Zoltan Pali’s Orum Residence, Soaring Over Bel Air, $56M
Author:Philip FerratoThe Orum Residence
11490 Orum Road, Bel Air
9 bedrooms, 10 full baths, 3 half-baths
$56,000,000
Designed and executed in collaboration with the developer Dang Bodiratnangkura, architect Zoltan Pali’s latest project is a breathtaking tour-de-force of glass and steel. Visually ready to fly off over the Pacific, it’s an immense sweep of glass and steel set on a platform, and in a decade of exceptional spec houses in Bel Air, this is a project of extraordinary sophistication in design and execution. Usurprisingly, it took four years to complete.
Amenities: Totally in the “too many to list” catergory, but briefly– a wine room big enough to hold a thousand bottles, a cedar sauna, a home theater with Dolby Sound, a gym. plus an automation system that allows the lights, air conditioning, televisions, sound and motorized sliding doors to be controlled via touch panels. There is also an outdoor kitchen, two outdoor fire pits and a LED-lit pool and spa; all roof, balcony, and hardscape water is directed to a 7K gallon underground tank for landscape irrigation. There are two elevators from the lower garage (a space large enough for events that opens on two sides to the view) plus all three levels are joined by a floating central staircase. And the details are astonishing.
Who: Duangpatra “Dang” Bodiratnangkura grew up in Bangkok in a prominent, multi-generational family of real estate developers. Educated in Britain, she eventually found her way to Southern California and has quietly, over the past few years, developed/renovated fifteen properties in the area. She collaborated here with Zoltan Pali, FAIA,one of Los Angele’s most admired and sought-after architects.
What We Love: Day and night, the huge panels of clear, mirrored, and translucent glass give the structure a visually shifting, shimmering facade. And although it’s a superficial comparison, Pali’s three sweeping concave facades reminded us immediately of Marcel Breuer’s winged 1958 UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Like Pali’s parents, Breuer was an Hungarian emigré. So one has to wonder– inspiration, accident or homage?
More: Go to the listing for additional details and images of this extraordinary residence. Represented by Aaron Kirman, Louis Evans and Taylor Nakaki of Aaron Kirman Partners at Compass.