – 00:08:33:20
Constance Dunn
Oh, okay.

00:08:33:22 – 00:08:40:20
Kevin A. Clark
It’s called The Spanish House, I think, is what it’s called.

00:08:41:02 – 00:09:14:07
Constance Dunn
Oh, okay. And it’s funny. I always have to catch myself because I always want to call you an architect. And you are very good about reminding me that it’s like a design architect, that you actually never went to architecture school. But I think it’s very interesting because you, of all people, especially with the scale in the style of homes you build, and I’m curious about how you got your start and why you decided why it was not necessary for you to go to the kind of conventional route in that regard.

00:09:15:23 – 00:09:38:14
Kevin A. Clark
Well, there’s a very fortunate aspect about it. I, I, you know, I had no intentions of, you know, working in architecture. I married pretty young and my my father in law was a builder. And we had gone out one night and he, of course, had his concerns. It’s his daughter. And like, what are you going to do type of thing?

00:09:39:00 – 00:10:08:10
Kevin A. Clark
Because I was throwing pottery. And as for living and also playing drums, you know, which is, you know, and that wasn’t going to work out. So he knew I could draw and he got me a job. He we were in a movie theater and watching the movie, and he got up and he said, I have an idea. You went to a pay phone for, you know, pay phones and you got me an appointment with the architect that he used, who was a very he had become very prominent architect.

00:10:09:12 – 00:10:47:07
Kevin A. Clark
His name’s Gus Duffy, and so it worked out and I, I felt like sort of fell into it. And at the time again, you know, I was good delineator and draftsman and, and I really took to it and after I don’t know, a couple of years I decided, you know this this architecture thing is, you know is a lot of fun and it’s for me and and so I worked really hard, you know, like I said, I didn’t go to school to to learn about architecture and sort of get where I am.

00:10:47:07 – 00:11:12:14
Kevin A. Clark
But I did work for him very hard for seven years. And he was a person that I had to learn by attrition. I mean, he sort of did throw me into the frying pan at times and which was great. I mean, it was difficult sometimes in that towards the end I was designing a portion of his of his buildings, and he trusted me to do that.

00:11:12:14 – 00:11:37:19
Kevin A. Clark
So seven years is a long time to work and especially as a draftsman and it’s typically a very low paying job at least you get to a certain point.

00:11:37:21 – 00:12:00:12
Kevin A. Clark
And, and so I started doing work on the side and you know, people like little things, you know, bathroom additions or a master bedroom or, you know, on homes that had no real significance. And somehow I just got opportunities along the way and, you know, and made the best of them. And I think I worked really cheap early on.

00:12:00:16 – 00:12:21:03
Kevin A. Clark
And so, you know, people got bargains and and diligence, I guess, you know, that’s really hard. And it’s not like, you know, you do pay or you pay your dues, of course. And I was not a good student, so I’m not sure how that would have worked out. It wasn’t I don’t know. It wasn’t for me, you know, to dig in in a very practical way.

00:12:21:03 – 00:12:22:17
Kevin A. Clark
Was this more for me?

00:12:23:04 – 00:12:33:00
Constance Dunn
Yeah. And Gus, you obviously had native talent, you know, because you were working with Gus. Said, I’m sure he he saw that that that about you?

00:12:34:05 – 00:12:59:13
Kevin A. Clark
He did? Yeah. I mean, and I think he’s. I still keep in contact with him and I think he liked, you know, that I really put my head down and I didn’t have any I didn’t have any attitude. And I was just so happy to be drawing, you know, drafting that, that back then, you know, you could, you know, you had to draft a very, very simple things.

00:12:59:13 – 00:13:18:18
Kevin A. Clark
You know, whether it was schedules, that was no, it’s a much different you just you could print up a thousand sheets of you know now of just, you know, borders and things like that. And that’s what I was doing at the time, at least to start out with, because it was a necessary thing. And why would he spend time doing that?

00:13:18:18 – 00:13:58:10
Kevin A. Clark
And. Right. But as as it went along, it became more important for me to glean from him what what he was doing and start creating the structures, you know, all the components, structural aspects and roof plans that there it can be it can be difficult and not my structures are they may not look like very difficult to you know to put together but in fact they are because of certain aspects that I use to to create interest, especially in a Spanish colonial revival home.

00:13:59:10 – 00:14:20:17
Constance Dunn
And speaking of I, I want to ask about those things that you do to create interest. But I also just have to ask, what do you think it gives you the fact that you were a draftsman and you had like a big eraser and a pencil and you’re over a draft table and you’re doing this by hand in this very analog way, and now it’s very different.

00:14:21:18 – 00:14:37:11
Constance Dunn
You know, obviously it’s moved to CAD and other kind of computer based. So but, you know, having done both and having come up in the analog way, what do you think it gives you as an architect that’s different or extra or.

00:14:38:18 – 00:15:15:01
Kevin A. Clark
There is working out certain perfection in, you know, as I’ve gone along, my son is very technical and I’ve had other draftspeople but the way we go back and forth is different. And he can talk to me as other people wouldn’t, you know. And so he gives me a hard time about certain things and it’ll break it down to, you know, this dimension is 20 feet three and a quarter, and I’ll tell him the framers don’t work that way.

00:15:15:01 – 00:15:38:10
Kevin A. Clark
But there is a perfection aspect of it that just, you know, like inserting plate heights and things like that in, you know, for a roof. And there’s very especially with the Spanish colonial revival homes, there’s to add interest. There is, there is a lot of asymmetry and roof plans or the roofs themselves have to have a lot of interest.

00:15:38:10 – 00:16:21:17
Kevin A. Clark
And there sometimes I think is what people notice more than anything or it registers, but maybe they don’t know necessarily why it registers that way, but it’s indicative of that type of architecture. And so, so CAD will sometimes it’s there’s a perfection and it’s really it’s I’m sorry I forget it all the time but it’s it is something that is almost, I don’t know counterintuitive to design of that type of architecture because you can’t delineate it the way you the way it needs to look.

00:16:21:17 – 00:16:53:14
Kevin A. Clark
I mean, I still draw everything, you know, in my plans, all the all the exterior elevations, interior elevations are hand-drawn out of ink and and black pencil and or colored pencil sometimes. But so, but all the technical aspects are initially done by me, but then put together by CAD. And and for some reason, I think that now people can read CAD drawings.

00:16:53:14 – 00:17:24:15
Kevin A. Clark
You know, my clients, they really react positively to them. You know, I was in a meeting that not that long ago with the Montecito architectural I’m forgetting the acronym now. But they, they actually do check your, your plans and they, they comment on the architecture and so forth. And one of them, a well-meaning lady, but she said, you know, these are just pencil drawings.

00:17:24:19 – 00:17:47:12
Kevin A. Clark
These are just hand drawings. Right? And because that’s what I present to them. And, you know, you feel like reminding somebody. I mean, some of the greatest structures, you know, that we I mean, imagine Frank Lloyd Wright without his drawings or George Washington Smith, Wallace Neff, Gordon Kauffman. It goes on and on. And and but again, I got off that topic.

00:17:47:21 – 00:18:05:05
Constance Dunn
He worked with you on a house you did in the North Shore. Yes. I wrote about this house, and that’s how I got connected to you. And didn’t you also handle you were the overseer of the building and the construction of your design. You didn’t just, like, deliver the the plans and then say, Tally ho.

00:18:05:13 – 00:18:34:13
Kevin A. Clark
Yeah, no. And it really never is that way. But I think it goes back to how I took on Spanish architecture or whatever I’ve done because I’ve done sort of Long Island country homes. I did I’ve done homes and actually did four or five homes in Connecticut and the same in Santa Fe. And I always go back to the roots, and that’s what I did with the home there in Hawaii.

00:18:34:13 – 00:19:03:17
Kevin A. Clark
And and there’s several architects that really created in the sense that style. And that wasn’t the only thing they did, but they sort of they did really, really beautiful structures and things that they they actually worked so well with the climate. Like you said, there’s very large overhangs and there’s there there’s a lot of rain and and but the interior had to be something quite different.

00:19:03:17 – 00:19:25:23
Kevin A. Clark
You know, it’s like anything that I’ve done, you know, if you achieve something in terms of a period aspect, it works great for the exteriors, which I think means a lot to people. But the interior of the house you’re talking about in particular is very, very open plan and very livable. I love the scale of the house because it’s not, you know, these homes that I’ve done.

00:19:25:23 – 00:19:50:13
Kevin A. Clark
I’ve done homes up to 35,000 square feet. So this home is something one of the homes that I would have loved to keep for myself and to do it remotely. I did I did visit the site not like I normally do with the house. Here in L.A. or or Santa Barbara because I can get there so quickly.

00:19:51:23 – 00:20:17:12
Kevin A. Clark
It’s a technology thing, which is which is great. At the time we were calling to go to meeting, but I was able to work with the contractors in that sense. And then FaceTime is amazing. I was able to do most of my supervision through facetime. You know, once we work out whatever issues that it is and and I would rather have been there, but flying back and forth is just not possible.

00:20:17:12 – 00:20:35:11
Kevin A. Clark
I mean, I do it. I was with him to help select the property that he purchased to do it. And then, like I said, I probably went five times. You know, but facetime really is amazing, you know, And go to Zoom now, for the most part

00:20:36:03 – 00:20:56:04
Constance Dunn
Right. And your son was part of that project Very much. One of the things about the house is you mentioned the interior, because, of course, there’s just the exterior. The structure is very like classically Hawaiian, but the interior is very, very, I would say, of the moment and how it really takes into consideration how people live.

00:20:56:21 – 00:21:15:09
Constance Dunn
There’s like a really nice, seamless ness with the outdoors, the way you did that, and then the open the way that like the kitchen’s very large. And there was a technical aspect that I thought was was kind of notable as well, that you tucked in a lot of like home automation, but did it in a very kind of under the radar way.

00:21:15:09 – 00:21:37:20
Constance Dunn
And I was curious about if you could speak to that a little bit about your approach. Again, just, you know, again, classical, you know, look and then very, very comfortable or, you know, this this moment we’re living in and for families and for the flow. And then, of course, the technology not being overbearing.

00:21:37:20 – 00:22:07:01
Kevin A. Clark
Yeah, the I have to say there’s there are there’s also hiring the right people to work with, you know, for that technology aspect. But, you know, especially with respect to lighting, the lighting systems are so complicated now and that one does have a very sort of complicated system about it. Even when I stayed there, you know, end up playing with it myself to figure it out.

00:22:07:01 – 00:22:33:22
Kevin A. Clark
But and then, you know, the audio and part of my job is trying to hide all of this equipment, you know, the Tesla battery walls and so forth. So there’s these home runs that go to these closets and that kind of thing. And it’s it’s evolving now so quickly. I used to do lighting plants myself and now it would be sort of absurd.

00:22:33:22 – 00:22:45:18
Kevin A. Clark
There’s a specialist for pretty much anything. And finding a good one is part of my my job. And they learn every every single project. Seems like I learn something new about that.

00:22:45:22 – 00:23:06:13
Constance Dunn
You know, I was curious about Spanish colonial revival because you’re very known for that, although you’ve done other styles. And it was that architectural style that really held you and spoke to you. And I was curious about when that happened and, and why. What is appealing to you about that style?

00:23:07:15 – 00:23:33:15
Kevin A. Clark
When I worked for I Gus he had a book that was a very small book was called The Field Guide to American Architecture, and it’s probably the only book he had. He wasn’t really big on architecture books and or maybe he was we didn’t have it. And this one, it had these little images of these great homes all over the country.

00:23:33:15 – 00:24:03:00
Kevin A. Clark
And because it established what, you know, certain things about the style. But anyway, it just I looked at it. It just it the homes just immediately worked for me and I grew up in and, you know, Venice, California, and, you know, riding my bike through Venice and Santa Monica, you know, it just had an affinity for it. And and, you know, the romance of it, it it is in a lot of ways our architecture.

00:24:03:00 – 00:24:29:01
Kevin A. Clark
California’s architecture, I think is what people see. You know, when they think of California, they think of white plaster building, deep walls and and palm trees, you know, And so that in the sense that I think it’s it’s our architecture. And so I embraced it and still absolutely love it. You know, I’ve been to Spain and went to several towns there that wouldn’t necessarily be there sort of off the beaten track.

00:24:29:01 – 00:25:10:22
Kevin A. Clark
And they were homes that were, well, buildings, let’s put it that way, that were, I think, architects of of the twenties, again, the golden age sort of into the thirties. I think that they had books that had these images. And I think personally what what I did to to get a real grasp on it is I ended up I have an extensive library of, you know, fiction and architecture books and I kind of went to the sources that they were using that that helped them come up with because they all did.

00:25:10:22 – 00:25:49:11
Kevin A. Clark
We all, you know, taken from, you know, inspiration. But I don’t know, the the the style just just speaks to me. And like I said, the romance of it, it’s a you know, and it’s also very it adapts really well to, you know, our our climate, you know, because it’s the house stays cooler. It is much more difficult to create a house that has a lot of natural light, which is obviously a really important to me and to my clients is one of the first things they’ll ever say.

00:25:49:11 – 00:26:12:04
Kevin A. Clark
We want a house that’s very light, you know, And so doing that, coupling that with, you know, with that style of architecture is it’s it’s difficult. But like I said, I’ve I’ve owned homes myself in that style. And it’s probably the most comfortable home, you know, I’ve been in for me.

00:26:13:02 – 00:26:18:07
Constance Dunn
Wow. Yeah. So there’s an elegant simplicity there.

00:26:19:02 – 00:26:31:06
Kevin A. Clark
Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. That’s a good way to put it. Yes, because certain aspects have been very simple. Until you get into ornamentation, iron and and other aspects of it. But yeah, relatively simple.

00:26:31:23 – 00:26:43:06
Constance Dunn
And so the ornamentation is not really ornamentation for flourishes sake. There is something there that’s either utilitarian or.

00:26:43:13 – 00:27:09:04
Kevin A. Clark
Looking at a home of mine and, you know, architect sort of did you know, I am very impressed by we did things that we I use, you know false chimneys and I use other things to create interest in it. And they can be very important. And you don’t think they are there’s the ornamentation comes at the top of these chimneys.

00:27:09:04 – 00:27:40:11
Kevin A. Clark
If you look at any of my buildings or, or, you know, buildings of Neff or George Washington Smith, that sort of thing there, those flourishes are out in places that you wouldn’t think. And I do. It is it is quite important when you look at, you know, the way the let’s say windows are covered with plaster, what we call a plaster grill, you know, you’ve seen them, then there’s sort of diced up in a way that you can still see through them from the inside, but not very well.

00:27:40:11 – 00:28:05:22
Kevin A. Clark
And I don’t know, I have a a theory, I suppose, on why that was done potentially, maybe to let you know in the old structures. I think that it was a safety thing. And the same thing is true with iron. Iron is where you see these ornate details. And that’s part of the beauty of it. You know, you have an ornate, let’s say, grill.

00:28:05:22 – 00:28:47:09
Kevin A. Clark
It’s over a window and you’ve seen it many times. Right. But the top the flourishes at the top and ah, that’s where you throw in a lot of interest in exterior lighting as well. You know, the any pendants and you know, the it’s difficult to to produce that type of work. Now you know I’ve worked with people that that are real artisans and and create quality work that it looks like it was it’s not manufactured let’s put it that way and you can’t you have to be diligent again finding you know, finding that type.

00:28:47:09 – 00:29:22:17
Kevin A. Clark
And it’s out there, you know, in Los Angeles especially, you can find people that have that sort of vintage work. But there is, you know, in in some exterior detailing, you know, entry, you know, entries, exterior doors. There is a certain amount of detail. And if you look at what I’ve done, it’s I’ve worked on it really, really like you said, maniacal, you know, interest in detail, especially with that style, because it’s sort of self-perpetuating.

00:29:22:17 – 00:29:53:06
Kevin A. Clark
I don’t know if you’re going to ask me a question about a certain project, but the project that I had done for for Buckingham, Lindsey Buckingham, I kind of consider my, my career pre and post is his house or their house and because I because I learned a lot doing that structure in particular. So it’s been good to me.

00:29:53:06 – 00:30:20:14
Kevin A. Clark
And like I said, people do you know it’s done and lectured on it. And a lot of my work is comes from from the houses that people see. And in one way or another they find out. And so I guess it’s been really, really good to me. And like I said, the style just works for me. It’s everybody has something that, you know, that works for them.

00:30:20:18 – 00:30:22:07
Kevin A. Clark
A particular sensibility.

00:30:23:09 – 00:30:30:18
Constance Dunn
And that house was built on the site. There had been a neutral house on that site, is that right?

00:30:30:18 – 00:30:31:15
Kevin A. Clark
The previous.

00:30:31:15 – 00:30:33:04
Constance Dunn
House, Richard Neutra?

00:30:34:03 – 00:31:03:16
Kevin A. Clark
Yes. There you had a note about that and the house that was on there he’d had for a long time. And it wasn’t, it wasn’t going to be a it wasn’t a family type of home, or at least that’s how they felt. And and there was reluctant reluctance to raze that structure. But I don’t believe that it was a Neutra house and Lindsey is quite an afficionado.

00:31:03:17 – 00:31:29:21
Kevin A. Clark
And I don’t think I don’t think anybody in their right mind would tear down a Neutra structure. But it had a little bit of a feel of that. And I might be wrong. I mean, but but the detailing on that was much more bulky. It wasn’t indicative of something he would do and I would have known. I’d like to think I would have known, but I was probably much more focused on what was beyond then, you know.

00:31:29:21 – 00:31:45:01
Kevin A. Clark
So because the site was just a spectacular sight and it was a pleasure to site a new home on it without taking in into consideration anything about the previous structure.

00:31:45:05 – 00:31:54:18
Constance Dunn
So of course, and to get to know this site, did you spend a lot of time just sitting up there or walking around? How did that work?

00:31:56:01 – 00:32:27:21
Kevin A. Clark
Well, yeah, I mean, maybe less time than, you know, one would think. There’s an architect I think was Cliff May that would actually pitch a tent and stay on the property. Things are now are very different. It wasn’t like that. You could go on Google Earth or anything, but yeah, you know, I certainly went around the property several times trying to establish what was beyond And if we lost this tree, what’s beyond that?

00:32:28:11 – 00:32:46:23
Kevin A. Clark
And as Lindsey said, he gets a lot of energy from the city now. They’re no longer there, but in the strange thing about that project is that the house that I initially designed turned out to be something that they didn’t.

00:32:48:23 – 00:33:19:05
Kevin A. Clark
Whatever reason they didn’t, it wasn’t something that was sort of doable or, or, you know, anyway, So I had to go sort of back to the drawing board, literally, and, and reestablish something completely different, which turned out to be the Spanish house that you see previously, the previous design was really more of something that they had seen and was really more, more, I don’t know, a contemporary Italian type of structure.

00:33:19:18 – 00:33:49:03
Kevin A. Clark
And at the time I was disappointed because you have to get back into a completely different mindset. The home turned out to be part of this is part of the reason probably 5000 less square feet. So it was a dramatic difference in square footage and it turned out that that I was able to sort of let go of the previous design.

00:33:49:03 – 00:34:22:11
Kevin A. Clark
And that took a while to do but come up with something that was really far, far better and something that I am very proud of, the interior of that home, but also the exterior. And I tend to focus a bit sometimes on exterior elevations, maybe more than I should, as opposed to aspects of the floorplan, but that floorplan and there are several floorplans that I’ve done that I think are very, very original aspects to them.

00:34:22:21 – 00:34:56:19
Kevin A. Clark
And that was one of them. And, and just I was pushed very, very hard on with that project and also with the, the designer as well. It was very already well known for certain joy and intensity for period architecture. And so it was, I was sort of pushed and felt really comfortable with it. And so but to get back to your question, I, I don’t know.

00:34:56:19 – 00:35:22:01
Kevin A. Clark
I think it’s almost criminal to remove a Neutra structure. And I don’t think that I don’t think that it was although somebody might think it was was very it was very open, but it was, you know, sort of weak on bedrooms and, you know, practicalities kitchens. Now, kitchens are pretty much everything, you know, in older structures. They were these little things a lot of people had a lot of help them.

00:35:22:02 – 00:35:46:19
Kevin A. Clark
You know, a home that I owned, which was originally was a George Washington Smith home. And I don’t know, I think it was like 4000 square feet or 5000, something like that. And basically I had to tear everything down except the living room because it was really bad and it didn’t survive the seventies, you know, as a lot of homes didn’t.

00:35:46:19 – 00:36:09:19
Kevin A. Clark
And so there were some really awful things that were done and very unsympathetic additions, that kind of thing. But the point is that in that size home, there was still to, you know, to staff rooms, so very small. But, you know, in the kitchen was relatively small is I don’t I don’t know what it was but people lived differently.

00:36:09:19 – 00:36:31:14
Kevin A. Clark
Not the way we live now. People are they congregate more together. I think the family’s much more involved. Children are much more involved now than they were. And I’ve been through all these different aspects. You know, I think early on I was I was hired because my children were young and people that I worked for were young and having children.

00:36:31:14 – 00:36:53:00
Kevin A. Clark
So they thought, well, I could relate to that. And and now, you know, my clients are a lot of them are much older. You know, and they have grandchildren. So that’s the thing. And I have grandchildren now. So it’s it’s like this I’ve gone through this whole cycle that, you know, I didn’t experience, you know.

00:36:53:16 – 00:37:16:20
Constance Dunn
And, you know, I before I forget, we were talking about your renderings earlier and they’re very lovely. And I was on your Web site and we have one that we just wanted to put up because they’re pieces of art, they seem like art unto themselves and they’re very lovely.

00:37:17:04 – 00:37:21:02
Constance Dunn
And I know that this was an art that is not always practiced anymore.

00:37:21:17 – 00:37:29:03
Kevin A. Clark
Waiting for it to load up. But you’re right. I mean, that doesn’t it’s, it’s yes, unfortunately, this home wasn’t built.

00:37:29:13 – 00:37:30:02
Constance Dunn
Okay.

00:37:30:12 – 00:37:35:03
Kevin A. Clark
Really, really was. It was an extreme disappointment.

00:37:35:18 – 00:38:02:05
Constance Dunn
Look at that. It’s just so beautiful. So you had mentioned you’ve built homes that are like 35,000 square feet. You seem your demeanor is very mellow. You see very mellow and very centered. And a project of that scale. Did you ever were you ever, like, secretly freaking out or getting nervous or are you just always this calm about everything?

00:38:03:04 – 00:38:40:05
Kevin A. Clark
No, not if you talk to my wife. But it’s for me, there’s this astonishing thing, you know, of working for people. You know, like somebody that. That hires me and trusts me to do this right, because they’re spending ridiculous money to achieve something that’s done right, you know, especially like a house like El Sueno. And so there’s a there’s a humility that that comes along with it.

00:38:40:05 – 00:39:20:11
Kevin A. Clark
And I have to try to envision myself living in anything like that. I do. And with, you know, like home like this, I suppose I would have loved to live in this home. But it’s not my personal, you know, wouldn’t it be It would not have been an ambition to have something like this. And because I suppose it very well, you know, I grew up with it sounds funny, but I have three brothers and a sister and we all, you know, we all had this very small room that shared one bath, which would be an absolute absurd notion, you know, for anybody that I worked for.

00:39:20:11 – 00:39:42:07
Kevin A. Clark
So it’s, you know, it’s like, of course, kids have to have their en suite bathrooms. And like, it would be preposterous not to think so, but and so I came from a different place. Perhaps this way the house and in Hawaii was so comfortable for me because it had more of a scale that I could feel comfortable in.

00:39:42:14 – 00:40:34:02
Kevin A. Clark
But I do I work really hard on on trying to create a human scale to everything I do. And when I say human, I’m not exactly sure what that means, but you know what I’m saying? It’s something that people feel comfortable in. They don’t feel like so small in it, you know? And it’s it’s it’s a difficult it’s difficult to achieve sometimes, but and I can’t I can’t relate that well to people that have, you know, $20 million to spend building a home, you know, and but it’s more it’s more this delight I get in the fact that people would trust me to do it, you know, sort of coming from nothing in a sense.

00:40:34:17 – 00:41:04:04
Kevin A. Clark
And it’s it’s surreal sometimes. It is surreal, especially when you get into, like I said, this home was very difficult for me. The person was an artist. It was done for Mossimo Giannulli and and we were both disappointed that that we didn’t build it because it was right. In the same period, I was doing two other homes that I thought were really important.

00:41:04:04 – 00:41:56:17
Kevin A. Clark
And I do take time. These are done, these drawings are done. There’s one in particular I like quite a bit of that. Those when you project, which is a bird’s eye rendering and yeah, and I suppose I pride myself in the, the idea because if you look at most of mine and I’ve heard this from builders that my drawings and renderings look they look the end result is what you see you know it’s, they’re not because I’ve seen a lot of renderings, not as much now because everything people render in 3D so easily but I use I use tracing paper actually and black ink and then just colored pencils the way the a pencil and

00:41:56:17 – 00:42:27:10
Kevin A. Clark
pen bite into paper. That type of paper, it it just it feels different. It works different than I do. I love putting together something like this because in the process I, I work out what, what I know isn’t going to be esthetically pleasing. So it’s I do love setting these things down in front of people because it’s almost never disappointing, you know?

00:42:27:10 – 00:42:44:17
Kevin A. Clark
I mean, because you’re again, you’re it’s the culmination of a lot of dreams. And, you know, my my clients don’t take it lightly. They, you know, they’re very always very tickled by it.

00:42:45:10 – 00:42:54:00
Constance Dunn
And there’s a lot of specificity in these renderings. There’s much more that meets the eye here. Like you’ve worked out everything in these.

00:42:54:13 – 00:43:39:17
Kevin A. Clark
Yes, I have. And that’s what because I spend a I work out all the even panel designs. If you look at them, there’s a lot of complexity and and a house like I keep referring to El Sueno I know because it’s probably the most important thing I’ve ever done and it’s that. Okay, okay. I’m sorry. It’s that one. That property was an amazing property and and I you know, I sort of people see these things and sometimes I have issues believing that, but that one sort of did.

00:43:39:17 – 00:43:50:19
Kevin A. Clark
So I would say reveal itself to me that, you know, in the sense that I walked on that property like see what you know what I think that the end result would be. Okay. Okay.

00:43:51:00 – 00:43:53:17
Constance Dunn
All right. So it’s a it was a real vision in that regard.

00:43:54:02 – 00:44:29:01
Kevin A. Clark
Yes. Yes, I believe so. Like, I’d like to think that’s what it was. It’s, I guess, reveals itself would probably be the way to say it, but it doesn’t happen all the time. It did with that. And all my initial drawings for that are are exactly what you see, including no door all the door designs and and in that case it’s not true with everyone but it sort of sort of poured out poured out of me in the sense and and it was a special, special project.

00:44:29:01 – 00:44:47:12
Kevin A. Clark
And and the owner I had just come off of this what you have right now. And I was very disappointed and the owner was a fantastic guy. And it was the first thing he said was, let me tell you something that’s not going to happen. That’s not going to happen with me. It will be built. You do draw it and and I’ll build it.

00:44:47:12 – 00:45:05:10
Kevin A. Clark
Whatever you draw, I’ll build. And he was special for that. And and I’ll be sort of eternally grateful for that opportunity. And that was a project that I probably visited on these 50 times under construction.

00:45:05:10 – 00:45:05:20
Constance Dunn

00:45:05:22 – 00:45:24:05
Kevin A. Clark
Very, very, very challenging structure. But in some ways it’s not my most successful in terms of for, you know, People Hire Me is another home that has been the gift that keeps giving. But.

00:45:25:05 – 00:45:26:09
Constance Dunn
Right. It’s just like.

00:45:26:10 – 00:45:59:04
Kevin A. Clark
That values are are in some ways I consider them really more illustrations in some ways because they’re they’re not there’s more sort of crude, you know, sketches that come out. They’re probably just as interesting. It’s just that they don’t end up that much on on on plans themselves. You know, they’re more a visual for for a client. And so those are those are kind of special.

00:45:59:04 – 00:46:16:03
Kevin A. Clark
They they’re in files, you know, so they’re, you know, I go back and take a look at them now and then and just can’t believe all the work that I’ve done, all these drawings and that, you know, I had a lot a lot of energy.

00:46:17:09 – 00:46:27:14
Constance Dunn
And all that. Yeah. All these houses and you’re still creating them. So I look forward to your new, your new creations. And we thank you so much for joining us on Titans.

00:46:28:03 – 00:46:37:13
Kevin A. Clark
Thank you. I enjoyed.