Skip to content
COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
    • CED
      • About CED
        • Vision
        • People
        • Meet CED Alums
        • Community
        • Our Spaces
        • Work at CED
        • Giving
        • Visit Us
        • Contact Us
      • Academics
        • Degrees + Certificates
        • Summer Programs
        • Study Abroad
        • Courses
      • Admissions
        • Undergraduate Admissions
        • Graduate Admissions
        • Fees & Financial Aid
      • Advising
        • CED Undergraduate Advising
        • Graduate Advising
      • News + Events
        • News
        • Events
      • Research + Design
        • Centers & Institutes
        • Climate Solutions
        • Equity + Social Justice
        • Technology + Material Innovations
        • Publications
        • Research Collaborations
        • Environmental Design Archives
        • Student Work
      • Student Resources
        • Student Organizations
        • Student Support
        • Building Safety
        • Student Fees and Waivers
        • Fabrication + Materials
        • IT + Computing
        • Environmental Design Library
        • Facility Services
        • Awards, Scholarships and Fellowships
        • Careers & Work Opportunities
    • ARCH
      • About Architecture
        • Diversity
        • Leadership
        • Accreditation and Licensure
      • Degrees + Admissions
        • Admissions
        • Bachelor of Arts
        • Minor in Environmental Design and Urbanism in Developing Countries
        • Minor in the History of the Built Environment
        • Minor in Social and Cultural Factors in Environmental Design
        • Minor in Sustainable Design
        • Master of Architecture (MArch)
        • Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD)
        • Master of Science
        • Ph.D.
        • Concurrent Programs
      • Courses
        • 2023 Fall Courses
        • 2023 Summer Courses
        • 2023 Spring Courses
      • People
        • Faculty
        • Emeriti
        • Students
        • Staff
      • Gallery
      • Advising
    • LAND
      • About LAEP
      • Degrees + Admissions
        • Admissions
        • Bachelor of Arts
        • Minor in Landscape Architecture
        • Master of Landscape Architecture
        • Ph.D.
        • Concurrent Degrees
      • Courses
      • People
        • Faculty
        • Emeriti
        • Students
        • Staff
      • Gallery
      • Advising
    • CITY
      • About DCRP
      • Degrees + Admissions
        • Admissions
        • Ph.D.
        • Master of City Planning
        • Bachelor of Arts
      • Courses
      • People
        • Faculty
        • Lecturers
        • Emeriti
        • Students
        • Staff
      • Gallery
        • Student Work
        • Faculty Work
        • Studio Work
      • Advising
    • IURD
      • About IURD
      • Research
      • Master of Real Estate Development + Design (MRED+D)
        • About MRED+D
        • Admissions
        • Courses
        • People
      • Master of Urban Design (MUD)
        • About MUD
        • Admissions
        • Courses
        • People
      • BA in Sustainable Environmental Design
        • About SED
        • Courses
        • People
      • People
      • Gallery
      • Advising
  • CED
    • About CED
      • Vision
      • People
      • Meet CED Alums
      • Community
      • Our Spaces
      • Work at CED
      • Giving
      • Visit Us
      • Contact Us
    • Academics
      • Degrees + Certificates
      • Summer Programs
      • Study Abroad
      • Courses
    • Admissions
      • Undergraduate Admissions
      • Graduate Admissions
      • Fees & Financial Aid
    • Advising
      • CED Undergraduate Advising
      • Graduate Advising
    • News + Events
      • News
      • Events
    • Research + Design
      • Centers & Institutes
      • Climate Solutions
      • Equity + Social Justice
      • Technology + Material Innovations
      • Publications
      • Research Collaborations
      • Environmental Design Archives
      • Student Work
    • Student Resources
      • Student Organizations
      • Student Support
      • Building Safety
      • Student Fees and Waivers
      • Fabrication + Materials
      • IT + Computing
      • Environmental Design Library
      • Facility Services
      • Awards, Scholarships and Fellowships
      • Careers & Work Opportunities
  • ARCH
    • About Architecture
      • Diversity
      • Leadership
      • Accreditation and Licensure
    • Degrees + Admissions
      • Admissions
      • Bachelor of Arts
      • Minor in Environmental Design and Urbanism in Developing Countries
      • Minor in the History of the Built Environment
      • Minor in Social and Cultural Factors in Environmental Design
      • Minor in Sustainable Design
      • Master of Architecture (MArch)
      • Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD)
      • Master of Science
      • Ph.D.
      • Concurrent Programs
    • Courses
      • 2023 Fall Courses
      • 2023 Summer Courses
      • 2023 Spring Courses
    • People
      • Faculty
      • Emeriti
      • Students
      • Staff
    • Gallery
    • Advising
  • LAND
    • About LAEP
    • Degrees + Admissions
      • Admissions
      • Bachelor of Arts
      • Minor in Landscape Architecture
      • Master of Landscape Architecture
      • Ph.D.
      • Concurrent Degrees
    • Courses
    • People
      • Faculty
      • Emeriti
      • Students
      • Staff
    • Gallery
    • Advising
  • CITY
    • About DCRP
    • Degrees + Admissions
      • Admissions
      • Ph.D.
      • Master of City Planning
      • Bachelor of Arts
    • Courses
    • People
      • Faculty
      • Lecturers
      • Emeriti
      • Students
      • Staff
    • Gallery
      • Student Work
      • Faculty Work
      • Studio Work
    • Advising
  • IURD
    • About IURD
    • Research
    • Master of Real Estate Development + Design (MRED+D)
      • About MRED+D
      • Admissions
      • Courses
      • People
    • Master of Urban Design (MUD)
      • About MUD
      • Admissions
      • Courses
      • People
    • BA in Sustainable Environmental Design
      • About SED
      • Courses
      • People
    • People
    • Gallery
    • Advising
  • About
  • Apply
  • Give
  • For Students
UC Berkeley logo
  • About
  • Apply
  • Give
  • For Students
BACK
BACK
NEWS

Architecture alum Edward Ogosta’s “quiet architecture” offers new vision for purposeful design

Jan 25, 2019

Manipulating light and space, architect Edward Ogosta redeems a plain Culver City bungalow
By Kelly Vencil Sanchez
LA Times
November 26, 2018
Photo courtesy Steve King

College of Environmental Design alumnus Edward Ogosta's (B.A. Arch. '97) "quiet architecture" strips away and makes space, without compromising the integrity of the original form. The renovation of his Culver City bungalow retains 97 percent of its original space. This contrasts with the typical process of home renovation in Southern California, which favors a tear-down and rebuiild approach. For Ogosta and his wife, maintaining the original structure was key. The intact quality of the neighborhood homes also influenced their decision to purchase the home.

Ogosta, a second-generation Angeleno, has been interested in clean, minimal spaces since he was a boy growing up in Palos Verdes. The area wasn’t exactly a hotbed of cutting-edge contemporary architecture, but the library he frequented was an A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons design, and his high school was a later work by Richard Neutra. Both buildings, he says, seeped into his consciousness. Later, while earning architecture degrees at U.C. Berkeley and Harvard, he steeped himself in Southern California’s Light and Space movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Influenced by the movement, Ogosta's inital approach to the interior space of the original structure was to strip away, "simplifying and clarifying until I can’t add anything or take anything away." This approach tied together the rest of the renovation process; while the exterior of the 450-square foot expansion called back to the neighborhood vernacular, the addition of skylights, large expanses of windows, bleached wood floors and white walls contribute to a feeling of airiness and synchronicity with the external environment. Ogosta's experiment, a subtle and gentle revivification of extant structures, has won AIA awards at the local, state and national level.

Through this project, Ogosta hopes to show a thoughtful alternative to renovating the city's existing housing stock. “I want to show that there’s a subtler and quieter version of architecture in Los Angeles that’s about things like quality of light. I don’t buy into the mentality that square footage equals quality of life. I’ve never felt that I was living with less.

"For so many years, the work that architects were doing in Los Angeles was about shouting for attention,” Ogosta adds. “I’m for innovation and experimentation, but it’s got to mean something—it’s got to be purposeful.”

To read more, click here.

×
Berkeley CED Logo

COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
University of California, Berkeley
230 Bauer Wurster Hall #1820
Berkeley, CA 94720-1820

  • ARCH
  • LAND
  • CITY
  • IURD
  • Contact
  • Visit
  • Faculty + Staff
  • Linkedin
  • Accessibility
  • Nondiscrimination
  • Privacy

© 2023 UC Regents; all rights reserved.     Credits