Swizz Beatz Roller Skating in His House With Family
For more than a decade, Razor House, the stunning cliffside mansion past architectural designer Wallace Due east. Cunningham in La Jolla, California, has alternately been described as a "magnum opus," an "architectural masterpiece," and "America's coolest dwelling house." Just since purchasing the modernist gem in 2019, Grammy Laurels–winning singer Alicia Keys and her husband, renowned music producer Kasseem Dean (a.k.a. Swizz Beatz), accept preferred to telephone call the home where they and their ii sons, Arab republic of egypt and Genesis, now reside "Dreamland." Explaining the proper noun, Keys says the expansive, well-nigh 11,000-square-foot residence, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is rumored to exist the inspiration for Tony Stark's futuristic bachelor pad in the Fe Man movies, is "a place to create dreams and to exist bold enough to dream your wildest dream—for u.s.a. to even exist here is a wildest dream."
It took some time for that dream to become a reality. Dean set a picture of Cunningham's singular creation every bit his phone's screen saver for eight years. During that fourth dimension the multilevel manse, named after the neighboring Razor Indicate Trail, appeared and disappeared from the market, but the producer remained hopeful. "I was low-key manifesting information technology," he states. When the couple's real estate agent, Stephen Sweeney, called with news that the house was over again available, Dean was elated. "When your screen saver comes to life, it's unbelievably crazy," he exclaims. Still, he worried that his wife, born and bred in Manhattan'southward Hell'due south Kitchen neighborhood, would veto a move to the W Coast. It's worth noting that one of Keys'southward biggest and most honey hits to date is "Empire Land of Mind," the 2009 collaboration with Jay-Z that has become the unofficial anthem of the metropolis that never sleeps. "She's Miss New York," Dean, himself a Bronx native, declares. "They might besides make a sculpture of her the [new] Statue of Liberty."
In the garage, three photographs past Kwame Brathwaite share space with (from feft) a Ferrari Enzo, A Ferrari LaFerrari, and a Ferrari SF90.
Frank Frances StudioCoincidentally, Cunningham invokes the word sculpture when asked virtually the famous residence. "Every wall in this house, every bit of information technology, is sculpture," he states. "These beautiful S shapes, these chevrons going downwardly the hillside, curvatures flying in space over your head. Information technology's more akin to sculpture than architecture." And, he makes clear, it "is incredibly important to me. It's dearest to my heart." While it'south the type of spread that elicits awestruck reverence, it wasn't until the couple spent a "date weekend" exploring the manor (at the invite of its previous owner) that Keys began to imagine her life in that location. The singer says that during a morning meditation session she was rendered speechless past the sight of parasailers soaring over a nearby mount: "In that moment, I felt like I was witnessing a beautiful metaphor, and I wanted to not ever forget how countless we are and how the unimaginable can happen. That'southward what did it for me. I was taken."
After snagging the home, the couple set near making information technology their own. Enter interior designer Kelly Behun, whom Dean contacted via Instagram. "I got this DM, and I was like, 'Am I existence Punk'd? Is someone playing a joke on me?' We had never met before," Behun recalls. Unbeknownst to her, Dean was a longtime fan of her work, regularly visiting her Instagram page for inspiration. "There are many designers who know how to put expensive things into your house, but the soul is missing," he says. "Kelly has soul."
A razor-thin edge defines the firm's southern façade.
Frank Frances StudioKeys and Dean on the pool terrace.
Frank Frances StudioShe besides has patience. Behun had to work around pandemic limitations—a majority of the collaboration happened remotely—and the power duo's packed-to-the-minute calendars. I week lone in September saw Keys debut her new single "LALA" at the MTV Video Music Awards, host a birthday revel for her husband, and bask a secret soiree celebrating her new album, KEYS. In that time, Dean, recently named one of Time magazine's 100 virtually influential people of 2021, also presided over the latest installment of Verzuz (the popular rap battle series he co-created with Timbaland in 2020) at Madison Foursquare Garden. As if that weren't enough, the couple fifty-fifty squeezed in a twirl at the Met gala for good measure.
A hectic schedule, however, didn't keep Dean from being a hands-on collaborator during the nine-calendar month-long project, says Behun. "He lives and breathes that firm; he understands every square inch of information technology. Being remote would unremarkably exist an obstruction, [but] he was so in melody with what he knew he wanted, and that's why everything just clicked." Erected in 2007, the cantilevered construction comprises floor-to-ceiling glass, white concrete, yard walkways, manicured courtyards, and floating staircases. Keen on making the dwelling house more family-friendly and less like a place a "superhero would alive in," Behun brought in warmth by introducing forest elements, Moroccan wool rugs, and seating upholstered in soft fabrics like shearling and cotton velvet. The palette leans heavily on colors that harmonize with the views—aureate sands, caramel browns, buttery cognacs. "The interiors don't in whatsoever way shout; they're elementary and timeless," says Behun, later adding, "It was never going to be about trying to upstage the natural surroundings, the compages, or the fine art."
Dean and Keys'southward art drove, amassed over 20 years and totaling more than 1,000 works, is as all-encompassing every bit it is enviable. Years ago, the couple chose to focus on acquiring pieces by African American and African artists, ranging from Kehinde Wiley and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye to Barkley L. Hendricks and Henry Taylor. They likewise possess a treasure trove of Gordon Parks images—the largest in private hands. "It really feels like he's a granddad to us," says Keys of the historic lensman. "To exist able to keep his drove together and for it to live in the home of Black artists is really very emotional for me."
In the master bedroom, a pair of 1940'southward Sven Staaf chairs upholstered in shearling from Hostler Burrows flank an oak and stone mosaic side table with rope accents by Kelly Behun Studio from The Invisible Collection.
Frank Frances StudioAccording to Thelma Golden, managing director and main curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, "Alicia and Kasseem see themselves not just equally collectors of fine art merely as custodians of the civilization." She continues, "Over the years, I've watched their collection develop every bit their vision has widened and expanded to create a collection that actually represents the breadth and depth of the work being fabricated past Black artists." Dean, a member of the board of the Brooklyn Museum, and Keys also collect to be in close community with boyfriend creatives. "I love that 90 per centum of the fine art in the business firm is past artists who are at present our friends," Dean boasts. "We've broken bread with them, they've partied at our business firm, they've spent the nighttime. Information technology's not transactional for us."
Tucked away in the subterranean garage and adjoining lounge (Dean's favorite realm) are a armada of luxury automobiles, a recording studio, and five arresting Deana Lawson photographs. It'due south non uncommon to find the producer here smoking a cigar or tooling around on quad skates to classic '70s R&B. "I don't call it a man cave, because me and my married woman share the infinite every bit," he notes. "We call information technology the grown-upwardly floor."
Frank Frances Studio
Kasseem Dean (in a Saint Laurent shirt and trousers) and Alicia Keys (wearing a Brunello Cucinelli Dress and Bottega Veneta Shoes) poolside. Fashion styling past Jason Bolden.
Cunningham, who has since become friends with the Dean family unit, says that "information technology's nothing similar you would imagine. When you expect at a dwelling house similar this, you remember people are living in it stiffly—they're not. They're running around enjoying themselves. They are not intimidated by this place at all."
On the master flooring, Derrick Adams'due south hypnotic ode to leisure, Floater 74, rests above the custom ebonized-oak table past Kelly Behun Studio in the formal dining room. Vintage Africa chairs past Afra & Tobia Scarpa quietly dazzle, as does Jordan Casteel's vibrant Fallou and a multimedia cartoon past Nigerian American artist Toyin Ojih Odutola. African sculptures—a vintage Baga Nimba ceremonial shoulder mask from the early on 1900s is a treasured standout—too abound. "I watched her terminate that slice in front of me," Dean says, referring to one of a pair of remarkable Odutolas that has pride of place in the library/music room. "She was going to become rid of that slice, and I was like, "Toyin, I don't call back you should. That can be actually special.' " The room too houses Keys'southward first babe grand, a gift from the record characterization that signed her when she was simply sixteen. Her elderberry son plays it at present. "When Egypt is practicing piano, he has a Basquiat behind him and the Toyin in front of him," Keys marvels. "Without even knowing information technology, he gets to absorb this excellence."
Known in the manufacture for their legendary house parties, Keys and Dean are consummate hosts who need no excuse to throw a bash. They're all too eager to swing open the doors to "Dreamland" as soon as information technology's safe to practice so once more. "When you hear a song or something we've produced, the foundation is to brand people feel adept and feel loved. That'south what our art is about," Keys states. And "when you lot come into our home, that'south exactly what nosotros want yous to experience. Nosotros want yous to feel loved, to feel safe, to experience relaxed. We want you to accept a great repast. Nosotros want you to feel inspired."
Source: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/inside-alicia-keys-and-swizz-beatzs-art-filled-modernist-home-overlooking-the-pacific-ocean
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