Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, cabinets, holes, interiors, natural light, process on April 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »
These are “sketches” of a cabinet upgrade. This existing deep cabinet will get glass doors and translucent glass back so that light from the stairwell skylight behind the cabinet will light up the glassware and shine through into the dining room. I’ll post a photo when its built.
Posted in Found Objects, tagged Berkeley, houses, wood on March 23, 2012| 1 Comment »
Posted in Found Objects, tagged Berkeley, doorways, holes, houses, Julia Morgan on January 16, 2012| 4 Comments »
colorful fresco in the loggia
More of the fresco in the loggia
decorative cutout in a wood door panel
Foyer with concrete tracery and view through to garden
cute kitchenette in guest suite
I took these photos with my phone.
Posted in Design Projects, Found Objects, Information, tagged Berkeley, small buildings on January 15, 2012| 2 Comments »
The internet seems to like our small studio. I have found many repostings of Lenny’s photos, and commentary about the little studio. Most of them seem to have just nabbed and revised slightly the written content from Dwell or the Washington Post, but here are a few that are more original:
House Vote has also posted a few other photos of my projects:
Yesterday Kirsten Dirksen and Nicolas Boullosa came all the way from Barcelona to make a video about the studio. I eagerly and nervously await my and John’s debut as movie stars on faircompanies.com.
Posted in Found Objects, tagged Berkeley, curves, recycled, salvaged on December 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I recently found this video interview with the owner-design-builder team of this unusual house in my neighborhood.
I posted some photos of it a while back.
In the video, they reveal the source of many of the materials and their inspirations and technical considerations.
For example, they used lighter colored car roofs for siding on the north side to reflect more indirect sunlight into the house to the north. I’d love to see how this worked out. It might reflect a bit too much in the summer when the sun actually rises and sets in the North part of the sky….but other times it’s probably quite nice.
Posted in Found Objects, Information, tagged Berkeley, houses, structural engineering on October 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I recently helped my friend Rain assess the architectural merits of a house she wanted to buy. She also hired a home inspector who brought this seismic brace to my attention. It was his opinion that this is a poor design because in a big quake it concentrates the force and ends up busting through the floor rather than providing lateral stability. 
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, burgee, color, patterns, small buildings on October 7, 2011| 2 Comments »
We installed a new black and white burgee on the little studio this weekend. It looks pretty sharp!
Posted in Found Objects, tagged Berkeley, houses on October 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »
John and Sam have been framing up a two-story addition for my friend Scott (another architect). Its starting to look like something!
Big corner windows
The existing house is a cute little pointy-roofed cottage in a row of cute little pointy-roofed cottages. Scott’s design continues the theme, but adds his own modern details. (Both architectural and for energy performance.)
All the twinner houses in the row have flat roof sections in the back. This was a cost-saving measure in the original design. Scott’s addition leaves this flat roof section alone for future solar panels…but returns to the 12:12 pitched roof for the addition. 
I can’t wait to see the stairwell finished. It is going to bring a lot of southern sunshine from above into the lower floor family room.
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, children, fun, interiors, kids, Lofts, whimsy on September 29, 2011| 1 Comment »
There is something really nice about climbing up a bookshelf ladder to a cozy loft and looking down on the party from above. (photo by Joma Jones)
Posted in Found Objects, tagged Berkeley, garden, historical styles, landscape, passive solar, small buildings on September 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »
This 20 unit apartment complex is layed out in two rows facing each other with a north-south lane down the middle. This way sunshine permeates the entire complex and allows for lovely gardens in front of every unit. It seems like a very sociable design with all the front porches lined up facing each other. It would be even better if they could eliminate regular vehicular traffic down the lane and provide access to the parking lot at the end from the other side. At least the cars are out of sight. I suppose privacy might be an issue at times with all of your neighbors easily able to see who comes and goes…but this is also a good safety feature.
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, dog, furniture, humor, isba, painted plywood, process, whimsy on April 20, 2011| 2 Comments »
Sometimes, when working in the driveway, people stop by to check out the action. I think John is explaining the cabinet to our curious neighbor here. He now has all five boxes assembled and primed. Here are a few more pictures of the process. Even though these boxes are painted, the woven corners show through and add a nice detail. Stay tuned for the final product.
Posted in Found Objects, tagged Berkeley, ceiling details, craftsman, historical styles, picture molding, square profiles, trim, wainscoting, wainscotting on April 17, 2011| 2 Comments »
Simple and sturdy wainscoting and a modern stepped ceiling detail is timeless in this Berkeley home. The stripe of picture molding elegantly breaks the painted wall.
deedsdesign 