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Posts Tagged ‘Emeryville’

Some Great Recent Work

Posted in Design Projects, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »

We have been busy with all sorts of great projects the last few months. Here are a few snapshots.

Mudroom Bench – Very similar to one we did 10 years ago, but customized to perfectly fit the new space: narrower on one wall than the other. The lid is solid ash and the rest is painted. I need to get some photos of the blue interior. Thanks to Kelly Best and McBride Construction for the excellent craftsmanship.

Copper induction range with battery and walnut knobs (Berkeley company!)
SANCO₂ heat pump hot water heater (tank inside, heatpump outside) that doubles as house heating system (Harvest System)
ADU slab..getting ready for the concrete pour

The slab was poured and beautiful saw cut control joints added. Now the structural framing is underway. The tolerances are very tight in these small living spaces. Every inch matters. I was delighted to discover that the concrete work and framing has resulted in walls that match my drawings to the 1/16 inch.

Framing Underway (Oscar of McBride Construction hard at work)
A small addition at the back of a small Berkeley house (we moved the storage, laundry and water heater to the middle and put the kitchen, dining nook, half bath, and reading nook at the back of the house by the yard. I like the deep eave over the door and windows and the pretty fir rafter tails
We added a skylight in the middle of the house…a lot of bang for the skylight buck. To right of skylight is laundry, pantry, and mechanical space and to the left is the kitchen and then the back yard.

Finally did a photoshoot at a recently finished Accessory Dwelling Unit in the Berkeley Hills. Below you will see the photographer, Lenny Gonzalez, and the photoshoot models Eowyn & John.

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Tour of Modern, Passive Solar, Modular House in Emeryville, CA

Posted in Found Objects, Information, tagged , , , , on January 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

At lunch today I went with Guillaume Canivet  to visit the Simpatico Homes prototype modular house in Emeryville.  Seth Krubriner, the owner of the house explained the design and construction process from start to finish. The modules were constructed in San Jose by Eco Offsite.  Swatt Architects was also involved. This sounds like a lot of cooks in the kitchen…..so I am curious how the collaboration worked.  Seth gave a very interesting and honest presentation of the benefits and drawbacks of modular construction compared to conventional site built. His house actually has site built pieces added onto the modules.

To me, it seems that the best part of choosing a modular system over conventional is that you are limited by the modular system. There are fewer choices and therefore the design process is simpler. Just like a restaurant with a short menu, the specialization and simplification often yields a better product.

Without a good understanding of the system and a willingness to work with it and accommodate it in the design, a modular house might not be any less expensive than a conventionally built house, and could easily cost more, especially if the factory was not very close to the site.

In Seth’s house the joints between the modules are accentuated and celebrated. (you can see one of the joints, a black reglet, in the photo above.) This is an example of how the design should accommodate the system. If Seth were to try for a more traditional aesthetic he would have lost some of the savings.

This same simplification and cost savings could be achieved by an architect who presented a limited pallet of materials and a select contractor and offered to deliver a very specific product. Not a bad idea.

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