Social Studies Projects is a progressive design studio working across architecture, interiors, graphics, and exhibitions. Rooted in the California culture of grassroots experimentalism, collectivity, and innovation, our work draws inspiration from historic precedents across multiple disciplines to create detail-driven, original projects for modern inhabitants — in Los Angeles and beyond.
Part Time House
A former one-car garage, this ADU conversion in the Garvanza neighborhood of Los Angeles negotiates the needs of a growing family: a space for extended family stays, a work-from-home office, pool-side entertaining overflow, and a dedicated maker space for woodworking projects. A rectangular mass holds the more private spaces off the ground, bridging a new covered carport. In one ‘leg’ a writer’s office, in the other, a gathering space overlooking a pool. Harwell Hamilton Harris-inspired windows and shingles reminiscent of our clients’ favorite escapes to Muir Woods.
Project Type: ADU
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Status: In Progress
Face House
For our clients’ house perched high on a hill, we outlined a series of strategic updates to refresh the facade and front yard sequence to our clients' "boring" (their word!) traditional stucco house. On the exterior, our additions underscore existing alignments between the vertical wood framing of the house and the existing horizontal datums of ground, sill, head, and ceiling heights. An existing bay window, is reimagined as an extrusion of this “hidden” order, finished on the interior as a storage bench and window seat, offering breathless views of surrounding Cheviot Hills.
Location: Los Angeles, California
Project Type: Facade Facelift
Status: Unbuilt
Studio on the Rock
Perched on the apex of a highly terraced property, our design for a studio space overlooked the family’s main home just like an observatory might, rendering the workspace deliberately separate from the main house, consciously uncoupling work and life. To honor the former play house previously on this location, the structure includes a secret loft for the client’s daughter to host sleepovers in ‘off’ hours, all within a tidy 120sf. Folding doors, windows, and skylights connect the surrounding botanicals of the hillside garden with the interior, creating an inspiring and serene work environment charged with nature.
Location: Los Angeles, California
Project: Studio
Status: Unbuilt
House on Lake Michigan
An artist and her husband invited SSP to retool an existing two-bedroom ranch style house on Lake Michigan in Door County, Wisconsin. Project goals included the addition of a dedicated art studio, guest bathroom, and guest sleeping space while maintaining—and expanding—the existing views of the lake from the site.
Location: Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Project Type: Residence
Status: In Progress
House for a Young Man
For a young client in Silverlake, SSP was commissioned to help re-detail an existing 1950s hillside home. A fully interiors project, our work includes new trims and mouldings, wall coverings, plumbing, lighting, and countertops, and a suite of custom fittings: millwork, stonework, brass shelving, and upholstery.
Project Type: Residence
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Status: In Progress