Then the couple was introduced to Manhattan Beach architect Peter DeMaria, unaware that he too had been interested in containers.
"We didn't mention anything about containers," Anna says, "but we told him we wanted to be as environmentally sound as possible, to do any recycling we could. We wanted our house to be low maintenance. We wanted it to be as creative as possible. And it had to fit our budget."
Early in the architect's pitch a couple of weeks later, the Pirkls figured out that he was suggesting containers. "And we said, 'Fine.'
"I think Peter was a little disappointed that we said yes so fast -- he'd worked hard to create this great, elaborate show, and he didn't even get to finish it."
"Beyond using the containers," says the irrepressible Anna, "we have a number of things we're doing inside the house that are going to be a lot of fun. Like this," she says, pointing to an interior side wall of the 20-foot-high living room where there will be a climbing wall.
"Sven and I are sports fanatics. We're going to put a zip line --a tight steel cable -- down a hallway, so you can reach up, grab the handles, and ride to the next room. We'll probably also put in some swings, some gymnastic rings. Those are the kinds of things we like to do. We figured, why wait 'til you go to the gym or go off on a weekend or a vacation to do that sort of thing?"
"THERE are certain expected activities that take place in a standard house," says architect DeMaria. "But this house is a more interactive experience than any other I've been involved with. The house enables Anna and Sven to do the things that are unique to them: hang on that zip line, climb that wall, ride their mountain bikes up the front ramp and through the wide-open living room, in one side and out the other.
"Stylistically, we had no preconceived view of what the building should look like," DeMaria says. "We knew we wanted it to function for them. We started to arrange things to support what they wanted to do. I'd like to think that the building reflects them, and the way they like to live ... At one point we were going to put a half-pipe in the back yard."
Four of the largest containers sit perpendicular to the street above a concrete garage, two stacked on the right, two on the left. The lower boxes will serve as hallways and open-air porches, the upper one on the left will be the master bath and walk-in closet, the one on the upper right will house a library-guestroom.
