Architecture: Volume 1

DeSign BUreAU

SpeciAl eDition

a r c hi t ec t u r e TH E P EO P L E , P L A C E S, A ND I D E A S DR I VI N G CO N TEMP O R A R Y DE S I G N

Inspiring Dialogue on Design 2012

$40 US/WORLD

ARCHITECTURE — THE PEOPLE, PLACES, AND IDEAS DRIVING CONTEMPORARY DESIGN

Publisher & editor-in-chief

cover image

Chris Force chris@alarmpress.com --

The Caterpillar House in Carmel, CA. Designed by architect Jonathan Feldman of Feldman Architecture, Photography by Joe Fletcher.

MANAGING EDITOR

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Kristin Lamprecht kristin@alarmpress.com

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Associate editors

Ellie Fehd ellie@alarmpress.com

John Dugan john@alarmpress.com

ACCOUNT DIRECTOR

Kathryn Freeman Rathbone katie@alarmpress.com

Tarra Kieckhaefer tarra@alarmpress.com account managers

editorial intern

Delia Cai --

Liz Abshire, Jill Berris, Krystle Blume, Kevin Graham, Arghavan Hakimian, Emily Kirkwood, Jenny Palmer, Emily Schleier, Cole Stevens, Natalie Valliere-Kelley, Mallory Wegner

DESIGN DIRECTOR

Lindsey Eden Turner lindsey@alarmpress.com

-SENIOR Account EXECUTIVE

DESIGNER

Lauren Ayers lauren@alarmpress.com

Liisa Jordan liisa@alarmpress.com Account EXECUTIVEs

-contributors

Elida Arrizza, Aileen Bannon Foto, Kata Bayer from Product K, Trent Bell, Ron Berg, Murrye Bernard, Glenn Bucalo, Michael Calderwood, Javier Callejas, Lauren Carroll, Johnson Chou Inc., Concept Architecture, Claude Cormier + Associés, Crow Corp., Bruce Damonte, Deegan Day Design, Edward Duarte, Macduff Everton, Brad Feinknopf, Elizabeth Felicella, Joe Fletcher, Barker Freeman Design Office, Douglas Frost, John Gollings, Anthony Gomez, John Granen, Emily Hagopian, Audrey Hall, Susanne Hayek, Pimsler Hoss Architects, Chris Hollo, Kelly Holtz, Eric Hudson, Eduard Hueber, Colin Jewall, Douglas Johnson, Chris Jones Photography, Daniel Kaven, Steve Keating, Alyssa Keller, Heidi Kulicke, Bill LaFevor, Eric Laignel, Maggie Lange, Andrew Lee, Nic Lehoux, Glen Leitch, Liquid Design, Meg Mathis, Peter Mauss, Kathy McLaughlin, Cris Molina, Christopher Moraff, John F. Morgan, John Morris Architects, Michael Muroff Architect, Robert K. O’Daniell, Ansel Olson, OXB Studio, Park Slope Design, Michelle Pemberton, Poets House, Renaissance, Inc., Garrett Rowland, Andy Ryan, Matthew Schaller, Frederic Schwartz Architects, David B. Seide, Peter A. Sellar, Matthew Simpson, Chris Smith, Jason Snyder, Toni Soluri, Ole Sondresen Architect, David Sundberg, Lara Swimmer, Martin Tessler, Stacy Thomas, Bart Van Leuven, Peter Vanderwarker, Kurt Vansteelant, Ciera Velarde, David Wallance Architect, Paul Warchol, Taiyo Watanabe, WDS Architecture, Markus Weiss, J. Michael Welton, Richard Williams Architects, and Manuel Zublena

Colleen Batterman, Rachel Clarke, Tristan Hanselman, Ainsleigh Monaghan, Miranda Myers, Gloria Puljic, Christian Romasanta, Allison Weaver

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PUBLISHED BY ALARM PRESS, LLC

ISSN 2154-4441 ALARM Press, LLC. 205 N Michigan Avenue Suite 3200 Chicago, IL 60601 Copyright ©2012 by ALARM Press, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.

DESIGN BUREAU is a trademark of Design Bureau. ALARM® is a registered trademark of ALARM Press, LLC. www.wearedesignbureau.com www.alarmpress.com Printed in South Korea

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big design, small scale

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before / after

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waterfront homes

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notes from the bureau

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public places

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suburbia today

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hospitality Hotspots

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luxe Homes

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B

ig books rule the field of architecture publications.

S,M,L,XL set the standard over fifteen years ago, weighing in at a whopping 1,376 pages. Since then, hundreds of architects have followed suit, producing tomes that cover their projects, theories, and disciplinary curiosities.

The architecture big book certainly has its strengths. It allows practitioners to unpack their ideas thoroughly and unapologetically. Between its covers, many forms of architectural representation, from long form essays to finely-detailed cartoons, examine the complex ideas that drive architecture’s evolution. The big book is not the place where brevity must be upheld; the big book is the place where ideas can be explored in an almost unbounded fashion. It is often an exercise in how to beautifully craft an object so that it is tangibly striking and intellectually persuasive.

It tells the world that the printed page is not a limited resource, and it should not be treated as such. It always looks impressive. But looks can be deceiving.

The architecture big book suffers its fundamental breakdown in its focus. It’s a book that celebrates, above all, ego—the architect as the master creator. It is almost always an ode to one singular firm, and sometimes one singular practitioner. Within its massive page count, it’s rare to find it directly engaging the work put forth by other architects. It may challenge outside ideas, but it typically does so by promoting the first person, singular perspective. In other words, it is a kind of book that celebrates the “I.” It often says a lot, but refuses to listen to the words of others.

Architecture: The People, Places, and Ideas Driving Contemporary Design is a publication knit together by more than 100 authors, not just one. Throughout its 450 pages, architecture projects of varying scales and scopes examine the issues encountered by architects today. It broadly surveys a disparate field of concepts that are propelling architecture forward. It measures innovation, and projects solutions that advance architecture in steps both big and small. It is devoted to inspiring dialogue on design. It is an architecture big book, but it foregoes the all-encompassing “I.” It is meant to spark curiosity and encourage further architectural exploration.

After all, architecture is a field with thousands of practitioners. It is filled with conflict, but fueled by genuine discourse. And it moves forward on the ideas of many.

Kathryn Freeman Rathbone Associate Editor katie@alarmpress.com 9

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Today’s take on minimalism is more approachable than its high design past. It’s still starkly beautiful, but it has lost its character coldness. Using smarter programming, a smaller scale, and ergonomic design touches, minimalism has become more livable.

Here, architects explain their design decisions that update this classic style.

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20th street residence san francisco, ca

firm / nick noyes architecture

DB: Southern California has many minimalist homes, but there are not as many in San Francisco. What made your clients choose this particular style of home?

Nick Noyes: The clients asked for a house that was more integrated with its urban site, took advantage of the panoramic city views to the north, maximized the benefits of the excellent southern exposure, and had a more open and connected arrangement of interior spaces.

A composition of solid and transparent planes and interlocking volumes define a zone of vertical circulation and double-height spaces that connect the four levels of the house. A large skylight lets light filter deep into the interior. Spatial richness and modest, yet warm materials create a welcoming mood and sense of serenity.

Principal Architect / NICK NOYES project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Bruce Damonte

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“The design gives us immediate access to the beautiful light and energy of the city, from across our street and reaching to the Bay and even to the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin headlands. When the fog rolls in, we have a front row seat for what feels like a real drama, and when the sun shines over San Francisco, we feel it beamed into our daily life.”—owners of the 20th Street Residence

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nick noyes architecture

Classic oil paintings in gilded frames stand out among the minimalist design of the 20th street residence

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project credits Cove Construction

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coveconstruction.com Building and remodeling quality custom homes since 1978, Cove Construction has a reputation for expertise in diverse architectural styles.

We are renowned for our exceptional commitment to clear communication throughout the construction process and for our dedication to long-term, collaborative relationships. We have an attentive, comprehensive approach to each project, working closely with respected architects, designers and our mutual clients to create superior homes of distinction.

CA License 965295

Jeff Goldberger, Urban Edition Architecture + Urban Design

Interior remodel of an apartment in the Flatiron District, New York, NY.

ApplePly Visit ApplePly.com 1.800.626.1981 States Industries LLC Eugene, OR

®

Plywood for Your Art States Industries’ApplePly® is used extensively as an architectural detail in wall paneling, casework and furnishings. With its attractive edge, ApplePly is great for use as a primary design element with no edgebanding required.

flatiron apartment new york, nY

FIRM / urban edition principal architect / JEFF GOLDBERGER project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Chris Smith

DB: With the Flatiron Apartment, the homeowners wanted a minimalist home, but they also wanted their Bridge trophy and awards collection to serve as a focal point. How did you accomplish this without sacrificing minimalism’s refined look?

Jeff Goldberger: Minimalism is often characterized by calm abstraction, often peaceful but sometimes static.

My clients are master Bridge players—one a world champion, the other a well-known writer/commentator of the game. They needed to showcase a large collection of trophies and books, so it was an integral part of the design.

Two key design elements shift this apartment from neutral into drive. Somewhat subtly, the angled whitewashed oak flooring adds energy to the space. More obviously, in freeing the bookshelves from a frame, wrapping the corner to give it three dimensions, and minimizing the vertical elements to emphasize horizontal movement, the shelves and their contents enliven and interact with the space, rather than sit on the wall like a photograph.

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URBAN EDITION

DB: Which specific design elements do you think make this project minimalist yet inviting?

JG: We drew out the clients’ personalities by putting their personal items on display. We created warmth by using wood paneling in mindful ways, such as in corridors, which might otherwise feel like lost space. We added tactility by using Apple plywood throughout, and exposing the thin plies on the edges. Lastly, we produced lightness in the large room by floating the custom light fixture like a cloud, making the ceiling appear taller than it is, a contemporary version of crown molding.

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Framed photos, book collections, and other personal effects add warmth to the sleek space

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Urban Edition’s design challenge: provide a design-savvy space to store a seemingly endless book collection. The solution: stylish yet snug bookshelves made from Maple veneered ApplePly®. Covering two walls of the Flatiron Apartment, the shelves surround the doorway to form “a strong, three dimensional vertical wall surface with lots of visual interest,” says Bill Powell, the marketing manager of States Industries, LLC. “The entire project has a contemporary Northern European look based on simple, natural, environmentally friendly materials.” In other words, a perfect space to snuggle up with a good book.

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Project credits States Industries LLC

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mosman HOUSE sydney, australia

DB: Which specific design elements do you think make this project minimalist yet inviting?

Scott Buscall: The materials and color palette provide a sense of warmth yet still allow the internal aesthetic to be clean and free from fuss. The use of timber flooring throughout provides a natural and inviting feel. Using white wall and ceiling surfaces both in[ternally] and externally allows the sunlight to bounce through the spaces, providing warmth.

DB: Today, many minimalist homes try to break down the distinct barrier between inside and outside. How does this house accomplish this dissolution?

SB: The window and door thresholds make the transition between the internal and external seamless. This design element makes the house minimal in how it is used and how it functions, but at the same time contributes to its warmth by drawing one to the outside. I am most proud of the way the external spaces blend and feed into the internal spaces.

firm / design studio group Principal Architect / Scott Buscall project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Kata Bayer from Product K

project credits Builder: Skope Constructions Structural Engineer: Grasso Consulting Engineers Landscape Architect: Paul Scrivener Landscape Architect Hydraulic Engineer: ITM Design

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A muted palette of white and slate gray blend with a lightly hued wood to create the perfect neutral-with-a-pop look inside the Mosman House

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the bell romero houses sydney, australia

DB: The design of the Bell Romero Houses sits within a very traditional suburban neighborhood, yet they don’t stand out too much from the surrounding homes. How did you make these houses minimal while integrating them into the neighborhood’s predominant look?

Stephanie Little: The house responds in a contemporary manner to minimalism by abstracting the traditional housing type predominant in its context. Two compact mirrored dwellings were constructed on the site.

We incorporated pitched planes and skylight shafts of a similar scale to the gabled roofs of the surrounding dwellings. This allows an outcome compliant with strict local council regulations but offers a reinterpretation of traditional architectural styles.

firm / chenchow little architects principal architects /

Tony Chenchow & STEPHANIE LITTLE project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / JOHN GOLLINGS

DB: Which specific design elements do you think make this project minimalist yet inviting?

SL: The combination of spatial depth and user-control over their environment makes this house minimal yet inviting.

The high ceilings and inclusion of a central courtyard adjacent to the living rooms increases the apparent space of each dwelling while retaining a compact building footprint. The design of the dwellings [also] allows the occupants a considerable amount of control over their environment. They can control solar access, ventilation, views, and privacy by adjusting the operable louvers and windows within the horizontal bands of the facades.

The house’s pitched ceiling defines both internal living spaces and external terraces, which along with the luminance provided to the interior by the skylights, blurs the boundary between interior and exterior space.

We’re most proud of this element of the house’s design.

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The contemporary forms of the Bell Romero Houses add a fresh contrast to their traditional neighborhood surroundings

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CHENCHOW LITTLE Architects

Project credits Design and Project Architects: Tony Chenchow, Stephanie Little Assistant: Janice Chenchow Structural Engineer: Ray Clifford, Birzulis Associates Hydraulic Engineer: Isaac Yip, Whipps Wood Consulting Pty Ltd Sherington Project Management

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total project management service Sherington Project Management Pty Ltd (SPM) is a project and construction management company specialising in the commercial, retail, industrial, hospitality, health and education sectors.

Aria Bracket

Illustration courtesy of Peter Gluck and Partners

www.sherington.com.au + 61 2 9326 0855 info@sherington.com.au

Rakks installed shelving full interior elevation.

Rakks shelf bracket clear anodized aluminum

Rakks Bracket

balanced with floating staircase.

Architect Peter Gluck chose Rakks Shelving for the open concept of a renovated townhouse in Manhattan.

Rakks creates shelving systems that are fresh, dramatic, inspired. It’s not surprising that top architects and designers turn to us when they want to express their creativity.

pole supported

In supporting roles everywhere.

Universal Bracket

Rangine Corporation 330 Reservoir Street Needham, MA 02494 800-826-6006 www.rakks.com

loft 405 south los angeles, ca

firm / chinmaya apurva collaborative Principal Architects / Chinmaya Misra & APUrVA PANDE project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / edward duarte

DB: Historically, minimalism has allowed rooms to be more “multi-purpose” due to the style’s lack of ornament. How did you put this aspect to use in Loft 405 South?

Apurva Pande: The clients required a flexible live-work space, so the design concept centered around adaptability. That meant each design move had to utilize minimal intervention to allow for competing uses in the future. Too many permanent partitions or smaller spaces would have achieved the opposite purpose. We used millwork to define separate yet porous boundaries.

DB: Millwork is a very small detail in a room. How did you use it to make the boundaries between spaces clear?

AP: Through integrated millwork and the use of it as a separation device for all spaces, we removed the necessity to define smaller rooms. The entire loft space remains adaptable. It can be reconfigured depending on how they lay out their book collection, media, or miscellaneous household items.

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Adaptability and integrated millwork makes this live-work space functional and unique

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Custom built-ins and shelving allows for storage that is functional, seam34 less, and sleek

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CHinmaya Apurva Collaborative

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150 west residence toronto, canada

FIRM / nk architects principal architects / neal prabhu & nelson kwong project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / PETER A. SELLAR

DB: The 150 West home uses light as a stylistic element. It has amazing window walls that flood its interiors with natural light, yet very little ornamentation decorates the home. Why did you design it in this manner?

Neal Prabhu: Traditionally, the aesthetics of a minimalist approach provides the architectural focus, and with the owners’ busy work schedule[s], the home needed to be a space of tranquility and calm, while also providing space for leisure and social entertaining—a sanctuary, vacation, and home all in one. Pragmatically, the owners and their growing family wanted an open plan with bright day-lit interior spaces, and well-defined outdoor living spaces that were easily accessible and visible from any point inside the home.

DB: Today, most minimalist homes try to break down the distinct barrier between inside and outside spaces. How does this house accomplish this dissolution?

NP: The architecture is defined by glazed, full-height lift and slide walls, which slide away from the inside corner of the L plan, connecting all the primary interior spaces through an outdoor living room. Sliding away the corner of the house, the interior space doubles in area, expanding seamlessly into the side terrace as the boundary between interior and exterior vanishes. The transparency of the lift and slide wall introduces an element of spontaneity and unpredictability to the interiors. Light and shadow patterns change with the time of day and weather, while the seasonal changes in color, texture, and density of the landscape provide a complementary contrast to the restrained material palette.

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The exterior of the L-shaped Canadian residence, designed by NK Architects

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nk architects

The open kitchen inside the 150 West Residence is ideal for hosting and entertaining guests

Project credits Project Team: Nelson Kwong, Neal Prabhu, Karine Quigley, Juan Rosero, Bernard Hau, Keystone Interiors

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MODERN SLEEK CONTEMPORARY CLEAN

Architect: NKA Architects Photography: Peter A.Sellar

LET KEYSTONE MOVE YOU INTO THE FUTURE OF DESIGN 905.850.0474 WWW.KEYSTONEINTERIORS.CA Modernized Minimalism

quinhill home los altos, ca

David Fenster: My clients held a strong desire for something more modern, and simple, but they didn’t want a cold, unadorned box that felt disconnected. They wanted friends and visitors to feel [that] the space is unique but quickly become a part of it. A simple interweaving of smooth stucco and exterior finished plywood gives the exterior of the home a modern feel without being glaring and cold. And a connected palette throughout the interior allows light to reflect and resurface within each of the flowing spaces, punctuated by contrasting elements of stone, wood, and fabric.

DB: Which specific minimalist elements do you think make this home a dramatic space to live in?

firm / modulus

DF: The strong contrast of pure white floors with colorful, grained granites and marbles is both simple and exciting. Additionally, simply lit and daylit spaces create a truly wonderful canvas for light to move across throughout the day and night.

It’s quite a poetic space that just makes you smile when you’re in it—and I think that’s important, especially in a home.

principal architect / david fenster project type / residentiaL PHOTOGRApher / Matthew Simpson

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DB: The Quinhill house borrows materials like green marble from a high modernist, minimal palette. Yet it doesn’t really incorporate glass and steel. Why did you select some materials from the palette and not others?

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the east village townhouse new york, ny

firm / nicole migeon architects principal architect / NICOLE MIGEON project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / John F. morgan

DB: Minimalism has traditionally been associated with efficiency, so it’s a great style for compact urban homes. How did you update this specific characteristic in the East Village Townhouse?

Nicole Migeon: Duality is a concept I always try to bring to my design, so many elements function in several different ways. This project includes spaces that seem simple and minimal, but can be transformed depending on the occasion. The second floor, for example, is primarily a film studio, but it can be easily converted into a guest bedroom. All you have to do is extend the oversized glass doors and let down the custom Murphy bed.

DB: The East Village Townhouse is located in dense Manhattan, but it has amazing views. How does your design maximize the townhouse’s location?

NM: The back side of the building has rows of oversized sliding glass windows and doors that open up, breaking down the barrier between the indoors and outdoors. We wanted to encompass the ideas of the clients’ professions—one is a filmmaker, and the other is a multimedia designer, To do this, we set up views throughout the house, similar to how filmmakers and artists do. As one ascends the stairs, the windows offer different views of the community garden. The window in the shower of the master bath has a view of the Empire State Building. One ultimately ends up on the roof’s Juliet balcony overlooking Manhattan.

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central government offices zamora, spain (the principality of Castilla León)

firm / alberto campo baeza principal architect / ALBERTO CAMPO BAEZA project type / corporate PHOTOGRApher / javier callejas

DB: In public spaces, minimalism has traditionally been used to make buildings that are highly functional but stylistically spartan. But the Junta Castilla León offices really emphasize beautiful minimalism even though they’re government offices. Why did you design them using this style?

Alberto Campo Baeza: The Junta Castilla León project is a building for offices placed in the core of a historical city, in front of the medieval cathedral. So, I tried to be in this building more essential than minimal. I used the biggest stones for the walls.

Qualities and dimensions were studied to express the strength of the stone in the same way as it is in the cathedral. And [I used] the biggest and more delicate glass for the interior box. A glazed and perfectly controlled facade was conceived, with maximum simplicity in its construction system.

DB: Why did the government choose this minimalist style for its offices?

ACB: The client is an official institution. They like clarity. So, I built [the offices] with very few ingredients: sandstone and extra clear glass. It is a stone box open to the sky that holds a crystalline box and protects it and tempers it.

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Extra clear glass and sandstone warm up the minimalist design of the Central Government Offices in Zamora, Spain

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ALBERTO CAMPO BAEZA

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“I am especially proud of the piece in glass. It is made of air. It looks like a miracle.”—Alberto Campo Baeza

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DB: Are there any minimalist elements in the building complex that make you particularly proud?

ACB: I am especially proud of the piece in glass. It is made of only glass, without iron elements but glued with structural silicone. It is made of air. It looks like a miracle.

Project credits Proinller

GLASS ENGINEERING

Using the greenhouse effect to its advantage, the Juan Castilla Leon offices ditched traditional insulation and took a more transparent approach to eco-friendly architecture. The glass exterior contains a translucent film that adjusts to keep the building cool in the summer and warm in the winter. “This film is used to adjust the temperature within the building,” says Eduardo Llerena.

“Therefore the glass is being used as an intelligent form in favor of the energy efficiency.”

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www.proinller.com

north bondi house north bondi, new south wales, australia

FIRM / marsh cashman koolloos architects Principal Architects / Rowena Marsh Mark cashman, & steve koolloos project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Douglas Frost

DB: How does the North Bondi House update design elements found in traditional minimalist architecture?

Steve Koolloos: The clients wanted a clean, minimal renovation to their dated semi-detached dwelling, one that would encompass their love of white yet become a home for their young family. The brief stipulated an “open door” policy—they wanted enough space to enjoy their special family moments and seek privacy when needed. Natural light and ventilation were core requests.

DB: Which specific design elements do you think make this project minimalist yet inviting?

SK: The simplicity of the open kitchen/living /dining arrangement and distinct disability to visually clutter the space is really strong. Everything has a place, and the owners adhere to their belief in a clutter-less lifestyle.

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Marsh Cashman Koolloos Architects

DB: Many contemporary minimalist homes try to break down the distinct barrier between inside and outside spaces. How does this house accomplish this dissolution?

SK: The central void. Floor space has been sacrificed on the first floor to create a double height open core at the center of the house, filtering natural light into the depths of the interior. A lot of clients take some convincing to spend money creating nothing. However, this particular client was on board from day one, and resisted the temptation to grab more floor space, instead reaping the benefit of an abundance of natural light and ventilation at the core of the house.Â

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Some architects make spaces, while others make products to fill those spaces. But all think about scale and how this basic design principle affects their general architecture praxis. These architects prove no matter how big or small the project, it’s driven by smart design.

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Design Under A Microscope A fresh look at their microscopes gives old-school manufacturer Ken-A-Vision a new understanding about the power of design

able, allowing students to carry it around as they explore their surroundings. But the Flexcam 2 design was made specifically for teachers. “Their desks have enough stuff on them without adding another big electronic product,” says Kemnitzer.

“That’s why we designed the counterweight to be the base.

With this solution, we were able to keep the base low profile and allow teachers to stack [papers] on it while reducing the amount of parts.”

Kena was designed to Both redesigns have been a major be scientific but success. In 2010, I.D. awarded the also fun, allowKena scope with a coveted Design ing kids to explore Distinction award at its Annual everyday objects and Design Review, and Ken-A-Vision the world around them Left: Flexcam 2; has seen a massive surge in its Below: Kena digital microscope sales. Even more immicroscope portantly, however, the company has embraced smart design as the force that can propel their products forward. “These two products have been a catalyst for how they approach new projects,” Kemnitzer says. “In the words of the company’s president, ‘I have drunk the design Kool Aid and am hooked.’ ” Project Credits: Guerra Consulting Photos by Ron Berg

M

icroscopes are a science classroom staple, and Ken-A-Vision has been making and selling them to schools all over America for nearly fifty years. The company manufactures scopes from their home base in Kansas City, and until recently, operated with the pragmatic “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. But as technology in the classroom continues to up the school design ante, Ken-A-Vision decided to re-examine their microscope design. They approached Kem Studio, a local industrial design/architecture firm, with the brief and weren’t afraid to explore some off-the-wall design options. “We love it when we’re given a product project and can push back with some innovative directions and everyone is on board for the ride,” says Jonathon Kemnitzer, one of Studio Kem’s co-founders.

Kem Studio developed two new products for Ken-A-Vision’s tried-and-true designs: the Kena digital microscope and the Flexcam 2. “Kena was all about the kids. It was designed to be scientific, but also fun, allowing kids to explore everyday objects and the world around them,” Kemnitzer says. To make the microscope more appealing to students, the firm pared down its shape, swapped out old stage clips for a silicone grip pad that can hold almost any object, and made the scope detach58

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Collaboration was key in creating the Flexcam 2. By combining Kem Studio’s expertise in industrial design and Guerra Consulting’s proficiency in mechanical design and engineering, the two created a dynamic duo in the world of product design. “I’m an engineer and state often that I ‘don’t do color,’ which means I depend on industrial designers like Jonathon for aesthetics and ergonomics,” says Lawrence E. Guerra, founder of Guerra Consulting.

The successful collaboration proves that two designers are better than one.

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www.kinetura.com

GUERRA CONSULTING INC

We are a team of mechanical engineers that work and collaborate with Industrial Design Firms and Corporations. We specialize in developing manufacturing ready solutions for consumer products, medical devices, industrial equipment and robotics.

FLEX CAM 2 - HEAD UNIT CROSS SECTION

creating transformable design

INNOVATION THROUGH ENGINEERING SINCE 1998

where true sustainability finds its natural expression

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designers & architects Xaveer Claerhout & Barbara Van Biervliet

Taking a Cue from Lamps The designers at Kinetura used their architecture know-how to design their new series of lamps. Now, the lessons learned from lamp design are informing the studio’s architecture

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Above: Round o us, there is no distinct line bein shape and tween lighting and architecture. smaller in Designing lamps is like confootprint, the ceiving architecture on a micro Tokyo is more scale.” That’s Xaveer Claerhout’s suitable as an orientational take on his transition into lighting delamp sign. Trained first as an architect, Claerhout and his design partner, Barbara Van Biervliet, run their firm Kinetura as a hybrid architecture/ product practice. The two have created a series of four elegant lamps—named after Shanghai, New York, Tokyo, and Santiago.

Like the always-changing cities themselves, these lamps change their forms and light outputs based upon their users’ needs and desires. It’s a design concept that’s very high-tech and pretty cutting-edge for the lighting industry. “As designers, we are fascinated by the concept of multi-functionality,” Claerhout says. “This search led to the development of our responsive metamorphic lighting concept: lamps that are able 60

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Photos on left by Bart Van Leuven; photos on right by Kurt Vansteelant

“A fascination with multi-functionality led to the development of our responsive metamorphic lighting concept: lamps that are able to flexibly transform, depending on the needs of the moment.”—Xaveer Claerhout Left: The New York’s side panels gracefully expand and contract, making it an ideal statement piece for small rooms

Left: The Shanghai’s large size and dramatic form make it perfect for large spaces like lobbies. Its transformation from a slender cylinder into a rounded lantern shape really catches the eye.

to flexibly transform, depending on the needs of the moment.”

As such transformative lighting fixtures did not already exist, the studio made the first prototypes in their shop. And in the true spirit of multi-functionality, the lessons learned from making the lamps have informed Kinetura’s architecture designs, too.

“From architecture, we went to the scale of product design. There we found a powerful and new solution that we then brought back to the scale of architecture,” Claerhout says. “Based on the same metamorphic process, the New York lamp became the Kinetower,” Claerhout says, referencing one of the firm’s high-rise designs. “There is almost no difference any longer between interactive product design and interactive architecture.”

Above: The Santiago lamp fits seamlessly into a wall or ceiling. When a low level of light is needed, only a thin strip of light is visible.

As a next step, the lamp “bends” inwards and a significant amount of light illuminates the wall or ceiling, an effect heightened by the colored interior of the lamp.

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Photo by Brian DuBois

Furniture that Balances Brawn & Beauty A new line of cork furniture can weather heavy use without looking worse for wear

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n architect by trade, Brian DuBois recently shifted his focus from designing homes to designing the furniture that goes in them. He knew he wanted to make a line that would be beautiful, but it had to be extremely durable, too. He experimented with hardwoods and aluminum, but ultimately decided to use cork. “I had these [cork] scraps sitting around for ten years,” DuBois says. “One day, I decided, ‘I am going to use this.’ Cork will take a beating.”

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furniture problem. “In higher end furniture, the user tends to not want to use the furniture because they don’t want to scratch it,” DuBois says. The pieces in his Cork One line, the product of his experimentations, combine work-a-day cork with high-end mahogany to create furniture that is both functional and modern in style. DuBois crafts the Cork One line himself in his studio to ensure that each piece correctly balances strength with beauty. So put away your coasters and take a seat. DuBois’ pieces can take the everyday beating, and they’ll always look good doing it.—Alyssa Keller Project Credits: Chris Jones Photography

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Specializing in retail, hospitality and commercial furniture, displays and environments

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Photo by Kelly Holtz

Self-Serve Soft Serve That’s All About Fun A new take on the cafeteria line makes do-it-yourself yogurt a social experience

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Yoforia’s design is he do-it-yourself craze has hit the food industry, perfect combo to sate their meant to be social, aland yogurt shops are riding the wave. Yoforia, a sweet tooth. lowing the customers to serve-yourself yogurt chain with more than 25 mingle in the circular shops worldwide, recognizes that going for frozen To make Yoforia look as fun as layout while controlling their own fro yo yogurt is an inherently social experience, so the it feels, Chun added color all experience. shop layouts emphasize fun by ditching the traditional caf- around the store. “Yogurt is ultimately the foundation of eteria line assembly. everyone’s creation, which we showed by using different colDavid Chun, principal of Los Angeles-based Chun Studio, is ored lights,” he says of the machine’s illuminated green, blue, the architect behind the yogurt chain’s smart design. Chun and orange walls that celebrate flavors like green tea and rose. savors the creativity of the self-serve model, which gives There are also green lighting elements at the toppings station customers an important element: control. “It’s an interactive that highlight key add-ins like fresh fruit, candies, and chocoexperience,” he says. “There are infinite possibilities where late. “The different shades of green help accentuate the differpeople create their own [dessert], so everyone can make some- ent flavors,” Chun says. thing different.”

With a layout and design as refreshing as frozen yogurt itself, Chun arranged the yogurt machines in a circular layout that Yoforia is offering a new take on ice cream socials, one swirl at fosters more movement and social activity. Patrons can a time.—Meg Mathis circle around the soft serve machines and topping stations together, hopping from station to station as they create the Project Credits: Polygal

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Northern Brewer’s Homebase The Minneapolis storefront makes shopping for homebrewing supplies a snap

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alk into Northern Brewer’s Minneaoplis shop, and there’s no mistaking that this is a space devoted completely to homemade beer. Studio M Architects, headed by Adam Meyer and Brian Sibley, designed the 5,000 square-foot space as a place where brewers of all levels can shop for supplies and become part of a homebrew community. There are endless rows packed with supplies, a classroom for honing homebrewing techniques, and even a lab where Northern Brewer’s team concocts recipes for their home brew beer kits.

But before they could tackle the interior program, Meyer and Sibley had to tackle Northern Brewer’s less-than-desirable entrance. “The parking lot is located in the back [loading dock] and the store is located on a street that does not have much pedestrian traffic,” Meyer says of the store’s logistics.

To generate more foot traffic, Studio M created a new front door on the pedestrian streetline, swapping out the facade’s crumbling plywood and stone for simple brick and warm cedar. They then upped the loading dock’s curb appeal by wrapping it in the same cedar cladding. “The brick and cedar tie the store to Northern Brewer’s roots,” Meyer says. “It’s a warm palatte that both the store’s owners and customers are comfortable with.” In other words, Northern Brewer is wellconceived but not too fancy, just like a perfect home brew.

Before settling on the facade’s entire redesign, Studio M examined a few solutions offered up

by Jerry Walsh, project manager for Diversified Construction. The architects drew up the design, and Walsh helped them achieve it by minimizing cost. “My goals in making recommendations is to find ways to offer cost savings without changing the appearance of the architects’ design,” he says. Not all architects are open to his solutions, but Walsh says this isn’t the case when working with Studio M. “I enjoy working with an architect who welcomes the ‘what if’ conversation. That way, we are free to offer possible solutions without offending the designer.”

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Minimal Complexity Vlad Tenu / TEX-FAB 2011

Woozy Blossom

Matther Geller / Metalab 2010

• Retail • Industrial • Office Finish • Remodeling Lyle Lovett Roundpen Metalab 2008

Sandill Residence Staircase MA Architects 2011

• Medical/Dental • New Construction • Financial Institutions • Small Projects and Service • Restaurants and Hospitality

New Harmony Grotto Metalab 2009

Christiansen Loft Wall Desai/Chia Architects 2006 *Paul Warchol Photography

Smilebooth Print

Smilebooth / Metalab 2009

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• Warehouse District Renovation

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Office Glam

Left: The office’s curved brush wall is Leitch’s favorite detail. “It’s made of over 8,000 makeup brushes set into an acrylic wall,” he says. “We heated the acrylic and then punched it with twoinch holes to get the right shape.” The red-handled brushes “look like they’re floating and swiveling.” It’s a very textural effect that amps up the room divider’s spatial presence.

Glamour goes corporate at Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door Spa

To take the makeup brush wall from design dream to built reality, Leitch enlisted the help of custom fixtures expert Frank Young, president of FL Young. It is definitely one of Young’s most unique designs, and it falls right in line with the headquarters’ overall look. “The offices break the standard cubicle paradigm.

Every corner is a new and unexpected detail, material, or fixture,” he says. “I wish I could work in that environment.”

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lizabeth Arden is known for their spas, but in their Connecticut offices—that’s where they design,” says architect Glenn Leitch. To give the 50,000 square-foot office park HQ a look worthy of its glamour-puss personality, Leitch packed the space with glossy colors and sleek supergraphics. He even used the makeup line’s packaging—bottles, bulbs, and brushes—to turn mundane structural necessities into details that pop.

project / elizabeth arden headquarters firm / highland associates principal architect / glenn leitch

Leitch worked directly with the company’s creative director to pick out the images blown up into office wallpaper. “It’s like a bus wrap,” Leitch says of the supergraphics’ vinyl material. “It’s virtually indestructible and can do just about anything.”

Right: Leitch placed the glass offices and conference rooms in the office’s core and then arranged the cubicles around the perimeter. The arrangement “makes everything more open, communicative, and user-friendly,” he says.

Project Credits: EvensonBest F.L. Young LLC Heptagon Creations

location / stamford, ct

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“They have the projects, we have the ideas, tools, and materials. It’s a perfect recipe for incredible experiences and results.”

That’s Andre Joyau’s take on his working partnership with Leitch. Joyau, owner of Heptagon Creations, builds custom furniture pieces, and his style is always changing. Materials he’s favoring now?

Reclaimed lumber, salvaged steel, and concrete. “There’s a warmth and attraction in these very solid and genuine materials,” he says.

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Photos by Glen Leitch

Over 150 perfume bottles illuminated with tiny LEDs compose the reception desk’s elegant chandelier

A Photobooth That’s Sure to Make You Smile The Smilebooth’s portable design takes party pics to a whole new level

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milebooth grew from a very simple idea: take a clunky photobooth and make it portable. “It started as a group of photographers rethinking the role of event photography,” says Andrew Vrana, one of the architects behind the booth’s design. “They wanted to make it portable so that people could take their own candid photobooth images out in the open at parties.”

The photographers approached Vrana and his partner Joe Meppelink, principals of architecture firm Metalab, to take Smilebooth from idea to reality. They wanted the new booth to be not only portable, but also easily reproducible. They chose Metalab because Vrana and Meppelink have vast experience in parametric design. “We’re known for small and mid-scale digital fabrication and parametrics expertise,” A portable photo booth, Smilebooth combines smiles and lightweight metals in style. “The metal used in the Smilebooth project is primarily aluminum with a few other components from regular carbon or stainless steel,” Keith Jennings, President of Crow Corp, says. “The largely aluminum casing ensures a much more lightweight and portable product.”

Meppelink says. “Designing Smilebooth this way breaks it down into a set of digital files and gives it the ability to be deployable. Essentially, any fabricator can reproduce it.”

True to Metalab’s claim, Smilebooth’s design is relatively simple. A compact aluminum tower houses a digital SLR camera, CPU, strobe light, touch-screen LCD monitor, and dye-sub printer. Smilebooth users simply step up to the unit, pick up the attached camera clicker, and start snapping away.

Shots can be reviewed on the screen for three seconds, and in true photobooth fashion, cannot be deleted. Captured candids can then be printed on the spot or reviewed later in Smilebooth’s online photo archive.

But Smilebooth still weighs 200 pounds, so it’s not perfect.

Vrana and Meppelink are working on that, too. “We’re developing a more portable model, called Linus, that’s a camera, monitor, and flash unit all attached to a pole,” Vrana says. And the printer? “It’s designed as a sidecar. We call it R-Too,” he adds with a laugh. The more compact Linus design will make it even easier to rent a booth for any kind of party. And that’s the whole point: the Smilebooth experience is meant to create hilarious photos that serve as fun mementos of any fun time. After all, smart phone cameras snap great candids, but there’s something about photobooth photo strips that’s so darn appealing.

Project Credits: Crow Corp.

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A Running Store in Top Shape Sleek design gives Asics’ New York store its fine form

Verdego searched for quite awhile to find the right merchandising fixtures that would keep the Asics store looking sleek. They ultimately chose Octanorm, a company known for its merchandising systems that can be assembled in infinite layouts without looking too obtrusive. “The Octanorm systems offer a multitude of design options limited only by your imagination,” says Norm Friedrich, the company’s president.

“Verdego took advantage of a design program that created the look they wanted to exploit coupled with the modularity aspects of a component based system,” Friedrich says of the Asics’ display. This combination creates a system that maximizes the storefront’s limited merchandising space without cluttering the overall aesthetic with metal shelves, hangers, and the usual retail store display trappings. And Friedrich’s favorite part? “The back wall of the store is a magnet for anyone walking through the doors,” he says.

“It draws attention to the individual Asics brands on display and is highlighted above with back lit graphics. The fixtures are minimal in design, allowing the product to be the star of the show.”

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n any given day, hundreds of joggers pass through New York’s Bryant Park, and on their way to and from the trails, they run right past Asics’ new flagship store. “Asics wanted a sleek, bold design for the intimate 1,100 square-foot space,” Tatiana Barhar, principal architect of Verdego Design, says. “Our response was a clean, sharp, and minimalist design that spoke to the company’s brand and aesthetic.”

To draw customers in from busy Bryant Park, Verdego built multiple window displays that show off Asics’ latest gear. The windows are so large that even the store’s Asics-blue interior wall is visible to passersby. “Lots of open space and transparent glass walls give the small store a porous quality with high visibility to the street,” Barhar says. Inside, the wall marks off the special Foot ID room, a space where a 3D scanning machine linked to a treadmill analyzes each customer’s foot shape, stride, and gait to ensure a perfect shoe fit.

Minimal aluminum shelving systems intermixed with blue and white display pieces show off Asics wares without seeming too obtrusive. The open space “moves in rhythm to the contours of the human body,” Barhar says, making the experience of shopping for gear seem as natural as running itself.

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Project Credits Project Architect: Callison Architects General Contractor: Michilli Inc. Owner’s Representative: Akoura Consulting Fixture Fabricator: Nest Environments AV Consultant: Mccann Systems Inc. MEP Engineering: Fiskaa Engineering Custom Wallpaper: Astek Wallcovering Lighting Design: Ilucida Foot ID Room: Otabo Inc. National Commercial Builders

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THE POWER OF ATTRACTION

The OCTANORM® Magnetic System

Visual merchandising with fixturing accents Universal magnetic slat wall fixture for mounting a variety of faceouts, shelves and literature holders Tension fabric graphics utilizing silicon edge graphic (SEG) technique

Big Design / Small Scale

Single and double-sided use Ideal for free-standing displays or “shop in shop” solutions Quick and easy change of fabric graphics

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Sturdy aluminum framework and steel plates allow variable fixture locations Merchandise can be changed quickly and easily

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Redesigning these homes required two things: good bones and a clear design vision of what could be. These striking renovations put a new spin on the mantra “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” each proving that it’s not always necessary to start over to create a great design.

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gramercy town house new york, ny

firm / fractal construction Principal Architect / ulises liceaga project type / residential PHOTOGRAphers / Eric Laignel & PAUL WARCHOL

When Liceaga’s Gramercy Townhouse was first built in 1848, New York City had no running water, gas, or electricity. Patchy renovations done over the years left the house with cheap piping and a sagging support system. But its biggest problem was its layout, a “maze of little rooms” that choked up the home’s potential. “The idea was to make the house look a lot bigger than what it was,” Liceaga says of his primary design objective. He accomplished this by opening up the plan into a long great room, a penthouse master bedroom, and a double-height living area, spaces that add a sense of depth to the home.—MAGGIE LANGE

To maintain the home’s elegantly simple look, Liceaga created an enormous “wall of glass” and peppered it with small LED diodes that provide a little privacy as well as a bit of glimmer. At night, they look like a “private constellation.”

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“The previous owners had sort of psychedelic 1960s furniture,” Liceaga says. He refurbished some, including the centerpiece couch and the Le Corbusier dining room chairs.

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B E FOR E The sliding doors open the terrace into the living space and allow for a breeze. “My wife loves gardening, so she spends quite a bit of time outside making it pretty,”he says.

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villa wasserfall windhoek, namibia

firm / wasserfall munting architects Principal Architects / jaco wasserfall & paul munting project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Markus Weiss

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Jaco Wasserfall has a 40-year love affair with his home. He fell in love with the villa, which overlooks the Namibian capital city of Windhoek, as a small boy, when he rode past it on his bike ride to school every day. “I always admired the house and wondered why nobody bothered to look after it,” he says.

When Wasserfall acquired the house in 1993, it was subdivided into three separate units.

The architect first modernized the inside, then he excavated space for a new basement below. With the floor plan’s flow addressed, Wasserfall started restoring the home’s greatest detail: its highly-stylized exterior. The cheery blue paint and bright white ornmaentation give the home infinite curb appeal and best illustrate the home’s long local history. “I wanted to acknowledge a rich layer of history and time that a house like this holds,” Wasserfall says. “Not just the colonial occupancy, but many people and changes made of many years.”—maggie lange

The house originally couldn’t take the Namibian heat. “This is obviously a European city typology bungalow sitting here, but our climate is completely different.” Wasserfall added a patio and a pool so that his family can go outside and cool down.

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AFTE R Wasserfall rearranged the somewhat claustrophobic plan of the house, opening it up with external living areas that link to the garden

“I wanted to acknowledge a rich layer of history and time that a house like this holds. Not just the colonial occupancy, but many people and changes made of many years.”—Jaco Wasserfall

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wasserfall munting Architects

“Our sun is fierce, and the afternoon sun is unbelievably fierce. The Germans wanted the view, and here it’s towards the West, just about the worst orientation towards the sun.

These windows are sun control, ” Wasserfall says.

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The minimalist, all-white interior of the house forms a neutral backdrop for an eclectic blend of old and new decor

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mediterranean garden los angeles, ca

firm / park slope design Principal Architect / joan grabel project type / residential Images / provided by park slope design

Landscape architect Joan Grabel has a painter’s background, so she likes to inject shocks of color into otherwise ho-hum suburban yards. It’s a type of controlled chaos, as Grabel explains it. “This is not a minimalist drawing, this is more of a composition. I try to draw a repetitive, lyrical rhythm and movement, with color and texture to pull you in,” she says of her typical garden landscapes. For her Mediterranean Garden project in sunny Los Angeles, she put her skills to work, creating an enclosed oasis that makes you feel like you’re miles away from the SoCal smog and heat.­—maggie lange

Built-in water fountains and features add a bit of charm to many of Grabel’s gardens. The fountains not only look good, but they also sound soothing. “Fountain sound is important,” says David Mills, owner of water feature company Garden Temple. “Even when a fountain is out of sight, it can be heard in the background of conversations.”

Mills works with Grabel to choose features that provide the appropriate level of calming water gurgle. It’s a small detail, but one that makes a big difference in each garden space.

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Project Credits Garden Temple

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AFTER “This is a one of kind fountain, all real stone.

The water element is very soothing in a yard.”

Even though Los Angeles lacks rain, Grabel doesn’t rely on desert plants in her designs. “It’s dry, and a lot of what I do is on the low water side. But you can have low water and not have a cactus garden,” she says. Reddish kangaroo paws and light-green rosemary add contrast and thrive in constant sun.

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wayne avenue los feliz, ca

firm / design vidal Principal Architects / karen vidal & guy vidal project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Susanne Hayek

The Wayne Avenue home has always attracted the press. In a June 11, 1961 piece titled “House Divided,” the architecture critic for The Los Angeles Times praised the home for its striking good looks and its ability to gracefully divide the space between the sophisticated adults and the playful children.

Project Credits Samson Roofing

Nearly half a century later, family lifestyles definitely have shifted, and the home’s good looks weren’t looking so good. The house changed hands, and the new owners hired Karen and Guy Vidal to tackle the much-needed renovation. “When we first approached it, it was very neglected,” says Karen Vidal. “But the new owners really had a vision for the house to restore it and update it, so everything we were looking was a nice blend of vintage elements, reproduction elements, and period pieces.”

The Vidal team restored the house’s modern rotting post-and-beam structural system. They tore up the original floor tiles and carpeting and put down beautiful red oak wood and matching cork flooring. They also spruced up the dingy bathrooms. And while most changes were cosmetic, some changes were done out of pure functional necessity. “The L.A. Times article really touts the modernity of the kitchen. It hadn’t been changed, but it really shows you how times have changed,” Karen says. An island strangely divided the kitchen, and hanging cabinets shrouded the space, making it feel claustrophobic and dark. The designers removed the island, which left room for an elegant bar and opened up the room with a clean, glossy finishes.

Overall, the house still looks like its former self, but its new look definitely keeps pace with 2012 style, making the home newsworthy once again.— maggie lange

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TRIBECA GALLERY

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new york, ny

firm / andrew wilkinson architect Principal Architect / andrew wilkinson project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Garrett Rowland

“It was horrible, and it smelled as bad as it looked.” That’s how Andrew Wilkinson sums up his first visit to his Tribeca gallery renovation. Backed up plumbing, rats, and water damage seeping into a rotted floor gave off a stench rivaling that of the Bronx dump. On his initial walk-through of the space, none of the lights worked, so Wilkinson poked through dangling ceiling tiles with a stick and shined a flashlight around. What he saw at first glance was mechanical equipment installed over a drop ceiling, but above the ducts he noticed a gem: a stamped tin ceiling, hinting at the building’s great potential. “[The ceiling] was six or maybe even seven feet above. So not only was it a great ceiling, but it was a high ceiling,” Wilkinson says. “I went to the owner and I said, ‘There’s gold up there.’”

The gallery owner agreed. And even though the building was a hot mess, Wilkinson quickly cleared the debris and built up fresh white walls. He even fixed the high tin ceiling. No trace of the former architectural heap exists, making the gallery worthy of its cool Tribeca locale.—maggie lange

The Tribeca Gallery’s canvas, composed of tin stamped ceilings and concrete floors, allows the art to pop off its walls – without being glossed over by the gallery’s interior design. “A beautiful floor ties a space together,” Waylon DeCanio of Extreme Concrete Design says. “In the gallery, the floor needs to enhance the space but at the same time not detract from the main focus, which is the art on the walls.” The concrete floors create the perfect blend of an understated yet elegant accent.

Project Credits Extreme Concrete Design

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“The wood floor was really a mess,” Wilkinson says. “We decided that because this was street level, we needed a natural concrete floor to prevent rats or critters. It was the only solution.”

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kinsale cottage kinsale, va

firm / barker freeman design Principal Architects / alexandra barker & reid freeman project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Barker Freeman Design Office

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This petite lake house boasts tall tales. Originally, the small home built from old driftwood and Cyprus siding operated as the Kinsale, VA Barbershop.

But when Alexandra Barker and Reid Freeman purchased the home, they decided to move it to a different location. “In strange happenstance, we were driving around the town and saw this building for sale, not the lot. This is not typical,” Barker says.

After purchasing just the small cottage, they pulled it 2.8 miles down the road, to a peninsula jutting into the Yeocomico River. “Recycling the building itself and finding ways of adapting it was a way to practice what we preach as architects,” says Freeman. To transform the shop back into a home, the architects kept the original layout of the barbershop—two large rooms divided by a chimney, one for waiting and one for styling—and added a kitchen, a bathroom, and plenty of windows to enjoy the riverfront views.—maggie lange

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AFTE R B E FOR E The home’s new wood hails from Virginia’s past, too. “All these locally-sourced materials from 100 years ago still have a good lifespan,” says Freeman. “They are well suited for the environment, and with some upgrading, they’ll last another 100 years.”

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Dance studio 111

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phoenix, az

firm / WDS ARCHITECTURE Principal ArchitectS / MIKE MARDEN AND KRISTIN THOMA MAHAN project type / commercial images / provided by WDS architecture

Motorcycles moved out, and ballerinas moved in. At least that’s what happened in the space that now houses Dance Studio 111.

To refit the former Kawasaki dealership to its more graceful occupants, architects Mike Marden and Kristin Thoma Mahan divided the open floorplate into four studio spaces, a large lobby, student rec room, and administrative offices. They kept Kawasaki’s original black and white color scheme, but they added pops of bright color to make the studio feel like an art space. “Adding to the existing black & white with new little accents of color throughout makes a bold but not overwhelming statement,” Thoma Mahan says. “The overall feel just gives off this hip and trendy vibe that really attracts the various forms of dance.” But look closely, and you’ll still see Kawasaki ‘s original sign tucked into a corner, a detail left to honor the building’s former self.

“The motorcycle showroom had an exposed structure where its mechanical ductwork and electrical systems wound through a system of open-web trusses… which was perfect for a dance studio,” Marden says.

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WDS ARCHITECTURE A Western Design Studio Company

“You don’t have to spend a lot for Quality Drawings!”

WDS Architecture provides design for all ranges of clients. WDS strives to understand the vision of the client to produce a successful and affordable product. Headquartered in Arizona, WDS is also qualified to provide services in other states.

Mike Marden, Principal 1101 West Kaler Drive Phoenix, AZ 85021-8032 (602) 319-5282 Office (480) 772-4635 Fax mike@wdsarchitecture.com kristin@wdsarchitecture.com FACEBOOK.COM/WDSARCHITECTURE TWITTER.COM/WDSARCHITECTURE YOUTUBE.COM/WDSARCHITECTURE LINKEDIN.COM/IN/MIKEMARDEN

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mid-c stack san mateo, ca

firm / tekton architecture Principal Architect / james walbridge project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Douglas Johnson

When James Wallbridge first visited the mid-century home, he found it quite altered from its original design. Built by Frank Lloyd Wright pupil Mogie Mogensen, the home’s modern aesthetic had been hacked, the open spaces had been boarded up, and a poorly-planned addition had been tacked on out back.

The problems were so many that Wallbridge decided to concentrate on two key goals: to restore the home to its previous modern glory, and to make it a livable, enjoyable space for the new homeowners, a close-knit family of five. “In order to give them the end result they were looking for while respecting the house, we were going to have to be very surgical and delicate in how we approached it,” Walbridge says.

B E F O RE

He started by bulldozing the awful addition. Then, Wallbridge added a second floor space, with a master bedroom, bath, and deck that provides a little privacy for the parents of three. Back on the first floor, he carved out a central living space that enables the family to spend time together, and built out a grand, open kitchen that complies with modern building codes. And Walbridge managed to do this all while the family lived on site. “When we started construction, they erected a yurt in the yard and lived between the remaining kitchen and bathroom for over a year,” he says.

The finished home functions like a perfect contemporary home but still looks like its polished modern self. Mogensen, a supporter of both form and function, would be proud.

—maggie lange

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AF TER “We saved all of the concrete, really everything we could to reuse again for landscaping in the back,” Walbridge says of the demolition wreckage.

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TEKTON Architecture

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In the kitchen, the family got creative with their bespoke backsplash. “The family suggested something leather, so together they created a Mondrian-esque pattern, purchased an entire cowhide, and made tiles that are protected with a glass shielding.�

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DAVID BORENSTEIN has earned a reputation for his approach architect-led design-build

to design that decreases the impact on its surrounding environment. Integrity Ultrex速 Fiberglass windows and doors is proud to partner with David to help bring his visions to life.

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AFTE R

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milan town hall milan, ny

AFTER firm / david borenstein architect Principal Architect / david borenstein project type / commercial PHOTOGRApher / Kathy McLaughlin

Milan, New York is a low-fuss town, and their former town hall reflects this attitude. Built in 1933 as a simple, one-story town hall and converted in 1964 into the town carport, the building eventually fell into abandon. Borenstein lived next door to the eyesore, but knew that the building had potential, and so he bought it in 2004 to trasform it into his office space. “This reuse was a way to keep the original building intact and superimpose a new energy efficient building on top,” Borenstein says.

B E F O RE

When Borenstein received the keys to the old town hall, what he found was a completely bare-bones structure. “It basically had dirt floors and a bunch of standardized compartments,” he says. So the architect gutted the building, and added an ample office space, welding room, and a library. He also expanded up, building on an attic apartment that can be rented by any Milan resident. And after many years of suffering a bad reputation, the building is no longer the town’s talked-about dump. “The community is very happy because it salvaged a bit of Milan’s history.”—maggie lange

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AFTE R Borenstein kept decades of plasterwork and paint, opting to sand it down and seal it rather than remove it completely. “If you look closely on the walls, there are old patterns of the building paint that have a beautiful texture of color,” he says. “They tell you where the town hall stopped and the town garage started. It’s literally a story on walls.”

Project Credits A.W. Hastings & Co.

The details that appear to be rugs are actually trompe l’oeil paintings, painted directly on the concrete by Borenstein himself

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NELSON HOME malvern, australia

firm / neil architecture Principal Architect / david neil & Cameron Neil project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Hilary Bradford

The Nelson home already boasted gorgeous curb appeal, but a poorly planned addition from the 80s in the rear blemished the small dwelling. While the family of five needed more space, the block of land was small and Malvern’s historic Heritage Planning laws restricted expansion of the home. “Although the dwelling looks expansive in many ways, the spaces are compact given their context. They needed to be re-used and re-configured rather than added on to,” says Lisa Breeze, who worked with the Neils on the project.

To suit the large family, the architects reworked the first floor to provide four bedrooms, a playroom, and two bathrooms. “The front rooms are mostly retained in their original state. The bones were good; it just needed some love,” says Breeze. The cooking and eating areas did feel a bit too cramped, so the architecture team built on a new kitchen, pantry, dining, and living rooms. “The old part of the house is now connected to the new with a wide opening,” Breeze says. “It creates a vista from the front door into the rear yard space,” she adds, giving the house a lovely view of its newer self.—maggie lange

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“The new addition is similar in scale, but the large windows, expansive views to the garden, and white color scheme allows the light to be its own and creates an uplifting and cheerful space,” Breeze says.

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NEIL ARCHITECTURE “The older formal part of the house, with is smaller windows and closedin space has a homey, cozy feel, and a color scheme of off-whites and dark grays to suit,” Breeze says. The existing timber floors were retained, but stripped, re-stained, and polished to a warm dark grey.

Project Credits Project Team: David Neil, Tanti Azman, and Lisa Breeze Builder: Big Fish Structplan Eco Timbers

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CALISTOGA RESIDENCE napa, ca

firm / strening architects Principal Architect / daniel j. strening project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Emily Hagopian

At the Calistoga home, a spectacular picture window frames a postcard-worthy Napa Valley view. But before Daniel Strening and his team renovated the property, the view didn’t exist—at least not inside the home. “The original property was a series of stucco boxes that turned their backs on the view,” Strening says, “There was one narrow window that looked out. The house was almost like a fortress.” It’s a mystery as to why the home dumbly neglected its mountainous vistas, but Strening suspects that the original architect never visited the site. “It worked out in our favor,” he says, adding that no matter what his design proposed, “with that view, we were going to look like heroes.”—maggie lange

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Strening Architects

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Outdoor life was a top priority, so Strening and his team designed a pool, a bocce court, and a full patio with a wine bar and barbecue. “All the spaces in the landscape that can be occupied and used,” he says.

A F T ER

Project Credits Interior Design: Eugene Anthony Landscape Architect: Eric Blasen Contractor: Chris Fultz, Fultz Construction

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Who doesn’t want to wake up every day to a view of the water?

Whether by the lake or sea, these homes prove that a stunning water view can perfectly set the stage for gorgeous architectural designs.

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c-Glass house dillon beach, ca

firm / deegan day design Principal Architect / joe day project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / taiyo watanabe, deegan day design

Perched above the Pacific, the C-Glass looks dramatic day and night. “The success of the house lies in the glass, and the play between transparent and translucent glazing,” Joe Day says.

“During the day, the house melts into the surrounding site, but at night, the channel glass becomes opaque and the interior more introverted.”

The C-Glass House opens to a panoramic view of Tomales Bay and the open ocean, while bracing against winds that approach 100mph from multiple directions.

A marine finish for ships’ hulls seals the steel frame and keeps it protected from oxidation 122

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deegan day design

Day took his inspiration from both architecture and art. Philip Johnson’s Glass House, Mies’ Farnsworth House, and the Case Study Homes

by Craig Elwood and Pierre Koenig serve as architectural precedents, while Larry Bell’s elevated cubes, Dan Graham’s pavilions, and Damien Hirst’s aquarium-like vitrines lend their artful touches to the home’s elegance.

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Structurally, the house needed to withstand hurricane force winds from two directions, so the refined engineering of the 60’x25’x10’ steel frame (by Gordon Polon Engineering) was critical to the project’s success.

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Project Credits Client: Margarete Hachigian Project Designers: Joe Day, Taiyo Watanabe, Bonnie Carlson, Mark Lyons, Felicia Martin, Yo Oshima, and Noel Williams Structural Engineer: Gordon Polan Engineering Project Engineer: Greg Marin Executive Architect: Dave Maynard Architecture Builder: Morita Construction Structural Steel: Banks Welding Glazing systems: Glass & Sash, Bendheim Wall Systems

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deegan day design

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SterlingKlor Communications Inc. Contact: Kim Sterling-Klor, 604.678.9464 ext. 25

CONSULTING STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS

Derek L. Smith, M.Eng., P.Eng. Principal

220-1555 Marine Drive, West Vancouver, BC Canada V7V 1H9 Phone 604-921-1394 • Fax 604-921-1395 info@rockingham.ca

Derek L. Smith, M.Eng., P.Eng. Principal

220-1555 Marine Drive, West Vancouver, BC Canada V7V 1H9 Phone 604-921-1394 • Fax 604-921-1395 info@rockingham.ca

Client: Rockingham Engineering Created: June 21, 2011 Item: 2-colour business cards

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Derek L. Smith, Principal B.A.Sc. (Civil), Master of Engineering (Aerospace), P.Eng. 604-921-1394 / info@rockingham.ca West Vancouver, BC, Canada

gulf island cabins gulf islands, vancouver, canada

firm / osburn clarke productions, inc.

Principal Architects / mark osburn & wayne clarke project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Nic Lehoux

Located in British Columbia’s wilderness, the Gulf Island Cabins take peace and quiet to an extreme. Mark Osburn and Wayne Clarke nestled the four cabins back into the forest and oriented them towards the water to maximize the views. The combination creates a feeling of extreme serenity that makes the rest of the world feel very far away.

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Osburn Clarke Productions

Project credits

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Front porches and floor-toceiling window walls open the cabins up to the waterfront

Rockingham Engineering

The biggest challenge Osburn and Clarke had to overcome: keeping the sea otters at bay. “Not only are otters destructive, but they smell like crazy!,� Osburn says. Big wires that encircle the foundation of each building stave off the unwanted visitors.

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“I used aluminum cladding as the exterior skin to overcome Vancouver’s hard environmental conditions,” Mansouri says.

“Combined with the teak, it looks warm enough to flow with the rest of the home’s materials.”

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palmerston residence Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

firm / dcube design group Principal Architect / Mehran Mansouri project type / residentiaL PHOTOGRApher / Stacy Thomas

At the Palmerston home, the best view comes right from the center of the house. Mehran Mansouri positioned the main living spaces on its middle level to give the ocean views center stage. “The best part of the home is the ocean view,” he says. “When you’re standing in the middle of the space, it feels like you’re standing in the middle of the ocean.”

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dcube design group

Inside, steel, concrete, local marbles, and custom-stained zebrawood give the Palmerston house a relaxed, quiet feel.

“Simple materials relax you automatically,” Mansouri says.

“The natural details in the house speak to you every day.”

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The striking ocean is visible inside thanks to the oversized sliding glass doors by SLUNG! Doors. “After all, who wants to look at a million dollar view through a picket fence,” says Carlos Muller, Director of Technical Services at SLUNG! Doors.

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Palmerston by DCube: Large panel sizes maximize a view, even when closed.

DCUBE Group of Companies 3901 Charles Street Burnaby, BC, Canada

Linear House by Patkau: Awarded best residential design in Canada. 78 x 8.6 ft. in 8 panels.

CONSTRUCTION . MILLWORK CUSTOM DESIGN SPECIAL BUILDING MATERIALS www.dcubeconstruction.com

A transom was replaced by 6 x 12 ft. panels, which are very easily moved by hand.

This 40 x 21 ft. acoustic system with 2 x 4� steel core is manually operated but could have been automated.

Makes light work of large and heavy doors

Project credits Phalanx Distribution Corp.

Manufacturer of the "MADE IN CANADA" Mansouri Collection 2012.

Contact sam@dcubeconstruction.com for exclusive distribution rights.

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Slung! Doors is a custom, high-end niche builder and hand crafter of large, heavy doors and moveable wall systems. The Patented Slung!

Suspension System allows the delivery of very large panel sizes for exterior and interior use, in residential, hospitality and institutional applications.

More at SlungDoor.com / 866-962-8885

GUPTA RESIDENCE HAENA, KAUAI, HI

firm / MATTHEW SCHALLER ARCHITECT Principal Architect / MATTHEW SCHALLER project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / MATTHEW SCHALLER

Few locations are as lush as the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The Gupta Residence sits right at the edge of the island’s protected nature preserve, and takes full advantage of its jungle-meets-surf site.

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The beach used to be a burial ground for early native Hawaiians. “We had to hire archaeologists for the site, because we were finding so many remains while building,” says Schaller.

All remains found were preserved and sent to a museum.

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Located at the edge of one of Hawaii’s most breathtaking nature preserves, the Gupta home is relatively hard to access. During construction, “we had to cross four, one-lane bridges with construction equipment,” Schaller says.

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matthew schaller architect

Large overhangs ward off the hazardous effects of salty sea spray and protect the home from the whipping winds of tropical storms

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Oceanside, a traditional Hawaiian lanai wraps nearly all the way around the half-moon home

“We had to hire archaeologists for the site because we were finding so many remains while building.”—matthew schaller

MATTHEW SCHALLER ARCHITECT

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Hanalei, Hawaii P 808-826-4699 / F 808-826-9697 schaller@aloha.net www.matthewschallerarcitect.com

luminescence house kelowna, british columbia, canada

firm / David Tyrell Architecture Principal Architect / David Tyrell project type / residentiaL PHOTOGRApher / Colin Jewall

“I subscribe to the oriental view of space, which is that space expands outward in a series of circles until it merges with the space of nature,” David Tyrell says. His design for the Luminescence House brings architecture right to the water’s edge, truly dissolving built structure into natural space.

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An inner veranda wrapped with an outer veranda pushes the oriental circular formation and expands the house out into its waterfront surroundings Aligned with the decks, the pool’s water line “enhances the line of sight from the house.” says Skip Phillips, president of Questar Pools.

The pool’s elevation and sharp edge details complements the architecture’s overall beauty.

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David Tyrell Architecture

The canoe in the home’s entry hall has quite the back story. “The owner once lived in Papeete, Tahiti. While there, he sponsored and built the outrigger canoe for a local ceremony which recreated the Polynesian migration between the islands of Tahiti and Raiatea,” Tyrell says. “After leaving Tahiti, the family moved to the Caribbean, and the canoe followed them. With this most recent move to British Columbia, the canoe was more of a family member than artifact.” The home’s impressive entry hall provided the perfect place for its display.

Project credits Driade Design Inc. Valley Pool and Spa

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Sleek yet sustainable, the Kelowna kitchen’s glass doors provide depth and fluidity to the home’s design. The glass is only only 2mm thick, but it’s also beautiful and strong. “Only a diamond can scratch it,” says Dario Drinovac, principal at ROOM8 showroom, the company that provided the doors.

The glass doors allow the kitchen’s design to complement other rooms in the home while still making an individual statement.

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ROOM8 specializes in high-end custom Italian millwork design with an emphasis on technology.

Our products are made using the finest materials: exotic wood veneers, lacquers and glass in an array of colours.

Introducing Baxter, exclusive Italian furnishings now available at ROOM8. Photo: Featuring Baxter’s new collection designed by Paola Navone.

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The exterior spaces fall on three different levels and are both covered and uncovered to maximize the variety of water views Nearly 1,200 square feet of deck space opens onto Lake Norman

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LAKE HOUSE V Lake Norman, Cornelius, NC

firm / Liquid Design Architects Principal Architects / Michael D. Williams & Michael L. Standley project type / residentiaL PHOTOGRApher / liquid design

The design of Lake House V intentionally buffers its inhabitants from the world outside. “This project was conceived as a filter, a means to trap the stress and complexities of daily life at the outer layer with large walls and small openings,” Michael Standley says. “As you move through the house, the openings get larger to celebrate the views of the lake. Indoors become outdoors, exuding relaxation at home.”

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liquid design

“The stair tower evokes the verticality of a lighthouse, which anchors the pool, the bar, and the patios. It becomes an iconic feature on the horizon when approaching from the water,” Williams says.

Project credits J.R. Warren, Inc.

Jim Warren, owner of JR Warren, Inc, met Mike Standley at a child’s birthday party. Both being in the business of building, they got to talking. And before they knew it, they had sketched a sleek stair on some “happy birthday” napkins.

“We talked a bit about construction, then some metal, then some cable, and within a week or two, I was at their office discussing the concept of the stairs and railings at the Lake Norman project,” Warren says. He took the job, scrounged up the sketches, and created the sophisticated stair now floating in the Lake Norman home.

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An infinity edge pool bridges the gap between the natural water and the edge of 151 the house

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11 kent avenue Williamsburg, NY

firm / MichaEl Muroff Architect Principal Architect / Michael Muroff project type / residentiaL Images / Provided by Michael Muroff ARchitect

The 62 units at 11 Kent Avenue have some of the best views in Brooklyn, looking across the East River to Manhattan’s mighty skyline. Michael Murroff staggered the building’s massing to take in every vista possible, but the form holds a symbolic meaning, too: its undulations look like waves lapping the river’s shore.

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michael muroff architect

Angled bay windows along the side street protrude just enough to allow every living space a view of the waterfront. Soundproof industrial window sashes attenuate noise from truck traffic on Kent Avenue.

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Clover Ridge Builders, LLC Fine Home Building 159 Jones Hill Road Appleton, Maine 04862 James Flynn, Builder 207.592.6153 cloverridge159@gmail.com

J R WARREN, INC. Designer Metals CONSULT DESIGN FABRICATION Aluminum Stainless Cable Wood 980.522.1196 www.jrwarreninc.com

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marriners brook cottage midcoast, me

firm / John Morris Architects Principal Architect / John Morris project type / residential Images / Provided by John Morris Architects

At Marriners Brook, neighbors have no reason to complain. John Morris positioned the cottage on its wedge-shaped lot so that all surrounding homes’ sightlines remain completely unobstructed.

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Project credits Clover158 Ridge Builders LLC

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john morris architects

Inside, whitewashed gabled ceilings reflect light and keep the home’s look polished yet clean. “There’s a certain sparseness to the interior design. It’s not cluttered – you don’t feel padded in,” Morris says.

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James Flynn, owner of Clover Ridge Builders LLC, usually makes it his first priority to build homes exactly to their drawings and specifications. At the Owls Head home, he made no exception. “When the drawing was submitted to the owners showing examples of the two dormers, one large and one small, they liked the quirkiness of using both,” Flynn says. He built the house’s two dormers asymmetrically, exactly how they had been approved in plan, adding a bit of unintended character to the charming home.

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ontario lake house lake ontario, canada

firm / richard williams architects Principal Architect / richard williams project type / residential Images / Provided by richard williams architects

“Most of our experience on the Great Lakes is facing north,” says Richard Williams says. “But this site has the quality of facing an open sea, with the sun arching over the water.” Williams set the Lake Ontario home at a sharp angle to maximize the openness of the water vistas. The 1,500 square-foot home also sits more than 15 feet above Lake Ontario, leaving its view completely unobstructed.

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project credits Interior Designer: Julie Latravarse Builder: Peter Knudsen

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richard williams architects

To give the house an anchor, Williams tied the interior view to the site’s large tree. “The diagonal view from the living room towards the tree gives you a sense of intimacy and nature instead of simply focusing on the boundless horizon,” he says.

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NOTES FROM THE BUREAU Notes from the Bureau

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Each new project brings with it a specifc set of challenges that need to be solved. These architects and designers show us how they approached difficult design conundrums and went on to create smart finished products.

Notes from the Bureau

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DB: Your award-winning Chevrollac is part Impala. Where did you find this car?

AD: When I was driving to a client’s project for a new home, I saw this car parked behind a house. I put a note in the mailbox each time I went by that said I would like to buy it.

classic cars gone custom

DB: What did you do to this Impala to turn it into your Chevrollac?

AD: In the 1950s and ‘60s, younger guys and gals would buy cars with what money that they had in their pockets. They basically added upgraded items to make each car look richer and more extensive than what it was, originally.

Architect Art Demarest builds architecture and chops cars, too

So, on the Chevrollac, we added the grill and the lights from a Cadillac Coupe de Ville to make the car look richer. We used vinyl diner seat upholstery on its interior. We put in hydraulic suspension, which allows it to sit lower on the ground, enhancing its long lines.

And on its body we painted scallops with a metallic paint, which further picks up and accentuates the lines of the car. Everything we did was to recreate a true period early-‘60s car.

DB: How fast can it go?

AD: It’s not about speed—it’s about attitude. We built it for style.

N

ew Jersey architect Art Demarest isn’t just all about the bricks and mortar. At Demarest Architects, he works on gorgeous vintage cars, too. He’s been stripping, restoring, and redesigning cars for decades, producing oneof-a-kind automobiles from his small home shop.

Deisgn Bureau: When it comes to classic cars, what are the differences between restoration versus customization?

Architect Art Demarest not only Art Demarest: Restoration is to make designs houses, the car exactly like it was when it but he redesigns rolled off the assembly line. To cusclassic cars, too tomize a car is to take the best ideas that rolled off the line and improve upon them—changing the body, the paint, the upholstery, the engine, the various components of the vehicle— and making it something other than what it is.

DB: What was your first car?

AD: When I was 16, the first car I ever owned was a 1960 Impala. I bought it, I fixed it up, I sold it. Then I moved through about five or six more cars, but I always loved that car.

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A perfectionist’s pied-a-terre High drama and high tech make for the perfect home

W

ith 30 years under his belt, San Francisco-based interior designer Jerry Jacobs has encountered more than a few perfectionist clients. Pied-a-Terre, one of his more challenging commissions, came from a close friend. The hip apartment in the posh Polanco neighborhood came with an extensive list of requirements. It needed to have three bedrooms, three bathrooms, an office, and a maid’s quarters thoughtfully fitted into just 2,500 square feet. And in tandem with the complicated program, it had to stealthily conceal modern amenities behind an elegant design to boot. It Notes from the Bureau

www.aarkinc.com

Spring Valley, New York 845.352.6300 Ramsey, New Jersey 201.327.6100

General Contractor — Construction Manager ARTHUR DEMAREST ARCHITECTS

A multi-disciplinary design studio specializing in architecture Whether designing buildings, fabricating custom cars, or creating functional works of art, Demarest Architects takes great pride in the interaction with the client to produce designs that are functional and imaginative. We are licensed nationally with designs throughout the U.S. Hackettstown, NJ 908-850-4494 www.demarestarchitects.com

We congratulate Pimsler Hoss Architects for design excellence and a successful project. AARK is proud to be part of the team.

the touch of a button, transforms from transparent to opaque.

Jacobs’ mix of elegant details and high-tech touches ultimately makes the apartment a success. The client is supremely satisfied with his new posh, high-tech home. And their friendship? According to Jacobs, it’s still going strong.—Murrye Bernard Jerry Jacobs photos by Michael Calderwood and Cris Molina from the Photographer’s Gallery

RENOVATING FLOORBY-FLOOR, BIT-BY-BIT Project Credits: York Street Studio

Working from the basement up saved the quirks of one historic New York home

took Jacobs a good deal of time to get the design just right, and his friend oversaw its development every step of the way. “I love him and he loves me, but there were times when I wouldn’t pick up the phone,” Jacobs says of his friend Hard work, good dewith a laugh. But laughing aside, as sign, and a discernsoon as he had the green light, Jacobs ing eye created the got down to business. sophisticated look of this San Francisco

Pied-a-Terre The designer began by stripping the walls down to their concrete structure. “We did a little bit of surgery,” he says, working with a structural engineer to create spaces with more pleasing proportions. Once the new rooms were in place, Jacobs concentrated on the stylistic details. He amped up the ceiling’s appeal by recessing panels and installing cove lighting along its perimeters. In the living and dining area, he inserted an angled wall that mirrors the line of the building’s facade. “It creates perspective and symmetry at the same time,” he explains, and also frames a modern painting by Vicente Rojo, part of the client’s collection of Mexican contemporary art that definitely has a flair for the dramatic.

Jacob’s is most proud of Pied-a-Terre’s kitchen. The client wanted to sit in the kitchen every morning with coffee and gaze out at the street below. But there was a major obstacle to this morning ritual: in Mexico, the kitchen is typically the domain of the maid. Jacobs needed to close off the kitchen and create privacy parttime, but also preserve views for his client. The solution was to install a switchable glass wall that, with 170

Project Credits: T&S Mott

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he house at 90th Madison Street in Sag Harbor, New York has always been a bit of an architectural oddball. Architect Anthony Vermandois, principal of AV Architects, undertook its most recent renovation. He describes its peculiar look as “a mix of late Federal and Revival Greek styles” and strange layout as a “fairly unique U-shaped footprint.” But given the home’s long history, this is to be expected. It has changed hands many times since its construction during the mid 19th-century whaling boom, and when Vermandois took on the commission, he decided to start on its lowest level and work his way up.

Naturally, he began in the basement. The family moving into 90th Madison Street wanted a single-family

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Notes from the Bureau

Architecture is not limited to buildings & interior spaces.

Ron Kwaske, Architect Chicago www.Kwaske.com

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home with extra space to grow. But due to Sag Harbor’s height restrictions and the property’s small area, Vermandois had to creatively add on square footage.“We didn’t really have any opportunity to expand outward or even upward,” the architect says.

“So, the only way we could expand living space was to go down.” Vermandois dug out the center of the basement, adding two-and a half feet of height to the subterranean level and converting the space into the family’s rec room.

The architect then moved on Digging deep was the best solution to exto the first floor. He reworked panding space inside the space into a library, dining this Sag Harbor home. room, and sleek kitchen. GourThe basement now doumet kitchen designer Scavolini bles as the house’s constructed the room in Italy rec room, adding much needed play space for and then shipped it to Sag Harthe family. bor piece by piece. Vermandois utilized the entire second floor to create an expansive master suite. A walk-in closet, home office, and plush bath complete with steam shower build out the rest of the level. Two bedroom suites built into the spoke’s of the house’s U shape complete the renovation.

Now a bit bigger, 90th Madison Street provides ample room for its current owners. But it hasn’t lost its quirky character. Vermandois’ renovation is just another chapter in its colorful history, which, like its U shape, is all part of its very interesting footprint.—

he had yet to encounter. “We couldn’t enclose the area around the dealership building, and we couldn’t raise the footprint because of its location,” says Pimsler of the dealership’s abandoned property. Pimsler developed a preliminary plan to make the site safe for construction and operation. He then met with various government and environmental agencies, where he was met with limitation after limitation. “The approval process for the renovation took two years, which is unheard of,” says Pimsler, who tirelessly went through a series of negotiations to satisfy all parties.

Once he had the needed permissions to build, Pimsler had to make BMW’s polished image fit into Bridgeview’s no-frills architectural style. “When you think of BMW, you think of pearly white buildings where the vehicles stand out as the main priority,” says Pimsler.

But there was nothing sleek about the site’s building, a red brick compound, and Bridgewater’s municipal zoning restrictions hardly allowed for a complete aesthetic update. To work within the codes, Pimsler added BMW-white panels to the brick exterior walls.

He then played-off the car company’s reputation for high-tech performance by incorporating a variety of design features that “green up” the building, including, photovoltaic panels, a light-reflective roof, and an energy-management system that recycles water.

“Most car dealerships aren’t concerned about being all that environmentally friendly,” says Pimsler of the environmental measures. Then again, in Pimsler’s experience, the Bridgewater BMW was hardly an ordinary project, and its unique looks and high-tech sustainability measures set it apart from the auto dealer pack.—Meg Mathis

Ciera Velarde

Pimsler Hoss photos by Pimsler Hoss Architects

the ultimate tune-up

Project Credits: AARK Contractors, Inc.

At the Bridgewater BMW, a difficult site and tough building standards created one high performance dealership

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andy Pimsler knows a thing or two about cars. As the principal of Atlanta-based Pimsler Hoss Architects, he has helped renovate more than 300 dealerships throughout 26 states. However, creating a BMW dealership on a flood plain in Bridgewater, New Jersey, introduced Pimsler to some interesting road blocks

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plete the project. If we didn’t hit that mark, the owner could lose a lot of money. We finished a week ahead of schedule, saving the owner six figures.

pizza & psychology

DB: Your wife and business partner, Ilianna, is a psychologist. How do clients react when she shows up and starts asking tough questions?

RK: During the programming stages, she interviews users to determine their true needs and discover their “inner being.” The user will say one thing, and then she’ll repeat it back in a much different way. And then they’ll say, “That’s exactly what I meant, but not what I said.” We use this kind of analysis in select projects we do, and we’ve been accurate over 95% of the time.

Ron Kwaske designs Papa John’s pizza franchises with a side of insight

DB: What other types of projects do you have in the works?

RK: We design a broad range of project types, from residences to a bakery. Our staff has to be able to shift gears; one day I’m wearing a suit and tie to meet with franchisees’ investors, and then the next day, it’s jeans and a t-shirt because we’re building a custom furniture installation. We’re also working on a system to compile and analyze [Ilianna’s] results so we can put them to even further use.

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Architect Ron Kawske here’s definitely an art to designs and builds making good pizza, but it Papa John’s frantakes real skill to design and chises in just six to build an operable restaurant eight weeks in less than two months. Ron Kwaske does exactly that for Papa John’s franchises in Chicago, and with nearly 10 stores under his belt, he’s learned how to work under pressure.

curtain call For their corporate auditorium overhaul, Studio 8 Design deserves a standing ovation

Project Credits: Empower Electric

DB: Any close calls?

RK: We recently designed a store within a mid-rise residential building, and the space lacked mechanical infrastructure. It was not conducive to food service, let alone any use—there was no water supply or restrooms! We had to tie into infrastructure three stories up, which normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but we faced a major time constraint with only five weeks to com174

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Notes from the Bureau

Photo by Bill LaFevor

Design Bureau: Most Papa John’s stores look pretty similar. How do these projects challenge you as a designer?

Ron Kwaske: Admittedly, we don’t have a lot of creative freedom, but these projects do allow us to express our technical expertise. For the typical store, we have only six to eight weeks to design it and build out the space. I am self-certified in Chicago, so I can approve building permits without plan review by the city—without that, we couldn’t make these tight deadlines.

DB: So, with Papa John’s, were you rewarded with a lifetime supply of free pizza and garlic dipping sauce?

I insist that we pay for our pizza, because I insist that our clients pay their bills.— Murrye Bernard

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Anxious to get started with this fasttrack renovation, Taylor brought in a contractor and created a preliminary design for the CEO’s review. “We were holding our breath for his approval, because there wasn’t enough time to start over,” he recalls. Fortunately, he did approve, and Taylor got right to work.

of this auditorium, but also updated its technology. “The entire lighting and dimming system was upgraded,” says Steve Kirby, President of Empower Electric.

“Due to the age of the existing system, a total replacement was the best option. We replaced an obsolete incandescent system with state-ofthe-art LED lighting, controls and audio/ visual systems.”

He tackled the functional basics first.

Ancient incandescent fixtures served as the primary overhead lights, but they were too dim and posed major maintenance issues. So, Studio 8 replaced them with LEDs and added wall-washing fixtures for flexibility. To further bring the space into the 21st century, the architects worked with AV consultants to install surround sound, a highdefinition projector, a retractable screen, and touch pad controls with custom settings, expanding capabilities for broadcasting and hosting press conferences.

Studio 8 even provided additional cooling units and controls for the auditorium.

To aesthetically update the auditorium, Taylor focused on subtle tweaks with maximum impact. With a few coats of paint, the existing curving plaster ceiling looks brand new. Mahogany panels transform the wall behind the stage into a dramatic focal point and improve the acoustical performance of the space. The architects also introduced wood paneling along the formerly blank sidewalls to add depth and character.

Despite the daunting schedule, the auditorium was ready in time for its first big event. “It doesn’t look like it was rushed, which is a big accomplishment,” Taylor says. “In some ways, it went better than projects we’ve had a lot more time to execute.”

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Harmony in boston Through a smart renovation, Gary Wolf helps the Longy School of Music find its harmony just off of Harvard Square

Photo by Peter Vanderwarker

itting through drawn-out power points in dated auditoriums is the worst. Matt Taylor feels the same way. When he got a call to do a corporate auditorium renovation, he knew he had a chance to make the space engaging and readily accepted the challenge. The size of the challenge, however, was greater than he anticipated.

The auditorium, located in the middle of a four-story office building, was built in 1980 and had never been updated. The carpets and seating were worn, the audio-visual equipment was hopelessly out-of-date, and the lighting and HVAC systems needed some serious TLC. Then the Revamping finishes client dropped a bomb: the project and fixtures, Studio had to be completed in only four 8 Design not only months. transformed the look

Project Credits: Furniture by Dovetail

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B: As a teaching and practice facility, the historic Rey-Waldstein Building at the Longy School has seen plenty of teachers, students, and renovations. How did this play into your restoration?

Gary Wolf: The Rey-Waldstein Building is a well-designed example of early 20th century architecture, but it was not appreciated. It is a visually lyrical space, and we wanted to clean the attractive stone walls to show its age and restore the original paint colors, which reveal dark greenish and bluish undertones.

Salvaging the elegant essence of the historic Longy music conservatory, Wolf Architecture implemented a timeless design befitting the traditional layout of the conservatory. “My favorite piece was a large banquet seating unit contoured to fit into a stone alcove,” says Rob Loring, Founder & Vice President of Sales of Dovetail Furniture. “The finished product was simply stunning,” he says.

Music to the architect’s ears.

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DB: How did you fit these renovations within the historic context of the campus while also complementing the student body’s 21st century lifestyle?

GW: I wanted to emphasize the value of the historic building first, then juxtapose the practice spaces to really make a strong contrast between old and new. Downstairs, we added practice “pods” with different colors, orientations, and sizes for a lively, unexpected quality. Nobody wants to practice in a boring white room.

DB: What was your biggest success in updating Longy to be a school that fits into today’s classical music culture?

Notes from the Bureau

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GW: Part of the fun of walking through the doors of a concert hall is that you hear strings, and it is a joyous experience. At Pickman Hall, one block from the ReyWaldstein Building, we took out the back wall of the concert hall completely and made it more open with glass. So you can peek into the concert hall for an immediate experience.—Meg Mathis

fit for Yale’s KBT Café’s overall objectives. “When developing a brand, you have to think about the role of social hubs,” Glenn says. “There needs to be a natural flow that reinforces, not forces, social interaction.”

KBT Café’s flow comes from its curved counter with rich wood paneling that directs students down the café’s line and into the main dining space, a room with fifteen-foot glass windows. The windows open up the space to all passers-by and eliminate those nooks and crannies that isolate.

Coffee on campus

So far, the KBT Café has had great success. “The students are taking ownership of KBT Café,” says Gary.

“Faculty are having meetings there, groups collaborate on class projects, and students use it as a rendezvous point.” Before, these kinds of meet-ups happened behind closed lab doors, but now they’re happening right in Kline’s open ground floor. The café has made the entire building more sociable, and has encouraged new kinds of group interaction that didn’t before take place. And on a recent trip to KBT, Gary and Glenn found it rather difficult to find an open seat.

Yale University’s KBT Café promotes the exchange of ideas within its clever design

—Lauren Carroll

TULSA’S TAKE ON TUSCAN ARCHITECTURE

Project Credits: Standard Builder

Y

KBT Café supplies Yale ale’s Kline Biology Tower students and faculty is no stranger to experiwith their daily cafmental, fresh thinking. feine fix. According to The university’s best sciStandard Builders, the entific minds spend the general contractors on the coffeehouse project, majority of their time in its laboratoit’s KBT’s custom coffee ries, but its Science Hill location is a machines and daily spefar hike from the campus’ cafeterias. cial brews that make the So, Yale commissioned the Lepore café a special brew. Delectable coffee combined brothers to design the building’s with a serene study KBT Café. “We knew the design had space? What more could to be thought provoking, yet timeany college kid want? less,” say the twins. But most of all, the project had to attract and serve the young student population. “Gone is the cheerless cafeteria in Animal House,” Glenn says.

Increasingly, universities have commissioned hospitality designers in order to achieve that same design rigor in their dining depots. They want to give students inviting places where they can eat, socialize, and collaborate with others. And due to their extensive experience in hospitality design, the Lepores were a perfect 178

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European style inspires architect Jack Arnold, as evidenced in his design for the Tuscan Dream Home, a house that’s Italian down to its structural bones

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rive past any of Jack Arnold’s custom homes, and the architect’s honed understanding of European architecture becomes immediately apparent. He works across many distinct styles, from French Chateau to Swiss Chalet, but at Tuscan Dream Home, the vibe is unmistakably Italian.

Drawing upon the homeowners’ specific travel memories, Arnold designed the home to reflect the couple’s Italian adventures and serve as a gathering point for their large extended family. The theme begins before even setting a foot inside the front door.

“I like to develop a pre-entry to homes before you actually enter the house,” Arnold says, adding that Notes from the Bureau

CErvantES & aSSoCiatES, P.C. Engineers • Planners • Surveyors

Civil EnginEEring

Structural Engineering Design, Consultation and Investigation Over 45 years of structural design experience on both federal and commercial sector projects

SurvEyS

Field investigation

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design and development oF construction documents

Planning

Our goal is to provide superior service to our clients in a

design oF emergency repair/remedial measures Blast analysis

financially profitable environment that creates professional and personal growth opportunities for our employees.

seismic analysis load analysis value engineering

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where their family could sprawl out and spend time together,” Arnold says. When the house is full with happy relatives, it’s easy to forget that it’s not located up in the ancient hills of Italy.—Heidi Kulicke

ARCHITECTURE’S STYLE CHAMELeON When it comes down to aesthetics, anything goes in Stephen Goldberg’s book

Project Credits: Renaissance, Inc.

he typically sets the style by building dramatic gateways, courtyards, and fountains. At the Tuscan home, an entry tower anchored by a three-ton stone slab serves as an the impressive focal point, setting the tone for the rest of the home’s architecture. The roof consists of red, two-piece barrel tiles like those found throughout real Tuscan towns. Stone, stucco, wood cladding, and deep window setbacks replicate rustic stone European villas.

Inside, the home’s many rooms open onto an ample courtyard that’s perfect for relaxing outside with friends and family. Arnold found many similar home layouts while researching on his own travels. “The interior layout The relaxed yet opulent was designed to maximize each style of Tuscan archiroom’s relationship to the other tecture informs the while allowing great natural light design of Jack Arnold’s to come through,” he says. And in Oklahoma abodes order to infuse the house’s interior with Tuscany’s happy spirit, Arnold headed back to Europe. There, he hand-picked antique doors, firebacks, iron grilles, and furniture specifically for the home.

Together, the house’s bold exterior and refined interior make give the home a true Tuscan personality. And that’s exactly what the homeowners desired. “They wanted a house that was relaxing, fun, and exciting, 180

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tephen Goldberg isn’t a slave to one particular architecture style. As the owner and principal of SBG Design, he has practiced architecture for nearly 25 years, but he has yet to specialize in one specific aesthetic. “Unlike some architects who force their clients down one path, we think the client should drive what the house looks like,” Goldberg says of his broad approach. “We focus on their style to design a home suited to their specific needs.”

Goldberg, who works out of Indianapolis, loosely works across themed vernacular styles, as his clients tend to be more comfortable with traditional, European-inspired homes. They especially enjoy the casual French countryside aesthetic. “People in the Indianapolis area are much more comfortable with homes that are relaxed, because contemporary homes can feel cold and unwelcoming, resembling a stark white box,” he says.

Goldberg’s approach may seem unorthodox to many, but his designs certainly resonate with the local citizens, as Indianapolis Monthly has awarded the architect their coveted Dream Home prize three times over the past seven years. SBG homes won in 2005, 2008 and 2010, the most recent house standing out in Goldberg’s mind as atypical in the best of ways. “The 2010 home was Tuscan-themed, which is not a prevalent style in Indianapolis,” Goldberg says. A few of the home’s unique features: split garages, a front courtyard entered through the dining room, and two outdoor fireplaces. But of all the different styles of homes Goldberg has produced, Mediterranean and Tuscan-styled homes are always his favorites. “They make you feel like you’re on vacation,” he says. That’s a perfect way to feel at the end of every day.—Heidi Kulicke Project Credits: Weber Concrete Construction

Notes from the Bureau

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being a residence, its sense of scale is very appealing.

It’s very congenial to begin with.”

Spain’s new DC digs

To make the space even more inviting, KCCT has reshaped the home’s three main floors and attached Chancery to accommodate various types of programming. The ground floor will serve as exhibition and reception space that extends to the restored outdoor terrace and gardens. The public library will be located on the second floor alongside contemporary office spaces, and the third floor will be reworked into offices for the Ministry of Educational Affairs. The third floor will house studios and workrooms for visiting artists and scholars, too. Out in the Chancery, a black box theater with a flexible stage will host traveling Spanish theater troops. The Spanish government even has plans for a restaurant, which they hope will be helmed by famous chef and Top Chef personality José Andrés.

A 1923 residence built for the U.S. VP becomes Spanish culture’s public home

Project Credits: Cervantes & Assoc.

Johns & Bhatia K.S. International

“

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he building is stately, but you don’t have to go through 15 acres to get to the front door,” says Enrique Bellini. The architect is talking about 2801 16th Street NW, an impressive 28,000square-foot structure located on the curb of 16th Street and up the block from Washington DC’s leafy Meridian Hill Park. In 1923, the federal government constructed the home for the U.S. Vice President, but the VP and his family never moved in. Spain bought the house shortly thereafter and has been hosting diplomats and attachés at its grounds ever since.

Now, KCCT is heading a massive renovation that will take the building public, converting it into a cultural center aptly named the Spain/U.S. House. “The Spanish Embassy is one of the most aggressive organizations when it comes to coordinating cultural programs in DC,” Bellini says. “They want to share Spanish culture with the city at one site. The [16th Street] residence is perfect for this because by 182

Money makes the world go ‘round and structures go up, although the process is not all that simple.

To ensure their building stays within the budget, KCCT enlists the help of KS International to provide cost estimates for big projects like the Spanish Cultural Center.

“Cost estimating is required by law on government projects to establish budgets, but also ensure projects are bid within these budgets,” says Douglas Mitten, PE, CCE, CVS, President of PMSI, Inc. In addition to helping set and maintain a budget, cost estimating aids architects by providing “a better understanding of projects during the design process,” Mitten says. “Cost data enables decision makers to avoid unnecessary costs and verify that proposed building features are properly aligned with budget constraints.” Because the last thing any architect wants is for prices to go through their roof unexpectedly.

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But the best aspect of the Spain/U.S. House design plan, says Bellini, is the futuristic technology grid that will run throughout the house underneath the floors.

“It will let us locate electronic components wherever we want, so all kinds of remote communications will be possible,” he says. Even linking with other Spain Houses worldwide will not be out of question, a key design factor that falls right in line with the country’s cultural mission. “The point of the Spain/U.S. House is to bring the culture to you. You don’t necessarily have to fly to Spain to experience the wonders the country has to offer.” For now, you still have to fly to Spain, as the Spain/U.S. House hasn’t entered construction just yet. However, Bellini promises, “It’s a very exciting project that will happen very soon.”

From Baking to Googling A former Nabisco factory finds a new life as the Pittsburgh Google headquarters

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abisco stopped baking in Pittsburgh in 1998, leaving behind its iconic brick plant in Pittsburgh’s downtrodden East Liberty neighborhood. The building stood as an officially “blighted” site until 2010, when Google decided to move on in. And when Google moved in, the neighborhood suddenly seemed to be looking up.

Notes from the Bureau

Cost Estimating ConstruCtion sChEduling ValuE EnginEEring sECurity Planning lEEd Consulting EnErgy analysis risk analysis Claims analysis

PMSI is a multi-disciplined construction management firm with more than 25 years of experience providing cost estimating and related services for the design and construction of federal buildings worldwide.

PMSI extends its heartfelt appreciation to KCCT for 20 years of teaming on complex building design projects worldwide including ten projects at Main State. We wish KCCT continued success.

1600 Tyson Blvd.

Suite 1400 McLean, VA 22102 703-676-3333

Photos by John Granen

Project Credits: Anderson Interiors

Literally on a roll, The upgraded Nabisco factory Google’s Pittsburgh ofnow sits at the center of an amfice operates as an bitious master plan, nostalgiworkplace on wheels. cally named Bakery Square 2.0.

“The main spine of [the furniture] components is “The tremendous success with stationary, however the Google has made the expansion worktables and pedestals into Bakery Square 2.0 a logical are mobile,” says Bob one,” archiect Michael Stern Dezort, Account Manager with Anderson Interiors, says. “The challenge—as well Inc,. “This allows for as the opportunity—of the next quick reconfiguration of phase is to incorporate the histhe work spaces.” toric character of the Nabisco building and the surrounding residential neighborhood into a new project that will establish a major new neighborhood center.” With plans for new shops, new restaurants, and eased accessibility, Bakery Square promises a long-awaited revival that the East Liberty needs. Who knows—a new cookie bakery may even set up shop in Nabisco’s old space.

Heavy Metal House

Unsurprisingly, the clients who inhabit The Art House love art, which added pressure to NB Design Group, the interior designers on the project. Their design doubles as a giant art gallery.“The clients were looking for an edgy environment for their art and were seeking a more refined industrial feel,” says Nancy Burfiend, Principal of NB Design Group.

Project Credits: N.B. Design Group

Steel and Zinc ground the look of this Seattle home

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he Art House in Preston, Washington, gives new credence to the term heavy metal. Deforest decked out the remodeled interior in steel and zinc accents to contrast the original home’s heavy wood beams and bluestone floors. But it’s the home’s breathtaking central steel staircase that focuses the entire home. “As a sculptural element, it is a study in light, structure, and materiality. It is also a means of bringing the clients’ art collection to light, of creating a vertical gallery that can be enjoyed every day,” DeForest says.

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Notes from the Bureau

Centered around cooking A gourmet kitchen is at the heart of this sprawling home

Project Credits: Bentley’s Custom Stairs

N B DESIGN GROU P

INTERIOR DESIGN UNIQUELY TAILORED TO OUR CLIENTS Photos by Mike Crews

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t the Wayne Residence in Wayne, Illinois, private and public life collide. To make the home’s minimalist aesthetic feel welcoming, Jeffrey Funke designed the home in two wings. One houses the family’s playrooms, bedrooms, and casual living spaces. The other houses the formal dining room, living room, and courtyard terrace, double-story spaces that are meant for entertaining guests. The kitchen, placed strategically between the two, acts as the home’s hinge. “The kitchen is said to be the heart of the home, and here it is the hub of all the action and the intersection of the public and private realms of the house,” Funke says.

Notes from the Bureau

1 9 3 2 F I R S T AV E . S U I T E 8 2 6 S E AT T L E , WA S H I N G TO N 9 8101 2 0 6 4 41 7 75 4 W W W . N B D E S I G N G R O U P. N E T

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PUBLIC PLACES

public places

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PUBLIC PLACES

From coast to coast, the design of public spaces— including parks, stadiums, piers, monuments, and more—drives the world’s perception of architecture forward.

The designers and architects in this chapter are literally shaping our culture, one place at a time.

PUBLIC PLACES

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PUBLIC SPOTLIGHT

A NEW VISION FOR THE NATIONAL MALL

A Jury of Extraordinary Talent Eight of the sharpest minds working across American design deliberated the entries to competition. Among the judges were: Alpha Blackburn, president and CEO of Blackburn Architects Ethan Carr, associate professor of landscape architecture at UMASS Amherst Benjamin Forgey, former architecture critic for The Washington Post

Earlier this year, the Trust for the National Mall and the National Park Service sponsored a landscape design competition to rethink how the public will use three major sites on the Mall in Washington, DC. Entries from architects all over the country offered stunning commentaries on the evolution of landscape design in the 21st century, and how we view monumentality today.

BY J. MICHAEL WELTON

Michael Gericke, partner in Pentagram NYC Craig Hodgetts, professor of architecture at UCLA and partner in Hodgetts + Fung Design and Architecture Thom Mayne, founder and principal at Morphosis and distinguished professor of architecture at UCLA Elizabeth Meyer, associate professor of landscape architecture at The University of Virginia Harry Robinson, principal at TRG Consulting and dean emeritus and professor of urban design at Howard University College of Architecture and Planning

I

f you want to experience a visual metaphor for the sorry state of the American parks system today, take a long and thoughtful stroll along the National Mall in Washington, DC. It has seen better days. The sidewalks are cracked, the landscape is overgrown, and aside from the flocks of tourists passing quickly through en masse, the space feels relatively empty.

But it hasn’t always been an open no-man’s land, and it certainly isn’t devoid of design ambition. Conceived in 1791 by famed landscape architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the Mall and its monuments serve as a living roadmap of American history.

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Author J. Michael Welton writes about architecture, art, and design for a number of national publications. He also publishes an online design magazine at architectsandartisans.com.

Portions of this article appeared in The Washington Post on May 2, 2012 Images courtesy of Trust for the National Mall

PUBLIC PLACES

To be sure, its memorials to Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and King are designed to broadcast lofty and highpowered messages about our leaders and their achievements.

These stone relics calibrate a potent measure of what we have become. Equally important, though, are the events that have occurred in and around the memorials over time. Encapsulated on plaques across the Mall are the poignant stories of a strong-willed nation’s persistent development.

Half of the American people will visit the National Mall in their lifetime, and 8 million foreign visitors come here every year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most popular group of visitors to visit the Mall are the eighth-graders of the nation, who come here on school trips to walk through the epicenter of American patriotism.

Ironically, it’s all of these visitors, inspired by the story of America, that are part of the Mall’s biggest problem. They’ve proven to be an unrelenting source of wear and tear during the past four decades. For the National Park Service, the official institution charged with taking care of the Mall, about $400 million in deferred Congressional funding has taken its toll, as well. Walls are crumbling. Fish are dying in the reflecting pools. Grass has been trampled into dust. And as if to add insult to injury, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake rattled the Washington Monument’s marble panels in August 2011, all the way up to the tip of its aluminum capstone. The monument has been closed to visitors ever since. “You don’t want your best place in America to look like a junkyard,” says architect Donald Stastny.

But it does seem to resemble a forgotton wasteland. Walk through the Constitution Gardens near the Vietnam Memorial, stroll by the Sylvan Theater alongside the Washington Monument, or wander along Union Square in front of the Capitol. Each of these three sites is in intense disrepair, and thus they have become the focus of a design competition that Stastny managed this year, on behalf of the Trust for the National Mall, a private organization dedicated to the Mall’s restoration. “We wanted to bring together the best design minds in the nation, to realize the aspirations of the National Mall Plan,” Stastny says. That plan, which proposed the redesign competition, was completed by the park service in 2010. Its goal: to make the Mall the best park in the world.

The objective was to link vistas and monuments without overshadowing existing memorials and landscapes. “We wanted the competitors to create connective tissue in the Mall, subservient to other parts, but to make everything work,” Stastny told me. Stastny and the Trust opened the competition to designers across the nation. “We wanted as many as possible,” said Caroline Cunningham, president of the trust.

To judge the entries, the trust assembled a jury of eight landscape architects, building architects, academics, critics and historians, each armed with expertise in one or more aspects of the Mall. Among the jurors: architect Thom Mayne of Los Angeles-based Morphosis, as well as former architecture PUBLIC PLACES

critic Benjamin Forgey from The Washington Post. The jury narrowed an initial field of 58 entries to four for each project, and then placed the finalists on display for public comment.

The jury announced the winning designs on May 2. Each brings a 21st-century, cutting-edge attitude to the Mall and promises to make it into one of America’s most outstanding parks. The jury awarded the team of Rogers Marvel Architects & Peter Walker the commission for Constitution Gardens, and chose OLIN & Weiss/Manfredi to redesign the Sylvan Theater. Congress voted in late 2011 to transfer Union Square to the Architect of the Capitol, the office charged with management, operations, and security issues for the Capitol Grounds.

Because of this decision, the Architect of the Capitol will oversee the winning schematic for the site, designed by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol & Davis Brody Bond.

All three winning designs are nothing if not ambitious, but they’re sensitive to their sites and surroundings, too. Each defers to nearby memorials and each seeks to heighten the visual dialogue between those monuments and the people who come to experience them.

Then there was the issue of sustainability. “The most interesting element is that all three solutions consider a more sustainable fashion for water and better movement of people,” Cunningham says. “They improve what’s already there, and bring the beauty of the park to new levels. They bring it up to the next step of the future.”

The winners also balanced the tricky equation of easy access and heightened security, an inherent dichotomy for a free society living in a time of terror. “The question was how to integrate security to take care of the threat level, and still keep it open,” Stastny said.

Now that the winners have been named, the trust can begin fundraising for its two projects. The Architect of the Capitol will handle fundraising for Union Square. Executing the entire National Mall Plan should cost about $700 million. The next phase of the competition will identify and evaluate costs ahead of implementation, and roughly half of the costs will come from the private sector. Groundbreaking for the first project will take place by 2014, though it’s unknown now which site will come first. “The first one depends on three things – cost, what else is going on in the park, and public input,” Cunningham said. “We will phase them in.” The first ribbon-cutting should take place by 2016.

When they’re complete, the new designs promise to embellish the Mall’s sense of place with a forward-looking, long-term approach to how it serves all its audiences. “Symbolically, it’s seen as the center of America,” Stastny said. “It should be sustainable and around for a long time—it’s our postcard to the rest of the world.” turn the page to see the three designs >

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pond that lies parallel to the Capitol across Third Street SW, and adds a new pond at the nearest grass panel on the Mall. The new pond is actually five basins, with two to three inches of water that are easily accessible to pedestrians. “You can walk across it if you choose to,” Kathryn Gustafson, landscape architect on the project, said.

“There are walkways – it’s totally usable.”

Sylvan Theater WINNERS: OLIN & Weiss/Manfredi At the Sylvan Theater, OLIN & Weiss/Manfredi wanted to re-orient the performance space back to the Washington Monument. They also wanted to provide a pedestrian path and visual link to the nearby Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial.

The new design reconnects the three points via a new bridge and cleared vista. “We’ve re-engaged the lost southern monument grounds,” said OLIN partner Hallie Boyce or the Sylvan Theater area. “Now you can walk to it along a sinuous curve of a bridge through a canopy of trees.” The landscape calls for double plantings of native trees – at the theater itself, of tulip poplars, sweet gums and honey locust, each turning a seasonal gold in the fall. They’ll be complemented by tall native grasses in the growing plain, akin to Hyde Park in London. “We’ll use durable materials for the areas with large crowds, and plantings for less used areas,” she said. “It will be a framed and clear plaza that’s a gateway to the Mall.”

The piece de resistance, though, lies in Sylvan Theater’s new performance area. It’s a bowl that rises 32 feet at its outer edge, almost matching the base of the Washington Monument. Whereas audience members now turn their backs to the obelisk, the new design reorients the seating so that the monument it will serve soon as dramatic backdrop to any performance.

The gesture is a symbolic salute to the Lincoln Memorial and its Reflecting Pool at the other end of the Mall. But it also introduces a new layer of security to what exists there already. “The water feature is lifted up, so it increases the security with a second barrier, rather than decreasing it,” Gustafson said.

As the designers worked through their research and their solution, they sensed a disconnect between the Mall and the Capitol. “What we found [to be] strong were the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and its Reflecting Pool,” she said. “That was a bookend, and so we looked for symmetry here.” They delved deeply into the name of their project as well, seeking meaning and inspiration. “After the Civil War, the word union meant one thing, but today, in an extraordinarily diverse society, it’s come to mean something else,” she said. “It’s about one voice – a mosaic of one people.”

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WINNERS: Rogers Marvel Architects & Peter Walker and Partners

WINNERS: Gustafson Guthrie Nichol & Davis Brody Bond At Union Square, the winning design by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol & Davis Brody Bond succeeds nobly at marrying accessibility with security. It removes the current reflecting

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Their fountain in the new reflecting pool is to be made different pieces, like that mosaic of people. And there will be one unified voice. “The reflecting pool is a statement about that,” Gustafson said of the winning design.

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At Constitution Gardens, the winning entry by Rogers Marvel Architects & Peter Walker and Partners was the sole entry that looked back to SOM’s 1976 Bicentennial plan—and updated it with 21st-century innovations.

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“We were struck by the optimism and clarity of the original design by Dan Kiley,” said landscape architect Peter Walker. “It’s engaged with the timeless quality of the Mall.”

As in the other two sites, the Washington Monument is highly visible from Constitution Gardens. The Vietnam Memorial lies over a knoll to the west, and the site sees traffic to and from the World War II Memorial. To anchor the site, the design proposes a pavilion as a gateway destination that leads into the grounds. “It’s a dramatic threshold to get to the lake and the gardens, using terraces to frame the gardens,” said winning team member and architect Rob Rogers. “There will be a restaurant, model boating, ice skating in winter, and performances.

It’s for local residents as well as visitors.”

The team also wants to improve the landscape in major, important ways, but in their initial research, they found that the soil and drainage aren’t supporting Kiley’s original plants. They are growing half as much as expected, so that a 40-year-old tree looks more like a tree half its age.

Their solution is to dig up all the existing trees. They will then suspend them up over the ground while the entire area is re-graded and the drainage completely re-engineered. They’ll then redistribute and re-plant the trees, adding new plantings only where they’re needed.

And as they change the topography, the team will also look hard at the water in the lake, which is now stagnant, full of algae bloom, and fed by the District’s municipal water source. To help mitigate the problems, they are proposing that the lake be recreated and fed by stormwater, rather than by its current city sources. “All the water will be treated before it goes into the pond, then treated there again, before being used for irrigation or going back into the Potomac,” Walker said.

And in the middle of the gardens, the team will build a pavilion with expansive terraces and ample seating.

It is hoped that visitors will take a seat, take in the grounds, and enjoy the inspiring views that the entire Mall has to offer.

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Hudson River Park Pier 25 New York, NY

Firm / Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects Principal Architects / Kim Mathews and Signe Nielsen project type / PUBLIC PLACE PHOTOGRApher / Elizabeth felicella

“Some 15 years ago, when the small community of Tribeca spoke out to express their desires for Pier 25, they wanted the new pier to be ‘funky,’” says Signe Nielsen, the landscape architect behind Pier 25’s design. Fast-forward to today, and Nielsen’s design, which incorporates a playground, beach volleyball court, mini-golf course, and a sunset viewing deck, definitely hits the mark. Tribeca residents seem to think so, too, as they pack Pier 25 as soon as the New York weather starts to warm up. Nielsen shares what makes this public space such a terrific spot.

DB: The Hudson River Park’s recent revamp has been a massive undertaking. How did Mathews Nielsen become involved in Pier 25’s design?

SN: After preparing the overall Master Plan in 1997, we were engaged to carry forward the development of the Tribeca section of Hudson River Park, one of five implementation segments. The 1000-foot long Pier 25, its associated quarter-mile upland open space, and interpier mooring area comprise this award submission.

DB: How did Tribeca’s personality inspire your design?

SN: In the years following our firm’s master plan for the park, the Tribeca community swelled from a mere 2,500 residents to more than 10,000. As a “blank slate” of opportunity, there was great pressure to pack the pier with as many activities as we could. Our design embraces this community goal and cre-

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ates a continuum of venues for all ages wrapped by a continuous promenade that enables visitors to engage or just look at all of the fun.

DB: Are you surprised by the ways in which the neighborhood uses Pier 25’s spaces?

SN: The two most surprising spaces to observe are the beach volleyball courts and the multi-purpose synthetic turf field.

We had assumed that the courts would be popular, but we had not expected that within a few months of opening, leagues and teams would form, make special team T-shirts, and have weekly competitive events—rain or shine.

The pier end, or the sunset deck as we call it, has also been a huge success. People practically stand in line to get the premier lounge chairs in anticipation of a great sunset over the Hudson.

DB: Going back to the request for “funky”—do you think your design delivers?

SN: I often asked myself, ‘Can I design funky? Doesn’t that word really imply something that has evolved over time?

Something that is incremental and built in a piecemeal fashion, as needs and tastes change?’ I don’t think the new Pier 25 is funky, but it has many quirky, fun, and unique features that hopefully imbue it with character.

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soldier field redesign chicago, il

Firm / Carlos Zapata Studio Principal Architect / Carlos Zapata project type / sports stadium PHOTOGRApher / David B. Seide

Only in America would we build a football stadium to honor World War I veterans. That was the exact intent behind the original Soldier Field—dedicated in 1926 with the classic annual Army/Navy football showdown. Soldier Field, as the stadium was named, became the permanent home of the Chicago Bears in 1971. But by 2001, the stadium was in dire need of a facelift. The Chicago Park Service hired Benjamin T. Wood and Carlos Zapata to get the job done.

It was essential that the architects preserve Soldier Field as a monument to all who served in WWI while also modernizing the dilapidated Greco-Roman landmark with its bigger, bolder NFL stadium counterparts. “Our biggest challenge was to fit the new stadium inside of the colonnades,” Zapata says. Since the original stadium had a very low seating pitch, Wood and Zapata thought vertically, adding a steep modern addition on top of the original architecture. “The new design reminds me of an opera house, floating spectators above the field,” Zapata says of the perspective created from the new seats. To honor the WWI veterans, the architects opened the colonnade to the CONTINUED >

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public for the very first time, creating a path that leads seamlessly into the futuristic addition and drawing attention to Soldier Field’s solemn symbolism.

And even though the project initially took its fair share of architectural heat, Zapata says that “after the first game, the controversy was over.” Architectural squabbles aside, there’s no denying that Soldier Field stands as modern, yet historic place that the Bears can finally call home.

Project Credits Wood+Zapata Benjamin T. Wood and Carlos Zapata, lead architects Josef Gartner GmbH

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The VIP booths at Soldier Field are what the roar is all about. Antireflective coating and a lack of mullions provide a flawless view of the field while operable windows allow fans to collectively growl at the referees. “The people in the VIP lounges [would] hear the noise of the crowd, and therefore operable windows were required,” says Bernhard Rudolf, Josef Gartner’s Head of Engineering.

Now, these special lounges allow fans to be in the action and above the crowd.

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Business School Revamp University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Firm / Acton Ostry Architects Principal Architects / Russell Acton and Mark Ostry project type / university building PHOTOGRApher / MArtin tessler

The world-renowned Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia needed a building that would impress visiting scholars and dignitaries. The school wanted to unite its three disparate buildings into a 21st century complex, so the board of trustees recruited Acton Ostry Architects to create a structure worthy of Sauder’s cachet.

“We wanted to reflect the language of the business school,” says Ostry of their design goal.

Before the renovation, three different buildings created in three different decades and styles comprised the business school’s campus. But none of the structures considered how they should relate to one another and to the rest of the university’s buildings. As a first step in their redesign, Acton and Ostry built a six-story glass atrium that serves as the school’s main entrance. It directs the circulation for the entire building, and its openness invites casual mingling and breakout study sessions. A colorful main hall branches off of the atrium, connecting all three buildings and moving students, faculty, and visitors through the school’s 271,000-square-feet of space. And on the walls, pointillist supergraphics of Sauder alumni and benefactors remind visitors that “business can’t work without people and their relationships,” Acton says.

Sauder’s real crowing jewel, however, is the penthouse leadership center. Literally resembling the human brain’s two lobes, it has amazing views and can be seen from across the campus, attracting scholars, students, and the occasional campus stroller to its site. “Sauder used to be a place you had to go, now it is a place you want to go,” Ostry says. “Before, the building’s relationship was uninviting—all concrete. Now, it is a space that actually makes business look hip,” adds Acton. Between its hip glass hall and brain-shaped penthouse, Sauder is literally too cool for school.

Project Credits E.H. Price

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Leading lines and bright colors create interest inside the new design for the Sauder School of Business

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clock tower beach

In the heart of the Montreal’s Old Port, you can lay on the beach while watching the shipping traffic go by. Clock Tower Beach, named after the famous clock tower that marks the Point de l’Horloge on the St. Lawrence River, is a key landmark for the city’s water traffic. But up until now, it went unnoticed as a public space. “The site was unknown to visitors and Montrealers,” says Cormier, pointing to the site’s former unfortunate programming as the root of this problem. “The upper part [of Clock Tower wharf ] has always been occupied by a parking lot. As for the lower part, it never had any particular function except as a small, obsolete park and loading docks for nautical tourist activity.”

Cormier’s friendly, beautiful beach design changes all of that.

The new beach, located at the point and along the wharf’s edge, combines relaxation and recreation, offering up bright blueand-white beach umbrellas and restaurants, restrooms, and storage space in revamped steel shipping containers. A large concrete stair terrace mitigates the elevation drop between the upper lot and the lower beach, and creates another great spot for people who want to relax without getting sandy. And even though it’s not completely open just yet, the project has been a huge success. “In March, during an unusually warm week, the beach was literally invaded, and almost instantly pictures were published on Facebook and Flickr,” Cormier says. “Everyone in Montreal talks about it.”

Montreal, Canada

Firm / Claude Cormier + Associés Principal Architects / Claude Cormier project type / public place images / provided by claude cormier + Associés

Project Credits Societe du Vieux Port de Montreal

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Just because the new beach has received most of the design attention doesn’t mean Cormier neglected the upperlevel parking lot.

The Societe du Vieux Port de Montreal spruced up the lot’s landscaping with larches, willows, shrubs, and perennials, and even added a few artistic touches, too. At the west end of the lot, the Porcupine, an abstract installation made of blue sticks, inhabits a traffic circle, and large white dots note individual parking spots on the lot’s surface.

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hoboken ferry terminal hoboken, nj

Firm / Leni Schwendinger Light Projects Principal Architect / Leni Schwendinger project type / public transit station PHOTOGRApher / Eduard Hueber

After standing abandoned for forty years, the Hoboken Ferry Terminal is once more shuttling passengers across the Hudson. The transit station, originally built in 1907 by the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, has always served as a rail hub, but ferry serviced ceased in 1967.

But in 2003, New Jersey Transit and Port Authority announced a massive renovation to restore the terminal to its former glory. They brought on lighting designers Light Projects to head the redesign. To keep true to the restoration’s goals, Light Projects designed lighting that not only preserves the terminal’s rich history, but also brings it into the 21st century. Inside the terminal hub, Schwendinger and her team installed modern fixtures that sit flush with the structural beams that run across the ceiling. The simple and practical lights create a rhythm to the space while downplaying the HVAC systems’ tubes and clutter, making the ceiling appear taller.

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Outside, Schwendinger took on a real project gem: re-illuminating the “Lackawanna” neon marquee on the famed Hoboken Terminal clock tower. In the terminal’s heyday, the marquee created “a real relationship between the two shores,” she says.

“It was very grand and majestic and created a tiara of marquee lights.” So, Light Projects installed LED lights and fiber optics that simulate the neon of the old sign and save on energy. “Updating the lights was a very sweet moment,” Schwendinger says of the marquee’s restoration.

The terminal reopened its doors on December 7, 2011, 100 years after its original opening. Now, thousands of commuters pass through its slips every day, and thanks to Light Projects’ careful work, their commutes are just a little bit brighter.

Project Credits Acuity Brands

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We’re shaping the future of lighting. A future that integrates technology, controls and daylight harvesting for intelligent, holistic, sustainable lighting solutions.

We look forward to sharing our future vision with you.

acuitybrands.com

Project: DeVos Place Architect: Ellerbe Becket & Progressive AE Lighting Design: Derek Porter Studio

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Photography: Mark Thomas Productions, Ltd.

bsa space boston, ma

Firm / Höweler + Yoon Architecture Principal Architects / J. Meejin Yoon and Eric Höweler project type / society headquarters PHOTOGRApher / Andy ryan

Being an architect and having 4,000 architects as your clients sounds like a nightmare scenario. But the architects at firm Höweler + Yoon begs to differ. In 2011, Yoon and Höweler were tapped to renovate the Boston Society of Architect’s home offices, and the group’s thousands of members served as the project’s collective client. “We are often asked, ‘Isn’t it difficult to have 4,000 architects as your clients?’ Yes and no,” Yoon says. On one hand, many opinions can give rise to unsolicited advice, but on the other, Yoon and Höweler found that playing to the majority is a major advantage. “When a detail is being debated, and the client says, ‘That’s not worth it. Who’s going to notice that?,’ we can say, “4,000 architects will notice that. We need to do it right.”

And at the new BSA Space, they did just that. The new building measures in at 16,000 square feet, and the program offers up 5,000-square feet of public gallery space, giving the BSA the opportunity to become a much more public institution. “It puts the BSA in the position of ‘host’ for hundreds of events that are held in the galleries year round,” Yoon says. “Everyone is pretty happy with the publicness and new means by which to carry out their mission: to engage larger publics with the issues of design.”

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“When a detail is being debated, and the client says, ‘That’s not worth it. Who’s going to notice that?,’ we can say, ‘4,000 architects will notice that. We need to do it right.’”—Meejin Yoon PUBLIC PLACES

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Höweler + Yoon Architecture

Manufactured in just one piece and weighing in at a whopping 15,000 pounds, the staircase in the Boston Society of Architects building wasn’t exactly a light project. “We manufactured the stair and wall into the largest pieces possible to reduce installation time,” says Tom Couturier, Vice President of Couturier Iron Craft. He says that installing the large pieces into the small area with a crane was not an easy task.

But thanks to his careful planning, rigging, and monitoring, Couturier and his team were able to accomplished the large task in a timely manner.

Project Credits Courturier Iron

Below: Boston Society of Architects Building Staircase, installed and manufactured by Couturier Iron Craft Images courtesy of Howeler + Loon

Specializing in the design and construction of ornamental staircases, railing systems, and custom-formed metal fabrications for the construction industry. Serving architects and contractors for over 40 years.

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3/15/12 11:01 AM

Grand Ole Opry House Flood Re-Build Nashville, TN

Firm / Plad Studio Principal Architects / David Plummer and Justin Lowe project type / performance venue PHOTOGRApher / Chris hollo

If you had tickets to the Grand Ole Opry in the beginning of May 2010, you would have been out of luck—the stage stood under four feet of water, due to Nashville’s epic floods. Once the floodwaters receded, it became instantly clear that the damage done to the music hall was extensive. But as the saying goes, “the show must go on,” so the Opry needed repaired, and fast. Plad led the charge through the whirlwind restoration, and agreed to share the details and the new-and-improved music hall.

DB: The flood essentially destroyed the Grand Ole Opry’s interior.

When you took on the restoration, what became your first priority?

Justin Lowe: Priority number one was to get the Opry House back open – as soon as possible! For the first month or so, that was the only priority. The direction was to “put it back like it was,” except where we had an opportunity to improve accessibility.

This was a 100,000 square foot project that was given 19 weeks from the day we were called to the site until the facility had to reopen for its first return CONTINUED >

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performance. We worked alongside the owner and contractor in their job trailers to design and document decisions quickly enough to stay ahead of the 200 construction workers, seven days a week, for almost five months.

DB: After the first month, what changed?

JL: The Opry and Gaylord Entertainment realized that there was never a more golden opportunity to improve the interior aesthetic of the building.

The area dedicated to the stars of the Opry was infamous for its early ‘70’s “high school locker room” feel, so, interior design became a close #2 [priority]. Anderson Design Studio joined the team to help design a contemporary, updated interior that remained true to the overwhelming history of this place and this show.

DB: How has the completed and refurbished Grand Ole Opry reinvigorated the performances that take place there?

JL: The design of the back-of-house areas is specifically set up to make users feel relaxed and at home, while constantly being reminded of the historic significance of this venue and this show. The famous greenroom, where artists congregate before and after taking the stage, was designed to be the living room of the Opry, encouraging interaction and socialization between artists and musicians.

While the public spaces were not changed as much as the backstage spaces, the special history and cultural significance of this venue alone already supports a sense of community among patrons, artists, and the city alike. Sometimes unnoticed details, such as using pews instead of individual seats for audience seating, inherently foster interaction between audience members.

Additionally the show’s casual radio format is set up to allow audience members to interact and mingle.

Project Credits Advanced Technology, Inc.

Bright colors and music artwork adorn the revamped Grand Ole Opry

Visitors may come to see a show, but inevitably leave feeling that they were a part of the radio broadcast. We are proud that we got to be a part of keeping those traditions alive.

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the richmond slave trail richmond, va

Firm / BAM Architects Principal Architects / Burt Pinnock, Anne Dur kin, and Mary Lorino project type / public Place PHOTOGRApher / Ansel Olson

Through the heart of Richmond runs the Richmond Slave Trail, a 2.3 mile path that chronicles the city’s place in history as the east coast epicenter of the American slave trade. The route runs past former key sites that played an active role in the trade business—the Manchester Docks, the Richmond Slave Market, and the auction houses, just to name a few—each identified by discreet markers that tell of the city’s checkered history. “We set out to create a system of environmental signage that identified nine existing sites,” says Burt Pinnock, the project lead behind the markers.

But once the work began, BAM quickly realized they needed to “fill in the gaps” in order to make the history complete. “We added an additional eight sites, providing the written content and images,” he says. Using primary sources at the University of Virginia, The Library of Virginia, and the Historical Society of Virginia, BAM pulled together a narrative that communicates the historical significance of each trail stop, and, wherever possible, engages the visitor with a first-person narrative of an event that took place on the spot. “Before the project was completed, visitors to the trail relied upon a single bifold pamphlet,” Pinnock says. “The overall contribution to the more complete understanding of this city’s history and role in the ‘peculiar institution’ of slavery is what we are most proud of.”

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The markers along the Richmond Slave Trail give a narrative of our country’s dark past

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Local fishermen have put the markers’ CorTen steel supports to creative use. “They built a fire beneath the slanted face of the marker and were using ita as a shad grill for their fresh catch,” Pinnock says. “The thought that these markers can easily be made functional 220 is somehow comforting.”

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The new markers along the trail need to withstand the test of time. “It was a challenge to achieve strength in the structures as well as durability in the panels,” says Keith Crossman of Acorn Sign Graphics, the company responsible for the markers’ fabrication. Acorn ultimately settled on CorTen steel, a metal that looks modern but won’t wear down as the years pass.

“The markers work well visually in both the natural and urban locations in which they are placed,” Crossman says.

“They evoke the past and connect to the present, honoring both history and progress.”

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Project Credits Project Team: Burt Pinnock, Suzanne Tripp, Ben Winn Client: City of Richmond, Slave Trail Commission: Jeannie Welliver, Project Manager Marker base fabrication and installation: Acorn Sign Graphics Porcelain Enameled Panels: Windsor Fireform

Bennie G. Thompson Academic & Civil Rights Research Center Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS

Firm / Duvall Decker Principal Architects / Roy T. Decker and Anne Marie Decker project type / university building PHOTOGRApher / eric hudson

A strong history forms the foundation of Tougaloo College. The school’s first students were freed men and women in pursuit of higher education, and in the 1960s, Civil Rights leaders found safe harbor on its campus grounds. Tougaloo has always promoted free thought and equality. It’s only fitting, then, to have a dedicated center devoted to these ideals on the campus grounds. The CONTINUED >

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The exterior of the Bennie G.Thomspon Research Center for 224 Civil Rights issues

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Bennie G. Thompson Research Center is this building, and Duvall Decker are the architects behind its design.

DB: The Bennie G. Thompson Research Center serves as the place where Tougaloo students, professors, and guests all come to discuss Civil Rights issues. How did you design the building to foster this dialogue?

Roy Decker: The Center entangles students, faculty, art, visitors, and campus leaders in cross-disciplinary educational environments. The building is a network of engaging spaces, not a hierarchical arrangement of functions. There is no singular center. In-between spaces encourage students and faculty to meet, gather, and exchange ideas. The presence of civil rights and art in the building remind us whose shoulders we stand upon and challenge us to continue the work yet not done.

DB: What did you find most challenging when designing the building?

RD: Beverly Wade Hogan, Tougaloo’s President, issued two significant challenges for the building’s design. First, the building design had to respect the rich history of the campus while also inspiring progressive leadership. Additionally, President Hogan asked us to include Civil Rights images from Tougaloo’s archives in the building’s design.

We feared these two challenges were contradictory—certainly not in content, but in application. We quickly determined that the Civil Rights imagery should be included at the scale of the architecture. But we were concerned that such powerful visual information might short circuit the architectural and educational experiences that we were trying to foster.

DB: How does the final design ensure that this doesn’t happen?

RD: We decided to include the Civil Rights images at a larger-than-life scale but in compressed spaces. Aluminum-clad thresholds connect the wings of the building, each with two images facing one another. These thresholds palpably embody a sense of the movement from oppression to freedom and promote pause and reflection in the daily habitation of the building.

DB: Now that the Center is open, what one design detail are you most proud of?

RD: We are most proud of fitting together the building’s massing and materials and the historic campus while still achieving progressive form and spatial quality. The Center’s forms and spaces are surprising and familiar at the same time. At the building’s dedication, one of the faculty members shared their comment on how the building changes the way they think about the campus—it is now, more than ever, about the future.

Project Credits Architectural Building Components

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the new offices for grip design toronto, canada

Firm / Johnson Chou Inc. Principal Architect / Johnson Chou project type / Office images / provided by johnson chou inc.

Grip’s new offices take their lead from one of the most public of places: the playground. “Grip wanted a space that would convey their ideals immediately. These include first and foremost that they are a creative agency, and the space inspires one with their unique sense of wit and humor,” says Johnson Chou, the architect on the project. Chou gave Grip the ultimate tools for fun—a slide, a fire pole, and fold-out bleacher seating. “In the back of my mind, I was expecting the worst,” Chou says of his initial presentation of the wacky design. “Much to my surprise and delight, in that very meeting they approved the complete design. The elements that I expected to be eliminated were perceived as being vital to the culture of their studio,” he adds with a laugh. Well, who wouldn’t love a slide in their office? Apparently, Grip felt the same way, and their new offices offer up a whole new take on the notions of work and play.

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Project Credits Design Team: Silke Stadtmueller, Mark Ojascastro, Bryan Jin, Phil Cates, Ronen Bauer, and Johnson Chou Pengelly Ironworks

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ESTABLISHED IN 1948

ARCHITECTURAL AND CUSTOM METAL 47 RIVALDA ROAD 路 TORONTO 路 ONTARIO 路 M9M 2M4 TEL 416.742.8465 路 FAX 416.742.6378 INFO@PEN-IRON.COM PUBLIC PLACES

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NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND REDEVELOPMENT EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

firm / GARETH HOSKINS ARCHITECTS MANAGING DIRECTOR / GARETH HOSKINS project type / Museum PHOTOGRApher / andrew lee

In 2006, the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland and the Royal Museum merged their extensive collections, but there was a problem with the building: it was just as antique as the objects held within it. To update the joint museum’s look, the Scottish government launched an international competition to redesign the classic Victorian structure. After months of deliberation, they picked architect Gareth Hoskins and his hometeam talent to lead the museum’s renovation. “The aspiration for the project was that it create a world-class attraction CONTINUED >

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Project Credits British Gypsum

that brought to the forefront many previously unseen wonders of the collection,” Hoskins says. “There was to be improved access for all, dramatic new displays, and significantly enhanced visitor facilities.”

To convert ambition into reality, Hoskins and his team first revamped the facility’s entire program, and they started in the basement. “The spectacular vaulted cellar spaces, previously hidden from public view, were sensitively excavated to form an impressive new entrance hall,” the architect says. The hall now contains all visitor facilities, leaving the above floors as dedicated gallery spaces. Now, the new treasures gallery and special exhibition gallery sandwich the original grand gallery, described by Hoskins as “a beautiful birdcage structure” that now houses key large objects that signify the themes and stories contained the atria galleries beyond.”

Within eight months of opening, nearly 2 million people had visited the new National Museum, making it the UK’s most popular cultural attraction outside of London and a stop not to be missed on anybody’s Edinburgh tour.

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EMPTY SKY MEMORIAL LIBERTY STATE PARK, NJ

firm / frederic schwartZ architects PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT / FREDERIC SCHWARTZ project type / MONUMENT PHOTOGRApher / Frederic schwartz architects & david sundberg / esto

Liberty State Park looks directly at the World Trade Center site. As the horrors of September 11th unfolded, people fled across the Hudson River and congregated in the park. And in the days that followed, they returned to its shoreline site to mourn. It’s only fitting, then, that Liberty State Park is home to New Jersey’s Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial. Designed by architect Frederic Schwartz and dedicated on September 10, 2011, Empty Sky commemorates the New Jersey residents who lost their lives the day the towers fell. “Our intent was to powerfully connect the important site in New Jersey with a reflective design that was stark and focused back on the void across the Hudson,” Schwartz says of the memorial. Here, he talks to us more about Empty Sky, the impact it has left on New Jersey, and the hope it represents for the future.

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“There is a beautiful and fascinating halo of sunlight that enters the memorial. There is something phenomenal and mystical about it—it’s like nothing else I have ever seen or experienced in my life. For me, it’s a religious experience.”

—FREDERIC SCHWARTZ

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Project Credits B.K. Lighting

DB: Please tell us why “Empty Sky” was ultimately selected as the design for the New Jersey 9/11 Memorial.

Frederic Schwartz: Liberty State Park was already very emotionally charged and powerful, given its proximity and stunning views of the towers and lower Manhattan. We sought to respect and capture that.

Our most important goal was to create a meaningful place for the family members and community to honor and remember each of the 746 loved ones who were murdered on September 11, 2001. Another important goal was to complete and dedicate the memorial by the 10th anniversary of the attacks. The [memorial’s] twin walls run the length of a side of the World Trade Center (208 feet and 10 inches). The stainless steel reflects the changing light of day just as the towers did, and the names of the loved ones who perished are the largest on any [9/11] memorial.

Those connections resonated with the jury, especially the family members who had the final vote.

DB: What did you find most challenging when designing this memorial?

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FS: The biggest challenge was getting the project funded and built. Stainless steel prices skyrocketed worldwide during the post-9/11 building boom.

When the project went out to bid, stainless steel was at a record high and China was using half of the world’s supply for its new skyscrapers. Like a commodities broker, I watched the daily prices of stainless fall until I knew it was the right moment to re-bid the project. At the moment we sent it out for re-bid, it was under budget instead of being ten million dollars over budget. Timing is everything.

DB: How has the completed memorial affected its users? Do they use the space in the way that you intended?

FS: As intended, the memorial is frequented by family members, visitors to Liberty State Park, and those who take the ferries to Ellis and Liberty Islands, which often include school groups. We have had the emotional experience of meeting visitors. They share their stories and memories of how they used to visit this spot and where they were on 9/11. Sometimes they share a story of a loved one they lost. The scale of the memorial has an effect on visitors, as does its directional, visual, and emoPUBLIC PLACES

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tional pull to the site where the towers stood. The intent was to provide a dramatic and powerful place to remember the 746 lives lost, allowing for contemplation and being together—especially on the annual anniversaries of the attacks. Empty Sky is a place to gather and gain a renewed sense of strength.

DB: What one design detail of Empty Sky makes you feel most proud?

FS: I am most proud of the fact that our drawings and renderings for the design and the memorial that was built are one in the same. I personally battled for years on many fronts to make sure I would deliver what was promised.

I never compromised, even when we were asked to. I also credit the support of the families and the State of New Jersey for standing behind me, especially Rick Cahill, the President of the New Jersey 9/11 Family and Victims Foundation. Rick lost his son, and he stood tall with me.

DB: Now that Empty Sky has been built, has the design produced any effects that you did not anticipate?

FS: There is a beautiful and fascinating halo of sunlight that enters the memorial. The light reflects off the walls to create a circle of light that one can clearly see but never touch. This was not designed, discussed, or anticipated. It just happened. There is something phenomenal and mystical about it—it’s like nothing else I have ever seen or experienced in my life. For me, it’s a religious experience.

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POETS HOUSE battery park city, ny

Firm / louise braverman architect Principal Architects / louise braverman project type / library images / provided by poets house

New York’s famous Poets House holds more than 50,000 volumes of poetry. Skimming along all the titles, it is difficult to resist just picking one at random and curling up to read in a corner. And given the library’s friendly-yet-minimalist aesthetic, it’s easy to feel comfortable and spend the entire day immersed in the collection.

That, ultimately, was Louise Braverman’s goal. Poets Houses sits across from Battery Park, so she created a light-filled space designed around the idea of literal transparency. “It’s not just minimal for minimal’s sake,” Braverman says of her design decision. The architect built out the building’s exterior walls using double-story windows, and then enclosed the central gallery space and children’s library in a glass core. From the street, people passing by see the activity inside and feel compelled to come in, while from the interior, library patrons can look out and be inspired by their surroundings.

Although the pleasant look and feel of the Poets House reading rooms could entice even the most hesitant poetry reader, it’s the auditorium that really captures the essence of the building. “I wanted to achieve that highbrow, low-brow attitude of poets, which is most evident in the auditorium,” Braverman says, explaining that the contrast is best captured by the glass garage door that opens the room to the nature outside. “It’s a very inclusive environment that creates a relationship with the community-oriented projects in the surrounding park,” she adds. And that is the collection’s goal: to foster a love for poetry by bringing it out into the world.

Project Credits Cauldwell Wingate

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The face of the suburban landscape has shifted throughout the years.

Traditional styles have given way to modern designs more suitable for today’s families. But no matter the decade, one thing remains consistent about suburan structures: cutting edge design is always in style.

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the red house Philadelphia, pa

Firm / Fish Tank Principal Architects / Louis Chang and Christopher Kircher project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Aileen Bannon Foto

If you’ve ever spent time in Philadelphia, you know it as a city characterized by its working-class enclaves, each with its own unique heritage, demography, and architecture. Louis Chang and Christopher Kircher, the founders of experimental architecture studio Fish Tank, understand that dynamic well. It’s what drew them to Philly to begin with and what drives their philosophy of urban modernism with a classical twist. And it is their cutting-edge residential work that continues to set them apart.

We caught up with Chang and Kircher at their Fishtown studio to ask them about their design philosophy and what kind of imprint they hope to leave on the City of Neighborhoods.

DB: You design and renovate buildings in one of America’s oldest cities, where some architecture is literally hundreds of years old. What is the first thing that you consider when approaching a new site?

Louis Chang: We go into every project site knowing that every condition is going to be different from the previous one and that allows us to find solutions that are specific and appropriate. In some cases, this might just be to literally not mess it up because the architecture is al-

ready there. The question becomes: how do you inject an element of newness into a space that hasn’t seen the light of day in 20 or 30 years?

DB: What main challenge did you face at the Red House, one of your more recent projects?

LC: The Red House Project is a 3,100-squarefoot residential property located in the Fitler Square neighborhood of Philadelphia, which runs along the Schuylkill River and represents a mix of colonial, turn-of-the-century, and midcentury modern structures. Part of the neighborhood falls under a historical overlay for preservation; the Red House lies just outside this historic boundary. The challenge was to combine the owners’ existing three-story row home with an adjacent two-story row home while still embracing the neighborhood.

DB: How do you put your principle of responding to the neighborhood/space to work in this particular project? What was the aesthetic approach?

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“The lack of design specificity ruins neighborhoods and robs them of their essence and identity” —Louis Chang

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exterior façade that creates a reinterpreted unification between the modern and traditional through scale and proportion. The solution was to create voids in the party wall between the properties to connect the homes. Similarly to how the interior spaces move across, through and around the original party wall to tie spaces together, the exterior stretches new material and conditions with railings and built-in planters across the original party separation while still maintaining the rhythm of the row house proportion.

DB: In terms of residential design faux pas, can you give me an example of something that is being done in row house design that you’d like to see eliminated?

LC: Philadelphia is one of the cities in which the row home matured as a building type, and in the past, row homes were typically built around factories or mills for workers. Now, what’s happening is there is this new inter-

pretation of a row house; it’s a cookie-cutter type scenario where you have a ubiquitous three-story house with a big bay window projecting beyond the face of the brick and usually it’s clad with either metal, or vinyl or stucco. This seems to be a norm in Philadelphia. I think the lack of design specificity ruins neighborhoods and robs them of their essence and identity.

DB: How would you define your style?

CK: We don’t really have one and that helps us stay fresh. It keeps us from saying, “Well this is how we do it.” We don’t go in with any preconceived ideas, so we are free to explore what the relationships are within the project.

You’ll never get a repetitive solution from us.

Instead, what we try to do is listen. We listen to everything in order to respond to anything, from physical to intangible parameters. These are the things we pay attention to the most to find a good solution.—Christopher Moraff

Clean lines and stainless steel appliances further the urban modernist design inside The Red House

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eleven river townhomes rocky river, oh

Firm / Dimit Architects Principal Architects / Scott Dimit and Analia Nanni Dimit project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Brad Feinknopf

In downtown Cleveland, abandoned steel plants and barge shipping slips sit on most of the lakefront real estate. Cleveland, however, also has abundant rivers that feed directly into Lake Erie, and their banks make for ideal water views. Dimit sited his Eleven River Townhouses on the Rocky River for this very reason, and their striking architecture doesn’t disappoint. “Each trip up and down between floors places a resident in direct contact with the river view at each stair landing, and this is a very unique and dramatic experience,” says Dimit. The river view remains front and center even on the roof. “The rooftop terraces turned out to be some of our favorite spaces in the project. Because of the way the Rocky River bends around the Eleven River site, you feel almost as if you are on the deck of some huge ocean liner.”

Project Credits Developer: Andrew Brickman, Nate Barrett, and Justin Campbell, Abode Modern Lifestyle Developers Project Architect: Adam Parris Project Team: Scott Csutora, Matt Sommer, and Javier Dominguez Mechanical Engineers: Dan Austrian and time Kobus, Austrian Associates Structural Engineers: Stephen Ebersole, Ebersole Engineers Civil Engineers: Dusty Keeney, Polaris Engineers Windows and Doors: Pella Windows Cement Board Cladding: Nichiha Phenolic Wood Rain Screen Panels: Abet Laminatti Concrete site walls and foundations: MPW Cleveland Steel stairs, decks, and railings: Fabrication Group Cleveland

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el andaluz Santa Barbara, CA

Firm / Jeff Shelton Architecture Principal Architect / Jeff Shelton project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / macduff everton

El Andaluz looks more like a Barcelona building designed by Antoni Gaudí than it does a California condo complex. Its bold forms, vibrant colors, and curves galore look similar to Gaudí’s Casa Batallo and set the building apart from its tidy Americana neighbors. To get the Spanish look, Shelton enlisted a team of highlyspecialized local artisans known for their fantastic designs. “We turned our construction site into an art studio, full of artisans who wanted to put their talent into the building,” Shelton says. The team took a typical apartment courtyard layout and decked it out with ornamental iron work, colorful tile patterns, and rich wood carvings to make it look extraordinary. The attention to detail and unique style not only give El Andaluz character, but also make it into a character that lives in the neighborhood. This, Shelton says, is his favorite aspect of the complex. “People feel the building as they walk past.”

Project Credits Santa Barbara Art Glass

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JEFF SHELTON ARCHITECTURE

A look at the Spanish influenced architecture at the El Andaluz apartment complex in Santa Barbara, CA

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Bright colors and bold graphic designs at El Andaluz

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Santa Barbara Art Glassblow ng Studio

zimmerraystudios Seattle Las Vegas

By Saul Alcaraz

saul alcaraz spEnds his days Marshalling thE forcEs of his crEativE firEs

– his own and

thE

2000 dEgrEE

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Rational

a 25 yEar glass-

To approach opportunity with the rigor of careful observation, research, analysis and testing is to embrace the empirical in decision making.

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Bold Thriving in the unknown and navigating change with vision-driven leadership requires conďŹ dent and effective action.

Sensitive A rational and bold approach translates into meaningful and creative results only when balanced with a deep sense of awareness.

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Photography: Lara Swimmer

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admiral live-work Seattle, WA

Firm / Zimmerray Studios Principal Architect / Robert Zimmer and Harry O. Ray project type / residential/commercial PHOTOGRApher / lara swimmer

Seattle’s zoning code actually lets you make money off your house. The city allows commercial income-generating spaces to be directly attached to single family private homes, providing architects with a huge opportunity to explore this unique typological intersection. Here, Robert Zimmer talks about Admiral Live-Work, one such design, and the potentials it holds for the future.

DB: How does Admiral Live-Work offer up a new take on both commercial and residential buildings?

Robert Zimmer: Admiral Live-Work is a flexible 4,250 square-foot singlefamily residence and accessory dwelling unit (ADU) capable of adapting to future zoning changes. The ADU annex, a potential income generator, faces the commercial zone. With minor modifications, the two-unit building can grow to three or become one, two, or three commercial units.

DB: How does it challenge current suburban typologies?

RZ: At the intersection of commercial, multi-family, and single-family zones, the structure is designed to adapt effortlessly to the inevitable re-zoning that comes with increasing urban density and to contribute to a deeper sustainability than is currently “certifiable.” It’s highly convertible—there’s an ease of continually accommodating a vast array of programmatic combinations with income generating potential.

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The striking downtown Seattle skyline is visible from inside the multi-use space

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Croghan’s Edge Townhomes pittsburgh, pA

Firm / Moss Architects Principal Architect / Andrew Moss project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Jason Snyder

At the Croghan’s Edge Townhomes, pre-fab parts set the project apart.

“The ultimate strength and success of the overall composition is that it does not attempt, as is typical, to hide its prefabricated construction,” says Andrew Moss, principal at Moss Architects. He alternated a simple palette of ready-to-use components in order to emphasize the visible transition points that mark each box’s construction. Since each unit projects its squared-off end condition onto the street line, the housing complex looks unmistakably pre-fabricated, a characteristic that Moss says “has all the neighbors talking” in its quiet Pittsburgh neighborhood.

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The neighborhood voted to name the townhouses Croghan’s Edge.

“The name honors George Croghan, known as ‘king of the traders’,” Moss says. “He was an Irishborn trader, land speculator, and envoy to Native American tribes, and he resided in the vicinity in the 1760s.”

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Project Credits Structural Modulors

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Modular Construction: Building a Better Way Experienced personnel, design flexibility, quality materials and name brand products are just the beginning. We put pride and excellence in everything we build.

P.O. Box 315 Strattanville, PA 16258 800.216.7849 www.smihomes.com

Architect Andrew Moss’s pre-fab designs show off a pop of red, making the design stand out

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Rendering by Moss Architects

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bon ton loft Bozeman, Montana

Firm / Envi Design founder / Susie Hoffmann project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / audrey hall

Bozeman, Montana doesn’t exactly have much in common with Brooklyn, New York. Envi Design founder Susie Hoffmann transplanted to the sleepy town six years ago to live an active lifestyle, but she brought with her the Big Apple’s edgier and more efficient ways of design. All she needed was a space where she could get her Bozeman design business rolling.

Hoffmann soon discovered the Bon Ton building, a beat-up flour mill located in Bozeman’s up-andcoming mill district. The space was perfect for her own live-work loft, so she purchased 1,000 square feet. “I wanted to take the architectural space as-is, keeping the floor plan open and intelligent,” Hoffmann says of her design intent. “This maximizes the views and the small space.” The loft’s finished floorplan is uninterrupted. Its only solid walls are the wood-paneled doors that hide utilitarian spaces. The designer converted a creepy old elevator shaft into an efficient walk-through bathroom.

And in true New York fashion, the kitchen has small apartment-style appliances.

The loft feels even bigger than its modest 1,000 square feet because her design works. And although it may be large by Brooklyn standards, it brings efficiency and perspective to Bozeman’s mountain living. Not bad for a former city slicker.

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Hoffmann repurposed steel left over from the mill as the base for her cooktop

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Inspecting the Bon Ton loft’s pretty pops of color and quaint furniture, you’d never guess designer Susie Hoffmann was the type of person to get down and dirty in the design work. “She was willing to put some elbow grease in to keep costs down, says Marty Balus, owner of EF3 Fabrication & Design. “I’ve seen her in coveralls covered from head to toe in sawdust.”

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Project Credits EF3 Fabrication and Design

EnviDesign.com p. 406.585.1765 SUBURBIA TODAY

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the sliver champaign, il

Firm / Andrew Fell Architecture and Design Principal Architect / Andrew Fell project type / residential PHOTOs / Robert K. O’Daniell

Ample space is not a luxury available at most college campuses, and this is true at Fell’s Sliver project, an off-campus apartment building at the University of Illinois. “As a campus housing project, the main goal is to maximize the number of bedrooms available,” Fell says of the Sliver’s main objective. The Sliver, however, sits on a “non-conforming” 40-foot by 66-foot lot, a small size by most standards, and made even smaller due to a strict requirement for on-site parking. So, to push the number of bedrooms to the limit, Fell had to get creative building’s plan. “The most efficient building type for these restrictions is a duplex,” Fell says. Thinking vertically, the architect constructed the five-bedroom dupli side-by-side and raised the ground level up by a one-half story in order to tuck the parking underneath.

The extra half-level even gives each unit’s roof terrace a clear view across U of I’s campus. It’s not a typical college rental, but that has absolutely worked to The Sliver’s advantage. “The building has a waitlist,” Fell says.

Project Credits Principal Architect: Andrew Fell Senior Associate: Sara Riebe Associate Architect: Martha Stoakes Design Associate: Tyler Harries Building Owner: Scott Cochrane, JTS Properties Wells and Wells Construction

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ANDREW FELL ARCHITECTURE

The Sliver lives up to its name: the small-andnarrow footprint of the building measures in at a mere 40 by 66 feet

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ANDREW FELL ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN andrewfell.com 217.363.2890 Champaign, Illinois

Over 25 years experience in residential, multi-family and commercial construction.

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Washington, nevada and california 425.377.8786 775.247.7889 www.conceptarchitecture.com

Wells and Wells Construction, Inc. 612 N Walnut Street Champaign, IL 61820 217-356-7030 www.wellsandwells.com

bowman hartke residence carnation, wa

Firm / concept architecture Principal Architect / martin reimers project type / residential Images / Provided by Concept Architecture

The site at the Bowman Hartke house hits a suburban sweet spot. Not only does it open onto spectacular mountain views, but it also has plenty of space, an anomaly in much of Seattle. “We had a large enough site to give the home the feeling that there was little development around,” Reimers says. To offer many different views of nearby Mt. Ranier and the Cascade Mountains, the architect set the home at an angle and stepped the exterior wall planes. “Instead of having a one-sided home with essentially the same view, each room offers its own outlook on the unique surroundings,” Reimers says. “The result was a home that feels more like a retreat than a suburban residence.”

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Reimers clad the fireplace in the homeowners’ petrified wood collection. “Not only did the color and texture work great with the other materials in the room, but it also kept an important family collection close at hand,” 276 Reimers says.

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ranch revival Portland, ME

Firm / Kaplan Thompson Architects Principal Architects / Phil Kaplan and Jesse Thompson project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Trent Bell

In their home search, Jesse Thompson and his wife Betsy searched long and hard for “the dump of their dreams.” Thompson shares with us the details that make the former ramshackle 1960s ranch house one of Portland’s most striking homes.

DB: Your house was quite an eyesore before its makeover. What compelled you to buy it?

Jesse Thompson: Our hope was that we could renovate it into an affordable, high style, and extremely comfortable home for our family. As an architect and fiber artist, our creative vision was clear enough to wade through the endless rough and sense the glimmer of a diamond that lay deep inside that forgotten home at the end of Madeline Street.

DB: Now that it’s been completely overhauled, what design details make your home a truly unique suburban house?

JT: Not many classic suburban ranches are clad with 150 year-old salvaged slate as siding, especially covering six inches of foam insulation. The house has a striking presence in a neighborhood that hasn’t seen any new construction in a few decades, but sets a quiet-colored tone with its dark stained hemlock siding and its salvaged slate base and chimney. Just past the fondle-worthy, Euro-brown entry door, the mudroom CONTINUED >

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The homeowners’ clean design style gets a fun lift thanks to the blue accent wall and whimsical coat hooks in the mudroom

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KAPLAN THOMPSON ARCHITECTS

buzzes from the vivid blue wall flowing with birch plywood coat hooks. Credit that one to the textile expert of the family—Betsy, my wife.

Project Credits Pinnacle Window Solutions

As you turn into the living room, a sexy, curved plaster ceiling billows and heaves in all the right places to define the comfy kitchen and dining room.

It quickly rises to twelve feet over the sunny main living space, where the custom steel fireplace surround visually locks you in. It’s also our only heat source in this amazingly energy-efficient home.

DB: Which elements of your home’s design are you most proud of?

JT: The renovation cost was under $100 per square foot, and due to smart energy saving measures, the house cost less than $400 to heat last winter. The house won a 2012 AIA Maine Award. We’re still married. And each week we got an ‘Awesome!’ from our city garbage truck crew, who watched the project develop as they came to collect the trash.

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GLOBAL BUILDING MODULES New York, NY

Firm / DAVID WALLANCE ARCHITECT founder / DAVID WALLANCE project type / residential Images / courtesy of david wallance architect

Residential construction site set-up and operation has remained virtually unchanged over the past 250 years.

The process is inefficient, and therefore unnecessarily expensive. Building residential architecture in any American city is a costly endeavor. David Wallance recognized a desperate need to revolutionize and redesign how we build urban housing and other buildings and began fighting for a solution. “With urban housing there is a tremendous need for cost-effective housing,” says Wallance. “Construction managers say there is no real efficiency.”

The solution came in a glimmer with the advent of using, of all the glamorous things, shipping containers to construct mid to high-rise structures. In 2005, Wallance was approached by two developers in New York, Alex Abrahms and Edlin Scott, who were interested in modular building systems based on shipping containers. They wanted David to rethink the view of largescale manufacturing.

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ADVANCING THE

SCIENCE OF BUILDINGS MEP/FP ENGINEERING DESIGN NET ZERO DESIGN PASSIVE SYSTEMS DESIGN LEED CONSULTING CENTRAL UTILITIES SITE ENGINEERING WASTE & STORM WATER MANAGEMENT BUILDING ENVELOPE CONSULTING ASSET MANAGEMENT CONSULTING House on the Sound David Wallance Architect

© Jeff Goldberg / Esto

Architectural Partnership We’d like to thank David Wallance for the opportunities we’ve had to work with him, from his early days at Edward Larrabee Barnes Associates to his present design firm, David Wallance Architect PLLC. It’s been our honor and we look forward to more opportunities in the future.

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Project Credits Dagher Engineering Duratherm Window Corp.

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Schönberg Home Addition charlotte, nc

Firm / DIALECT DESIGN Principal Architects / TOBY WITTE & JAHAN NOURBAKHSH project type / residential PHOTOS / courtesy of dialect design

In the Schönberg addition, Toby Witte and Jahan Norbakhsh brought the concept of a backyard treehouse inside. “The Schönbergs asked us to create a wing for their three daughters, ages 4, 7, and 11. They wanted one room each, a shared bath, and a common area to play and read,” Witte says. Since trees surround the home, the architects playfully incorporated them into the second-story addition by building a stepped library that peers out directly into the leafy branches. “The library’s summit is expertly nestled in the treetops, and the space is fashioned of bookcases acting as cushioned benches,” Witte says of the small nook. It’s a tiny spot where the girls can sprawl out, read, and look out into the trees, which they enjoy doing often.

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Project Credits Gerkin Windows and Doors

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The living quarters were designed with little girls specifically in mind. The Schönberg daughters have their own wing inside the family home, complete with a library nook.

Gerkin Windows and Doors designed the understated windows that span the space between the Schönberg home’s original structure and its added space. The windows line up seamlessly across the home’s facade, providing a wide-angle view out into the trees.

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ALLEN PLAZA LOFT 602 INDIANAPOLIS, IN

Firm / haus ARCHITECTURE FOR MODERN LIFESTYLES Principal Architect / CHRISTOPHER SHORT project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / MICHELLE PEMBERTON, RED ROCKET PHOTO

Steel drove the sleek, contemporary look of Loft 602. “My client purchased the property pre-finished but wanted to customize the space to meet his function and aesthetic needs,” architect Christopher Short says. “He was interested in an industrial aesthetic, which to him meant steel.” Short made good on his client’s request by incorporating the material into every room. A large steel and concrete table anchors the combined kitchen/dining/living space, while the bedroom features a steel headboard and bed frame, and contemporary steel niches display personal items throughout the house. It’s the three prominent steel barn doors, however, that really unify the loft and drive home its sophisticated look. “We are probably most proud of the steel barn doors,” Short says. “Not just the design and fabrication, but getting them up six flights of stairs. They weigh about 300 pounds each!” With all the added weight, Short is thankful that the loft is made of steel and concrete itself. “It’s less worrisome from a structural standpoint,” he says with a laugh.

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HAUS ARCHITECTURE

Project Credits Construction Management (Loft 602 upgrades): Werk Build Developer: Allen Commercial Group Lighting/Blinds/Controls: Doherty Design Group Blinds/Controls: Lutron Steel Fabrication: John Beck Paper & Steel Architect for Shell Structure: Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf

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Steel accents compliment the contemporary look of Loft 602

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Whether a hotel, bar, or restaurant, hospitality designs influence our social experiences. The unique designs in this chapter stand out from the crowd, and each has been carefully crafted to ensure that a night out is anything but ordinary.

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bota bota spa montreal, cAnada

Firm / Sid Lee Architecture Principal Architects / Jean Pelland and Martin Leblanc project type / SPA PHOTOGRApher / Elida arrizza

Upon first look, Bota Bota Spa is certainly not what one would expect a tranquil dwelling to look like. But the beauty here lies within—and with its amazing views.

Bota Bota is housed in an unlikely spot: on an old rusty barge permanently docked in the old port of Montreal. However, the former ship/spa offers impressive views of the water. “The surroundings are the most stunning aspect of the project, so we designed a lot of the project around this,” says architect Jean Pelland. To share the view with any spa-goer who steps aboard, Pelland and co-architect Martin Leblanc installed a porthole window wall that perforates both sides of the ship. And the overall effect? “The large scale portholes really embody the feeling of the whole experience by allowing people to sit on top of the water in the cocooning [interior] environment,” Pelland says. “They create the feel of a stunning experience unique to the setting and to the city of Montreal.”

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The unlikely site of Bota Bota Spa in Montreal, Canada

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A quick dip in the outdoor pool will get the blood flowing—especially during the chilly winter months

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Architecture, Retail and Interior Design, Exhibition Design,

203 Grand Street Brooklyn, NY 11211

Urban Design and Master Planning

sidleearchitecture.com

H.I.C. #1367183 H.I.S. #1367170 T: 718-594-3803 F: 718-399-3503 wdorvillier@hotmail.com

bird boutique brooklyn, ny

Firm / ole sondresen architect Principal Architect / ole sondresen, principal project type / boutique images / provided by ole sondresen architect

The kiln from the bakery that used to inhabit the Bird Boutique space still sits undisguised. Save for the kiln, everything else inside Jennifer Mankin’s clothing boutique is constantly changing. “Jennifer is a maximist, not minimalist,” says Ole Sondresen, the principal architect on the project, of his client’s preferences.

Mankin’s ever-changing shop is why Sondresen needed to push Bird’s programmatic flexibility to its limit. Following seasons and trends, Sondresen created modular components, such as the shelves and tables, that can be moved to remerchandise the clothing and maximize the browsing space. “It is not a controlling environment,” says Sondresen. “It’s completely the opposite of what most architects usually do.” The loosely-planned atmosphere allows Mankin to stretch Bird’s function past its retail use. Stop by on a Saturday night, and you may find the boutique is hopping with gallery-goers and local artists, who like to show their work in Bird’s funky space. It’s just one of the benefits of having a flexible space that changes with your whim.

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A look inside the ever-changing Bird Boutique in Brooklyn

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Nestled in an industrial area, the Bird Boutique’s organic wood walls and subtle pops of color create an ideal nest for shoppers.

“The design of the boutique is beautiful and unobtrusive,” says William Dorvillier, Owner and President of WM Dorvillier and Company, Inc.“It creates a backdrop for the beautiful clothing that is showcased within it.”

Project Credits W.M Dorvillier and Company, Inc.

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hotel sezz saint tropez Saint-Tropez, France

Firm / Christophe Pillet principal ARCHITECT / Christophe Pillet project type / HOTEL PHOTOGRApher / manuel zublena

The sleek pool deck at Saint-Tropez’s Hotel Sezz is the perfect retreat for the jetset crowd. Architect Christopher Pillet incorporated an always-chic color palette of whites, grays, and dark browns in the hotel’s architectural finishes, and then added bright pops of color through the décor. The furnishings, designed by Pillet himself, are so low they teasingly appear to brush the ground, making reclining all day poolside nearly irresistible.

Project Credits Emeco Oluce

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CHRISTOPHE PILLET

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Not only did architect Christophe Pillet design the chic hotel, but he also designed many of the furnishings inside

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Established in 1945, by the master Giuseppe Ostuni, Oluce is the oldest Italian lighting design company that still active today.

Oluce In the early 1960s had played host to the young Joe Colombo, who created a series of pieces that still belong to its catalogue and remain to this day inimitable objects; in the 1970s Oluce saw a young Vico Magistretti, who soon became one of the great masters; and since the 1990s, Oluce has proven its willingness to open its doors to new designers from throughout Italy and Europe who have been witness to some of the most recent design trends. Each of them, supported by our experience, has been allowed total freedom of expression for their own personal styles: the poetic minimalism of Toshiyuki Kita and of Laudani & Romanelli, the explosive energy of Emmanuel Babled, the sharp language of Carlo Colombo and Nendo, the expressive enquiry of Francesco Rota and Lutz Pankow, and the concise elegance of Astori/De Ponti.

INFO@OLUCE.COM WWW.OLUCE.COM

Oluce S.r.l Via Brescia 2 San Donato Milanese Mi Press Office press@oluce.com +39 02 98491435

ATOLLO 233 ( 1977 ) Table lamp in lacquered aluminium giving direct light, with dimmer.

Lampada da tavolo in alluminio verniciato a luce diretta con dimmer.

233, 2 x max 100W (E27), H=70 cm Ă˜=50 cm HOSPITALITY HOTSPOTS

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Paris Club & Studio Paris chicago, il

Firm / aria group architects Principal Architect / James Lencioni project type / restaurant & club PHOTOGRApher / Anthony Gomez

A little bit of French nightlife in downtown Chicago? Oui, si vous plait!

In 2011, architect James Lencioni and his team remade the popular Brasserie Jo bistro into the hip new Paris Club restaurant. And in a very bold move, Lencioni added an additional story with a retractable glass roof to the squat brick building. Named Studio Paris, the top floor is one of the city’s hottest new clubs, and its retractable roof means you can sip on an after-dinner aperitif or hold a late night dance party in a space set completely underneath the stars. Tres chic, indeed.

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ARIA GROUP ARCHITECTS

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Quality ornamental ironwork, miscellaneous ironwork, and structural steel products and their erection in the greater Coachella Valley and beyond

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Project Credits Kern Konstruction A.G. Photography

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Anthony Gomez, president of AG Photography, knows how to translate an environment’s energy into a two-dimensional image. Gomez was the photographer responsible for capturing Paris Club, and ensuring it look just as sexy on film as it does in real life. “When the owner of the property had his people contact me to license the use of the images for his company, I knew I had succeeded,” he says.

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“Fluid design is the seamless synergy between aesthetic, context, and comfort.”

MATT DUNCAN DESIGN DESIGNER OF JUSTICE SNOW / ASPEN, CO / 2012

Matt Duncan Design 917 804 8177 mattduncandesign.squarespace.com

Commending Roland + Broughton for their partnership in the implementation of the Justice Snow project.

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jewel restaurant melville, long island, ny

Firm / dallago associates Principal Architect / karen dallago and sharon dallago-genden project type / restaurant PHOTOGRApher / Glenn bucalo

At the Jewel, “the more bling and fun elements, the better,” says designer Sharon Dallago-Genden. The Long Island restaurant’s whimsical interior architecture certainly reflects the combined dramatic styles of its vivacious owners Tom Schaudel, a renowned chef and Long Island native, and Mark Beige, proprietor of Rubie’s Costumes, a go-to emporium for all things sparkly and sequined. Schaudel and Beige specifically asked for a fun space, and sisters/designers Karen and Sharon let their imaginations run wild. To ensure that the 10,000 square-foot space always feels right, they built in elements that can be amped up or toned down, depending on the crowd. “We worked really hard to make the 10,000 square-feet flexible,” says Sharon Dallago-Genden. “On a slow night, elements can be dimmed down so that the restaurant isn’t too much.” These elements include a 50foot chandelier made from over 500 colored glass orbs, and rows of ceilingmounted table lamps, which Dallago-Genden admits were a “hard sell” to Schaudel and Beige. A large open kitchen turns cooking into a performance, and hand-painted quotes painted on custom chalkboards remind diners that they shouldn’t take their food too seriously. “My favorite quote comes from Tom’s dad,” Karen Dallago says. “It’s, ‘Shut up and eat your dinner.’”

And if you’re a man, you get to enjoy the restaurant’s wittiest design moment while taking a bathroom break. “On the urinal wall, we put up an image of the paparazzi,” Dallago-Genden says. “It looks like they’re looking at you. Then we put flashbulbs in each of their cameras. When you hit the urinal, the flashbulbs go off and funny sayings come out of speakers tucked into the walls,” she says. The Dallagos, Schaudel, and his daughter composed the hilarious sayings. Sharon even recorded the funniest saying herself. “It questions, ‘Do you really need to use two hands?’”

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A look at the Jewel, Long Island’s blingy restaurant

Jewel’s entire experience is meant to be fun. “Tom and Mark wanted a place where you can come with your friends, share some good local food, and leave always wanting to come back,” Dallago says. “That’s really what’s at the heart of our design.

It was an awesome, inspiring project to work on.” And with all the fun design touches, it’s hard to not have a good time while dining at the Jewel.

Project Credits Highland Organization Corp.

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ELEGANCE WITH AN EDGE

Rocky Mountain Woodworking is a full service custom mill and cabinet manufacturer and installer. While we do fabricate and install our products for commercial and residential projects throughout the US, we started RMW to serve Aspen, Colorado. Aspen is known for having some of the most architecturally innovative, successful, and demanding clients in the world. Perfection is what our clients expect and perfection is what we deliver.

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While some of our work over the last 12 years can be seen at www.RockyMountainWoodworking.com, most of our clients are very private people and prefer not to have their kitchen, library, media room or master closet on our website—and that is just fine with us. If you would like to know more about us, you can send me an email at Carter@RockyMountainWoodworking.com or give us a call at the shop: 970.945.8497

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Rocky Mountain Woodworking 105 Marand Road Glenwood Springs, CO 81601 www.RockyMountainWoodworking.com

JUSTICE SNOW’S RESTAURANT & BAR ASPEN, CO

Firm / rowland & broughton Principal ArchitectS / JOHN ROWLAND & SARAH BROUGHTON INTERIOR CONSULTANT / MATT DUNCAN project type / restaurant PHOTOGRApher / BRENT MOSS

Justice Snow’s Restaurant and Bar looks like it could be a movie set. That’s because film production designer Matt Duncan is behind its distinctive look.

Located in an old bank in Aspen’s historic Wheeler Opera House, the restaurant’s style looks camera-ready, but feels relaxed. “That’s Aspen,” says architect Sarah Broughton. “Justice Snow’s didn’t have to be polished, but it still needed to feel luxurious and accessible. It was a condition of the space.”

It’s the little secrets hidden throughout Justice Snow’s that make the space successful. To play up the space’s antique charm, Broughton kept the original rope-sash windows and relocated the bank vault door to the front of the restaurant. She also installed a brass chandelier salvaged from Columbia University’s library, and added faux water drips that will patina over time.

But it’s the peepholes in the bathroom doors that really catch diners by surprise. Duncan and Broughton fought to build a communal washing area in the restrooms, but the city was not keen on the idea. Finally, after several CONTINUED >

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Sean McWilliams, owner of Artistic Ironworks, crafted the restaurant’s cool ceiling hooks, quirky bar taps, and all the handrails that run throughout the space. “Iron finishes were antiqued or ‘Brut,’ slightly raw but refined, just as they would have been in 1889,” he says of the metal’s rough-hewn look. “The vision for the restaurant combined a sense of history with a feeling of community, a place where locals can feel welcomed and tourists can enjoy the heart of Aspen.” His custom pieces are a very nice fit for this atmosphere.

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trips to city hall, Duncan threw up his hands. “I said, ‘I’m just going to make peepholes instead.’” Although it looks as though you are perversely spying on people, peer through and you are actually see 18-millimeter films that Duncan shot himself. He even distorted them to make the Aspen footage look vintage.

The design at Justice Snow’s certainly creates a vibe that nods at the building’s wild west past without taking itself too seriously. “It’s so lively,” says Meghann Pullen of firm Rowland + Broughton. “You are constantly exploring and finding something new. The details make it magical.”

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Justice Snow’s western look carries over to the accessibility lift, too. John Recio, who managed the Rocky Mountain Woodworking and oversaw the restaurant’s millwork, says it’s his favorite design element for that exact reason.

“Many of the bar’s details were thrown into the lift, including the flutes in the columns and the paneling down the stairs,” Recio says. “They gave us a sketch, a couple of the old bar columns, and a couple of antique elevator accordion doors. The rest of the detailing was R.M.W. and it was just what they wanted.”

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Sean McWilliams Project Credits Artistic Ironworks Rocky Mountain Woodworking Matt Duncan Design

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There is almost nothing that’s more enviable than a super luxurious manse.

These homes show that while there are many different types of opulent homes out there, they all place a premium on high design.

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oceanside montauk Montauk, NY

firm / Biber Architects Principal Architect / James Biber project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / peter mauss

The beauty of this Oceanside Montauk home is found in three distinct spaces. Architect James Biber designed two L-shaped “his and hers” wings for the homeowner couple: a glass and steel loft overlooking the ocean for the husband, and a cozier, enclosed retreat finished in brick and French walnut for the wife. “The main house is built with incredible precision. It will be there forever,” Biber says. And for the detached guesthouse, Biber’s design was inspired by 1950s motels. He built the space with wood walls and exposed concrete and decked it out in beach ball colors and white linoleum. “It’s like the kids’ table at Thanksgiving,” Biber says of the playful guesthouse design. “The [main house] is a much purer way of living,” he says, “but I still have a special affection for the guesthouse because it’s just quirky.”

Project Credits Foster Reeve & Associates Boston Valley Terra Cotta Durite Oslund & Associates

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Bright colors and a throwback style bedeck the guesthouse of the Oceanside Montauk house

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Durite速 USA, LLC Creators of Monolithic Man Made Surfacing Stone Flooring, Walls, and Tops

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Landscape Architecture Environmental Design Master Planning 115 Washington Avenue North Suite 200 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401 www.oaala.com

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ELLIPTICAL STAIRWELL

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Pacific Heights, SF

ABACUS GROUP BUILDERS General Contractor Corte Madera, CA P: 415-927-0667 chas@abacusgb.com

oakland hills residence oakland, ca

firm / oxb studio Principal Architects / Ted Bonneau and Chad Stith project type / residential Images / provided by oxb studio

The Oakland Hills home is all about the view. “The site is incredible, being perched atop the Oakland Hills with views to the east of Mount Diablo and to the west towards San Fransisco Bay,” Bonneau says. To maximize the home’s breathtaking site, Bonneau and Stith built on outdoor terraces and rooftop addition, but their biggest challenge lay in the living room.

In the original space, a large, cylindrical fireplace that doubled as a roof support blocked the view, wasting the best lookout onto Mount Diablo.

“We removed the fireplace, and to hold the room up, we installed a steel compression ring, topped by a skylight,” Bonneau says. “We also raised the windows from six feet to eight feet, added a deck, and opened [the room] to a new kitchen. The result is openness from the kitchen, across the great room, to the exterior deck, all enjoying the view and added natural light.”

Now, that’s what we call a room with a view.

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As if its gorgeous landscape wasn’t incredible enough, the homeowners who inhabit the Oakland Hills Home can entertain guests with a multi-course meal in their eight-sided kitchen. “The most unique design element is the octagonal kitchen transformation,” says Chas Voorhis, President of Abacus Group Builders. “It marries the incredible natural beauty surrounding the home with a unique octagonal interior space.”

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Project Credits Abacus Group Builders

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The Caterpillar House carmel, ca

firm / feldman architecture Principal Architect / Jonathan feldman project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / joe fletcher

The Caterpillar House lives up to its name. Its low, broad roof sweeps over the home’s simple S-shaped form, blending it into the spectacular landscape of the Santa Lucia Preserve. And in his own way, architect Jonathan Feldman even put nature to work for the home, using ground excavated from the site to build up Caterpillar’s rammed earth walls. “We brought the design to nature in a respectful and exciting way,” he says.

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The homeowners use a mixture of Southwestern decor elements with mid-century modern furnishings to create a desert chic look

Inside the hallway of The Caterpillar house

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The Caterpillar house undulates in an S-shape through the California desert terrain

Project Credits Groza Construction Weiland Sliding Doors and Windows

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gold coast glitz chicago, il

firm / Scott Himmel architect Principal Architect / scott himmel project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / toni soluri

Square wood details contrast bright and bold contemporary art inside this Gold Coast home, but despite its current beauty, the apartment did not always amaze. Originally, the clients stumbled straight into the living room as they entered through the front door, the windows tilted away from the building, and the walls themselves were not at 90-degree angles. “Accomplishing rectangular rooms in an old building was difficult, because we didn’t realize at first that the windows were out of whack,” architect Scott Himmel says.

It took some time to plumb the walls and reprogram the entire apartment, but once accomplished, things really began to harmonize from room to room. In the living room, all eyes dart straight to the geometric, glossy wood ceiling that was cleated in place. “The ceiling is truly stunning,” says Himmel of the millwork. “But the best part of the whole design process was that I helped curate the collection of 21st century furniture and quirky art,” he adds with a laugh. Just ask the blue Goofy who keeps watch over the living room—between its woodwork and offbeat decor, this apartment is a feast for the eyes.

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Scott Himmel Architect

Project Credits Legendary Hordwood Floors LLC

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Himmel’s favorite part of the project?

Selecting and placing the home’s quirky pop art.

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pve residence palos verdes estates, ca

firm / dlf studio

Pop art and sparse architecture comingle at the PVE home. Douglas Esparza left the space minimalist to ensure that the home’s decor doesn’t come off as too much. Systems of built-in faceted cabinets hide away daily life objects like TVs and books, allowing the bright pop pieces to steal all the visual attention. A Roy Lichtenstein-inspired piece stares you down as you walk the main hall.

And in the kitchen, Esparza wrapped the cabinets in a static cling graphic that resembles a partially-eaten Hershey bar. The cabinets act as a great reminder that pop art and refined architecture aren’t supposed to be too precious. The PVE home looks good, functions well, but generates fun, too. Inside and out, it’s a real treat.

Principal Architect / douglas esparza project type / residential images / provided by DLF studio

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DLF STUDIO

Calling all chocoholics!

The homeowners have bedecked their wall with artwork resembling a sweet treat from Hershey’s

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house on mitchell hill preston, wa

firm / shugart architecture Principal Architect / William Charles Shugart project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / steve keating

The House on Mitchell Hill is somewhat of a misnomer, considering it abuts the Cascade Mountains. Naturally, the homeowners wanted to open their house to the breathtaking vista, but an ordinary window wall just wasn’t going to cut it. Instead, principal architect William Charles Shugart installed a bi-folding airplane hangar door to really dissolve the boundary between inside and outside space. “We were looking at roll-up garage doors, sliding wall panel doors, and Nana walls, when we came across an airplane magazine that had an ad for bi-folding hangar doors,” Shugart says of his unique design solution. “Because these walls are designed for the long spans of airplane hangars, size wasn’t an issue.” Shugart chose to glaze the door so that when it’s in the down position, it blends seamlessly with the rest of the home’s windows. But when it’s folded up, it truly does offer unobstructed views. “The line between inside and outside is almost indistinguishable,” he says. “Space flows in and out seamlessly.”

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SHUGART ARCHITECTURE

Project Credits Shannon Shugart, interior designer Taylor Callaway and Mathew Lillard, design team Structural Engineer: AKB Engineers / Arun Bhagat, PE Contractor: High Country Construction / Paul Lyman, Owner Radiant Heating: Janes Infloor Heating Company / Mike Janes Sips Panels: Big Sky Insulations / R-Control / Gregory Bulger Storefront Glazing: Arcadia NW / John Munera Hangar Door: Schwiss Bi-fold Doors / Jeremy Rieke Metal Roofing & Siding: Nu-Ray Metal Products

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The house on Mitchell Hill opens up to the expansive outdoor views of the Cascade Mountains

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interchange portland, or

firm / william kaven architecture Principal Architects / Daniel Kaven and Trevor William Lewis project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / daniel kaven

Located in leafy suburbia, the Interchange home has a yard— just not in the front or back of the house like other houses. “The dwelling is organized around a central court,” says architect Daniel Kaven. “As an alternative to dividing the site into the simplistic terms of front yard and backyard, the courtyard becomes the outdoor circulation and destination that unifies all activities.” Kaven and Lewis designed Interchange around the central space because their client wanted his home to optimize the potential for outdoor living. He also wanted a show-stopping space where he could throw swanky parties at all times of the year. To deliver on his desires, the architects designed a “monolithic firepit” in the middle of the court. When lit, it fills the adjacent living spaces with dramatic flickering light. Turns out this is the client’s favorite part of his new abode. “He can sit with friends and see into all the living spaces of the house at night while having a few cocktails,” Kaven says. Doesn’t sound like a bad end to the day to us.

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While it’s not what most people would consider a proper backyard, the home does showcase lush plant life in strategically sited areas

Project Credits Sierra Pacific Windows

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the DeNunzio Burnham Residence new york, ny

firm / ascher davis architecture Principal Architects / Rebecca Ascher and Joshua Davis project type / residential images / provided by ascher davis architecture

Where do parents go to get away when they need a few minutes all to themselves? The bathroom. “Every aspect of the apartment’s design was carefully considered, and one of the places where this is most evident is in the master bathroom,” says architect Joshua Davis. To turn the bathroom of the Denunzio Burnham residence into a sanctuary, Davis used a mosaic tile pattern on the bathroom floor and finished the shower walls in small stone tiles in a gradient of aqua blues. “The gradual color changes in the tile allow your eyes to move from the floor to the walls and then onto the polished surfaces with their subtle play of light,” he says. “They create a depth to the bathroom that would otherwise not exist in a relatively small space.”

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ASCHER DAVIS ARCHITECTURE

Project Credits Rusk Renovations

Composed of cascading white, grey and blue tiles, the Museum Block Prewar’s mosaic shower creates a gorgeous waterfall effect. “I love the mosaic work in the master bathroom. I’ve not seen it before or since,” says John Rusk, President of Rusk Renovatoins. “It took a traditional idea, a marble mosaic, but made it contemporary by making the mosaic serve a ‘fade’ from light to dark.”

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The Artist’s Hands

Fine Manhattan renovations using time-honored techniques Since 1987 ruskrenovations.com

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Acquavilla austin, tx

firm / winn wittman architects Principal Architect / winn wittman project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / coles hairston

Aside from the gorgeous scenery and stunning architecture at the Acquavilla home, it’s all about the cars. “The client is a car collector—I am currently designing the Austin Rock and Roll Car Museum for him,” says architect Winn Wittman. To showcase his private collection, Wittman built out a pair of incredible garages, complete with white porcelain floors, glass showroom doors, and “the same lighting one finds in Porsche dealerships.” The garages are placed right inside the front gateframe, creating a grand entrance that passes straight through the home’s ground level to the pool out back. The entire ensemble “provides a fascinating entry sequence,” Wittman says. “It’s a great way for him to display his collection.”

Project Credits Design Team: Winn Wittman, Jeremy Broussard, and Sam Burch Builder: Gary Robinson of Home as Art Lighting Design: Lightfaktor Pure Electric

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Employing LED and Zeppelin fixtures, Acquavilla’s over-the-top lighting design captures an underground nightclub vibe. The implementation of the lighting, however, was more complicated than just flipping a switch.

“The unexpected challenges started with the previous builder and electrician,” Bryan Haston, president of Pure Electric, says. “When we began the project, it was claimed to be 80% complete, but what we found was 80% of electrical code violations. We evaluated the project and nearly rewired the entire house.”

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480 park avenue new york, ny

firm / alexander compagno architecture & design Principal Architect / alexander compagno project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / juris mardwig

“Life echoes art, and art echoes life.” That’s the mantra that drove 480 Park Avenue’s design. Architect Alexander Compagno was challenged to create a framework for the owner’s growing serious photography collection while also accommodating his young family’s active lifestyle. Compagno worked these clashing requests to his advantage, even using some of the large photographs to hide away everyday objects used in family life. “Over the fireplace, there is a television that is concealed behind a sliding panel with the Hiroshi Sugimoto [print] hanging on it,” Compagno says.

“When closed, it allows the room to act as a formal, adult space, but when open, the entire family can share a casual evening together. Just around the corner is a fully-stocked wet bar complete with a microwave ready to make popcorn for ‘movie nights.’”

Project Credits Fiorella

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Alexander Compagno Architecture & Design

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Alexander Compagno Architecture & Design

When Compagno designs a home, no detail goes unnoticed.

The architect hires only the best craftsman to put the finishing touches on his designs, and when it comes to moldings and trim, he likes to team up with Rob Fiorella. At the Park Avenue apartment, Fiorella and his team completed all of the impeccable custom millwork.

Its clean lines and rich tones finish off the apartment perfectly. Fiorella contributes this seamlessness

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to seven years and many collaborations shared between the two design practices. Right now, the duo is enjoying the challenges brought on by two projects that are aesthetic opposites. “We’re working on a cottage in the Hamptons, which is right up my alley, and a high rise overlooking the Williamsburg Bridge in midtown Manhattan,” Fiorella says. “They’re diametrically different, but equally rewarding.”

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State Parkway Condo Residence chicago, il

firm / froelich kim architecture Principal Architects / Sig Froelich and Martin Kim project type / residential images / provided by froelich kim architecture

In the 1920s, residential architects usually pored all their efforts into creating impressive formal areas, like living and dining rooms. “Today, it’s a tie between the bathroom and kitchen—they’re the two most talked about rooms in a home,” Kim says. At the State Parkway Condo, Froelich and Kim gave both of these rooms a massive overhaul, but in the kitchen they had enough space to really go all-out. After moving some walls and knocking down a tiny maid’s quarters, they were able to redesign the room to fit a generous open prep area and eat-in space. New cabinets and moldings reflect the apartment’s classic elegance. “Our client[s] were happy about the amount of counter space and storage cabinets we were able to design,” Kim says. “Given where it started, the transformation was beyond their expectation.”

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FROELICH KIM ARCHITECTURE

Project Credits Wyndows Installation Corp.

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The furnishings inside the Way Residence condo pay homage to the traditional style of architecture used throughout the space

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Wyndows Installation Corp.

Michael Fitzhugh AIA

Architect

(231) 499-6965

www.mfarchitect.com

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true north loft 301

Traverse City: home to Great Lakes sand dunes, the National Cherry Festival, and a new slew of urban lofts. “True North represents a new generation of downtown residents in the Traverse City area. This is a significant departure from the cottage lifestyle generally found in Northern Michigan,” Fitzhugh says. Inside the 1,000-square-foot loft, Fitzhugh paid homage to the building’s 19th century roots by leaving its brick walls bare. In contrast, he constructed a sleek, open tread stair that reflects the clients’ “modern European sensibility” and connects the lofted space to the entry foyer, “visually drawing the eye into the living spaces.”

traverse city, mi

firm / Michael fitzhugh architecture Principal Architects / Michael Fitzhugh project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / brian confer

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MICHAEL FITZHUGH ARCHITECTURE

Loft living isn’t the norm for Traverse City, but the new loft buildings in the downtown area make for an appealing change of pace LUXE HOMES

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The lofted bedroom features a combination of exposed brick, stone tile floors, and a sliding glass 391wall

bellport home bellport, ny

firm / neff architecture Principal Architects / david neff project type / residential images / provided by neff architecture

Measuring in at a whopping 6,500-square feet, space wasn’t an issue at the Bellport Home. Efficiency and stylistic coherence, however, were entirely separate matters. “There was plenty of existing space to work with.,” says architect David Neff. “I’m most proud of improving the home through subtraction.” To get rid of the worst architectural offenders, Neff first knocked down a bad 1960s dining room that had been haphazardly added to the back of the house. He then relocated a staircase and kitchen’s original pantry to create a combined kitchen and dining room filled with natural light that streams through the space’s new window wall. But in his most drastic move, Neff extremely altered the home’s exterior by cutting down two awkward roofs that covered up a stately structural bridge connecting the main home and guesthouse. “The most stunning feature of the house is definitely the bridge,” he says. “By removing them, we also allowed space for a driveway to pass beneath, which allows the house to be experienced in an exciting new way.”

Project Credits Lindsay Burn Landscape Design John Beitel Landscape Design

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Neglected for years, the Bellport home’s landscape needed a makeover of its own. “You could see at one time, probably many years ago, that the house was surrounded by a beautiful garden,” says John Beitel, President of John Beitel Design. “It had been neglected for so many years that it was all but gone.” By strategically reviving the garden, the home avoided a perfectly manicured landscape and retained an essence of natural beauty. “The house has a bit of a Gatsby feel to it. The clients wanted something that wouldn›t feel too landscaped, maybe a bit forgotten,” Beitel says. “Most of the plants we used are native, but we did sneak a few standards in: Roses, Lilac, Mockorange – things that can get a little overgrown. Once it grows in, it will hopefully all be very romantic.”

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Where Art, Architecture and Design meet to form beautiful interiors

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DesIgn wIth a connectIon to nature PoccIDesIgn DesIgn grouP PoccI grouP Boulder, colorado

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wine country spanish estate sonoma, ca

firm / Robert Baumann architect Principal Architects / Robert Baumann project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / david wakely

Old-world Spanish style lives on in this new-world home. To get the look just right, architect Robert Baumann chose salvaged roof tiles, heavy timbers, authentic stones, and forged iron as the home’s base materials. He then hired artisans and craftsman to work them into traditional Spanish architectural elements, such as brick barrel vaults and home’s impressive central rotunda.

The house is so meticulously stylized that it’s hard to tell that it’s a new build, which Baumann says, was the driving force behind the design. “The owner was supportive of being true to the old-world Spanish style. He chose to do it right and it shows.”

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The owner, who “has been known to spin a good yarn,” has fabricated the home’s entire history. “He fascinates guests with stories of how the house was restored from ruins of one of General Vallejo’s forts from the mid1800s,” Baumann says. “I’d believe it myself if I didn’t know better!”

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ROBERT BAUMANN ARCHITECTURE

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ROBERT BAUMANN ARCHITECTURE

Project Credits Sonoma Mission Gardens

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Built snugly around the property’s old oak trees, the Mission residence is literally a tree-hugging home. “The Oaks are a very important feature in this project,” David Fazzio, President of Sonoma Gardens says. “There were a couple of walls that needed to be moved or adjusted to have less of an impact on the Oak tree roots.” Their design protected the old oaks and integrated them in a way that all nature-lovers can appreciate.

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a strawbale getaway crestone, co

firm / gettliffe architecture Principal Architect / Dominique Gettliffe lead architect / Alejandra Baltodano project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / Lee Buric

Spirits run high in the tiny town of Crestone. Literally. The Rocky Mountain hamlet is home to some of the world’s most well-respected Buddhist, Hindu, and Christian study centers, and one look at the pristine scenery revealswhy. At the Strawbale house, architect Dominique Gettliffe took advantage of Crestone’s stunning landscape and powerful spirituality, designing the home to feel both open to the world and closed off for personal reflection.

“The house has a combination of feeling very exposed and also very protected,” says lead architect Alejanadra Baltodano. This feeling arises thanks to the stepped terrace separated from the house’s living room by a roll-back glass door. Open the door, and the house literally opens onto the surrounding mountainside.

“Looking west, you see a vast space with the sunset and the valley—it’s almost like looking at the ocean. In contrast you have a little living room that feels like a cocoon.”

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GETLIFFE ARCHITECTURE

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While not specifically dubbed as a meditation spot, a similar tranquility and closeness to nature is echoed in Gettliffe Architecture’s Scotch Pine Residence project. “It’s a space that is hard to describe and needs to be experienced,” says Donna Pocci, owner of Pocci Design. “Casually comfortable yet distinctly tasteful, such a house easily becomes a home where conventional boundaries are blurred, edges are removed, and where one can truly live outside the box.”

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Project Credits Pocci Design Group

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park avenue residence new york, ny

firm / lubrano ciavarra architecture Principal Architects / Anne Marie Lubrano and Lea Ciavarra project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / frank oudeman

Forget walls and ceiling heights. Inside the Park Avenue Residence, moldings define scale. “A series of framed openings, accented in deeply articulated moldings in the formal spaces and ‘outlined’ in clean, modern reveals in the intimate spaces, focus the eye on artwork collected by the couple over many years,” says architect Lea Ciavarra. The moldings help bridge the gap between classic Park Avenue style architecture and modern day style.

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LUBRANO CIAVARRA ARCHITECTURE

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COMPLETE RENOVATIONS

CUSTOM DETAILS

Project Credits Project Architects: Lea Ciavarra & Anne Marie Lubrano Designers: Tyler Caine & Luke Carnahan MEP Engineer: M.A. Rubiano PC General Contractor: Interior Alterations Inc Painters: Nadoban Painting Wood Flooring: I.J. Peiser’s Sons Wood Flooring Custom Architectural Hardware: E.R. Butler & Co, H. Theophile Plumbing Fixture Supply: Davis & Warshaw Natural Stone and Tile: Stone Source Furniture and Window Treatments: Le Décor Francais

The home, owned by Dr. Francis X. Claps and artist Denise Green, has great history. It sits in a famed 1930s building designed

by Rosario Candela, and served as Dr. Claps’ office for over forty years. In it, he treated some very famous patients, including General MacArthur, Duke Ellington, and Elizabeth Arden.

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NADOBANPAINTING.COM

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high desert house Albuquerque, NM

firm / jon anderson architecture Principal Architect / Jon Anderson project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / kirk gittings

At the High Desert House, looks can be deceiving. “The house is quite modest from the street. But When you walk in the front door, the ceiling steps up to 14 feet and glass at the end of the main living area perfectly frames the mountains,� Anderson says. To augment the view of nearby Sandia Peak, the architect rotated the house to align with the mountain. He then finished its exterior in reds and browns that match the colors and textures of the natural landscape, making the house blend seamlessly into its high desert surroundings while capitalizing on its spectacular view.

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CHALK HILL STRAW BALE CABIN nevada city, ca

firm / ARKiN TILT ARCHITECTS Principal Architects / david arkin and anni tilt project type / residential images / EriC Millette

The Chalk Hill Cabin may be simple, but it certainly does not lack sophistication. “Our clients wanted a small, simple off-grid homestead to tryout. It needed to be low-maintenance, fire-resistant, and somewhat secure when the aren’t there,” says architect David Arkin. “We proposed the combination of straw-bale construction and a high-mass solar heating system as integral parts of meeting these goals.” Essentially, Arkin and Tilt laid the cabin out over “two simple shed forms.” They built the first form, which houses the living spaces, using straw-bale construction and turned it to the south to maximize sunlight exposure. They housed the mechanical systems and bathroom in the second form, a wooden building capped with photovoltaic panels on its roof. The high-mass solar heating systems is freeze protected, so it’s not necessary to draing the pipes or leave on a heating system while the cabin is unoccupied during colder spats.

True to the keep-it-simple mentality, the architects also opted for an open plan and installed a slide-away nana wall that opens to an outdoor terrace.

This keeps the house cool and cuts out the need for air conditioning. Combined, Arkin says these decisions make the cabin “easy to use, easy to maintain, and easy to live in,” adding that “there’s nothing luxurious about this project, which is perhaps its greatest charm.”

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Arkin Tilt

Project Credits Contractor: James Seely Structural Engineer: Kevin Donahue, SE PV and Solar Hot Water: Sierra Solar Systems

THE SHINN RESIDENCE PALMER, AK

firm / BLUE SKY STUDIO Principal Architect / CATHERINE CALL project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / KEVIN G. SMITH

At the Shinn home, architect Catherine Call strove to unite the home’s great room with its equally great view. “The homeowners wanted to capitalize on the spectacular views of Pioneer Peak and the Knik river delta and glacier on the east side of the property, and they were looking for warm, comfortable rooms with generous site lines,” she says. Call combined the home’s gourmet kitchen and nicely-proportioned living spaces in a main floor great room that overlooks Alaska’s pristine wilderness. The large space has a vaulted ceiling and large picture windows that open up the room and flood it with light, making it the most treasured spot in the whole house. “They love to cook and entertain, and the great room allows the chefs to participate in the party as well as in the mountain and garden views,” Call says. “It’s their favorite design element.”

Call is accustomed to designing homes that open onto the Alskan wilderness. Designing homes on active airstrips, however, offers up a brand new set of site challenges. The architect is currently working on one such home. Named the Sky Harbor House, its airplane hangar looks reflect its aviation-oriented surroundings. “The property where this project sits is behind where I grew up as a kid,” says Sky Harbor’s contractor, Jon Hawkinson. “I’ve seen it developed into a beautiful airstrip subdivision.” Sky Harbor definitely adds to the neighborhood’s funky charm.

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The Sky Harbor home looks like a utilitarian airplane hangar on its exterior while feeling like a welcoming home inside. To hit the right balance, Call had to rely on design elements that support the two distinct styles, and the home’s windows really hit both marks.

“Some of the windows have aluminum exteriors and wood interiors,” says Scott Bucher, president of Bucher Glass. “They give the house a commercial outside appearance and a homey inside.”

Even though the homeowners love their great room, Call made sure all the small details in the home make good design sense. The floors, made from Brazilian walnut, Brazilian rusty slate, cork, linoleum, and wool carpet, can all stand up to glacial silt and heavy traffic patterns.

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BLUE SKY STUDIO

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LICENSED BONDED INSURED COMPLETE POWER SYSTEMS HOME AUTOMATION DATA/COMMUNICATIONS AUDIO/VIDEO The windows at the Shinn house let in ample light, but when it gets dark in Alaska, it gets really dark. To help her wire all of the home’s fixtures, Call enlisted the help of Todd Houston, president of Power and Light. Houston and his team took care of the home’s entire electrical system, ensuring that the home will always be bright, no matter the time of day or month of the year.

Project Credits General Contractor: Steve Miller, Wintersun Landscaping: Greenacres Cabinets: Jon’s Woodworking

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7721 Schoon #1 •Anchorage

907-745-5609

405 S. Rose St. Palmer Eagle River • MAT-SU toddhouston@alaska.net

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7700 Hillside Way Anchorage, AK 99516 907.345.7764 www.hawkinsonak.net

1902 Hanson Road Fairbanks, AK 99709 Phone 907-452-2394 Fax 907-456-4175 In-State 800-770-2394 www.bucherglass.com

THE JACOBSoN RESIDENCE LOS ANGELES, CA

firm / WICK ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN Principal Architect / DAVID WICK project type / residential images / courtesy of david wick

Luxury design equals high environmental performance at the Jacobson home. “The client wanted a home that was a manifestation of her lifelong passion for sustainability,” says David Wick.

To keep the focus on the earth, Wick built in practical measures like solar panels and more symbolic measures like an slot garden that acts as the home’s central space. “The entire house is shaped like a C,” Wick says. “In essence, a narrow slot has been pulled out of the house. This allows the living room, bedrooms, and halls visual access to the garden and doubles the amount of natural light and breezes,” he says. The roofs all slope towards a central water basin located in the center of the garden, eliminating the need for gutters on the exterior facade. The collection point also provides a reusable water supply for the landscape’s upkeep. It’s a low-maintenance approach that’s much appreciated in highmaintenance Los Angeles, and, as intended, is the owner’s favorite element in her new home.

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Drive around Hollywood, and you may see some of Wick’s commercial work, too.

The architect has done showrooms for many big brand names, including Joe’s Jeans and Westime watches, his latest retail project. To capture Westime’s sleek Swiss aesthetic, Wick wrapped the building in an elegant aluminum facade that has required a great deal of design effort to produce. “Making it a reality has involved many iterations of shop drawings, further drawing revisions due to actual field dimensions, engineering, fabrication drawings, production, finishing, and delivery,” says D.J. Friese of C.R. Laurence, the company behind its fabrication. Friese and his team have dealt with the Westime challenges as they come, recalibrating their process with each design modification that arises. But the end design will be well worth it. “We think many will consider [the facade] visually interesting and attractive,” Friese says. “When it’s all said and done, the facade could be considered a form of modern exterior art.”

Project Credits C.R. Laurence

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sanctuary on the hudson weehawken, nj

firm / smithmaran architecture & INTERIORS Principal Architects / ira smith and erik maran project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / ANDREA BRIZZI

Throughout the Sanctuary on the Hudson, Ira Smith and Erik Maran, principals at Smithmaran, relied heavily on shipbuilding elements to make the home feel like a floating haven. A system of gently curved wooden ceiling trusses run across the second story’s ceiling, separating the level’s main room from the kitchen.

Smith and Maran call it the keel because it closely resembles the backbone of a ship’s internal structure. Small LEDs tucked between the trusses and the ceiling cast a soft glow down over the piece and the home’s spaces below. “It has a multi-functional poetic quality,” says Smith of the keel’s elegant looks and pragmatic function. “It’s all about daily poetry. It’s there to solve lifestyle issues.”

Like the keel, certain spaces in the house pull double-duty, too.

Smith and Maran designed the master bedroom to also act as a home office. It double-height space resembles a custom stateroom finished with walnut walls and furniture. There’s even a lofted nook that takes its cue from a ship cubby, framing a glass desk that peers down on the bed below. “You may as well be floating,” says Maran of the home’s overall design. “Like a fine ship, it really is the intersection of architecture and utility.”

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PETER H. BILLOW FINE WOODWORKING LLC Project Credits PHB Fine Woodworking LLC

Precise custom cabinetry, millwork, and furniture for residential, institutional, and commercial applications

18 Richardson Street Brooklyn, NY 11211 718.387.1391 peter@phpfinewoodworking.com www.phbfinewoodworking.com phbwoodworking.tumblr.com LUXE HOMES

the modern farmhouse litchfield county, ct

firm / patrick mulberry architect Principal Architect / patrick mulberry project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / jason houston

The Modern Farmhouse has already gone through two renovations even though it’s only 18 years old. Norval White, architect and famed author of The AIA Guide to New York City Architecture, originally built the house in 1994 as his own residence, applying his sparse style to the traditional New England structure.

The structure, however, proved to be too sparse to weather Connecticut’s harsh climate. “The desire to keep the building form as simple and unadorned as possible led to wind-driven water penetration and a rapid deterioration of the building skin,” says Patrick Mulberry, who redesigned the home for its current owners. To repair the damage, Mulberry replaced all the siding and incorporated a discreet rain screen that drains away excess water before it can further penetrate the home’s structure. “Great care was given to respect the original design aesthetic and incorporate new elements that would be compatible with the existing,” Mulberry says. The new skin performs well without drastically altering its distinct style. And to locals in the know, it still looks very similar to White’s signature home.

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Patrick Mulberry Architect

Project Credits Den Construction

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The kitchen’s large eat-in area, wide plank floors, and simple white woodwork point to its classic New England farmhouse style

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pond house

At the Pond House, “the gallery, a room almost always empty, is more vital to the house than any other space,” says Benjamin Kracauer. The architect designed the home’s 1,500 square-foot addition, which increased its footprint from 2,000 to 3,500 square feet. The new space contains an expanded living room, master bedroom and bathroom, and a larger kitchen. But Kracauer is most proud of its modest gallery. “The key to harmonizing the addition with the original house was the gallery,” he says. “It replaces the original kitchen and dining room, and becomes a new center hall for the enlarged home. The effect is as if a lung was added, allowing the ground floor to breathe through its new center, enhancing in equal measure existing house and addition.”

new preston, ct

firm / archimuse Principal Architect / benjamin d. kracauer project type / residential images / provided by archimuse

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ARCHIMUSE

Project Credits Associate Architect: Reuben J. Jackson, RA Contractor: Jim Picton Brothers, LLC New Tech

Back in Manhattan, Kracauer isn’t afraid to let a space’s original character lead his design. He’s currently finishing an apartment on Fifth Avenue, and restoring all the pre-war plaster, paneling, and moldings is taking a bit of time.

To Enda McGowan, owner of New Tech.

Co. and the apartment’s general contractor, the end results are worth the wait. “All the existing plaster, wood moldings, cabinetry, and doors were carefully restored to original condition, giving the entire apartment an elegant old world feel,” he says.

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NT EW

ECH CO.

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222 EAST 44TH STREET SUITE 901 NEW YORK NY 10017 PH. 212 255 1362 FX. 212 255 1363

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6/12/12 12:18 PM

A photograph cannot show the commitment, service, and quality of RD Wright Inc., and its staff and subcontractors.

For over 26 years, we have worked closely with architects and designers, helping to build their designs for clients’ dream homes.

We have not changed our name or telephone number in those 26 years.

We have no plans on changing them for the next 26 years.

RD WRIGHT RD Wright, Inc

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436 West 18th Street

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New York, NY 10011

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Telephone 212 971 7501

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6/28/12 5:40 PM

soho loft new york, ny

firm / jae chang design Principal Architect / jae chang project type / residential PHOTOGRApher / rob kassabian

The Soho Loft used to be an empty box in a gutted twentieth-century industrial building. Architect transformed the space into a breathtaking home by defining distinct spaces for the owner’s eclectic art collection. Long walls counterpoint large surrealist pieces by Eduardo Arranz Bravo and a long African wood dining table, while cut-outs in the custom rosewood furniture provide interesting display niches for smaller curios. But the floor-to-ceiling wine display is by far the apartment’s grandest feature. “(My client) loves artwork, but LOVES wine,” Chang says.

To build the wall, Chang inserted a hollow stainless steel frame into a custom wood frame. He then deliberately placed points of light to perfectly spotlight each bottle’s label. The combined effect of light, wood, and steel creates a stunning focal point that glitters from every position in the apartment, the exact effect Chang wanted to create. “Wine bottles en masse…it’s very impressive.”

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JAE CHANG DESIGN

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Project Credits R.D. Wright, Inc.

The custom wine rack’s sleek design is a sure-fire conversation starter

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“Archit ec t ur e is just a cryst a llized mo me n t in t ime that pe ople o ccupy in di fferent wa ys .”

—Architect Joe Meppelink, pAge 70

Over the past year, Design Bureau has reviewed thousands of innovative architecture projects.

They have run the gamut in terms of shape, size, and scope, but they all share one common principle: smart design underpins their overall intent. These 100 represent the best of the best.

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