Posted in Design Projects, tagged doorways, El Cerrito, houses, mahogony, process, wood on September 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The front door was installed yesterday. Now we are working out the trim details. (Ignore the blue painters tape please)
We decided to make the fir continue all the way to the ceiling and the corner for simplicity Having a sliver of white to the right of the door and a wider sliver above would have diminished the installation. I admit some influence by the intersecting planes of Gerrit Rietveld’s Schröder House
Posted in Design Projects, tagged furniture, kitchen, process on September 28, 2010| 3 Comments »
The As-built Floorplan
The Revised Floor Plan
This upgrade includes an expanded kitchen (for a client who enjoys cooking,) modern kitchen cabinets, a lot of drawers to maximize storage, New lighting design throughout the kitchen, foyer, and living room, conversion of a large storage closet into a pantry and laundry room, incorporation of a desk area into the kitchen, elimination of an electric fireplace with two-dimensional paper bricks and a new wall mounted flat screen TV with custom entertainment cabinet below.
Here are a few pictures of the kitchen before construction:
I am going to make you wait for the AFTER photos until it is finished,but here is a computer model of the new TV center to come:
Posted in Design Projects, tagged El Cerrito, fibercement, process on September 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Design Projects, tagged doorways, mahogony, process, wood on September 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The client and their cats are moving back home so Guillaume put in a rush order for the custom fir door. Here is a photo of the door glued and clamped at John Staton in West Berkeley: 
I hope it will be ready in time!
Posted in Design Projects, tagged El Cerrito, fibercement, process, rainscreen on September 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »
It is hard to get good pictures of the rainscreen assembly, but here are a few courtesy of Mr. Canivet.
The point of the rainscreen is to allow air to circulate behind the siding and dry out the backside. This way the moisture doesn’t instead get sucked inwards into the insulation and stud bays and the paper-backed sheet rock when you turn on your industrial kitchen hood. This can cause all sorts of problems. It also just keeps the moisture from lurking behind the siding.
The siding is 5/8″ thick fibercement lap siding. the furring is 1.5″x5/16″ cedar strips, and the drainage plane is good old-fashioned 2-ply building paper. In order to keep insects from building nests behind the siding Guillaume came up with a simple detail using wire mesh and filter fabric at the top and bottom and above and below each window.
Posted in Found Objects, tagged buildings on the water, Cold Spring Harbor, doorways, houses, interiors, value on September 21, 2010| 1 Comment »
Portière: a curtain hung in a doorway, either to replace the door or for decoration.
I visited my friend Duncan last week at his parent’s house in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island:
I learned this word from Duncan’s mother, Elizabeth Watson, an architectural historian. She has a these good examples of simple, utilitarian portière in her own house:
This architectural term comes from the French word for door, porte. Common in wealthier households during the Victorian era (according to Wikipedia,) curtains are still a great way to create privacy, mitigate drafts, hide a messy closet, subdivide a space, or create a cozy nook. Its much more affordable to put up a curtain than install any sort of door, and it is especially appropriate if you need a temporary or quick solution, or if you get excited about fabrics or a splash of color.
Here is a fancier example of Portière from the National Gallery in Washington DC:
I also found this drapery design blog with all sorts of examples of portière.
Posted in Found Objects, tagged Brooklyn, derelict chic, lighting design, metal, New York, restaurant, rustic, tile, wood on September 21, 2010| 2 Comments »
I just ate dinner at this cool restaurant in Brooklyn. It was dark outside the whole time I was there. I am sure the place would feel pretty different for breakfast.
The building is an old diner train car with all the inherent architectural charm that you might imagine….. cozy narrow space, curved ceiling, lots of windows.
Instead of accentuating the 50s style, this restaurant has a different, edgier and classier sort of atmosphere.
It easily could have been overly trendy with its “derelict” finishes (ala Zoolander)
The old tile floor is patched with no attempt to hide that fact that it has been patched.
but some how it just works.
Once again the lighting is key. In this case the general lighting is dimmed, and warm flickery candlelight creates the mood. Mirrors, shiny ceiling and glass tiles add to the sparkle.
Lara Kaufman, who took most of these photos for me, is pictured on the right and Elissa Steglich, the local friend who took us here is on the left
Photo from Lara K showing some artful floor patches
Posted in Design Projects, tagged building paper, color, El Cerrito, process on September 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »
You can see the big new dining room windows and to the right three new bigger windows in the living room looking at the view. These windows face SW and will have exterior shades on them.
Posted in Found Objects, tagged Berkeley, dog, fence, garden, holes, isba, landscape, plants, whimsy on September 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »
This new fence caught my eye from across the street
All along the fence there are rows of peep holes of different shapes and sizes.
The peep holes let a bit of light through the fence and rhythmically break up the wall of redwood boards
The boards are on the otherside for one section of fence. The neat row of cactuses along it reminded me of Frida Kahlo’s cactus fence in Mexico City
On the front corner there is yellow grid in conversation with the three squares to the right. Im not as big a fan of this side. It looks a bit too post modern.
The owner of this fence also has a bright blue garage door
Posted in Found Objects, tagged energy efficiency, garden, landscape, lighting design, recycled, salvaged, wood on September 6, 2010| 2 Comments »
I got to go to John’s company party the other day. The food was good. Here are some photos of the house and gardens and some of the party-goers and feast.
It is more energy-efficient to have a square, compact house, but when you live in California and you have a beautiful piece of land with some nice views, it is hard not to connect the inside to the landscape with courtyards. This H-shaped piece of architecture works pretty well, although it would have been better if the site was on the north wall of the valley rather than the north-east. I imagine that the courtyard is sometimes unusable on a hot afternoon with the low-angle sun beaming across the valley. As you can see from some of the photos, the house has a lot of creative and artful details.
Links:
deedsdesign 