Unglossy: Decoding Brand in Culture

Anthony Laney: A Dive Into California's Luxurious Architectural Landscape

• Tom Frank, Mickey Factz, Jeffrey Sledge, Anthony Laney • Season 4 • Episode 5

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Join us for an auditory journey to the moon with our gravity-defying discussion on creating a lunar experience right here on Earth. Anthony Laney of Laney LA joins hosts Tom Frank, Mickey Factz, and Jeffrey Sledge, adding a riveting dimension with tales of high-end residential design, where playful luxury like beachside pickleball courts becomes a reality. Discover the seamless blend of lifestyle, vision, and architecture—a trio that transforms spaces into personal sanctuaries tailored to the dreams of their inhabitants.

As we navigate California's eclectic architectural landscapes, Anthony shares his expertise on the state's diverse design aesthetics. From Los Angeles' bold eclecticism to Orange County and San Diego's more reserved styles, and the historic charm of Northern California, we explore the intricate balance between privacy and panoramic views. The episode shares stories of extravagant home features—think heated sidewalks and vanishing pools—that redefine luxury living and showcase the artistry and innovation behind experiential masterpieces.

"Unglossy: Decoding Brand in Culture," is produced and distributed by Merrick Creative and hosted by Merrick Chief Creative Officer, Tom Frank, hip hop artist and founder of Pendulum Ink, Mickey Factz, and music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @UnglossyPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://unglossypod.buzzsprout.com/

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Tom:

This week on.

Mickey:

Unglossy. Something to ponder on. Would you be able to create a room that is gravity free and it makes you feel like you're on the moon?

Anthony:

I've never done that before, but I love the challenge. It would have to be a room that's spinning right, so there'd have to be some sort of dock that you enter some sort of chamber and then an initiation cycle where whoever's inside of this would ultimately be able to experience a gravity-free, immersive environment. I say we add it to the wish list and keep it on the dream board From the top.

Tom:

Yeah, I'm Tom Frank, I'm Mickey Fax and I'm jeffrey sledge welcome to unglossy, to coning brand and culture. I'm tom frank, partner and chief creative officer at merit creative. This is mickey fax, hip-hop artist and founder and ceo of pendulum inc.

Tom:

And that is jeffrey sledge, a seasoned music industry veteran who has worked with some of the biggest artists in the business. We're here to explore the moments of vulnerability, pivotal decisions and creative sparks that fuel the relationship between brand and culture. Get ready for a thought-provoking journey into the heart and soul of branding the unscripted, unfiltered and truly unglossy truth. Why, hello fellas? So I guess we got to start with. I mean, I mean, mickey jumps on with his shades on what? Is it sunny in your house?

Mickey:

It's really bright, Um, but it's not. You know, uh, I got my son with me today, so you know, I gotta, I gotta be watching him while I'm watching you guys. So you guys can't really see my eyes, but you know, I'm still in here. I'm excited to meet up with Ant. You know what I'm saying.

Jeffrey:

Absolutely that was a good interview.

Tom:

That was fun, that was different.

Jeffrey:

Yeah, An architect from LA who's really doing big things. I know you know you can't name his clients. He can't name his clients because of confidentiality, but he's doing some big things with some amazing homes in the Manhattan Beach area.

Tom:

It's cool, it is very cool. It's a good story, a good origin story. I love that he's built it with his wife. Um, before we get into anthony lady, though, I I was expecting mickey to remember something about today, because we shared a moment a year ago today oh, is it your birthday today it's my birthday today happy birthday wow a year ago.

Tom:

A year ago, mickey and I did a podcast and we interviewed several women from the movie uncharted oh yeah, I wasn't during the interview I was on with mickey on my birthday yet again last year and he got he got one of the singers to sing me happy birthday. That was very cool.

Jeffrey:

That was big.

Mickey:

What you don't know. We're going to have Jeff rap. Happy Birthday to you Kills. That was actually the surprise.

Jeffrey:

That's not popping off, tom. Sorry about that man.

Tom:

That's all right, jeff, that's not going to happen.

Jeffrey:

I don't want to mess your birthday up.

Tom:

Yeah, that's not going to happen One day, one day.

Jeffrey:

I don't want to mess your birthday up.

Tom:

I'll give you a year to work on it. It happens every year.

Jeffrey:

Okay, I appreciate that Next May it's lit, it's lit, we'll get Willie to write it for you.

Tom:

Yeah, we're going to make a joint and then, who knows, maybe we turn that into my Grammy right then, and there I'll produce it.

Mickey:

Potentially, that would be hot. That would be hot. It's crazy. All right, fellas.

Tom:

This is going to be a good one, folks. We got Anthony Laney, laney, la, an architect that has done some amazing work, continues to do amazing work and, as you'll find out, we'll be designing a very special feature for Mickey in his upcoming home.

Mickey:

Exactly, let's get into it.

Tom:

Today we welcome an architect, a designer, someone who is devoted to bringing out the best of his creative team and his adventurous clients. He is the co-founder and partner at Laney LA, which he launched with his wife, krista, in 2014, and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the coveted AIA LA Residential Architecture Merit Award for his thoughtful approach to contemporary home design. Welcome to an all new experience for you, anthony Unglossy. This is Anthony Glad to be here.

Anthony:

Thank you so much. Glad to be here All right.

Tom:

Well, thank you for joining us. I will say to our audience, Anthony and I we recently met because you're in an interesting place in your career. Right, You've done some amazing, amazing work in and around the LA area. But you're kind of entertaining this like kind of new chapter a little bit in your growth of your company, Laney LA, and you're trying to figure out ways to grow your reputation really beyond Manhattan, Hermosa Beach, where a lot of your projects are, into the greater LA area and even beyond. And I think the interesting challenge for us is that you really specialize in very high-end residential projects. Is that correct? That's right. So, before I go any further, because I do want to dive into like your origin story and where you've come from and all of that, but you got to define for us, you know, set the stage here how do you define a high end residential project?

Anthony:

Well, tom, when you want a pickleball court in your basement right on the beach, we're the team that you call right. So high ends, all relative right, um, and my home's going to look different than every home that my client has, um. But we define high end as someone who wants the type of house that's very difficult to find on the market, so they want to create it from scratch. That might mean it's super tailored or boutique to their unique lifestyle, or it just might mean that they have a creative taste profile that they want to express, and that's quite a privilege to be able to do that. So these are high net clients.

Tom:

Interesting. So I mean, don't worry, Jeffrey, I'm going to ask you what your dream home is going to look like, because Jeffrey might be your next client right here.

Anthony:

We'll get started.

Tom:

We'll get started. Maybe you're here and now on the show. If you know the history of the show, I try to get these guys on to whatever client we have on. We've tried to get them on to naked and afraid in the past and you know, maybe we'll. Maybe we'll try to build a high-end home for them as well relax, relax, relax pause me all right, so let's hey I I want to hear more, though, about how did this start. You do this with your wife, which is, in itself, kind of an interesting story.

Anthony:

Yeah. So for us we don't know any better. We met in architecture school at USC and so our whole, our passion is design, and so in architecture school they give you these fake prompts and fake clients and it's all about, in a way, standing out by putting creativity on the wall. And in architecture school, team projects kind of have a bad rep because they're never quote, unquote fair right, you put six students together and there's kind of an unequal workload. But I felt like I was the only person who loved the team project.

Anthony:

I kind of discovered that I had a passion for aligning human energy around a creative endeavor. A mentor tapped me on the shoulder and said hey, you're not running on all cylinders. Clearly you love design, but what about the design that is not just for a building, but for a company, for a team culture, for team dynamics? I think he saw in me a passion for that and that ultimately resonated Now. It was a humbling journey because when you leave an established practice and go out on your own, we had to find joy doing very, very tiny projects backyard renovations and bathroom remodels and things like that. So it's been 10 years since then. But thankfully the small projects led to much bigger projects and, frankly, those are a lot more fulfilling.

Jeffrey:

I want to ask a question. So I saw you have your website, but I saw your house on the site. So talk to me about how you build your shit, because your house is crazy, bro, like I don't know why you even leave to go anywhere. Your house is that's right. So I will tell you about my house now our personal home is not published.

Tom:

What you're? Probably seeing online all of our homes because that's got to be interesting in itself, right, designing your own home called the m?

Jeffrey:

y residents uh, it's really close to our studio it is is a crazy home.

Anthony:

One of my favorite homes ever.

Anthony:

It's this double lot inspired by these stone uh spaces that were very intense and these gorgeous courtyards. So on our website, the my residence is kind of an ode to the ancient medina, done in a contemporary way. On my personal home where my wife krista and I live, um, we have a home that's not 12 000 square feet but we absolutely infused it with creativity. We call it the pocketing doorhouse. We've got this 13 foot wide disappearing wall that connects our backyard to our living room, and that's life for us, so that our four kids literally have zero threshold to go from the trampoline and the tree house to the interior living room. And so it's really that flow and that lifestyle that was the priority when we did our own home. I wish I could tell you If you were to drop by my studio I'm not even kidding, you would hear us debate that you know we're the geeks who like these crazy theories, have a hard time understanding how 4500 miles away can possibly show up in ancient Egypt, and why they show up in different parts of the world.

Anthony:

So yeah, jeff, I wish I could help there.

Jeffrey:

I bet.

Anthony:

Curveball.

Jeffrey:

You don't know All right cool.

Tom:

You don't know all right cool jeffrey dropping a little bit of his uh want to be. Or now, jeffrey, you wanted to be an architect, I wanted to be an architect. I actually went to school for architecture. You went in, yeah, I went in, but my problem here's what got me nervous. I got nervous about, like people living in a structure that I was in charge of building, so I, I, I kind of got nervous and that's why I went to a little bit more 2d, you know, or the graphics side, cause I loved the design aspect of it, and that's that's what I'm in now.

Tom:

A lot of what we do, I feel like, is very parallel in terms of of how do we get into somebody's head and figure out their vision and how to create it. But clearly you're doing it at a very different, very different level than I am. But let me ask you that question, cause that I think, ultimately, the magic between a great architect and maybe just an average architect is the ability to translate what that person has in their head right. I mean, because people come in and they're handing over to you their dream.

Anthony:

The stakes could not be higher and I admire the fact that you were intimidated by that and I still feel that A car or some widget or whatever You're buying the place you spend probably the most time of your life and with your family, and I think you can relate to this.

Tom:

I mean, what's that process like?

Anthony:

I distinguish architecture from art simply because I have a client right. Yes, I feel inspired as a creative and we have ideas that we want to throw against the wall, but above all of that are the hopes and dreams, the limitations and the opportunities of a real family who's been saving for this for so long. It's a celebration of their identity and it requires some really intense function for it to work. So many things can go wrong and it will undermine a good piece of architecture. So how does the process work? I think you nailed it there needs to be a very strong relationship between the architect and the client, a relationship of trust, so that they feel comfortable enough sharing how they actually feel, how they want to live.

Anthony:

And I found, tom, that rather than going straight at the mark and just saying what do you want? What's in the rooms, how do you want to live, that's a very intimidating question. So usually I like to ask warmup questions like and I'll turn to the husband, I'll say hey, dude, what would make this a delightful process for your wife? And you'll see the husband and the wife look at each other and they'll blush and they'll laugh and I'll say don't worry, you're going to get it wrong, but just go ahead, take a guess, and then I can say to the wife what would make this an incredibly frustrating process for him. Or I would ask what is your favorite part about the home you grew up in? Or what's the most frustrating thing when you stay at a hotel that you experienced?

Anthony:

And so I'm just, I'm looking for all of these clues that tell me how they think, how they live, how they aspire to live, and we basically have mapped the 500 decisions that someone needs to make. That doesn't include the creative process, but they're very tactical decisions that we need to really address in order to have a truly tailored custom home so let me, let me ask another question.

Jeffrey:

Um, this is a more broad question, but you know california, obviously. Obviously it's a huge state. So what are some of the differences between the architecture in LA, the architecture in the? Bay, architecture in San Diego and, most importantly, different taste profiles, I see much more of a traditional historic mentality in Northern California, Los Angeles, in my opinion is very progressive, very eclectic.

Anthony:

Right, you go to Venice and you'll see all contemporary work. Orange County, in San Diego, tends to be a little bit more conservative. I was recently talking to my team about how a rendering produced by a team in Orange County in my opinion would not be very attractive to some of my clients in Los Angeles, and so the taste profile can be very different across those areas. The building codes are different. All of these homes are, I think, drawn to the big, open views, drawn to the indoor, outdoor lifestyle, and we absolutely have to make them weatherproof and earthquake safe. So there's a lot of commonalities there, and even as we drop into the many boroughs of Los Angeles, different families will have different taste profiles. But what I love about practicing architecture, especially in Los Angeles, is just the eclectic openness and the adventurous spirit that I think I see most families want when they want to do a custom home here.

Tom:

I think you could be right on that no-transcript interesting okay so when you say like, especially the la area has this eclectic kind of look and I ask this question almost to all three of you like what is the? What's the craziest thing that a you've ever seen or, in your case, anthony you've?

Mickey:

ever. I have a billionaire. What's this one?

Tom:

feature that you have to have.

Mickey:

Let me start with these guys have you seen. Jeffrey and Mickey. What's the craziest, sickest thing? That?

Tom:

you walked into somebody's house.

Mickey:

She was staying in Lincoln Park. She had a high rise and she had bought the entire floor, so she had knocked out every single wall and every apartment, so she stayed in that apartment. But when she bought her house, she said there was two things that she wanted. Now this was in 2012. She had iPads everywhere and she wanted to be able to talk. There were iPads in the wall, literally every single place, and she wanted to be able to communicate through the iPads in every room. And, because of Chicago, she had heated lamps underneath the sidewalk, so when it snowed it would just melt the entire sidewalk. That was probably the good answer.

Tom:

Bam.

Jeffrey:

That's a good one. That's a good one. I know we shot an R Kelly video years ago at the guy here in atlanta at the guy's house who invented the chip. That goes into all the atms. So I don't know much he had, but he had a lot of money and his property was so big it's still.

Jeffrey:

I think tyler perry bought that property. He's since sold it somebody else has now but his property was so big he had he had golf carts on his property to get around because it was too far to just walk. It was crazy and he had like anything the thing about his house I didn't like though it was nothing kind of matched, because he would be like, okay, this is the movie room and it'll be like literally like a movie theater. He had the popcorn, but then you go to the next room and it didn't kind of flow with that room. He was just a dude with a lot of money that was just building shit like okay, here's my crazy closet, you know, and then. But nothing kind of flowed together. But that house that house in and of itself, and that property, that land that he was on, was like unbelievable, like it probably took you like 45 minutes to walk from end to end. It was. That was that big. It's crazy.

Jeffrey:

Wow, yeah, and then years ago years ago I worked at shack and I and I, you know, when he bought his house in florida, which he still has. He's expanded on it. It's a hundred thousand square feet now.

Jeffrey:

It was probably who needs a hundred thousand square feet feet, it was 20 or 30 when he bought it and it was wild because he bought it from some arms dealer, like a real arms dealer, and the dude had to get out the country. So somehow they connected and Shaq bought the house, like everything in it. The guy was like give me the money, I'm out. So all the furniture, everything in that house. It was like an as-is house we did at home with a disappearing pool.

Anthony:

So that means the bottom of the pool lifts and lowers, the water does not move. There are little gaps in the seams of the floor, so that means the pool can be dry like a dance floor, or the pool can lower to reveal the water. It can be a one inch deep splash pad, a 12 inch deep like elementary school kid, or all the way down. We it was programmed so it could be steps that go down, and so the jacuzzi and the pool had a worm drive spiral stainless steel lift underneath it, Kind of like at a, like a, like a music stadium where where the actor comes from below. So the whole pool lift and lowered. Um, that was crazy, right, that's. That was a lot of fun.

Anthony:

And something that's maybe a little bit more tasteful that we're starting to install is a lighting technology Um, you mentioned the iPads where it matches the color of the light to the natural color of the sky at the time. So your house kind of glows warm in the morning and then gets brighter, cooler during the high noon and then during the evening it gets yellow and amber again and it just tracks the circadian rhythm of the sun. It's a very cool effect. It's actually very calming, Wow.

Tom:

So does somebody come to you and say they want that rhythm of the sun? It's a very cool effect. It's actually very calming, wow. So does somebody come to you and say they want that? Or how do you even get to that point? I can't imagine building a house and saying I want the light to mimic the sun up and sun. How did that happen?

Anthony:

No, a lot of these technologies are things that are new and that our clients see in a friend's house or something like that. So, then, it's our job to get educated on them and to help them understand the difference between a wild bad idea and a wild good idea.

Jeffrey:

Wow, that's crazy. So, what is out of some of the most? Um, and I'll keep it to the States, cause you know well we can go around the world, but, like, out of some of the most and I'll keep it to the States because you know well we can go around the world but, like, out of some of the most famous architecture, what are some? What's a couple of your favorite? Just, you know things that are around the world that you like, dan, that building is amazing, or that house is amazing.

Anthony:

One of my favorites is actually in Pasadena. It's called the Gamble House. It was the first craftsman house ever, built in 1908. It's this large structure that many credit with opening the door to California living. It's the big indoor-outdoor connections, the large porches that are meant for gathering. It was so progressive in its time, but it basically invented an entirely new aesthetic. Today it doesn't look contemporary, but it looks absolutely timeless. I had the privilege of actually living in that house and caring for it, so my job was to set up for the daily tours and the events in that home. I lived in the little servant's quarters as an architecture student as an architecture student, but for me it was just so cool to live in a masterpiece. The architect designed everything from the furniture to the tapestries, to the rugs. The architect's name is Green and Green, and I just think it's one of California's true masterpieces.

Jeffrey:

Wait, you got to live there. What's that story? Tell that story.

Anthony:

Wait, you got to live there. What's that story? Tell that story. I mean, I like competition. I had just the privilege of winning this competition and the prize was to live in the house. So for an architecture student, that was like the pinnacle of my little pre-career. Yeah, it's one thing to visit a home, it's another thing to live in it. I think that's the best measurement of the success of a space, and so that was very formative for me.

Jeffrey:

Wow, that's incredible, that's incredible, that is incredible, hey.

Tom:

So I did a little research here and I want to bring this up. I often I don't know if my esteemed colleagues here do the same, but every once in a while I do watch the show Selling Sunset. It's my wife, she has it on. I don't put it on and I kind of peek into it. I kind of have a little interest in it. But I saw recently and I don't know how recent it is, but I saw this that the Oppenheimer group, which is the group that is in the show, that features the show they actually have one of your houses on the market for just a cool $25 million and they describe it as this and I just was blown away by this. They describe the house as the most impressive and high quality contemporary estate ever built in Manhattan Beach. That's pretty high praise.

Anthony:

We're very proud of that home. It was just years and years of investment, from 2018 to 2022. We call it the scalloped concrete house. A client came to us from South Africa and Brazil and they wanted to create a tropical contemporary home. They were actually inspired by a few museums and so this is not for everyone, but they wanted to create this scalloped or undulating pattern on cast in place concrete. Normally, contemporary homes are built with a steel skeleton and then you dress them up with kind of contemporary clothing, but there's something raw and pure about concrete, because it's both the clothing and it's the structure.

Anthony:

It's one thing. So we custom milled these curved pieces of wood so that the concrete, when it dried, received the curved pattern of the wood, and then we elevated these two cedar volumes that have these incredible ocean views. So when you walk into it, you're used to a concrete home feeling kind of cold and industrial, but this home feels literally soft and undulating, and so you know, the the artist in me is just so proud of that home. Uh, this client ended up uh needing to move out of California and they sold it, and so, uh, someone else uh might have the privilege of just picking it up for a cool 25 million.

Jeffrey:

Yeah, like work. That's crazy Like work.

Tom:

That is crazy. Would you say that's one of your like, if you had to share with us the coolest project you've worked on or maybe it's the client who was the most challenging that you ended up with something that they absolutely loved, which turned into the perfect project? Tell us about that project. What project would you highlight?

Anthony:

I have a feeling that the artists here might be able to relate to this. We're a young team. We've been around for 10 years and I am so much more excited about our new work than our old work. I just think we're improving at our craft, and these projects take five years to accomplish, and so what you're seeing on the Oppenheim website is the result of a design from 2018.

Anthony:

I love it. I am so proud of it, but there's also something inside of me that is perhaps even more proud of what we're designing today that isn't going to be realized for another 10 years. For another 10 years. I'll give one example An artist from Boston hired us to do a home right on the water in Hermosa Beach, and she does collage art, and so, rather than like a top-down planning approach, it started with these tactile questions about materiality and what belongs on the beach and how to create something that really had this tectonic feel to it, and so those are my favorite collaborations where the client is bringing something creative and they need us to partner with them to make it real. It's much more spiritual and intense than just a wish list.

Jeffrey:

Do you prefer to build up or out?

Anthony:

Yeah, it depends on the context, jeff. When you're in a suburban context, it's not always the most inspiring, and so in a suburban context we like to direct the view inward, and so that's why we'll do a lot of courtyard houses, where you walk into the estate and the rest of the world disappears. But when you're on the ocean or on a mountain and you're not in suburbia, usually I like to go up and out because you really want to bring the environment in and embrace the context. So our little rule of thumb is when you're in suburbia, you edit the view out, but when you're in a natural, beautiful environment, you really invite it in.

Jeffrey:

That's interesting.

Tom:

And we'll be right back Looking to skyrocket your business's visibility and drive growth. At Merit Creative, we solve your brand and marketing woes With big ideas, decades of experience and innovative solutions. We'll draw in your target audience and keep them hooked. Remember, creativity is key to success. Partner with Merit Creative and unlock your brand's potential. Learn more at meritcreativecom.

Tom:

And now back to the show. So, mickey, I want to put you on the spot here for a minute Because I was going to ask him questions about process, but I think you have to have real life process here. So, mickey, you know this podcast is going to make you millions. One day, you're going to have an extra $25 million to throw into a house. You're going to have an opportunity to buy something on the coast in LA and Anthony is going to be your architect. All right, I want to test this out, anthony, knowing that this guy wants a beautiful home. He's already picked it out. It's going to be we'll say it's in Manhattan Beach and he's going to build. He's going to take an old house and completely renovate it. How would you start the process with Mickey?

Anthony:

Craziest idea he'd ever consider for his own house. What's a room that he's always wondered? Is it possible to have a room dedicated to blank in my house? Or what's part of Mickey's own creative inspiration that might possibly find a way to be expressed in a home? Mickey, every home is going to need a kitchen and a bedroom and a living room and a parking spot. We will get to all of that, but I want to know what the X factor is. What's that thing that's going to make it uniquely for him and his family?

Mickey:

For me. I think earlier in the conversation there was this question from Jeff asking about California and the different styles of homes. I would have to agree with Venice Beach. You know, that style, that contemporary style of home paneling with glass and the 3D kind of appearance of a home, is essentially what I would like In terms of creativity. It's interesting that we're having this conversation. I was on Twitter scrolling one day and I recognized that Airbnb are now starting. They're starting to do these branded homes from popular movies and cartoons Right. So I don't know if anybody well, I know probably Tom is, because we did the Love Hate podcast with Pete Rock but there's an X mansion on eBay I mean, excuse me, on Airbnb, where you can go and they replicated the entire X-Mansion from the X-Men movies and you have a danger room and you have Wolverine's room and you have Professor X's room and you have all of these different things right. And then they also created the house from Up where you can go into that.

Mickey:

I saw that that's cool, where you go into the Airbnb and you're 50 feet in the air and the house is held by a crane right. So to answer Tom's question as well as give something to ponder on, would you be able to create a room that is gravity free and it makes you feel like you're on the moon?

Anthony:

I've never done that before, but I love the challenge. I would. It would have to be a room that's spinning Right, so there'd have to be some sort of dock that you enter some sort of chamber and then an initiation cycle where, uh, you know, whoever's inside of this would ultimately be able to experience a gravity, gravity free, immersive environment. I say we add it to the wish list and keep it on the dream board wow, wow, that quick too.

Mickey:

That's like a freestyle gravity free room.

Tom:

I would have never in a million years thought that's where you were going to go with this.

Jeffrey:

That's dope. I mean, I've seen a lot of movies.

Anthony:

That's so cool. That's so cool.

Tom:

Maybe a better place to shoot the podcast rather than in your living room. I thought maybe something like that, but apparently a gravity-free room.

Mickey:

Gravity-free room?

Tom:

Yeah, I think that would be, good, I'm just going to riff on that, right?

Anthony:

yes, so gravity few room is wild. That would be incredibly unique. Now there's a few people who've experienced gravity free room, but they're usually in space or they're in some sort of hermetically sealed nasa laboratory. The trick would be to make it feel nothing like that, right? So no one's ever experienced gravity-free in nature, right? Because we don't have oxygen in space. So what if it's a garden that's gravity-free? Or what if it feels more like a sauna rather than a NASA doctor's office? Right? So how do we make the vibe of the space really contradict what we're experiencing?

Tom:

That's dope Vicky. What exactly are you doing in this gravity-free room?

Mickey:

You know I feel like it goes back to what Ant was saying right, if you're in a room like this, right, it almost feels like you're in space. And whenever I was a kid I used to watch, right, the astronauts just floating and just kind of relaxing. There's this level of not sitting, there's this level of not walking. It makes you feel like you're flying, it makes you feel like you can now have this space of peace. It's almost yoga-ish, but it's controlled by the atmosphere and the oxygen in the room.

Anthony:

Sensory deprivation is trending up in terms of the sort of requests that we're getting right, so it's just taking that to the next level. Really.

Jeffrey:

That people are putting the sensory deprivation tanks in their houses and kind of doing that type of thing.

Anthony:

That's right. Wellness centers, sensory deprivation. When you walk into the snow if you ever are in nature and there's snow on the ground the snow crystals absorb sound, so it is shockingly quiet able to replicate that strange headspace by creating micro perforations in the paneling of the walls that when you walk into a space unlike the space I'm in now it's just eerily quiet. You can hear your own thoughts in a different way, right? So I really think people are looking for some of these experiences.

Mickey:

Let me ask you this question before Tom jumps in right. So I did a little Googling. So it's really not possible to have a gravity-free room. But let's say that I for some reason why didn't? You chill the dream, Mickey. I mean, I'm just trying to-.

Tom:

I think there's a way.

Mickey:

Of course I think Anthony can find a way. I'm just Googling what I see. But to piggyback off of what Jeff asked right. Well, jeff said right, he said something about Shaq. Imagine if I purchased Shaq's 100 square feet space. Could you theoretically and this is just theoretically put a roller coaster in a home?

Jeffrey:

Or have you done that already?

Tom:

Right, right, have you done that? I mean, didn't Michael Jackson's home have a roller coaster?

Jeffrey:

Outside. His was outside, outside. His was outside.

Tom:

He was outside you want this to come through, so that when you get up in the morning. You're going to take a shower. You get on the roller coaster.

Mickey:

Yes.

Anthony:

Okay.

Tom:

I love it.

Anthony:

I love it. Yeah, it's like the Thunder Mountain roller coaster taking you from room A to room B. I've not done it yet, but these are the things that you know make my job so much fun, right? Because these houses, unlike most houses, have the opportunity to dream in a much more adventurous way than most folks would ever expect.

Jeffrey:

Yeah, and you would have to earthquake that.

Anthony:

Yes to the roller coaster.

Tom:

Earthquake proof in California. Man, that'd be rough.

Anthony:

Mm-hmm. So yeah, a big part of the architect's job is bringing in the specialists. Go ahead.

Jeffrey:

Yeah, I want to ask you a question what is your take on this new I guess it's a new phenomenon of Zillow and Keller Williams? These big companies buying up all these houses and making them rentals are kind of changing the landscape of real estate. Now they're forcing people to use rentals and not be able to buy homes like you could before. It's a tough thing. I don't know if that's in your wheelhouse and it's not cool. I just want to know what you thought about that, being somebody who's involved in the big time real estate business.

Anthony:

Yeah, I have a lot of colleagues who are on the front lines of trying to increase housing density in cities that need it the most, like Los Angeles, and trying to come up with solutions so that if we provide more housing opportunities, I think the theory is that the price per unit can drop. I haven't seen that happen yet and I know that's bothersome to a lot of individuals. But for my boutique studio we are a little bit removed from the front lines of that conversation. We're doing kind of the piece uniques, the one-offs that are less impactful to the urban environment. We still want to be very sensitive to the context that we're operating in. But, jeff, I'm not sure I know what the solution is to more of the global real estate challenges.

Jeffrey:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I just wanted to get your take on that. It's a very interesting process that's happening now, you know, kind of like the suburbanization of America.

Tom:

So let me ask you this?

Anthony:

Yeah, I think that. So let me ask you this.

Tom:

Yeah, I think that, and we ask this to a lot of people- because I'm always curious that people that are kind of at the height of their career and who, in some ways, are being sought out to do these amazing projects in a perfect world world, like who do you want to work with? Like if you could work with anybody right, like I would be really curious to know, like whether and you can name multiple people or maybe it's the type of of project, but who do you want to work with?

Anthony:

all right, all right. Well, if I'm, if I'm dreaming, you guys will dream wild. I'm gonna dream wild um we we've definitely done that project with.

Anthony:

We're wrapping up a project with the lead singer of a pretty well-known band and I love working with creatives, so I'll work with anyone engineers, investment bankers everyone's great but when I'm working with an artist, they want to literally be in the 3D model with me. To literally be in the 3D model with me. They're giving me dozens of pencil sketches and voice recordings and sketch up screenshots. And maybe some architects would say get off my turf. But my team loves that kind of sense of participation. So I'm just going to say I'm going to shoot the moon and say I want to work with a creative like John Mayer or someone who has had such an impact on his theme, and I would just imagine that, whether it's watches or houses, he's going to have some strong creative opinions and it's going to be a dance. It's going to be a dialogue rather than just the sharing of a wish list. If I can throw out one more, there are these beautiful hotels called the.

Anthony:

Amman Hotels it's a very high-end kind of hotel chain and they do the most bespoke contextual hotels. Their hotel in Tokyo looks very different than their hotel in Utah and I just think it would be a dream commission to frankly build one of those resorts. Often our homes function as little hotels, because they're not always primary residences. They're they're the west coast home for a family wow, yeah, I mean, and you know what's I?

Mickey:

I think it goes. I kind of agree with Ant because of Tom's question. Right, tom asks the creative, the artist, right, and I came up with two concepts that you can see on Ant's face. He was like whoa, okay, this sounds great, right, the gravity room. His mind started to go crazy and then I threw out the roller coaster and I wouldn't have it do loops in the house. It would just kind of be like a train, you know what I'm saying. Kind of like Mr Rogers when he had the king. You know what I'm saying. It would be like that.

Tom:

I so badly want you to have you and Mickey work together, because I can't even imagine what this house would look like.

Mickey:

It would be insane. It would be the best house ever, I promise you. It would be insane, it would be the best house ever, I promise you Jeffrey you have any other last?

Tom:

throw-in crazy ideas that you want in your house.

Jeffrey:

No, not a crazy idea, but I wanted to ask, anthony, I see that you use social media a lot, and how has that helped your business? I never really thought about an architect really tapping into Instagram and stuff the way you have you and your firm has and to show your work and your interviews. I mean again, I'm not in that world, so maybe other people are doing it, I don't know, but that caught my eye about you and I wanted to see how that's helped your business. It's obviously working.

Anthony:

We love sharing our work on Instagram and I find a lot of personal inspiration from the work that I see other architects and artists posting on Instagram. It hasn't been the biggest client attractor, just because I'm not sure that my clients are looking for architects on Instagram, but it has been fundamental in attracting talent. So it's been fundamental in having young architects want to work at my studio because we just show what it's like and I think they want to admire the type of work of their employer. So I'm a big fan of that social tool of me sharing with the world. This is what we're thinking, this is what we're seeing, because it's a two-way street, I think it's powerful.

Tom:

Jeffrey, it's funny. You should bring that up because that is something I've been thinking about a lot as we start to work with Anthony, because I think there's a huge opportunity for him to be able to like. I think people want to see that process and if we could ever get to a point where we create some content, that is, it starts with here was the request, here was Mickey asking for the roller coaster, right here was how that kind of matured and then here is what the result was, and I think that would be a really, really powerful tool. Even to the point and I'm kind of half kidding, but half not is we've had Mags Miller on this show and Mags, if you're listening, I think there's an opportunity here because you have such a powerful story right. It's a husband and wife story.

Tom:

You both came out of architecture school. You both started with working on very small features of homes and now have built a reputation to build some of these incredible homes. I think there's a story here of being able to tell how you do it. The process behind it and we've seen shows like this is the formula for HGTV. I really, really believe listen to me right now HGTV that there is an opportunity here, because I think you have such a powerful, amazing and cool story and I have not met a lot of architects and I work with a lot of people in the real estate industry that have done what you have done and it's amazing to me and I think I can't even imagine, once we're able to start telling some of these stories, how incredible these stories are going to be. It's going to blow people away.

Jeffrey:

I agree.

Anthony:

I think architects, myself included, can have tunnel vision too often. Right, we? Just we focus on what's in front of us, we focus on the work, and you know my website. You'll see beautiful work. But you're right, tom, you don't see that story. And I think it would be really powerful to start to show that origin story. What led to, what was the request that led to the process, that led to the heartache, that led to the breakthrough? Right now, that's just missing.

Mickey:

Let me ask you a question. So you know I'm hoping to come across a lot of money in the future, right, you know, in my school I own a school for hip hop. Shout out to Pendulum Inc. Would you be interested in building a school like a school slash, like a like an X mansion, but like a first school right For hip hop, where people can sleep?

Anthony:

and then learn as well. Very interested, and what I often encourage folks to do is start the conversation, even when it feels a little bit premature, because we can do a rendering that makes it look photorealistic even before it's built and that becomes a fundraising tool or a vision casting tool. So it doesn't have to be acquire the property, hire an architect, build it. It can actually be the other way, way, which is dream about it and then see how that opens up new doors that's dope, that's really dope.

Jeffrey:

Actually, you were certain you were a surfer, right? I saw that. Yeah, so what's your favorite? What's your favorite surfing movie?

Anthony:

I got one, but I want to see oh my gosh okay, well, I feel like at the top of the list has to be endless summer. Uh, that's, that's the cult classic. Um, I think, john john florence. He's this world champ, super young, that has true cinematic talent. And so it's just when you have someone with a passion for phil, who happens to be one of the greatest surfers in the world. His content is just mind-blowing. How about you point break?

Jeffrey:

oh, that's, point break, yep easy top 10 easy yep yeah, you still surf, or you don't have time now, I guess.

Anthony:

I do. No, it's uh, our, our studios in Hermosa. My team loves to surf, my kids love to surf it. No, it's our, our studios in Hermosa. My team loves to surf, my kids love to surf it's. It's what keeps me in LA.

Jeffrey:

That's beautiful, that's beautiful.

Tom:

Well, fellas, I mean, we now know who our architect is going to be. When you guys get on naked and afraid and make millions, we'll be at a. We'll be able to build the house, preferably in LA. But but, as I said, you're going to be branching out Anthony to all of the country and then we're going to go after. We're going to go after some fun entertainers, because that those are the people right. We're going to have roller coasters, we're going to have gravity free homes. It's going to be unbelievable. So, thank you, I appreciate it. I loved getting to know even more about you. Um, thanks for jumping on with us. Um, this has been cool. It's been cool.

Anthony:

It's got me thinking about a lot, of, a lot of crazy ideas. Hey, I had a lot of fun. Gentlemen, most of the podcasts I do are a lot more boring than this, so thanks for bringing the fun and the ideas. This, uh, this got me excited.

Tom:

And fellas, I want to say to you I'm going to be out in LA actually tomorrow and I'm going to get to go see some of these great homes, so I will report back to you. I will report back to you because, now that I'll be able to see him with my own eyes, make sure he's for real, but I'm sure I'm excited to see some of this work.

Tom:

All right, thank you, anthony. That All right, thank you, anthony. That's Anthony Laney from Laney, la. All right, folks, that's our show. Tune in to Unglossy Decoding Brand and Culture on Apple Podcasts, spotify or YouTube, and follow us on Instagram at UnglossyPod to join the conversation. Until next time, I'm Tom Frank.

Jeffrey:

I'm Jeffrey Sledge.

Mickey:

Smicky, that was good.

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Jeffrey Sledge

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Mickey Factz

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