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Studio Visit The Designer Remaking Durham, North Carolina Petal Power A Flower-Shaped House Blooms in the Berkshires At Home in the Modern World
Make It Work Upgrade Your Home Office
dwell.com January / February 2021 Display until March 15, 2021
Isaac Resnikoff of L.A. design collective Project Room and his son, Eli, arrive at their Highland Park house, which is finished with simple materials and filled with vintage finds.
ALL IN ON VISUAL ART
ALL IN ON PERFORMANCE ART
THE NEW 2021 LEXUS IS. ALL IN ON THE SPORT SEDAN. lexus.com/IS | #LexusIS
2021 IS F SPORT shown with options using visual effects. ©2020 Lexus
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January/February 2021 “When the landscape changes with the seasons, you can take it all in. It’s like a theatrical performance.” Kivi Sotamaa, architect Page 58
CONTENTS
features COVER PHOTO BY
José Mandojana ABOVE
Ulla-Maaria Koivula’s “Meteorite” cabin outside Koli National Park in Finland is a glowing refuge from the darkness and chill. PHOTO BY Krista Kaltanen
50 Full Circle
58 Down to Earth
66 Dank Is in the Details
76 Variations on a Scheme
In rural Massachusetts, a far-flung family reconnects in a house with a flower-shaped plan.
A three-story cabin in eastern Finland keeps its occupants warm with an otherworldly shape.
TEXT
TEXT
Anna Fixsen
Vejay Nair
Simpatico architects (who happen to be in the family) and the owners’ exceptional eye give a Los Angeles home its distinctive vibe.
Two musicians transpose the drawings for a wedgeshaped house—originally meant for Maine—to fit their dramatic site on New Zealand’s South Island.
PHOTOS
PHOTOS
TEXT
TEXT
Iwan Baan
Krista Kaltanen
Janelle Zara
Stephen Zacks
PHOTOS
PHOTOS
José Mandojana
Simon Devitt
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EXPERIENCE MODERN FIRE | BOL CORTEN
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January/February 2021
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88
82
CONTENTS
departments 9 Editor’s Letter 12 Community
98 Sourcing See it? Want it? Need it? Buy it!
100 One Last Thing Architect Craig Dykers looks to his collection of neolithic stone tools as he contemplates contemporary technology.
25 Modern World
36 Conversation
44 Renovation
The most functional office accoutrements are rarely the most beautiful, but since a productive workspace is now an essential part of our homes, we rounded up the most useful and aesthetically pleasing office objects out there. We also asked a group of leading thinkers to tell us what comes next for those of us working from home. PRODUCT SELECTION BY Gregory Han PROFILES BY Stacey McLachlan EDITED BY Anna Fixsen ILLUSTRATIONS BY Clare Mallison
What does Black architecture look like? Los Angeles designer Demar Matthews is taking on no less massive a topic with a new project in Watts. TEXT BY Duncan Nielsen ILLUSTRATION BY Sam Kerr
Almost 150 years after it was built, an Ontario schoolhouse gets another lease on life as a weekend retreat. TEXT BY Alex Bozikovic PHOTOS BY Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott
38 Smart
82 Backstory
From invisible stoves to indoor surveillance drones, these are the ways we predict our homes will get more intelligent—as our gadgets disappear—this year. TEXT BY Jennifer Pattison Tuohy ILLUSTRATIONS BY John Devolle
Two artists spend nearly two decades turning a Southern California home and trio of bungalows into the perfect place to live and work. TEXT BY Kelly Vencill Sanchez PHOTOS BY Justin Chung
40 Studio
88 The Backyard House
A house fire set Alicia HyltonDaniel down a new career path. Now she’s building homes all over Durham, North Carolina. TEXT BY J. Michael Welton PHOTOS BY Mike Belleme
Reluctant to expand their historic house, a couple instead build an accessory dwelling unit to host guests. TEXT BY Alex Temblador
18 Dwell Design Awards Get more from Dwell every day. dwell.com/subscribe.
We asked an expert panel of judges and our readers to select 2020’s top projects. ILLUSTRATIONS BY Sam Kerr and Jennifer Tapias Derch
PHOTOS BY
Parrish Ruiz de Velasco
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editor’s letter
Change of Plans
Should we get a task chair? It was a debate in my household as it was in many last year when aesthetics and ergonomics battled for primacy in our interiors. Not that a task chair can’t be beautiful. They just tend to bring a cubicle vibe wherever they go. We ultimately decided that style wasn’t worth chronic back pain. No matter where you stand on the issue, many of us have started taking our home office setups more seriously. And while I hope the new vaccines have us collaborating in person again soon, the normalization of remote work will be a lasting effect of the pandemic and bring about enduring changes in how we design our homes. With that in mind, for this issue’s Modern World section (p. 25), we’ve rounded up 35 home-office upgrades to help you stay healthy and productive—and well lit on video calls. But snarls of cables and an excess of gear look terrible anywhere, so we made sure that the objects in our selection look great—or at least stay out of sight. Where and how we work isn’t the only thing changing. The acrobatics of life, work, school, gym, and all of the other routines our houses are performing simultaneously have many declaring the end of the open plan. I wouldn’t send flowers just yet. We will not be returning to warrens of Victorian parlors anytime soon. But we will have to rethink how we organize space. To that end, many of the homes in this issue feature unusual floor plans that offer novel ideas for arranging interiors. Some are practical, such as two excellent mezzanine schemes: one in a nearly 150-year-old schoolhouse in Ontario (p. 44) and the other in a wedge-shaped building conceived in Nebraska but built in New Zealand (p. 76). Others push things a bit, including a house with a flower-shaped plan in the Berkshires (p. 50) that makes room for its owners, their adult son and his girlfriend, their teenage son, and their daughter, who visits frequently. Another, a family’s cabin in Finland (p. 58), staggers living spaces on multiple perches at various heights around a 30-foot atrium. A video call on the second floor feels worlds away from a play date above, but everyone is still more or less in the same room. Whether or not any of these approaches becomes the norm, we know we’re on the edge of a shift in how people organize their homes. I’m excited to see what ideas take hold. We’ve been forced to adapt. Now, what happens when we choose to adapt?
PHOTO: WESLEY MANN
William Hanley, Editor-in-Chief william@dwell.com
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Dwell Editorial Editor-in-Chief William Hanley Managing Editor Camille Rankin
Dwell San Francisco P.O. Box 40608 San Francisco, CA 94140-0608
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comments
“What a perfect layout for a house. I may not love some of the interior choices, but the way they laid out the floor plan, and kept costs low, is impressive. Bravo!” —April, via Dwell.com
Feedback It’s so great that you are bringing attention to [the affordability] issue [Affording America, November/ December]. We recently moved to Boston, where the idea of a starter home is nonexistent; single-family home sales are up 37 percent compared to this time last year, with an 18 percent price increase to a median of $700K. NOT affordable. KATE TAIT, VIA DWELL.COM
“Here’s What They Don’t Tell You About Living in a Tiny House” [Dwell .com] is excellent, but it misses one point. The reason for municipalities to refuse to allow tiny homes has to do with safety and egress
Re: Glass Bricks requirements for third parties, like an EMT. Tiny homes have no code-based method to control the design and build, and as a result they present challenges to anyone attempting emergency access. BILL TOBEY, VIA DWELL.COM
@ALIG871
PATRICIA HILL, VIA DWELL.COM
Among our top posts was this 580-square-foot cabin in central Chile, designed by architect Guillermo Acuña of GAAA. Set on a cantilevered platform in a dense forest and featuring a transparent facade, it offers amazing views in every direction. “When the moon comes out, you can see it move from one side of the sky to the other,” says owner Gloria Montalva.
I’d much rather have a wall of glass bricks than a wall of mortar. @MARICA_LEASK
They’re a great way to increase natural light in a space. @LOGAN.SCT
I take exception to the characterization of people who are interested in upholding duly voted-in zoning laws as “whistle-blowing bureaucrats or nosy neighbors who cry NIMBY.” The regulations are there for a reason— and just because you are a Very Special Tiny House Owner doesn’t give you the right to flout them.
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Reminds me of a gym shower.
Love it because it is so open. It brings the outside in and inside out. @PSTEGINK
Like the idea, but dislike it in many actual designs.
Looks dated, not timeless.
@JONTHNQUININ
@MATT.BOSTWICK
Literally my least favorite material.
Beautiful but $$$.
Love. It’s modern.
@PARKINPERSPECTIVE
@MAJIDABOGA
@WANTEDDESIGN
Dislike. Immediately think of Legos. @LAURIE_NATURALLY_
Love it. It’s shiny but subtle and works with modern decor.
POLL Love it or hate it: glass bricks
@DOUBLE.PERSPECTIVE .PHOTO
Lets in light, but it’s also private. @GIRLINAPTB
Interesting for offices, truly ugly for a house. @W.CALHOUN
Love for a full wall, hate for a closed window! @FRANCOISROUZIOUX
% 48%
52 Love
Hate
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PHOTOS: LESLIE FREMPONG ( AUSTIN ) ; CRISTÓBAL PALMA (CHILE ) . ILLUSTRATION: PETER OUMANSKI
COMMUNITY
A slatted oak wall and plant-filled interior courtyard elevate a simple home in Austin, Texas, designed by Alterstudio Architecture for a pair of empty-nesters (“Curve Appeal,” November/December.)
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dwell.com
Dwell On This
COMMUNITY
Our new column dishes out fast, practical, and opinionated advice for upgrading your home. Get your fill of fresh ideas at dwell.com/dwell-on-this.
1. You Need Only These Three Knives Any way you slice it, these are your kitchen prep essentials.
2. Debrand Your Home It’s like choosing an ad-free experience IRL.
ILLUSTRATIONS: SOPHIA YESHI
3. Get Behind the Bidet Elevate your porcelain throne with a pampering washlet.
4. Paint Your Ceilings Don’t be shy—coat that blank canvas in a bold hue.
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Delivering the Future of Stairs & Railing
dwell asks
What would you love to see automated in your home?
COMMUNITY
Technology can now assist with everything from locking the front door to turning on a coffee maker. But our readers still have a few things they’d like to get help with—from the practical to the fanciful.
Folding the laundry after it’s dried and then putting it on shelves in a closet. @this_julie_young Why can’t we have showers that steam clean themselves? Toilets and sinks that run a regular self-clean? Have you been in selfcleaning toilets in Europe? Okay, they’re gross, but we have the tech. @marybinghamlee My son. @smiths_pics
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Fluffing the pillows on my sofa before I go to bed. @pamcam17 I hate scrubbing the bathtub. Please design a bathtubscrubbing Roomba, so I can buy it! @lexikon1 Removing the dust that collects on plant leaves! @withlove.d Blinds, but affordable options. I’m not spending $500 to automate my $50 blinds. @huibs_
Dusting every nook and cranny. @piediddly It would be a dream to be able to remotely close windows when I leave the house or go to bed. Otherwise, our two very curious cats sometimes manage to dislodge the screens. @wires.and.knots Ordering a lightbulb when one is about to die. @ramble_creative
Organizing the kitchen cupboards. @danielyahya My bed being made. @wtowen When can we get automated Star Trek–style doors in our homes? @thejoeconrad Bath time for my kids. @ryan_p_ayne My mood! @gc_andcc The humidity. I live in the high desert and would love more moisture in my home air, especially when I’m sleeping. @haaswesom_ blossom
Turning off the lights that my kids constantly forget to turn off. @laurenkeegan Flipping over my mattress. @hautetoddy Making lunch. I work from home and take a brief break to eat, and I don’t want to spend the majority of it choosing what to eat, cooking, and cleaning up afterward. @leahs_quiet_place The volume on the neighbors’ TV. @le_paz
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ILLUSTRATION: LAURIE ROSENWALD
Watering my plants. They’re so varied in terms of exposure to light, distance to forced hot air vents, and their own biology. @dprivitera
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dwell design awards
2020 Dwell Design Awards
We asked an expert jury and our audience to choose the best projects of the year. Visit Dwell.com to see all the winners.
Prefabs
Architect
Ellen Van Dusen Designer and Plant Stylist
Architect
Dwellings
WINNER CASA COSMOS
------On a rustic strip of coastline near Puerto Escondido, Mexico, S-AR designed a beach getaway with an open concrete grid that frames its natural surroundings.
RUNNER- UP COCKPIT IN WILD PLANTS
------Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP created a sunken retreat in Karuizawa, Japan. Its glass lookout allows the residents to study wildflowers blanketing the forest floor.
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Designer
Bartender and Gastronomist
To honor the most outstanding projects we published last year, we enlisted our readers and an expert panel of judges to select the most creative, context-driven designs across eight categories for the Dwell Design Awards. Our judges’ selections, which appear on these pages, display imagination in their form, consideration in their materiality, connection to their environments, and innovation in how they frame a way of living.
“It’s rational and poetic all at once, a paradox in paradise.” SUCHI REDDY ON CASA COSMOS
WINNER SAUGERTIES RESIDENCE
------Assembled in just two weeks, this cedarwrapped passive house near Woodstock, New York, designed by BriggsKnowles A+D, realized a couple’s dream of rural living.
RUNNER- UP PREFAB SAUNAS AND CABINS
------Handcrafted according to centuries-old techniques, the shingled huts by Estonian company Iglucraft have a spellbinding, storybook appeal.
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ILLUSTRATIONS: SAM KERR ( PORTRAITS) ; JENNIFER TAPIAS DERCH ( ICONS) . PHOTOS: BENJAMIN RASMUSSEN (CASA COSMOS) ; NACASA & PARTNERS INC. (COCKPIT ) ; PIPPA DRUMMOND (SAUGERTIES) ; IGLUCRAFT (SAUNAS)
Jerome Byron
dwell design awards
Objects
Bathrooms
WINNER TRANSLUCENCE HOUSE
------A double-sided, free-standing vanity and a shower wrapped in a glass lozenge create an indoor/outdoor experience at a San Francisco residence designed by Fougeron Architecture.
RUNNER- UP SQUARE HOUSE
------For a concrete guesthouse in Stone Ridge, New York, LevenBetts designed an onsen-inspired bathroom with a steam room and hinoki tub.
“A multipurpose heating and cooking utility for the outdoors somehow seems like the perfect tool for our current time— in combination with a wellcrafted and beautiful exterior.”
WINNER NOORI V01
------Brazilian design team Noori—a designer, an environmental engineer, and an architect— devised this Swiss Army–style combination grill, pizza oven, rocket stove, and fire pit, encapsulating everything we enjoy about outdoor living.
RUNNER- UP 100 DAY PROJECT
------Columbus, Ohio–based ceramicist Lalese Stamps of Lolly Lolly Ceramics designed and fired a mug a day for 100 days, each with a wildly different handle.
JEROME BYRON ON THE NOORI V01
PHOTOS: JOE FLETCHER ( TRANSLUCENCE HOUSE ) ; IKE EDEANI (SQUARE HOUSE ) ; CÉSAR BÉJAR (CASA SIERRA FRÍA ) ; HIROYUKI OKI ( AM HOUSE )
Gardens WINNER CASA SIERRA FRÍA
------This monolithic brick home in Mexico City by Esrawe Studio looks imposing from the street, but its enormous pivoting door opens to a courtyard that feels like a lush oasis.
RUNNER- UP AM HOUSE
------A koi moat surrounds this thatched-roof home—a collaboration of Am Design Studio, Time Architects, and Creative Architects— near Ho Chi Minh City.
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dwell design awards
Small Spaces WINNER WOODNEST TREEHOUSES
------Helen & Hard built a pair of pine cone–shaped cabins that wrap around tree trunks in the forests of Odda, Norway.
RUNNER- UP URBAN CABIN
------In Albino, Italy, Francesca Perani Enterprise converted a porch into a hideaway using low-cost materials like OSB and printed floor tile.
Renovations “A great balance of functionality, space, and use of light. The opening plays to the communal notion of the kitchen in a brilliantly effective way.” RYAN CHETIYAWARDANA ON BISMARCK HOUSE
WINNER THE PARCHMENT WORKS WINNER BISMARCK HOUSE
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------A curving skylight illuminates the minimalist kitchen of a dwelling in Bondi Beach, Australia, that was renovated by Andrew Burges Architects.
Rather than demolishing the neighboring remains of a 17th-century factory, Will Gamble Architects incorporated the ruins into a Northamptonshire, England, home that blends old and new.
RUNNER- UP HILTON HOUSE
RUNNER- UP NOSSENHAUS
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------Taking cues from nautical casework, Osmose Design crafted an undulating, white oak kitchen in an irresistibly quirky Tudor home in Portland, Oregon.
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In the Swiss village of Andermatt, Jonathan Tuckey Design reimagined a 1620 structure as a residence, rental space, and wine bar.
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PHOTOS: SINDRE ELLINGSEN ( WOODNEST ) ; FRANCESCA PERANI ( URBAN CABIN) ; PETER BENNETTS (BISMARCK HOUSE ) ; DINA AVILA ( HILTON HOUSE ) ; JOHAN DEHLIN ( PARCHMENT WORKS) ; JAMES BRITTAIN ( NOSSENHAUS)
Kitchens
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carlhansen.com Carl Hansen & Søn Flagship Store, New York Carl Hansen & Søn Flagship Store, San Francisco
FSC C135991
THE ART OF CRAFT
houses we love
Screen Play A boxy Austin residence riffs on old-world architecture. PHOTOS BY @ANDREACALO
Samantha Daly
Andrea Calo
COMMUNITY
TEXT BY
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More at Dwell.com Do you have a project you’d like to see published in Houses We Love? Share it at dwell.com/add-a-home
Creede Fitch and his wife look out on the courtyard of their Austin home (opposite), where a heritage pecan tree has pride of place. In the open
kitchen/dining area (above), a Log table by Julien Renault for Hem is surrounded by Emeco Navy chairs. Moorish-influenced screens veil recessed
windows (right), and clean white walls show off the couple’s art collection (below). “It’s as much a gallery as it is a home,” says designer Thomas Bercy.
A few months after moving from Salt Lake City to the east side of Austin, Texas, Creede Fitch and his wife decided to transition from renting a house to settling in and building a home. They soon found a lot they loved—5,837 square feet with a beautiful pecan tree at the center. However, the tree had protected status, which is not uncommon in Austin, and couldn’t be moved. “It was actually a saving grace,” says Creede. “We were able to get the lot cheaply, and we knew we could make it work.” After meeting with several Austin architects, the couple found their perfect match in Thomas Bercy of Bercy Chen Studio. Bercy was able to marry Creede’s taste for midcentury and Mexican modern design with his wife’s affinity for Mediterranean and Moorish elements in a twostory whitewashed cube and equally boxy
guesthouse/office. Breaking the starkness of the design are patterned metal screens reminiscent of mashrabiya, an Islamic architectural element used to create privacy, passive cooling, and natural ventilation. To both incorporate and highlight the awkwardly positioned tree, Bercy turned to another Moorish reference—riads, in which interior spaces are organized around a courtyard, often with a fountain or other water feature. Here, he separated the two structures with a gravel yard and a pool, and with all but two windows facing it, the tree anchors the space as well as provides much needed shade from the hot summer sun. Despite the limited budget and complicated site, Bercy completed the project in less than three years. And the courtyard, though born of necessity, has become the heart of the home.
“The screens bring an extra detail that contrasts with the simple geometry of the building.” Thomas Bercy, architect DWELL
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MAKE IT WORK
Modern World ILLUSTRATIONS BY Clare Mallison
PRODUCT SELECTION BY Gregory Han
PROFILES BY Stacey McLachlan
EDITED BY Anna Fixsen
A dedicated office is now an essential component of many of our homes, but a lot of us have been making do with ad hoc, hastily set up spaces. It’s time to give your office a more intentional upgrade, but that doesn’t mean you have to make it look like the one you used to commute to. We’ve gathered an assortment of new work-from-home items that are as attractive as they are functional. And for design inspiration, we spoke with a few people at the forefront of home workplace R&D.
ELGATO KEY LIGHT AIR
Lighting is everything when you want to look your best on camera. Elgato’s new compact LED lamp illuminates features evenly for video conferencing— but not so intensely that you feel like you’re staring into the sun. It’s easy to adjust, too, with brightness and color temperature controlled wirelessly by mobile or desktop app.
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MA KE IT WO RK
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To Yo u r H ea l t h
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SKYVIEW VIRTUAL SKYLIGHT
IQAIR ATEM DESK
APPLE WATCH
COWAY AIRMEGA 150
If your work-from-home setup is more cubbyhole than corner office, consider installing this 4K UHD simulated skylight to brighten your space and boost your mood. We see you raising your eyebrow, but its eighthour playlist of serene, cloud-filled views is genuinely soothing.
Swiss IQAir’s reputation was built on designing medicalgrade air purifiers. Now the company has miniaturized its tech to create a portable, desk-friendly version that’s capable of filtering more than 99 percent of particles with whisper-quiet operation.
Like Crocs, Apple Watches straddle the line between practicality and nerdom. But even if you’ve managed to resist buying one, it might be time to think again, thanks to its latest suite of health apps, which remind you to move around, eat, and give your eyes a break
This award-winning purifier allows you to maintain indoor air quality without sacrificing an iota of style. Though just 18.5 inches tall, the Airmega 150 (shown here in Sage Green) and its triplelayered filtration system can remove allergens, odors, and certain bacteria and viruses from a 214-square-foot room.
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AIRTHINGS WAVE PLUS
BARNER COMPUTER GLASSES
From a company founded by a group of CERN scientists, this battery-operated monitor is designed to take the guesswork out of indoor air quality by detecting radon and common pollutants. Simply wave your hand over the device for a visual assessment (it will glow green, yellow, or red) or download the app for detailed reports.
If you spend the better part of your day staring at screens, your eyes could likely use a break from blue light, the color on the visible spectrum that can cause eye strain and disrupt our circadian rhythms. Barcelonabased Barner’s lenses (available with or without a prescription) are designed to block 100 percent of blue light and come in frames that lean more chic than geek.
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RAMPRAKASH RAVICHANDRAN THE GOOGLE INTERACTION DESIGNER WORKING TO HUMANIZE CONNECTIVITY For some, a glitchy video meeting is a call gone wrong. For Ramprakash Ravichandran, a senior interaction designer at Google, it’s a call to action. Ravichandran and his team at the company’s Next Billion Users project are researching ways to make the Internet more accessible, reliable, and affordable to millions across the globe. It’s an issue that hits close to home, too, as the pandemic and a shift to remote learning have shed light on America’s stark digital divide. As he wrote in a recent essay, “Connect, No Matter the Speed,” Ravichandran says developers in the future should prioritize user experience, regardless of connectivity. “We’re constantly asking: How do we design products that work well off-line? How do we provide value to users even if they can’t afford the fastest Internet plan?” he says. The solution is putting empathy first. Even when a page crashes or a session times out, Ravichandran argues, it’s essential that developers create an off-line experience that both informs and delights. Instead of an infinitely spinning ball? Implement a progressive loading bar. In lieu of half-loaded images? Try a placeholder. Slow loading time? Serve the user information about how the app works in the meantime. Think of it as a slow Internet movement: building a user experience for the assumption that something will go wrong, fostering empowerment rather than frustration.
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MA KE IT WO RK
Li g ht i n g t he (R i g ht) Way
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PHILIPS HUE PLAY GRADIENT LIGHTSTRIP
HAY PC TASK LAMP
WÄSTBERG W203 ILUMINA
MUUTO LEAF TABLE LAMP
Taking a Netflix break? Add a set of these light strips around the back of your television. They’ll automatically sync with whatever is on display, extending colors onto the walls for a cinematic experience that helps reduce
French designer Pierre Charpin’s modern update of the classic Luxo Jr. task lamp hides the springs and adds a touch-dimmable LED light while retaining the charming personality of the original.
Designer Ilse Crawford’s interpretation of the library lamp looks like it was cut out of the center of Apple’s headquarters. But this table lamp is precisely tuned to glow at 2700K—the perfect color temperature for work or reading
The ideal task lamp is bright and dimmable, easily adjustable, and unobtrusive. The aluminum-built Muuto Leaf (shown here in Copper Brown) is all of these things and glows with personality, combining sleek
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NANOLEAF SHAPES LIGHTING PANELS
JUNIPER THIN SHARED TASK LAMP
BENQ SCREENBAR PLUS
These triangle- and hexagon-shaped modules from Nanoleaf allow you to build light-up mosaics on your walls. Designed to snap together
If you share a work surface, the libraryinspired Juniper Thin Shared Task LED Lamp provides an equitable source of
Unlike traditional desk lamps, the BenQ ScreenBar Plus clips to the top of your monitor to illuminate your workspace while free-
tions, the panels activated by voice,
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essentially an interior designer’s take on three-point lighting, a trifecta of direct light (such as an overhead pendant or task light), indirect light (like a plug-in floor lamp), and, finally, “atmospheric accents,” smaller lights tucked into nearby nooks. With the help of his elegant lighting solutions, you can transform your home office into a place you actually want to be, a space that doesn’t just shine, but brings you warmth, comfort, and style. After all, says Wästberg, “Good lighting is for you, not on you.”
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POKETO REMINDER STICKERS
PERCH MAGNETIC MODULAR SYSTEM
NOLII LOOP
KNOLL QUOIN MOBILE CART
Sometimes a tactile reminder is worth 1,000 calendar invites. These 186 colorful stickers make the case for analog organization, not only as a
The Perch collection of shelves, containers, and dry-erase boards attaches magnetically onto wall plates, turning any vertical surface into an oppor-
If you’ve ever reached for a charging cable only to find it in knots on the floor, you’ll appreciate this ingenious doodad from designer Benjamin
Knoll’s compact wheeled office cart is designed to go wherever you need organization. A notch in the top tray makes charging cords accessible for mobile devices or laptops, and a removable bin at the bottom hides clutter or makes for a handy desktop file tray.
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GROVEMADE DESK SHELF
NOMAD BASE STATION STAND
STEELCASE
Anyone who works from home on two computer monitors knows what a pain in the neck the configuration can be—from all the head-turning and from all the desk clutter. Grovemade’s roomy hardwood desk shelf (shown here in maple) elevates your setup, keeping your eyes at an optimal level and your stuff out of sight.
California-based Nomad is known for its handsome and fastworking line of wireless chargers, and the Base Station Stand is no exception. Accented with leather, it offers a soft spot for a mobile device to sit back on while dual 10-watt coils provide a quick refuel.
ROOM & BOARD COPENHAGEN OFFICE CABINET
The Copenhagen Office Cabinet delivers an all-in-one solution for home offices where space is at a premium. This versatile cabinet, clocking in at just under three feet tall and three feet wide, offers a pullout desk top and a duo of drawers. You can also request custom finishes (ranging from cherry veneer to sage-colored MDF) to suit your decor.
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POWERSTRIP PLUS
Leave it to the workplace gurus at Steelcase to introduce a power strip that is as useful as it is attractive. Available in 12 colors and 12 configurations (including USB-A, USBC, and standard power outlets), this power strip easily clamps to your work surface.
JASON C. MAYDEN THE NIMBLE CHANGEMAKER PUSHING CONSUMER TECH OUT OF ITS COMFORT ZONE What does a Red Bullsponsored, 24-mile-high skydive have to do with your new remote-work setup? Both are pet projects of Logitech’s innovation incubator, Liminal Collective. And both are challenging the status quo—just the way one of its new leaders, Jason C. Mayden, likes it. The former global director of innovation for Nike’s Digital Sport stepped in as partner of Liminal Collective last September and jumped right into solving the technological and cultural challenges of our work-fromhome era. “We’re asking deep questions: How do I show up and have true empathy? How do I understand restoration at the end of the week? How do people share experiences?” he says. Logitech has long equipped remote workers with technology to get the job done (think keyboards and conference calling equipment), but the Liminal lab enables the company to problem-solve and beta-test quickly. So quickly, in fact, that the team has already launched solutions like Spotlight, a presentation tool that draws attention to specific areas (much like a teacher physically pointing to something on a board). Mayden and company are also experimenting with AI camera technology to help rate room density for social distancing, and tech that incorporates prompts for wellbeing. “We are living, breathing organisms and beings,” says Mayden. “How we interact with technology is going to have to evolve—cognitively and emotionally.”
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Si t a nd S ta n d
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HUMANSCALE ERGOIQ
MOFT Z 5-IN-1 SITSTAND DESK
The ergonomics experts at Humanscale developed this 10-minute online selfassessment tool to help people improve their work areas. It uses a scoring system to suggest easy-tounderstand improvements, customized to your office setup.
Inspired by origami, this flat-packed laptop stand unfolds into five possible configurations—one for standing and four optimized for seated work. It’s strong enough to hold up to 22 pounds.
HERMAN MILLER X LOGITECH G EMBODY GAMING CHAIR
STEELCASE TURNSTONE CAMPFIRE FOOTREST
What do you get when a furnishings juggernaut teams up with a leading manufacturer of gaming gear? You get an ergonomic chair that literally has your back at work and at play. It features customized spinal support (with design input from some 30 physicians and PhDs) and cooling foam to dissipate heat. Game on.
Prop up your feet and take some pressure off the back of your thighs with this 100 percent recyclable expanded polypropylene foam footrest from Steelcase. At just three pounds, it’s light enough to carry wherever it’s needed.
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MENU X KEIJI ASHIZAWA RAIL DESK
HAY COPENHAGUE 10 DESK
UPRIGHT GO 2
HUMANSCALE QUICKSTAND ECO
This spare, wallmounted desk, designed by Keiji Ashizawa, doubles as a shelf or counter. Despite the Rail Desk’s light weight and minimal profile, its 17.7-inch depth is more than sufficient to accommodate a laptop or even a small book collection—perfect for small space dwellers.
Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec designed HAY’s Copenhague 10 Desk to survive the wear-and-tear of a university setting. Topped with a newly developed nanotech linoleum, the desk is resistant to fingerprints and easy to wipe down.
Whether you’re a chronic slumper or a victim of the workfrom-home “tech neck,” the Upright Go 2 promises to coach you to better posture. Simply attach a rechargeable, two-inch sensor to your upper back with the included adhesive strip (it’s also compatible with a stick-free lanyard), and it will gently vibrate to prompt you to straighten up.
If you want to alternate between sitting and being on your feet while working but balk at the idea of investing in a standing desk, Humanscale will meet you halfway with its sleek QuickStand riser. The portable design comes in three configurations, perfect for one laptop or up to two monitors.
MONICA FÖRSTER THE FURNITURE DESIGNER MAKING LOCKDOWN LIFE A LITTLE MORE COMFORTABLE—FOR EVERYONE
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KIDS CREATIVE AGENCY I MISS THE OFFICE
LOGITECH MX MASTER 3
OCULUS QUEST 2
2020 APPLE IMAC 27”
Logitech’s premium wireless mouse is designed to provide performance and support on virtually any surface. Coders will love the electromagnetic wheel’s super-precise, super-fast scroll (it can stop on a single pixel, according to Logitech), while design-savvy
Lightweight, hi-res, and affordable, this second-iteration VR headset seems ready for mainstream prime time. But it’s the soon-to-come virtual reality office space that may prove to be its killer app.
We may soon be saying farewell to the Intel-powered era, but the iMac’s crystalclear 5K resolution display and minimal footprint still makes it the best all-inone desktop solution for most people.
Admit it—you miss water cooler chatter. Fortunately, Berlinbased Kids Creative Agency has introduced the next best thing, a device that emits an aural facsimile of office sounds to convincingly reproduce the buzz of the workplace. It might not include
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GOOGLE NEST WIFI
MICROSOFT SURFACE HEADPHONES 2
They may look like oversized marshmallows, but the sweetest feature of these dual-band devices is a simplified Wi-Fi mesh network setup that results in stronger signals beamed into every corner of the home, letting you stream multiple ultra-HD videos at once and connect up to 200 devices.
Calls and music sound crystal clear when you’re wearing these streamlined headphones from Microsoft. But what many will most appreciate is their magical ability to filter out ambient sounds (and housemates) with 13 levels of noise cancellation.
ITAI PALTI THE ARCHITECTURAL PHILOSOPHER DIVING DEEP INTO DISSONANCE
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Forget the question about the tree in the forest. The next great philosophical quandary is: When we leave the office, do we leave a part of ourselves behind? At least that’s what Itai Palti has been mulling over lately. From the London-based designer and researcher’s perspective, we’re not just facing a problem of ineffective home-office interior design; we’re facing a mass identity crisis, as we mash up our professional selves and home selves. “A person is space,” says Palti, who, in addition to his architectural and urban design practice Hume, runs the Centre for Conscious Design (CCD), a grassroots think tank dedicated to harnessing science and technology to create inclusive and healthy built environments. “Space is a player in your identity and a player in your skills.” Put that into the context of work, Palti argues, and we are different people when we do it from home. That means focusing on basics like ergonomics, yes, but also addressing the less tangible identity-building qualities of a workplace. In the future, designers need to create zones (both virtually and physically) that allow us to connect, find solitude, find focus, find creativity. In a small, intimate room, for instance, we might become the focused version of ourselves, while looking out a large panoramic window might make us more expansive thinkers. “We need to create cognitive journeys,” Palti explains, even if we’re taking fewer physical ones.
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conversation
TEXT BY
ILLUSTRATION BY
Duncan Nielsen
Sam Kerr
Demar Matthews The emerging designer wants to improve neighborhoods across America with his own distinctly Black style of architecture.
By abstracting elements of Black art, literature, music videos, fashion, and traditions, Demar Matthews has conceptualized a new architectural language. As he wrote in his master’s thesis, “Unearthing a Black Aesthetic,” he hopes to apply his concepts to promote Black identity in the built environment.
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Designer Demar Matthews isn’t wasting any time. Fresh out of a master’s program in architecture at L.A.’s Woodbury University, he established his own firm, OffTOP Design, and hit the ground running by putting into practice answers to a question that had loomed over his training: Where is the Black architecture? The invisibility of work by members of his own community was in some ways “a good thing,” Matthews says, as it gave him leeway for interpretation. His thesis, “Black Architecture: Unearthing a Black Aesthetic,” examines and abstracts cultural markers of Black identity and spaces to propose an all-original vernacular: Hairstyles like box braids and waves inspire facades, body language and posture inform structures, and even window bars are remixed as key design elements. After drawing support from Janine
Watkins, a community activist in South Los Angeles, the 29-year-old was invited to use a small house adjacent to Watts Towers to collaborate with the neighborhood on the first built iteration of his concept. We spoke with Matthews to learn more about his plans for the project, which is slated to open to the public this summer. It includes a makerspace, a “living” fence, and an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) for an artist-in-residence program, all of which are meant to “elevate, not denigrate,” Black identity within the built environment. When did you decide to start OffTOP Design? The idea came from the final year of my master’s program. As I was approaching my thesis, I realized that I had never seen architecture that was representative of
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“I want Black people to be able to see themselves in these buildings. It’s so uncommon to see your culture reflected at a larger scale.” DEMAR MATTHEWS
The first realization of Matthews’s vision is underway in South Los Angeles. In a rendering of the project (left), the angular and textured structure is the planned ADU. In front, a fence acts as a resource instead of a barrier, providing a space to grow vegetables, display art, and share books. Another drawing shows a detail of the ADU’s facade
PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS: DEMAR MATTHEWS
Black culture. And I was never shown architecture that was in a Black community. So I felt like I was being trained to really serve only other communities once I graduated. Asking “Where’s the Black architecture?” led me down this path. You developed your own Black architectural aesthetic. What does it look like? That was my first question. And there’s been talk about this before—full concepts and full theories devoted to it. But there haven’t been, in my opinion, many buildings that are purely for a Black community by a Black American architect. So I didn’t have many precedents to go off of, which was actually a really good thing. It made me look toward art, literature, and music videos, as well as Black tradition and established Black techniques.
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I was trying to figure out how to translate and abstract these things into a building language, or architectural style. How will this look in Watts? There’s a shotgun house and separate garage on the lot right now. We’re doing some renovations, and during the transition, we’re turning them into a makerspace where everyone in the neighborhood is free to come in and fabricate, laser cut, print, or use power tools. We’re also building an ADU that will host an artistin-residence program. Then there’s a 300-foot fence that’s divided into sections. The first section is planted with fruits and vegetables. The community is able to just walk by and take them off the line of the fence. The second section of the fence is an outdoor library, which is free. The last part is an art walk
(above). “These patterns are abstracted from hairstyles,” says Matthews. “For men, waves are huge. There’s a certain method it takes, and it’s all done by hand. For women, I used box braids, which are super geometrical patterns. The idea is that we can take this thing that is already Black and translate it into a pattern and put it into the architecture.”
where artists-in-residence can exhibit and the community also can show work. You’ve said that you hope to expand to other cities. What does that look like? We’re working on the second project right now, in Philadelphia. There, we’re working with a developer I went to school with on a six-unit, multifamily development. So the scale and the approach are very different. What do you want the outcome to be? I want people to go to Black neighborhoods to see these projects, and I want Black people to be able to see themselves in these buildings. It’s so uncommon to see your culture reflected at a larger scale. I hope this can make people proud of their neighborhoods and hopefully influence a new building style.
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smart
TEXT BY
ILLUSTRATIONS BY | @JOHNDEVOLLE
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
John Devolle
Goodbye, Smart Home Is this the year we give up on gadgetry and embrace a more elegant home intelligence? The smart home has always been a solution in search of a problem. Why do I need an app to turn on my lights when a switch works just fine? And is talking to your house really the behavior you want to model for your kids? Be that as it may, the technology to seamlessly make our homes more energy efficient, more secure, and more convenient without demanding conspicuous devices—and awkward AI interactions—
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has yet to fully arrive. Instead, we have a disjointed collection of gadgets for which “actually works” is a feature, not a guarantee. But a new wave of systems and devices promises to target these pain points, claiming to play well with others, stay out of sight, and require you to say “hey” to fewer dubiously helpful virtual friends. Here are four of the most interesting—and occasionally terrifying—innovations you might consider bringing home this year.
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2021 will be the year of the sleeker, smarter, and maybe more disquieting home, as intelligence stays out of sight.
1 / Rules of Engagement Thanks to a rare moment of cooperation among rivals, you no longer will be limited to choosing products exclusively on Team Siri, Team Alexa, or Team Google. This year, you’ll be able to buy almost any smart home device and—post-configuration, of course—it will work with everything else in your home. A new standard, Connected Home over Internet Protocol, or CHIP, has been developed by the major tech players to allow all those disparate gadgets to talk to one another via any of the three major virtual assistants. 2 / Disappearing Act Voice controls may cut down on the need for screens, but a chain of bulbous speakers
in every room is a disappointing alternative. Now, companies have begun to release another option: very low-profile microphones that practically disappear into the background. Josh.ai’s wall- or ceiling-mounted Josh Nano is 3mm thick and only slightly larger than a quarter, to name just one launching this year. But even older technologies can be edited out by aggressive minimalists. For example, SapienStone now makes a porcelain counter with an integrated induction cooktop that’s invisible until summoned by a touch. 3 / We Are the Robots The multitasking robot valet may still be just a science fiction cliché, but this year will see the introduction of a number of
single-purpose, more-or-less intelligent machines for everything from chopping vegetables to folding laundry. None are more nosy than Ring’s Always Home Cam. When you’re not at home, this indoor, camera-mounted drone can dislodge from its countertop dock and hover in any part of your home you’d like visuals on. Is it less intrusive than having a camera in every room? Only if the idea of a flying surveillance Roomba doesn’t freak you out. 4 / Living in the Light One of the unfulfilled promises of the smart home—lighting that dynamically supports the circadian rhythm in an easy-to-use, inexpensive format—could finally arrive this year. Apple’s HomeKit platform now supports automatic adaptive lighting that adjusts the color temperature of smart lightbulbs throughout the day to boost mood and promote well-being without your having to open a mood-killing app. The way Apple goes, many will follow, and we predict that by the end of this year human-responsive lighting will be the norm, not the exception (which, let’s face it, after nearly a year spent stuck indoors, we all could have used a little sooner).
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studio
TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @MIKEBELLEME
J. Michael Welton
Mike Belleme
Alicia Hylton-Daniel Meet the emerging designer and developer who’s making Durham, North Carolina, modern.
Alicia Hylton-Daniel sits in her Durham, North Carolina, home studio. Many of her projects are built on spec, but “I never compromise design for cost,” she says.
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MODERNIST 3
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Alicia Hylton-Daniel’s epiphany arrived in the aftermath of a 2002 house fire in Durham, North Carolina. Although an artist at heart, she had chosen the more practical path of working as a paralegal and studying for her LSAT exams. Then came a bang on her door in the middle of the night and a shout that her house was in flames. As she watched it burn, she suddenly realized she had no passion for the law. “The fire gave me a moment to reflect on how very unhappy I was at the time,” she says. Later, working with her insurance company’s contractors, whom she describes as a “good ol’ boys” network, proved exasperating. But she became immersed in the building process, and a lightbulb went on. “It was like, ‘Can I do something in this field?’” she says. “I got really excited about going back to school for interior design at age thirty-one.” She headed to Meredith College in Raleigh and never looked back.
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Located in Durham’s once-segregated Walltown neighborhood, Hylton-Daniel’s third spec house is a 3,700-squarefoot residence on a 7,000-square-foot lot. With four bedrooms, 3.5 baths, and
an attached garage, it’s the most complex of the three. The home features white oak floors, Spanish and Italian tiles, and a fireplace clad in concrete slabs. The streetfacing gable mimics those of its neighbors.
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MODERNIST 2
------While Modernist 1 was under construction, the owner of the house next door offered to sell HyltonDaniel his property. She jumped at the opportunity and built a new home with three zones: an office
in the front, a living and dining space in the center, and three bedrooms in the rear. Now owned by Paul Mampilly (right), the house is clad in corrugated metal and HardiePlank, punctuated by oiled cypress.
During a portfolio review in 2008, a Raleigh architect asked her to visit his firm the next day. When she did, she was offered a job. She stayed for seven years, mostly doing interior design for commercial office spaces and restaurants. Then, back in Durham at a different firm, working as a project manager/ interior designer, she decided to take the general contractor’s exam. From there, she and her husband, Roger, set up their own design/build firm, in 2017. She handles the design, while he locates properties, secures funding, and minds the budget. She’s been on a two-track design blitz in downtown Durham ever since. She has restored four postwar homes, each 1,000 square feet or less, and is renovating a 1920s mill house into a duplex that she intends to rent affordably to service workers, such as police officers, nurses, and public school teachers. At the same time, she has completed a series of three larger residences that she designed and built from scratch. Created to maximize efficiency on
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urban lots, they’re named Modernist 1, 2, and 3. Hylton-Daniel may have built them on spec, but her first priority, she says, was to enhance their neighborhoods rather than to maximize profits. Each house replaced a worn-out building. After each teardown, she examined the site at different times of day and in different weather—even on rainy days. “Especially in this urban environment, with the views, I’ll study where to put glazing and where the kitchen needs to be,” she says. “It’s an emotional approach, about how I feel when I’m in the space.” Her work is part of a transformation in downtown Durham, where Dukies (as those in the university milieu are known), townies, and Brooklyn expats— including the young, former DUMBO family who bought Modernist 3—mingle. “People here are savvy enough to get excited when contemporary architecture is done well,” she says. Unsurprisingly, each of her Modernist homes fetched multiple offers after only a few days.
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“Having a sense of freedom is what animates me. And thinking about the designer I aspire to be pushes me—it’s what I enjoy.” —ALICIA HYLTON-DANIEL
MODERNIST 1
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a new house with 25 percent more space. The 1,200-squarefoot single-story home has 10-foot ceilings, decks off the dining room and main bedroom, and a fireplace covered in cedar.
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renovation
TEXT BY
Alex Bozikovic PHOTOS BY | @GRAYDONHERRIOTT
Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott
A new cedar and glass dining pavilion extends through the back of a weekend retreat in rural Ontario designed by architect Brian O'Brian for Ben Sykes and Erin Connor. The 19th-century timber and stone structure, formerly a one-room schoolhouse (inset), proved to be the perfect palimpsest for a modern intervention.
To start the next chapter in their lives, Ben Sykes and Erin Connor went back to school. The couple wanted a place in the country, and they had their eyes on rolling, rural Grey County, two hours northwest of their home in Toronto. While searching for property there, they came upon an unexpected building for sale: a one-room schoolhouse with thick stone walls that was built nearly a century and a half ago. “I have to admit, we hadn’t looked at any schools before,” Ben, a partner at a commercial real estate firm, says with a laugh,
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A Toronto couple turn an abandoned 147-year-old schoolhouse into an elegant country getaway.
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CONNECT TO THE OUTDOORS AND EACH OTHER
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renovation
“but we were willing to renovate, and we wanted something where we could mix old and new.” The structure, which had served kids from two townships, was last used in the 1960s, but the basement was still filled with desks and there was “a blackboard and a picture of the school principal on the wall,” says Erin, a marketing director. The building overlooks pastures and the dramatic topography of the Niagara Escarpment. The wide-open interior presented many possibilities. The couple had previously rented a nearby country house for vacations and liked the design, so they hired its architect, Brian O’Brian
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vintage Sirocco chairs by Arne Norell face an oval coffee table from Elte. Erin holds the couple’s son in front of pantry shelving by Fischer Custom Cabinets (opposite).
of Works Office, in Toronto. Together, they puzzled out different options for turning the school into a home. “In addition to being a fully open space,” O’Brian recalls, “it had a very high ceiling with amazing trusswork, so we found a way to use that to our advantage.” The architect and his team built physical models of five design options, looking at how to maximize the space. In the end, they split half the building into two levels: two bedrooms and a bath downstairs and a primary bedroom suite above. The landing outside the suite is at eye level with the original trusses, believed to be old-growth pine and hemlock. “Those trees
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ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES + WRIGHT
The second-floor landing (above) looks out on original trusswork that was formerly hidden in the attic (inset). In the doubleheight living area (right), a pair of
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1873 Schoolhouse ARCHITECT LOCATION
Works Office of Brian O’Brian Architect Meaford, Ontario A B C D E F G H I J K L
B A C Upper Level
Bedroom Bathroom Sitting Perch Entrance Living Area Dining Area Kitchen Reading Room Crawl Space Utility Room Lounge Laundry
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H Main Level
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“People stop us and say, ‘Oh, I went to school here,’ or, ‘My mom went here,’ and they’re so glad we’ve restored the building.” BEN SYKES, RESIDENT were probably around in the 1600s,” Ben says, gesturing toward the ancient timber. O’Brian left the other side of the house open to the rafters, creating a doubleheight living room and an open kitchen fitted with Shaker-style cabinets. He also raised the floor 21 inches for better viewing angles and to get closer to the trusses. At the eastern end, O’Brian punched open the building to add a dining pavilion enclosed in glass walls and charred cedar cladding. Set on a pair of thin steel pillars that penetrate the interior and rise to the roof, it overlooks a copse of apple trees where Ben harvested the ripe fruit last fall. On our recent visit, a fresh
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apple crisp was still warm in the kitchen. O’Brian left part of the original 18-inchthick exterior wall between the living room and the new pavilion. The hand-size fieldstones, restored by mason Chris Hunt, are now the backdrop for a woodburning Rumford fireplace that shows the architect’s eye for detail. It sits asymmetrically on a thin concrete hearth and steel woodstorage base, and a painted drywall chimney tapers on one side as it rises to the ceiling. For the architect, this sculptural white volume is a nod to Portuguese greats such as Eduardo Souto de Moura, who, when working with old buildings, “do something that is very stripped down and
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renovation
One of the school’s two entry vestibules (inset) is now a foyer; the other is a small reading room. In the kitchen, bar stools by Atelier Arking line a marble-topped island (right). The dining room addition (below), which increased the total square footage to 2,700, features a Semi pendant by Bonderup & Thorup for Gubi and a table and chairs from Atelier Arking.
“ The idea was not to make a total break between the existing building and the new work, but to allow a sort of deliberate overlap.” BRIAN O’BRIAN, ARCHITECT contemporary in response,” he says. This suited Erin and Ben, who signed off on a few other unusual twists: Their bedroom has an angled skylight that funnels in northern light, and the downstairs bathroom is capped with a light shaft that extends 23 feet up to the roof. The couple have had plenty of time to appreciate these subtleties. During the construction, Erin became pregnant with their son, who is now two, and they finished the renovation just before the pandemic began. The weekend getaway for two turned into a full-time residence for three. “We’ve loved it here,” Erin says. “Now we want to bring some of what we’ve learned to enjoy about this place back to the city.” A century and a half on, the schoolhouse still has things to teach.
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Doug and Lara Holtz tapped New York architect Andrew Heid to design a weekend home on a scenic family plot in the Berkshires. “We wanted something that was sympathetic to the views and nature,” says Lara. The result is an artfully arranged house that looks out on open fields (protected by a land trust) and the rolling landscape beyond. “The only downside is that the area is farmed, so we get manure smells,” Doug jokes.
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Full Circle A flower-shaped house in Massachusetts finds a family living under the same roof—make that roofs—again.
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TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @IWANBAAN
Anna Fixsen
Iwan Baan
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It’s late October in Western Massachusetts and the countryside bears all the hallmarks of the season: browning leaves, flapping Halloween decorations, and yard signs asserting either political allegiances or opposition to a proposed marijuana farm. A thick blanket of rain has smudged out the Berkshire Hills, and what remains of the landscape is a gray smear in the windshield wipers. Stepping into the Holtz family residence—a low-slung house a few miles from Great Barrington—just might make you forget what’s going on outside. Here, after casting aside your umbrella and passing along a hallway, the gloom gives way to lofty timber beams, a crackling wood stove, and misty views in every direction. In the open-plan dining area, a breakfast of soft-boiled eggs and toast is being cleared away. “You don’t really get a sense of what it’s
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like inside from the outside,” says Lara Holtz, who, along with her husband, Doug, built this place as a weekend retreat on a shared family property. “It’s a bit like a Tardis,” she adds. Even if the Dr. Who reference is lost on you (Lara is from the U.K.), this kind of spatial wizardry has become the 3,600-square-foot home’s biggest asset as the Holtzes and their children, Charlie, Izzy, and Isaac (ages 25, 22, and 16), as well as Charlie’s girlfriend, Saskia Randle, have been holed up here since March, when most of the Northeast went on coronavirus lockdown. And despite the surrealness of being reunited under the same roof for the first time in years, the Holtz clan is finding that their weekend house and family unit are both operating in surprising new ways. The Flower House—so named for its ring of overlapping, petal-like roofs—is
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Heid kept the interiors largely raw, which left Lara, Doug, and their interior designer friend, Elaine O’Dwyer, to fill in the blanks with a mix of modern furnishings and family treasures. The open-plan kitchen (left) is a particular point of pride for Lara, who designed every detail with a local carpenter, from the
textured zellige tile to the spice drawers. The couple’s two sons, Isaac and Charlie, play music with Charlie’s girlfriend, Saskia Randle, in the living room (right), where an Isamu Noguchi Akari lantern hangs above a Cloud sectional from RH Modern. At night, the family often gathers around the rustic stone fire pit (below).
“For the first three months of the pandemic, we hiked every day—rain or shine or snow.” DOUG HOLTZ, RESIDENT
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The house comprises six pavilions—five enclosed living spaces and an open-air entryway— arranged in a ring. The overlapping roofs rest on structural timber window frames, allowing for column-free views through the
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interior. The landscape, designed by horticulturist Patrick Cullina, will evoke both a forest and an alpine meadow when fully grown, according to Heid. It also leaves room for one of the family’s new hobbies: vegetable gardening.
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“We realized that having a circular house allowed us to take advantage of all of the views, as well as the topography and the solar exposure to the south.” ANDREW HEID, ARCHITECT
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Flower House ARCHITECT LOCATION
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the handiwork of New York firm No Architecture, founded by Andrew Heid. Doug and Lara had been looking to build a weekend home next to Doug’s parents’ own Berkshire retreat—a charming reconstructed barn made from 18th-century timber beams—for some time, in order to be close to the kids’ paternal grandparents and to host Lara’s parents when they visit from the U.K. The stunning landscape made for the obvious starting point, as did the architect and client’s mutual love of Japanese design. Doug, who works as an intellectual property lawyer for such companies as Toshiba and Casio, has been traveling to Japan for the last three decades, bringing back an appreciation for the country’s culture and cuisine to his family. Heid, meanwhile, learned to value Japanese aesthetics through his mom, who was raised
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Thanks to open interiors, there are clear sight lines through the landscaped courtyard (far left), into the living spaces, and out to the surrounding scenery. “I really let the landscape and the activities inside be the focus,” Heid
in Hawaii, where Japanese design has long held a strong influence. That reverence carries over to his architecture. “I was very influenced by [SANAA founders] Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, who lectured at Princeton when I was there,” says Heid, “and this idea of really reducing architecture to the absolute minimum.” A lightness pervades the completed building. Its six overlapping pavilions— one is the large, open entryway—are oriented around a hexagonal courtyard filled with silver birch saplings. To allow seamless circulation and provide airy, column-free interiors, the entire house is supported by load-bearing window frames and stabilized by structural cores that enclose bathrooms and storage. The home follows a gradual slope, giving you a subtle sense of burrowing into the earth as you meander clockwise along the two bedroom
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pavilions, the living area, the open kitchen, and, finally, the main bedroom suite. The team broke ground in 2015, but the desired 360-degree views posed one of the project’s biggest headaches. The German company in charge of the high-performance glass went bankrupt, leaving the manufacturer with a disconnected phone line and Heid with zero windows. He eventually found a Canadian company to finish the job, but the point of contact there tragically died midproject. “Things went from bad to worse,” Heid says. The windows were finally installed, but the lack of continuity around their specifications left some panes cracked. Despite the snafus, the project adheres to rigorous energy standards, relying on the highly insulated envelope and glazing, plus a groundsource heat pump, to achieve Massachusetts’s highest energy rating, enabling the Holtzes to recoup $10,000 through incentives.
says. Concrete walls provide privacy in the main bathroom (left), where the Holtzes installed a deep hinoki cypress soaking tub. A guestroom (below) has become Doug’s remote office for the duration of the pandemic.
Hunkering down in this unconventional house has made the Holtz family an even tighter unit. In the last few months, they have become avid hikers, cyclists, gardeners, and Settlers of Catan enthusiasts. Isaac, the youngest, even started an iced coffee delivery business, biking orders down country roads to neighbors. In the mornings, they’ll watch the sunrise, do yoga, or have breakfast in the courtyard. Come evening, they’ll invite the grandparents over for a meal, and then the boys will play their guitars for sing-alongs around the fire. The family, formerly scattered, has embraced the unplanned togetherness. “There’s just something about being here—we sit around the table with cups of tea and cake and play Bananagrams and Scrabble,” says Lara, with a tinge of happy disbelief. “Sometimes we look around at each other and are like, ‘Who are we?’”
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Down to Earth A cabin in eastern Finland has an otherwordly shape that keeps it cozy in the subarctic cold. TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @KRISTA_KELTANEN
Vejay Nair
Krista Keltanen
Set in a clearing surrounded by spruce and birch trees in Kontiolahti, Finland, a cabin known as the Meteorite cuts a striking profile. AteljĂŠ Sotamaa designed the faceted structure as a guesthouse for Ulla-Maaria Koivula and her family, although during the pandemic it has served as an office for Ulla, a recording studio
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for her husband, Jonathan Hull, and an after-school playroom for their children. The structure is made entirely of cross-laminated timber (CLT). Air gaps of various sizes behind the facade keep the interior warm without conventional insulation, even during Finland’s freezing winters, and give the Meteorite its out-of-this-world shape.
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In pastoral Kontiolahti, 285 miles northeast of Helsinki, it’s a crisp autumn afternoon and Ulla-Maaria Koivula is dismantling a newly constructed beaver dam with a trowel and sickle. She’s the founder and CEO of the Palo Alto, California–based education technology company ThingLink. But since she returned to Finland with her family last year, maintaining the land where her grandparents once grew barley and rye
has become part of her daily routine. Surrounded by the homestead’s fields and the wild and rugged splendor of nearby Koli National Park, Ulla has regained a childlike sense of calm amid a worldwide pandemic. “This is the one root that I have had all through my life,” she says. We walk deeper into the landscape, as a monolithic form slowly emerges from among the gently swaying birch and spruce trees. The closer we get, the
The Meteorite’s interior is clad in spruce from floor to ceiling, and Ulla furnished the living areas with hand-selected works by Finnish designers. The dining area (left) features a builtin corner sofa designed by Ateljé Sotamaa, with slipcovers and pillows by Klaus Haapaniemi & Co. The kitchen (opposite) is outfitted with IKEA and Bosch appliances and a custom sink and countertop by Durat. A staircase (above) ascends past inset shelves to the second floor.
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An office lies just off the stairway (left), and a ladder leads to a catamaran-style net overhead, perfect for stargazing through a broad skylight. The glass balustrade allows light to filter down to the kitchen and dining area below. A section drawing (above) shows
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The Meteorite ARCHITECT LOCATION
how the nook-like living spaces on the upper levels revolve around the central atrium. The air gaps between the envelope and the interior are as wide as 13 feet in some places. In addition to insulating the house, they conceal technical systems and provide storage space.
AteljĂŠ Sotamaa Kontiolahti, Finland A Deck B Entrance C Living Area
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more remarkable the structure’s presence becomes. Inspired by the Ice Age rock formations found throughout the region, the Meteorite, so named for obvious reasons, is a faceted dwelling designed by Kivi and Tuuli Sotamaa, the brother-and-sister team behind Ateljé Sotamaa. The Meteorite’s black-tinted exterior provides a stark contrast to the warm, allwood interior. “Everything on the outside is designed to dramatically stage the inside,” says Kivi. “It’s a mysterious object, and you don’t quite know what is going on within.” Part of the mystique lies in the deceptive nature of its size—the interior spans only 807 square feet of floor space, yet its total volume is 10,594 cubic feet. The three-story home is built entirely from 272 prefabricated panels of crosslaminated, locally sourced timber—a
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sustainable material that lends itself to digital design methods and follows in the Finnish tradition of timber construction. Its envelope contains no plastic or insulation; it’s simply two sheets of wood, and the air gap in between them helps to regulate indoor temperature even when the subarctic climate outside drops to single digits in winter. The “between space,” as Ulla describes it, also hides storage and the building’s technical systems, preserving the minimalist feel of the interior. The Meteorite was originally envisioned as a guesthouse, but with the pandemic keeping them at home, it now serves as a more permanent, multipurpose space for Ulla, her husband, Jonathan Hull—who works for Facebook—and their three children. “The traditional separation of work and home has disappeared, and it’s
The bedroom is lined in spruce and sparsely furnished, save for a built-in bed designed by Ateljé Sotamaa. The coverlet and pillows feature a folkloric pattern by Klaus Haapaniemi & Co.
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The Meteorite’s CLT is locally sourced, and the exterior (this page) is finished with blacktinted Rubio Monocoat oil. Ateljé Sotamaa used digital design tools to render the structure’s 272 panels, which were prefabricated in a factory before being shipped to the site and assembled. Twelve electrically heated windows pierce
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the facade, framing views of the surrounding forest and fields. One of Ulla and Jonathan’s three children steps out of a storage space that provides a thermal buffer for the cabin (opposite, top). Overhead, a 102-square-foot skylight fills the interior with daylight that streams through the catamaran net, where Ulla lounges (opposite, bottom).
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beautiful that they are merged within this single building,” says Kivi. The interior of the Meteorite is a complex assemblage of spaces that revolve around a large atrium. The timber floors, walls, and ceilings perfume the air with the scent of spruce, and the interior is sparsely decorated with works by Finnish designers. The structure’s height and open spaces provide the family members with enough privacy to focus on what they’re doing while remaining connected. “When you’re working and there’s something else going on at the same time in one big room, it can be very distracting—but the shift to interacting vertically gives everyone their own space,” says Ulla. When the kids are hanging out with friends on the third floor, they seem worlds away from a video conference taking place below. Upon entering the house, your eyes are drawn to the 102-square-foot skylight and the third-floor catamaran-style net, where family and guests can seemingly float
“It is something that seems at home in the forest, but at the same time, it’s strikingly strange.” KIVI SOTAMAA, ARCHITECT amid the clouds or stargaze during long winter nights. Taking a first step onto the net is petrifying. There is a moment of dread, and then you feel its embrace as you lie 21 feet above the first floor. The Meteorite’s 12 electrically heated windows are strategically placed to frame the forest and stage dramatic views of a nearby field. “When the landscape changes with the seasons, you can take it all in,” says Tuuli. “The whole building is like a theatrical performance.” As the family has begun to explore the Meteorite’s potential, each person has gravitated to a particular area or two. Ulla likes to take her video calls next to the eight-by-nine-foot second-floor window, overlooking the field. Jonathan, a musician, has been setting up in various corners of the Meteorite to find the perfect acoustics for recording, and the children often spread out to various nooks and crannies or the net. Although it currently functions as a place for remote work, Ulla suggests that in the future the Meteorite may transform into a gallery, or a performance space. “I would say this is, if not a prelude to a symphony, a prelude to something.”
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A deck at Lizz Wasserman and Isaac Resnikoff’s home, in the Highland Park section of Los Angeles, features a table and planters by Isaac’s design studio, Project Room. The chairs are from CB2. Inside, the couple’s baby,
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Esphyr Rain Superbloom, and her older brother, Eli, lounge next to a MOCA mirrored bench (opposite), also by Project Room, and an off-white leather sofa. “I won’t tell you how little we paid for the couch,” Lizz says of the vintage find.
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Dank Is in the Details A family’s creative use of economical materials makes their net-zero Los Angeles home undeniably their own. TEXT BY
Janelle Zara PHOTOS BY | @JOSE_MANDOJANA
José Mandojana
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In 2011, through an act of what Lizz Wasserman calls “real estate divination,” she and her husband, Isaac Resnikoff, found a plot of unbuilt land in the Highland Park section of Los Angeles. To them, it was the perfect place to build a house and raise a family: a clean slate on the side of a hill, overlooking a sea of palm trees that recedes into the San Gabriel Mountains. To their Milwaukee-based architects— Lizz’s parents, Louis Wasserman and Caren Connolly—the site was less than ideal. If certain areas “had been one percent steeper, it would’ve been unbuildable,” Louis says, taking in the view behind the couple’s recently finished, three-bedroom, net-zero house. Today, Louis, Lizz, Isaac, and baby Esphyr Rain Superbloom are in the outdoor living room, a space where the wall supports and ceiling beams are exposed to the open air. While those four lounge on IKEA outdoor sofas, Caren and Esphyr’s older brother, Eli, are playing inside. As usual, everyone is in stocking feet; shoes belong on the porch, next to the glass-paned front door, which is lined with rainbow dichroic film. Like the iconic midcentury L.A. architecture that emerged from similarly precipitous drop-offs, nearly half of the house sits on piers firmly cemented into the hill. And like L.A.’s midcentury architects,
Lizz’s parents—Louis, an architect, and Caren, a landscape architect— designed the house, which sits on a steep site (above). Throughout the home, the walls and floors feature the natural grain patterns of lacquered plywood (right). The squiggly Bacterio laminate by Ettore Sottsass on the kitchen
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countertops (opposite) was dead stock, and the HEWI drawer pulls were diligently sourced on eBay. The Stokke Tripp Trapp chair in the dining room was Lizz’s when she was growing up in the 1980s. The two Steen Ostergaard chairs were a thrift store find, and Project Room designed the table.
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“We’ve tried to take any kind of budget concern and turn it into a choice.” ISAAC RESNIKOFF, RESIDENT
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“ This house was successful because it had certain challenges, and the site was definitely one of them.” LOUIS WASSERMAN, ARCHITECT
Rather than use large panes of glass to open the house to the view, Louis suggested stacking rows of more conventional windows to save on cost and make cleaning easier. The cladding is tongue-and-groove cypress. The deck is framed as an open-air room where the ceiling and walls have been peeled away. The grill is a vintage Weber Genesis 1000. LG solar panels from Pick My Solar contribute to the home’s net-zero energy profile, as does a moisture barrier in the walls that allows heat to escape.
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A terrace on the lower level (opposite) opens off a space the family calls the Dank Lounge (above), which includes a deep sectional built by Lizz and Isaac. A film screen lowers in front of room-darkening curtains on movie nights. The Blob coffee table is by Project Room, and the Scandinavian rya rug is vintage. The couple’s art collection includes works by many friends and local artists. A print by Alex Smith, a drawing by Cammie Staros, a painting by John Finneran, and a photo by Lizz hang in the lounge.
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Caren, Louis, Isaac, and Lizz allowed the project’s various constraints to shape the design. The site, Louis explains, was just one of the challenges that they embraced. “No offense,” he adds, turning to his clients and chuckling, “but it wasn’t a great budget, either.” The design process unfolded amid various differences of opinion and intermittent strokes of ingenuity. The plan for the upper level’s open kitchen/living/dining space, for example, was cause for disagreement early on. “When we asked for one big room, Louis said we really needed some kind of threshold,” Isaac recounts. The parties compromised with a freestanding wall that Isaac designed, positioned between the front door and the rest of the house. Its primary function is to prevent the house from
revealing too much too soon, maintaining a spatial narrative of restraint and release. (As a bonus, it also conceals the HVAC.) Lizz, the creative director of fashion retailer Fred Segal, and Isaac, an artist and founder of local design collective Project Room (the studio recently won an international competition to redesign L.A.’s streetlights), furnished the light-filled interiors with an eclectic spread of color and texture. Isaac designed the jeweltoned dichroic glass table in the indoor dining room, as well as a table of recycled marble slabs as its outdoor counterpart. In the more private, compact spaces of the lower floor, below rainbow stripes painted between the rafters, he and Lizz carved out a cozy nook with built-in seating and upholstery that they designed themselves. In contrast to the openness of the upper
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floor, the Dank Lounge, as it’s called, is “a quiet spot for our family,” Lizz says. (“That’s not the official architect’s name for it,” Louis would like to point out, “but they insist.”) Going all in, the couple also “nerded out,” Lizz says, on sourcing the house’s sustainable features, and Isaac’s dinner party conversation was briefly dominated by talk of rain collection barrels, low-flow toilets, and excessively high-grade roof insulation. Pointing to the living area’s operable skylights, which cool the interior by siphoning out heat, he credits the thinness of the roof to Louis, who came up with the novel idea of sandwiching the track lighting and sprinkler system between pairs of 2-by-12-inch rafters. Although the Wasserman family has always been passionate about the environment—when she was growing up in Wisconsin, Lizz says, “We were the only people who composted”—the younger couple have found sustainability to be extremely cost-effective as well: The monthly energy bills are less than $20, the cost of hooking up to the city grid. Caren, a landscape architect, had drawn up the master plan after spending time on the empty plot of land, simply observing the path of the sun throughout the day. The resulting home engages the site in ways that the family continues to discover. “It’s like a game watching the light flow through this house,” Lizz says, noting the shadows that surprisingly shift in size, shape, color, and intensity as the seasons change. Having moved in only a year and a half ago, she adds, “I think about what it will be like to live here for longer, and to know what the light will be.”
Eli swings above the sloping property (right). Lizz and Isaac are in the process of adding an ADU to the lot, where Louis and Caren can stay when they’re in town. In the bedroom (below), a custom tie-dyed wool blanket by Project Room lies on top of linens by Coyuchi. The large painting is by John Finneran, and the Eames chair is an heirloom from Lizz’s family. The dichroic glass in the front door (opposite) appears to change color in different light.
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Abbott Hill House
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Louis Wasserman and Associates Los Angeles, California
Bathroom Bedroom Terrace Dank Lounge Laundry Mechanical/Storage Workshop Garage Entrance Outdoor Living Area Deck Kitchen Living/Dining Area
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“A lot of new houses don’t feel like they already love their inhabitants. Being able to live in a house that my dad designed is such an amazing, warm feeling.” LIZZ WASSERMAN, RESIDENT
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Variations on a Scheme A pair of musicians interpret a Nebraska architect’s design to build their New Zealand home.
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TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @SIMON_DEVITT
Stephen Zacks
Simon Devitt
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Corrugated steel wraps the South Island home of musicians Justine Cormack and Marc Taddei. The wedge-shaped design, by Nebraska architect Jeffrey Day, was originally intended for Day’s mother, who lives in Maine.
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At the taller end of the 2,575-square-foot house (opposite), a second story holds two bedrooms, one of which Justine uses as a music room and office. A sliding panel opens to offer her a view of the living area below. “When you’re in the house, you’re aware of the whole house, which I really like,” she says. At the shorter end (below), perforated metal walls protect the patio from the area’s intense winds.
Justine Cormack and Marc Taddei are something of a classical music power couple. He is the music director of both Orchestra Wellington in New Zealand and the Vallejo Symphony, near San Francisco (their seasons are at opposite times of the year). She is an award-winning violinist and cofounder of NZTrio in Auckland, which is where the couple was long based. But a few years ago, when Justine decided to leave the ensemble, they suddenly felt free to move anywhere, as long as it was within striking distance of an airport. They chose to look for land in the Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island, a scenic area of snowcapped mountains and glacial lakes where Justine had vacationed as a child. The couple soon settled on a site in Queensberry: a 10-acre parcel in a subdivided development that was surrounded by mountains and overlooked the Clutha River. “When we put our feet onto the land, it felt like an ‘aha’ moment,” Justine says. “The 360-degree views were stunning.” The decisions followed from there. They rented a place near the new property while they worked with an architect to design a custom home. When projected costs skyrocketed, they began researching an alternative on Hometta, a now defunct website that sold contemporary house plans. That’s where they discovered the Wedge House,
designed by Jeffrey Day, founding principal of Actual Architecture Company and a former director of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s architecture school. The couple wanted a design that responded to the majesty of the surroundings, and Day’s drawings of a sharply angled structure rising at a 12-degree slope resonated with them. “We felt the house would look sculptural on the landscape, which was important for us,” Marc says. “We wanted a design that was really interesting and inspiring, so we were pleased when this thing popped up online.” Originally conceived—but never built— as a home for Day’s mother, who lives in Maine, the Wedge House became a reality amid the New Zealand landscape. To capture optimal views and exposure to light as the sun moves across the Southern Hemisphere, Justine and Marc inverted the slope of the elevation. “The best view is to the northwest, and north, of course, is where the sun is,” Day says, “so it worked out well that the predominant view is also the best angle for solar gain.” To win local approval, they had to show they were siting the house in a way that minimized breaking the ridgeline of the mountains as seen from the road. Justine and Marc sent Day photos of profile poles indicating where they had decided
“The house has all the makings of a home, but it’s also an artistic expression and statement.” JUSTINE CORMACK, RESIDENT
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Actual Architecture Company Queensberry, Otago, New Zealand
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to place the house so that he could provide visual mock-ups for the town council. As building progressed, they consulted the architect regularly about details, materials, and alterations. “The idea of selling the plans is that someone buys them and you’re done, and then the owners do whatever they want,” Day says with a laugh. “These folks were so concerned that I’d be happy with the house, they called me about everything.” The couple viewed Day’s renderings as a composition they were transposing into a new context. “We’re coming at it from a musician’s perspective, so we respect the score,” says Marc. “That’s what we do for a living, and it seemed like an easy transition to interpret architectural plans into something unique. The beauty of working with Jeff is that, unlike some composers, he’s alive, so we can talk to him and make sure things are the way he wants them.” Day and the couple decided to bring on a New Zealand architectural designer with knowledge of local codes to draft the construction drawings. Justine became the de facto project manager, interpreting
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the renderings in consonance with local materials and building techniques. Instead of structural insulated panels, which they felt had too many unknown costs since they’re not commonly used on the Pacific island, they chose laminated veneer lumber framing, prefabricated and delivered on a flatbed truck. The Clutha River supplied multicolored stone aggregate for the polished concrete floors, which are embedded with radiant heating. Custom doubleglazed, thermally broken windows limit heat gain and loss through the odd-shaped apertures, which respond to the slope of the interior and exterior walls and provide breathtaking views in every direction. “One of the things that has worked out so fantastically is just how well the house relates to the hills and mountains around us,” Justine says. “We can see outside of the house no matter where we’re sitting.” The layout remains essentially the same as in the original plan. A patio with triangular metal screens on two sides sits at the lower end. Next is the couple’s bedroom suite and then, in a linear open plan, the living/dining area and the kitchen. A second story begins above the dining
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Clerestory windows capture the mountain views from the couple’s first-floor bedroom (left), which opens to the patio. In the hallway (opposite), wide-plank oak flooring complements the tongueand-groove eucalyptus walls. An adjacent flat-roofed volume (below) holds the garage, entry vestibule, laundry, and wine cellar.
area and contains two guestrooms and a bath. The most notable feature of the interior is the continuous stretch of tongue-and-groove eucalyptus paneling that serves variously as wall and ceiling as it moves through the home. Along the way, it disguises the couple’s bedroom door, as well as a sliding panel above a built-in desk in one of the guestrooms that allows a peek at the living area below. “When we were building the house, I was worried it would end up with a Swedish airport bar feel, but in fact it’s very homey for something that has that kind of modernist art gallery vibe,” says Marc. “I’m not surprised, but it’s slightly unexpected.” Justine, who briefly studied architecture before choosing a career in music, speaks of the way the design resolves all the issues raised by the site and their way of living. “Right from the start, we recognized the opportunity of working with an architect, someone who is creating a home that has an artistic response to life,” she says. Adds Marc, “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because he originally designed it for his mom, but there’s so much thought and love put into the design of this house.”
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backstory
TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @JUSTINCHUNG
Kelly Vencill Sanchez
Justin Chung
Architect Warren Techentin collaborated with artists Christopher James and Kristin Beinner James to renovate the couple’s oncederelict home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. When they first bought it, the corner entrance was obscured by a tangle of vegetation.
Step by Step Over the course of nearly 20 years, two artists renovate a Los Angeles home and adjacent bungalows into the perfect live/work space.
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From exceptional trees, come exceptional furnishings.
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backstory
Christopher James vividly recalls when he and his wife, Kristin Beinner James, first laid eyes on the pink and maroon house in L.A.’s Los Feliz neighborhood in 2000. Divided into upstairs and downstairs apartments, the house was a wreck, and the three bungalows out back weren’t much better. “The sewer in the main house was disconnected, there was no heat, and rain streamed in through broken windows,” says Chris. Built between 1906 and 1926, the structures, which locals say were once used to accommodate out-of-town talent for a nearby movie studio, had obviously seen better days. But the property offered the live/rent opportunity the couple, both artists, were looking for, and they saw the potential to create a place to both work and raise a family. After purchasing it, they settled into the upstairs apartment and began renovating
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the one-bedroom bungalows and renting them out to fellow artists. “We had a sort of reverse discrimination policy,” Chris jokes. “You had to be an artist to live here.” In 2010 they reached out to architect Warren Techentin, a friend, to redesign a collapsing exterior stair on the south side of the main house. Five years later he returned to explore how Chris and Kristin, who have two daughters, might convert the 2,700-square-foot house into a fourbedroom, single-family home. Elevated above the nearly half-acre lot, the boxy structure offered the perfect blank canvas for clean-lined rooms, but there was little connection to the surrounding garden that the couple had brought back to life. In addition to making the house suitable for a family of four, the couple wanted to retain its Mission lines and Moroccaninflected details. “Chris and Kristin are modernists, and they wanted a modern
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backstory
Rebuilt windows give the living room (opposite, top) a daylit glow. The pendant is by Serge Mouille. Chris, at left, and Techentin stand in the library, which they outfitted with a solid brass counter (opposite, bottom). In addition to turning what had
been two apartments into a single residence, Techentin reconfigured the garden facade (right), adding a terrace, French doors, and a freestanding chimney. The updated kitchen (below) pairs Heath tiles with Porcelanosa countertops.
Golden Age A once-neglected home gets ready for its close-up.
c . 19 06
Three bungalows are built on a lot measuring just under a half-acre on the edge of Los Feliz. c . 19 12
A one-story house is built on the site. c . 19 26
A second story is added to the house. 1910s–1 9 20s
The buildings are used as quarters for out-of-town talent by a neighboring movie studio, according to local lore. 194 0s
The two floors of the main house are converted into separate apartments. 2 000
Christopher James and Kristin Beinner James buy the property and begin the process of updating the bungalows and the upstairs apartment. Chris also begins revitalizing the landscape. 2 010
Architect Warren Techentin redesigns the exterior stair on the main house, along with a garden shed and a deck. 2 015
Techentin begins working on a plan to convert the two apartments into a four-bedroom, single-family home, a project that requires significant shoring up of the foundation. 2 016
“We had a lot of conversations about how to adapt the character of the building, as well as how to open up the house to the garden.” WARREN TECHENTIN, ARCHITECT DWELL
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Chris and Kristin finish renovating two of the bungalows for use as art studios. 2 018
Renovation of the main house is complete.
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backstory
In the library, tucked beneath the renovated staircase, is a reading nook featuring cushion fabric by Sarah Morris for Maharam (right). The pendant is by Louis Weisdorf for Gubi, and the sconce is by Bernard Schottlander for DCW éditions. An oil painting by Chris hangs in the dining room (below). Other works by the couple and artist friends are displayed throughout the house.
Chris customized the main bathroom’s patterned Granada cement tiles (below). “I had them take out some of the lines,” he says. “I’m a fan of ’60s Op art, and you
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get a 3-D effect if you lay them in the right way.” Lush plantings surround one of the two bungalows on the property that the couple converted into art studios (opposite).
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backstory
home,” Techentin says. “But they wanted the character of the house to come with it.” For inspiration, they looked to the early work of pioneering modernist Irving Gill. “There is something very restful and satisfying to my mind in the simple cube house with creamy walls, sheer and plain, rising boldly into the sky, unrelieved by cornices or overhang of roof,” the architect wrote in 1916. The project was both a renovation and a recasting of the original, with added elements that feel as though they were meant to be there all along. Chief among them is the long terrace that connects to the garden through new French doors in the dining room and kitchen. Of the new detached chimney and outdoor fireplace, Techentin says, “Louis Kahn did them frequently as ways to modulate scale. Here,
cement tile designs and created layouts for the tile in the bathrooms. The rooms are hung with pieces by the couple, who now work out of two of the bungalows, and by artist friends. The pair has also found a place for several antiques that were in Chris’s mom’s home in San Francisco. “They’re so over the top and just weird enough that they fit here,” he says. The dialogue between old and new is fitting for a property that has evolved over the years to become a deeply personal reflection of its owners, who have created a place that’s conducive to work as well as play. Friends come to stay, and there have been art exhibitions and video screenings, along with the occasional dance party. Says Kristin, “It’s an oasis in the city.”
the chimney balances the two volumes and helps the house to read as one entity.” Upstairs as well as downstairs, new and reconstructed windows flood the rooms with light. Echoing an existing curved opening between the living and dining rooms, an archway leads from the barrelvaulted living room to a diminutive library located beneath the renovated stair that leads to the second-floor bedrooms. Lined with books and featuring a reading nook and a bar, it’s an intimate counterpoint to the public rooms. To make the tiny kitchen more usable, Techentin moved walls and added storage. He worked closely with Chris and Kristin on choosing finishes and materials, like the solid brass handrail on the staircase and the library’s bar counter, crafted of brass sheeting. Chris also modified existing
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Los Feliz Residence ARCHITECT LOCATION
Warren Techentin Architecture Los Angeles, California
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the backyard house
TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @PARRISHRUIZDEVELASCO
Alex Temblador
Parrish Ruiz de Velasco
Rather than expand their midcentury home, Anthony Marks and his partner built a guesthouse on the unused half of their double lot, in Denton, Texas. The gated fence borrows from the material palette used for the dwelling. “It’s like an introduction, or preview, to what lies beyond,” says architect Michael Gooden.
Welcoming Addition An ADU creates room for guests next to a historic 20th-century Texas home.
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the backyard house
On a recent evening in Denton, Texas, Anthony Marks and his partner placed a projector and screen in front of the new 672-square-foot guesthouse in their backyard. A dozen or so people spread around the adjacent pool deck and watched Young Frankenstein against the backdrop of the boxy, broad-roofed structure. It wasn’t the large unveiling party the couple had planned prior to the pandemic, but the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) was indeed designed with company in mind. Anthony and his partner live in a modern limestone and redwood house built in the late 1940s by local design luminaries Ray Gough and Roland Laney. But since the house has only two bedrooms—one of which is used as an office—their frequent weekend guests were often subjected to an air mattress. “At first, we considered simply adding on to the main house,” says Anthony, “but given its history and local significance, we decided to honor its architectural integrity and build a guesthouse instead.” The couple hired architect Michael Gooden, a Denton native and principal of M Gooden Design, for the project. The idea was to build a patio, a pool, and the
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the backyard house
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Walls of board-formed concrete are warmed by the cumaru wood ceilings and decks (opposite, top). A red Womb chair from Knoll
adds a bright touch to the otherwise neutral palette (opposite, bottom). In the kitchen, Eames chairs flank a custom dining table,
and the pendant is by Wever & Ducré (above). The side patio doubles as a parking spot for a custom-built 1970 Honda CB750 (below).
“The approval process wasn’t easy. It’s just a guesthouse, but we may as well have been trying to build an apartment complex in the backyard.” ANTHONY MARKS, RESIDENT
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the backyard house
The bedroom furniture is from West Elm and the duvet is from Virgil Abloh’s Markerad collection for IKEA. Acapulco chairs sit on the adjacent deck (below). The windows are by Milgard and the glass sliders are by Western Window Systems.
ADU on a five-foot planning grid (hence the name, Five House) that complemented their main home. “We wanted to pay homage to the house, but not copy it exactly,” says Anthony. Gooden, who worked with project architect Kevan Russell, describes the design as “a reinterpretation of how the original architects might have approached the new build seventy years later.” Passing through the ADU’s private gate, you’re first struck by the large sloping roof, with its five-foot cantilevered extension on the west side, facing the pool. A series of angled metal columns then draws your eye down to the large side patio, covered by another overhang. “There is an arrival sequence and approach to the unit that gives guests a sense of anticipation, delivering an expression of architecture that is both familiar and unique,” says Gooden. Five House also appears to float above
the ground, a result of the foundation’s being placed on a five-foot incline that runs east to west. River rocks around the dwelling’s perimeter add to this effect, while tall trees and a luxuriant landscape heighten the sense of its being suspended in nature. Inside the structure, wood finishes pop against black elements like the kitchen backsplash, lighting fixtures, and dining table, while tapered furniture legs, a platform bed, and geometric pendants maintain an updated midcentury theme. Since its completion last spring, Five House has allowed the couple to host overnight guests at a safe remove, and it has been the centerpiece of a few socially distant backyard gatherings. “Eventually, when the pandemic is over—and it will be, someday, right?—we hope to use Five House as a way to bring family, friends, and neighbors together as often as we can,” says Anthony.
“The pitched ceilings and ribbon of clerestory windows make the interior feel more spacious than it is.” MICHAEL GOODEN, ARCHITECT 92
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Inside a Hip Brooklyn Apartment
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sourcing The products, furniture, architects, designers, and builders featured in this issue. 22 Screen Time Bercy Chen Studio LP Thomas Bercy, Calvin Chen, Daniel Arellano, Dan Loe, and Sasha Doo bcarc.com JM Structures jmartin@jmstructural.com Interior design by McCray & Co. mccray-co.com Cabinetry by Modern Union themodernunion.com 22 Tan rug, pink rugs, and white chairs from IKEA ikea.com 23 Log table by Julien Renault for Hem us.hem .com; Navy chairs by Emeco emeco.net; Coventry stool by Studio Dunn studiodunn.com 44 Class Act Works Office of Brian O’Brian Architect worksoffice.com McLean Contracting mclean-contracting.ca Kieffer Structural Engineering kieffer.ca Interior design by Works Office of Brian O’Brian Architect & Laura Fremont Design laurafremontdesign.com Fischer Custom Cabinets fischercustomcabinets .com 44 Shou sugi ban siding by South Parry Lumber southparrylumber.ca; windows by Tiltco tiltco.com 46-47 Sirocco Safari Chairs by Arne Norell, vintage; coffee table and rug from Elte elte.com; Cantante Floor Lamp by Claudia Moreira Salles from Avenue Road avenue-road.com; Eames Lounge Chair & Ottoman by Charles and Ray Eames, vintage; wood flooring by Northern Wide Plank northernwideplank.com; Omah bar stool by Atelier Arking arking.ca 48 Semi pendant by Claus Bonderup and Torsten Thorup for Gubi gubi.com; dining table and Nartia LT chairs by
Atelier Arking arking.ca; sofa from Elte elte.com 50 Full Circle No Architecture noarchitecture.com General contracting by Quadresign quadresign@gmail.com Madden & Baughman Engineering, Inc. maddenbaughman.com Civil engineering by Kelly, Granger, Parsons & Associates kellygrangerparsons.com Interior design by Elaine O’Dwyer elaineodwyer.com Landscape design by Patrick Cullina Horticultural Design patrickcullina.com Cabinetry by Tim Cook tgcook49@gmail.com 52-53 Dining table, pendant, and bar stools from Pinch pinchdesign .com; dining chairs and coffee table from Naughtone naughtone .com; Cubitos rug by Minna minna-goods .com; Akari pendant by Isamu Noguchi shop .noguchi.org; Cloud sofa by RH Modern rhmodern.com; rug from Crate & Barrel crateandbarrel.com 56-57 Hinoki soaking tub by Bartok Design Co. bartokdesign.com; Akari pendant by Isamu Noguchi shop.noguchi .org; desk from IKEA ikea.com; desk chair from WB Wood wbwood.com 58 Down to Earth Ateljé Sotamaa ateljesotamaa.net General contracting by Joen Kodinrakentajat joenkodinrakentajat.fi Construction by Lahden Puurakentajat lahdenpuurakentajat.fi Structural engineering by Vahanen Group vahanen.com CLT manufacturing by Hoisko CLT hoisko.fi Cabinetry design by Puusëpat puusepat.fi
Dwell® (ISSN 1530-5309), Volume XXI Issue 1, publishes six double issues annually, by Dwell Life, Inc., 595 Pacific Avenue, 4th floor, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA. Occasional extra issues may also be published. Copyright ©2021. All rights reserved. In the US, Dwell® is a registered trademark of Dwell Life, Inc. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts,
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Lighting design by Saas Instruments saas.fi 60 Custom sofa designed by Ateljé Sotamaa ateljesotamaa.net; slipcover and pillows by Klaus Haapaniemi & Co. klaush.com 61 Cabinets and appliances from IKEA ikea .com; custom sink by Durat durat.com; EVO184 kitchen faucet by Tapwell tapwell.com 63 Coverlet and pillows by Klaus Haapaniemi & Co. klaush.com; custom bed designed by Ateljé Sotamaa ateljesotamaa.net 66 Dank Is in the Details Louis Wasserman and Associates louiswassermanand associates.com Daniel Linn Architects linnarch@gmail.com Zorzoli Construction zorzoli-construction .business.site HTK Structural Engineers, LLP htkse.com B+W Engineering and Design bwengr.com Landscape design by Terremoto terremoto.la Interior design by Project Room projectroom.la Soil engineering by Earth Systems earthsystems.com Monterey Energy Group montereyenergygroup .com 66 Pompeii table and Split planter by Project Room projectroom.la; Condessa Woven outdoor dining chairs by Mexa Design for CB2 cb2.com 67 MOCA bench and hand-painted pendant by Project Room projectroom.la; sofa and side tables, vintage; assorted Rowena Sartin pillows by Iko Iko ikoikospace.com 69 Bacterio laminate by Ettore Sottsass from Abet Laminati abetlaminati.com; Tripp Trapp chair by
Peter Opsvik from Stokke stokke.com; chairs by Steen Ostergaard, vintage; BOB table by Project Room projectroom.la; Cleo chairs by Stine Aas from Dims. dimshome.com 70-71 LG solar panels from Pick My Solar pickmysolar.com; Weber Genesis 1000 grill, vintage 73 Blob coffee table and sectional with bookshelf by Project Room projectroom.la; Scandinavian rug, vintage; print by Alex Smith alexsmithstudios.com; drawing by Cammie Staros cammiestaros .com; painting by John Finneran johnfinneran .info; drawing by Karl Haendel 74 Tie-dye wool blanket by Project Room projectroom.la; bed linens by Coyuchi coyuchi.com; “Katz Ramona, Katz Ramona, Katz Ramona” painting by John Finneran johnfinneran .info; Eames Plastic Armchair by Charles and Ray Eames, vintage; “Untitled” painting by Jennifer Boysen jenniferboysen.com; Componibili Bio nightstand by Anna Castelli Ferrieri from Kartell kartell.com 76 Variations on a Scheme Actual Architecture Company actual.ac Permit drawings by Ian Perry yourofftogreatplaces @gmail.com Construction by Colebrook & Co. colebrook.co.nz Richards Consulting Engineers rcengineers.co.nz John Fairweather Specialty Timber Solutions specialtytimbers.co.nz 78 Sofas from Città cittadesign.com;
art, or other materials. Subscription price for US residents: $28.00 for 6 issues. Canadian subscription rate: $39.95 (GST included) for 6 issues. All other countries: $49.95 for 6 issues. To order a subscription to Dwell or to inquire about an existing subscription, please write to: Dwell Magazine Customer Service, PO Box 5100, Harlan, IA 51593-0600, or call 877-939-3553.
Maraetai dining table from The Axe theaxe.co.nz; dining chairs from Nood nood.co.nz; Gregg pendant by Ludovica and Roberto Palomba for Foscarini foscarini.com; flooring by Haro Quality Flooring haro.com 79 Outdoor sofa and table from Container Door containerdoor.com 80-81 Duvet cover by Bed Threads bedthreads .com; headboard by McMaster Joinery mcmasterjoinery.co.nz 82 Step by Step Warren Techentin Architecture wtarch.com Blanco Construction blancoconstruction services.com DMAC Design + Engineering dmacse.com Alpha Structural Foundation Reconstruction alphastructural.com A.V. Energy & Associates avenergy-title24.com 84 Serge Mouille ceiling light, vintage; coffee table and sofa from IKEA ikea.com; Armchair 400 by Alvar Aalto, vintage; Multi pendant by Louis Weisdorf for Gubi gubi.com; refrigerator by U-Line u-line.com 85 1908 Range by La Cornue lacornueusa .com; countertops by Porcelanosa porcelanosa-usa.com; Bluff City pendant by Roll & Hill rollandhill .com; tiles from Heath Ceramics heathceramics .com; Vig bar stools by BoConcept boconcept .com; All White kitchen wall paint by Farrow & Ball farrow-ball.com 86 Mantis sconce by Bernard Schottlander for DCW éditions dcw-editions.fr; Agency fabric by Sarah Morris for Maharam maharam.com; custom cement tile by Granada Tile granadatile .com; sink by Duravit duravit.us; table and chairs from IKEA ikea
.com; Plummet paint by Farrow & Ball farrow-ball.com 88 Welcoming Addition M Gooden Design mgoodendesign.com Larson Construction adam7@hotmail.com BC Structural Engineers steven_bai@hotmail.com Affinity Custom Woodwork customww@aol.com 90-91 Womb chair by Eero Saarinen for Knoll knoll.com; Noguchi Table by Isamu Noguchi for Herman Miller hermanmiller.com; Monroe Drive sleeper sofa by Apt2B apt2b .com; Crescent floor lamp by Article article.com; throw pillow from Alice Cottrell Interior Design alicecottrellinterior design.com; Craftworks wool rug by Nourison nourison.com; Molded Plastic Side Chair by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller hermanmiller.com; Fresh Concrete countertops from Caesarstone caesarstoneus.com; backsplash by Cambria cambriausa.com; Wire Diamond 2.0 pendant by Wever & Ducré weverducre.com 92 Sliders by Western Window Systems westernwindowsystems .com; windows by Milgard Windows & Doors milgard.com; Acapulco Sun Oval Weave lounge chairs from Joseph Allen Home josephallenhome.com; Curvilinear Mid-Century table lamp, nightstand, and platform bed, all from West Elm westelm .com; Markerad duvet by Virgil Abloh for IKEA ikea.com
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one last thing
Craig Dykers, founding partner of the architecture firm Snøhetta, has long been intrigued by stone tools, such as these neolithic blades made of obsidian and flint. But he isn’t merely a collector of ancient things—he has experience in reviving them. His firm’s first built project was the new Library of Alexandria in Egypt.
AS TOLD TO
PHOTO BY | @JAMIECHUNGSTUDIO
Anna Gibertini
Jamie Chung
When I think about technologies, I think about ingenuity, creativity, and invention. I try to understand the minds of the humans who made them and the consequences of their creations. These little stone blades that I keep on my desk are forms of technology from 12,000 years ago. I found my first one in the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico, where I lived as a teenager. Over the years, I’ve acquired a collection of these stone tools, some as gifts from friends. Although
there’s an aspect of the unknown to them, I believe you can detect some element of the person who made them in the differences between each one. That’s why I find them so fascinating. Despite their apparent simplicity, to their maker they were as wondrous, useful, and consequential as technological innovations are for us today. If we look at them through the minds of their inventors, these implements open up a world of history and creative energy that can inspire contemporary inventors, creatives, and designers.
In neolithic tools, architect Craig Dykers sees a bridge from humanity’s ancient past to our high-tech present. 100
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western window systems Paul Merrill, principal 5G Studio Collaborative
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