{The art collection in this house is off the charts - Claude Monet and Ai WeiWei just to start.  The

{The art collection in this house is off the charts - Claude Monet and Ai WeiWei just to start.  The architect charged with gutting and rebuilding the residence, Eran Chen, focused on the connection between the spectacle of the urban landscape and the gallery-like quality of the space. “How both the city and the art were going to be seen and experienced was very important to the rationale of how the home was going to function,” says Chen, who is executive director of the firm ODA-Architecture.} Nine stepping-stones span a reflecting pool fed by a 32-foot waterfall, a paper-thin sheet of liquid spilling quietly behind a white-onyx stairway lit from within by LEDs. Waiting on the far side of the pool is a full-scale wood-and-rice-paper teahouse constructed in Kyoto and assembled on-site by Japanese craftsmen. “You have to stop whatever you’re doing and concentrate on crossing,” Chen says. “So unconsciously you have to pause to look at the view, to look at the waterfall, and to understand that there’s something ceremonial about entering the living room.” -- source link

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