32 ARCHDIGEST.COM
It’s official: We are 100. To mark AD’s impressive 2020 anniversary,
the editors and I embarked on the Herculean project of winnowing a
century’s worth of important images and projects into a book. No easy
feat... but here it is, Architectural Digest at 100: A Century of Style,
published by Abrams and available October 8. Appropriately, the chapter
of the book dedicated to California—AD’s birthplace—is excerpted in
this issue, an issue that is itself entirely devoted to the Golden State.
And so we bring you a quintessential “indoor/outdoor” modernist house
by AD100 architects Olson Kundig that boasts boffo views of Hollywood,
two breathtaking pools, and a serious man cave including an “auto gallery”
to display the owner’s car collection—what could be more L.A.? For a
totally different vibe, consider the super-romantic pool, poolhouse, and
entertaining pergola of the couple Michael and Alexandra Misczynski,
of the AD100 firm Atelier AM. The property, lush with jasmine and
olive trees, evokes an Italian paradise but quite astoundingly looks out
on the landmark Chateau Marmont, not a Tuscan vineyard. “We just
wanted a place where we can take a breath and imagine we’re somewhere
far, far away from the Sunset Strip,” says Alexandra. Our cover family,
Kevin Systrom (cofounder of Instagram) and his wife, Nicole, are due
a heartfelt and epic thank-you, not only for sharing their evocative Lake
Tahoe lodge with AD (it’s on the California side of the lake and was
masterminded by San Francisco–based AD100 designer Ken Fulk) but
for most generously supporting AD’s philanthropic initiative with New
Story as our largest donor to date. We are in the final stages of completing
construction of our village in Haiti, which will provide houses for 100
families rendered homeless in the 2010 earthquake. Ken Fulk has been
a tireless advocate for AD and New Story, and the dynamic combo of
him, Kevin, and Nicole has resulted in the total joy of not only a beautiful
“forever” house for the Systroms but a “finally” house
for deserving people in one of the poorest places on
earth. Thank you, Kevin and Nicole, for your generos-
ity, and to the entire community of designers and
architects who have also donated to this cause.
editor’s letter
Before the Manhattan penthouses and the Paris
pieds-à-terre, Architectural Digest was singularly
focused on the glories of California, where the
magazine was born, a native Angeleno, in 1920.
—Architectural Digest at 100: A Century of Style
1. THE LOS ANGELES POOLHOUSE OF MICHAEL
AND ALEXANDRA MISCZYNSKI OF ATELIER AM.
2. THE “AUTO GALLERY” IN AN L.A. HOME DESIGNED
BY SEATTLE FIRM OLSON KUNDIG. 3. KEVIN AND
NICOLE SYSTROM ON LAKE TAHOE.
4. A VIEW OF A NEW
STORY HOUSING
VILLAGE IN HAITI; AD IS
CURRENTLY COMPLETING
CONSTRUCTION ON A
SIMILAR PROJECT. 5. ME
WITH OUR NEW BOOK,
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST
AT 100: A CENTURY
OF STYLE (ABRAMS).
1
4
2
5
3
AMY ASTLEY
Editor in Chief
@amytastley 1. STEPHEN KENT JOHNSON; 2. SAM FROST; 3. DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN; 4. TOM DURANTE; 5. MATTEO MOBILIO
