The architects removed the closet, increasing the size of the bathroom, and replaced most of one wall with a sliding glass door, so that bathing could become an outdoor activity. (The house is on a heavily wooded site, surrounded by oak, cypress, eucalyptus and citrus trees, and the long stairway from the street discourages uninvited guests, allowing the family to maintain its privacy.)  That was enough to convince Mr. Miranda, and in 2003, he asked the architects to remake the rest of the house. Most of the interior walls downstairs were removed to create one open space, decks were added outside the living room and master bedroom, and enormous windows and pivoting and sliding glass doors were installed throughout.  To modernize the stucco exterior, Minarc used concrete panels made of Portland cement and recycled fibers. Tryggvi Thorsteinsson, 45, an Icelandic architect who owns Minarc with his wife, Erla Dogg Ingjaldsdottir, 36, explained that they like to use sustainable materials wherever possible.  “We also had to consider the practicality of heavy things being brought up the hillside,” said Ms. Ingjaldsdottir, noting that the panels were lighter than those made of conventional concrete.  The total cost of the renovation has been about $500,000 ($150,000 went to bringing the old foundation up to code), but the house is still a work in progress: Minarc has drawn up plans for a three-story pool house and studio in the garden out back.  The house is finished enough, though, to accommodate a big party — or even a wedding. And in February, Mr. Miranda and Ms. Bean, who began living together five years ago, were married there.  “Claudio proposed on a Sunday, and we got married a week later,” said Ms. Bean, a former production manager for television commercials who now supervises Mr. Miranda’s business and is working on a memoir. “It was a rainy L.A. day — it was perfect.”  Her maid of honor, the actress Lorraine Toussaint, organized the event: a garden ceremony accompanied by a bagpipe and string quartet, followed by dinner for about 30 at a long Italian-style table in the newly open downstairs living-and-dining space.  A version of this article appears in print on October 22, 2009, on Page D5 of the National edition with the headline: In California, Inside Out. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
The cinematographer Claudio Miranda’s dark, awkward hillside home in Los Angeles was transformed into an open space filled with light.