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Archive for the ‘Design Projects’ Category

A cool photo

Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, small buldings on January 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

John McBride took this picture of our cottage project on the apocalyptic day last fall when the sky stayed dark and orange all day. Hopefully the fires will not be so bad in 2021.

More Architectural Monkey Bars

Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, body coscious design, children, designing for movement, exposed structure, fun, get off the couch, health, home fitness, kids, monkeybars, pandemic, vaulted ceiling on January 26, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I took a class in graduate school with Professor Galen Cranz called Body Conscious Design. That is where this idea started. The class was all about how to design better spaces, furniture and other things for the health of our bodies. Much of our built environment, down to the typical chair that often causes back problems, are not great for human health. This architectural detail helps prevent the atrophy of the upper body muscles. One of my projects in school had monkey bars in every hallway for an alternate means of travel.

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Some Strawbale Wall Building Action (With Lap Steel Accompaniment)

Posted in Design Projects, tagged green building, Strawbale on January 14, 2021| 1 Comment »

We couldn’t have a bale raising party due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is a small building. Its going to be very cozy.

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The Walls Have Arrived

Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, green building, small buildings, Straw Bale on January 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »

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Snapshots of a favorite recent project

Posted in Design Projects, tagged ADU, Berkeley, carved post, cottage, painted beam, small buildings on January 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »

We converted the front house from a duplex to single family, then added an ADU at the back. So many fun details on this project I don’t know where to start.

First, Here is the new ADU. The landscape work is underway, so stay tuned. Note the castle post from previous blogposts.

Looking South to the private patio with painted beam

more of the beam with two more carved posts

Here are three of the kitchen

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Hand Forged Bale Needles & Antique Bale Knife

Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, McBride Construction, process, Strawbale on December 30, 2020| Leave a Comment »

John has been getting ready for the strawbales over the holidays. He bought a bale knife on EBay and made his own needles out of a steel rod. Pretty cool.

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North Berkeley ADU Snapshots

Posted in Design Projects, tagged accessory dwelling unit, ADU, Berkeley, cabinets, dining nook, drain rack, fir, kitchen, small buildings on December 8, 2020| Leave a Comment »

The builder (McBride Construction) is working his way through the punch list. We are both proud of how this rental cottage is turning out. Here are a couple of his snapshots:

The first one is the kitchen with built-in dish drying rack over the drainboard and apple-ply cabinets. The second is the little dining nook with storage benches and salvaged fir built-in table.

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A Simple ADU to Replace a Garage

Posted in Design Projects, tagged accessory dwelling unit, ADU, Berkeley, construction process, fibercement, green building, rainscreen, simple, small buildings on November 18, 2020| Leave a Comment »

I’ll post more about this one soon…with some interior shots. This will house the homeowners while they remodel the main house, then it will be an art studio and guest quarters. Someday it will probably house renters. It exceeds all the green building and energy efficiency codes. Construction by McBride Construction.