The day after his young family’s home burned down in the Palisades Fire, Dustin Bramell got to work.
A lifelong entrepreneur, Bramell’s mission was to find purpose amid the pain of losing his home by rebuilding homes that could future-proof his beloved community.
“We can be sad or we can figure out how to make this into some incredibly positive thing,” Bramell told The Cool Down in an exclusive interview.
Together with close friend and fellow entrepreneur Leo Seigal, Bramell started ”
Case Study: Adapt
,” a nonprofit initiative bringing together top architects across Los Angeles to design homes of the future: “resilient, cost-conscious homes that are as thoughtful as they are beautiful” — what they’re calling “New Century Modern.”
His inspiration came from history. Eighty years ago, in the exact same location where the 2025 fires burned, the mid-century Case Study Program (1945-1966) enlisted visionary architects like Richard Neutra, Charles Eames, and Pierre Koenig to design and build innovative, affordable homes that responded to post-war housing needs.
Many of the 36 homes they designed are still standing today, including the iconic Eames House and Stahl House, and the initiative also influenced thousands of other mid-century modern copycat homes across Los Angeles.
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“The original Case Study program was a response to another big tragedy — people were coming out of this pretty pessimistic time and needed to have an optimistic view of the future,” Bramell explained. “This is very similar — how do we optimistically rebuild?”
Bramell’s new initiative aims to respond to today’s challenges around the changing climate, affordability, and livability through smart architecture.
Ten architectural firms are participating in the program, and each firm has been paired with one or two homeowners in the Palisades or Altadena areas who applied via an open application form. The client works directly with the architect to design and build the home, although there are parameters.
Each home must be designed to be under 3,000 square feet. That’s relatively small for an LA home, which is intentional. The team said they’re looking to “challenge the notion that a home’s value is measured by its size rather than its innovation and livability.”
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“It’s important that we redefine what value is, and that we give people the incentive to think about how they really maximize the square footage that they are building,” Bramell explained. “How do we build a prototypical middle class home that is incredibly well designed with humble materials that can be inspirational for how these homes are built?”
The homes also must have enough landscaped “defensible space” to protect the home from fires. They’re using the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety definition of “fire resistance.” IBHS is a nonprofit funded by the insurance industry that determines best practices for protecting and hardening homes from
wildfires
, floods, and tornadoes.
All architects are required to design within a comparable, cost-conscious range and to follow mid-century ideals while prioritizing indoor-outdoor flow and natural light.
“What we hope comes out of this is ‘New Century Modern’ which is the same principles of modernism that inspired the Mid Century Modern Movement, but updated to reflect the reality of the climate we live in,” Bramell explained, adding that the homes must be fire-proof, climate resilient, and thoughtful in terms of the impact on the Earth.
He’s also hoping the homes will be a model for what’s possible and reinforce the notion that people don’t need to sacrifice anything to have a climate-friendly home.
“We’re trying to make this idea of building climate resilient homes something that people would want to and aspire to live in, because they’re really cool,” he said.
Construction will begin as soon as feasible, but Bramell said they hope to be breaking ground on some of them by next year and completing them within two years. The process will be showcased by
Architectural Digest
.
Bramell said they’re not necessarily trying to create a replicable model but to provide inspiration that homes can be climate resilient but also really beautiful.
“I don’t know that we’ll have all of the right and best answers, but we have to try and push forward,” he said. “Even if we learn 10% of what there is to learn about this space, that will be a win.”
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Entrepreneur launches innovative program after losing home to fire: ‘How do we optimistically rebuild?’
first appeared on
The Cool Down
.
