L'Air
Chance in Hell
Client: Kitten and Lou
Role: Architecture, Pre Design, Interior Design, Adaptive Reuse, Entitlements, Zoning Variances, Zoning Changes
Scope: Owner occupied second floor residence above new restaurant and retail.
Status: Complete 2025
Size: 2,500 sq. ft.; 550 sq. ft. balconies;2,000 sq. ft. outdoor space with pool
Budget: $500,000
Collaborators: Arch Builders, Synergy Consulting Engineers
Studio West was tasked with reimagining a multi-use building as a contemporary environment that supports both private and public life. On the ground floor resides two distinct commercial spaces—the couple’s snoball shop, Chance in Hell, and retail boutique Just Like Heaven—while the private residence occupies the level above.
Together, these programs transform the building into a cohesive yet clearly defined home and workplace, composed of a design strategy that relies on color and sequence to give the overall building its identity and rhythm—weaving together experience, function, and atmosphere.
Conceived as an inverse of the building’s vibrant pink exterior, the couple’s residence offers a private yet expressive retreat. While connected to the activity below, the apartment exists as its own architectural world—absorbing the energy of the public realm and reshaping it into an intimate, expressive, and quietly grounded home.
Entry to the residence is deliberately separate from the commercial spaces, existing as its own
architectural entity, each detail expressed by the homeowners playful expression.
From a garden gate, a compressed, dark green stair creates a moment of transition before emerging into the bright pink kitchen, accented with green stone. From there, the home unfolds toward a dining area and wraparound balcony that overlooks a landscaped yard and pool—spaces that function as both a private retreat and an occasional performance venue.
The program was intentionally flipped: sleeping quarters and a shared boudoir—including a drag closet divided between femme and masculine sides—line Louisa Street, embracing the nighttime rhythms of the neighborhood while reflecting the clients’ performative identities.
The apartment is organized as a sequence of immersive interiors, each defined by color and atmosphere. This approach mirrors the expressive language of the retail spaces below while inverting their outward energy inward.
While the ground floor engages the street through commerce and spectacle, the apartment above reinterprets that energy through color, sequence, and privacy—demonstrating how a historic mixed-use structure can support multiple modes of living, making, and community within a unified architectural vision.
The carefully chosen palette, designed to glow at night, ranges from deep greens—acid dip to vichyssoise—to vibrant pinks, creating a series of richly saturated environments that unfold like stage sets. In this way, the residence completes the building’s vertical narrative while remaining closely tied to its larger conceptual identity.