When it comes to LA, it’s what’s inside that counts. As you might have guessed I’m not referring to the residents but to our setting. Los Angeles is a city of contrast, although beautiful in some areas, mainly it impresses only when portrayed by the industry on the silver screen. Enter Franklin Studios, a young, hot architecture team made up of gifted Frank X. Medrano and Steve H. Brabson. These two men are on a mission to give our city a little bit of their vision – hip, elegant, edgy and impossibly appealing.
Medrano and Brabson have already completed projects like elite Santa Monica restaurant Tengu and are currently putting finishing touches on another top restaurant Abode. Recently Frank and Steve got their hands on their trendiest project yet – The Lobby. Joining a short number of LA’s most exclusive nighttime entertainment venues The Lobby is the latest venture of people who brought us Privilege, Area and Hyde Lounge.
Although the two men don’t talk about architecture in terms of ideology or current trends their work reflects a supremely modern design. Their visceral approach is from the heart, producing a visual landscape that offers a seamless integration of evocative architectural spaces with stunning interiors that bring a balanced and harmonious aesthetic to their clients. Franks and Steve’s vision has attracted high profile clients such as club promoter and event producer Brent Bolthouse, whose home they recently completed, as well as hotelier and restaurateur Sam Nazarian.
Originally from the Midwest, Medrano and Brabson met while working together for Michael Maltzan in Los Angeles. They each went on to work for Frank O. Gehry until Medrano was offered a position with internationally recognized tastemaker Kelly Wearstler as Senior Designer at KWID. The two remained friends and in 2006 they decided to combine their talents under the banner of Franklin Studios, based in Hollywood.
“We don’t want to pigeonhole our aesthetic,” says Brabson. “Part of being creative is being allowed to constantly evolve. That’s when things get exciting.” They approach each project by exploring the possibilities of the client’s ideas, drawing inspiration from the location and physical space itself, as well as the raw materials they select to create each design.
For Tengu Santa Monica, Medrano and Brabson transformed the space that was formerly Ivy by the Shore by reinterpreting the traditional Asian aesthetic with a contemporary flair. With its dramatic black-and-white palette, sculpted coffered ceilings, lavish use of Indian marble and travertine, and bleached wood parquet floors, the feeling is of a grand Japanese palace. Matching indoor-outdoor sushi and cocktail bars anchor the main dining room, which wrap into one of the city’s most spectacular oceanfront patios, affording an unobstructed view of the Pacific Ocean. Medrano and Brabson selected a single ornate lantern anchored at the center of the restaurant to draw passersby in at night with its alluring glow.
Their vision for Abode restaurant, located in an intimate courtyard off Ocean Avenue, was to create a refined, exclusive atmosphere that pays homage to the sophisticated high glamour and abstract geometries of late-sixties design. They used a rich, earthy color pallet with patterned stone slabs and dramatic ceiling pendants to create a spectacular focal point for the center room.
When Brent Bolthouse approached them with renovating his John Lautner home, Medrano and Brabson discovered the previous owners had nearly destroyed the original layout. “We wanted to bring it back to life,” says Medrano. “There were odd shaped rooms added, outdoor areas enclosed with canopies, overgrown landscaping; a real diamond in the rough.” They stripped it back to its true essence; a simplified octagonal plan cantilevering over the Hollywood Hills with the entire roof suspended by three armatures. The final result was profiled in the publication, Hip Hollywood Homes in September 2006.
Medrano and Brabson pride themselves on their Midwestern integrity and honesty. “We like to bring the genuine essence of good living to our clients with an awareness of how your environment can impact you favorably.” Tengu Santa Monica (www.tengu.com) is now open and Abode will open in late February. Current projects include Quincy Jones’ residence remodel in Bel Air, a San Diego Hotel Resort, a Hollywood condominium building, as well as a Los Angeles nightclub and Las Vegas restaurant. Future projects include a Las Vegas fine jewelry boutique. For more information on Franklin Studios please visit www.franklinstudios.com
