KKC and Dean Nota: Creating Together

Olivares Project

KKC Fine Homes has teamed up with local Architect, Dean Nota, to design and build a single family residence for longtime residents of Manhattan Beach. The Olivares house has undergone an 8-9 month planning process, and it will entail a modern style construction, with a clean and an open living plan, level changes, and an abundance of light.

Dean Nota graduated from Southern California Institute of Architecture in 1973. Nota went on to design the much recognized Marsh Residence in 1988, in Hermosa Beach, CA. He has been featured in many forums, books, and periodicals. Nota is known for his sculptural building plans, which are gorgeous and light filled.

“Living in a modern house is a choice of lifestyle”, says Nota, and “the most important thing for a client to do is to take some time to figure out how they want to live and what they need, and then find someone who understands that”

With all the focus on “green living”, Nota says in his Beach magazine interview, “The ultimate green building is a modern building, with the idea of doing more with less”. In June 2007, Nota created the Harless residence, which was subsequently featured in the book, “Green is Beautiful: Building Sustainable Houses”, by Claudio Santini.

Our current collaboration with Mr. Nota is sure to be yet another work of art, and we are confident that Manhattan Beach will yet again appreciate the concept of Southern California modernism.

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KKC Fine Homes Joins Forces With Designer Jon Starr

One of the things we love about living and working in Manhattan Beach (and the surrounding beach communities) is that talented designers are drawn to this area. Many local designers have built national reputations for themselves here, in part because this area has a clientele that gives them the freedom to be truly innovative.

We're fortunate to be living in a place where many clients looking to buy or build a custom home are progressive in their thinking. They are successful at what they do, and that success is a result of their unique way of seeing things.  These customers look for homes that express this individuality – they are not people who will settle for cookie-cutter design; they require talented designers. In the coming months, we plan on featuring a number of these local talents on our blog.

One of them is John Starr. He is prolific in his work, and he designs homes that are truly one of a kind.

“Starr describes a design as a continuously evolving dream, a process rooted in creative problem solving.”¹

To build a home in a place with as much warmth and character as Hermosa Beach, a creative team must truly know the town – they must personally breathe in its fresh sea air, see the soft waves of hills and valleys that define the land, be acquainted with the locals – and understand how to achieve that perfect blend of efficiency (of space), sophistication of design, and casualness that defines beach living.

Like KKC Fine Homes, Starr Design Group lives that description.

We are  excited about our upcoming collaboration with Starr Design Group. We break ground on what will be a yearlong project at 112 Manhattan Avenue in March of this year. If you saw the pictures that accompanied the recent piece on Jon Starr in the Easy Reader, you would know why the already beautiful city of Hermosa Beach has something unique and elegant to look forward to in early 2011.

We’re excited to be a part of Mr Starr’s “evolving dream”.

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¹Kessler, Ashley, Concept and Collaboration, Luxury & Lifestyle, July/August, 2008.

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