My owner-builder client in Fairfax found these carriage doors at Evergreen Carriage Doors in Bremerton Washington
Posts Tagged ‘houses’
Carriage Doors for a Garage-Workshop in Fairfax
Posted in Design Projects, tagged doorways, Fairfax, houses on January 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Republican Politician Houses 2012
Posted in Found Objects, Information, tagged Eames, historical styles, houses, humor, Ice Cube, Ice Cube Celebrates the Eames, LA, McMansion, Mid Century Modern Architecure, Republican, utilitarian on January 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Michelle Bachmann’s house with “a grand manor roof” and “European flavor”
Gingrich’s “Mansionette”
Santorum House: “a big rectangular box with holes punched in it for windows. It doesn’t have much to say. Need I say more?”
The New York Times ran this article recently about the homes of the Republican presidential candidates. The review, informed by “interior designers and design psychologists” (no architects) is generally unfavorable. They make fun of Newt Gingrich’s extensive use of mirrors and Huntsman’s pink love seat with yellow bows. Bachmann’s complex roofline is rather atrocious (no mention of the maintenance issues with such a roof,) and Santorum’s more simple house is called boxy with small punched windows. The houses are all quite big… mostly around 5500 square feet. One designer who commented in the article said that he’d call them McMansions, but that would give McDonalds a bad name. Wow. That is saying a lot. None of them appear to be designed by architects that were given much latitude, but most of the candidates appear to have dropped some cash on interior designers. The houses all scream “I am a traditionalist,” according to design psychologists that were consulted. Manicured green lawns and brick or stone are present in all.
Uh Oh. What would they say about my parent’s house, (the house were I grew up)? My dad took off the fake shutters at least….and it does have industrial chic concrete window sills. The windows are true divided lites, by the way, and my folks hired a local artist to make some stained glass windows for either side of and above the front door…Its not so big, but it is brick veneer with a green lawn and small punched windows.
Not a Republican house though
There is no discussion in the Times article about solar orientation or energy efficiency. There is no mention of simplicity, elegance, or economy. Creativity does not make an appearance, (except in Newt’s whimsical topiary.)
Perhaps the candidates can learn a bit from Ice Cube.
Jamestown Creativity
Posted in Found Objects, tagged color, houses, Jamestown, paint, patterns, whimsy on January 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Last week I visited a friend in Jamestown, RI, a stoic New England farming and vacationing community adjacent to Newport. I spied this unusual house while walking up Narragansett Avenue. I am curious about the personalities who created the musical arrangement of windows (painted two different colors) and unusual decoration and painting scheme. Someone was having fun. Perhaps a carpenter 100 years ago started the theme, preserved and continued in a recent remodel.
Progress on Several Projects
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Albany, Fairfax, houses, Richmond on November 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »
In case you’ve been wondering what deedsdesign has been up to, besides enjoying Thanksgiving with friends and family, I visited a few job sites last week to check in.
Fairfax addition and remodel: exterior insulation and reinstallation of the old siding as a rainscreen – This is the owner and two uncles working together
Truss roof rafters installed on my Richmond addition, now plumber and electrician hard at work
Albany Chinese Medicine Store: finished and open for business complete with handicap access ramp
Secret Houses On the Marsh
Posted in Found Objects, tagged buildings on the water, houses on October 31, 2011| 2 Comments »
John was fishing in the North Bay and took these pictures of a village accessible only from the water. There are about 10 houses in total, but only a couple of them appear to be in use. 
Big seismic brace bolted to a floor joist and the foundation
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. 
A Two-Story Addition in Berkeley with Pointy Roofs
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.
Foundation Underway for a Small Addition in Richmond, California
Posted in Design Projects, tagged green, houses, Richmond on October 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Progress on the Fairfax, California Passive House Addition
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Fairfax, green, houses on August 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »
I took a trip to Fairfax this morning to check out the progress on this creekside addition. The owner and many of his family members are undertaking the construction of this 800 SF addition and remodel of an 100 year old cabin themselves.
Justis Fennell, a passionate Passive House enthusiast is seen here on the front porch talking on the phone to one of his air sealing product suppliers. Justis is the Air Sealing Specialist for the project.
This is the house from afar. The decision was made to carefully remove all of the old painted redwood siding, add plywood sheathing, 3/4″ xps insulation (R4), and a drainage plane, and reinstall the original siding as a rainscreen.
This is the client, his brother and uncle working on installing the last pieces of roof sheathing.
Here you can see the start of the airsealing process – bright blue Ecoseal that is installed using a high powered airless sprayer to make sure it gets deep in to all the gaps and crevices. You can also see the 24″ oc 2×6 framing.
Framing Photo here.
Advanced Framing Underway in Fairfax, California
Posted in Design Projects, tagged green, houses on August 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »
1) Insulated headers
2) 24″ on center 2×6 studs
3) windows placed and sized so as to minimize extra studs.
The main reason for advanced framing is to minimize thermal bridging, side benefit: less wood used.
How to Measure a House
Posted in Design Projects, Information, tagged houses, process, San Francisco on May 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Architect measuring the back stairs
I’ve been busy starting a few new projects the past couple of weeks. All three projects are small additions on the back of houses; one in San Francisco, one in Livermore, and one in Richmond.
Measuring a house can be tedious, so I often begin with just the basic dimensions and information essential for the project. I can always verify and fill in details later as needed. Beyond breaking the task into manageable bites, this strategy also keeps initial costs down. This is good if the project is uncertain and the client has hired me in part to determine feasibility. Thoroughly photographing the building is very helpful. It is hard to catch everything, and the pictures help me clarify if a dimension doesn’t seem right. Arial photographs are also a good tool for understanding the neighborhood fabric and locating the North arrow (and more importantly South)
Besides basic dimensions, asbuilt plans should include basic structural information: sizes of studs and joists, direction of joists, and roof framing and slope; and location of the utilities, furnace, water heater, electrical panel, and, of course, the main sewer line. The location of the sewer line has been crucial in all three of these recent projects. When designing for a tight budget, it usually doesn’t make sense to relocate the main sewer line, and you need to make sure you can connect to it easily and with adequate slope.
The next step is schematic design. This is the most exciting part of almost any project. Sometimes unexpected solutions appear out of nowhere.
A Small Addition Behind a Bungalow in Berkeley, California
Posted in Design Projects, tagged alternating tread stair, Berkeley, children, color, copper, copper pipe, houses, interiors, kitchen, lapeyre stair, lighting design, Lofts, passive solar, small buildings, small spaces on April 9, 2011| 2 Comments »
Last week Akhila gave me a tricycle tour of her crib.
She recently commissioned deedsdesign for an addition including a master suite, expanded kitchen, and family room. Popping up the roof just a few feet allowed for a vaulted ceiling and high windows over the kitchen and an attic loft over the master. The kitchen is on the north side, so the high south windows provide southern sunshine while leaving room for enough cabinets on the north wall. (click on the thumbnails to see enlarged drawings)
The dining room gets a lot of southern sunshine and has french doors leading to the deck.
The Lapeyre stairs provide easy access to the loft above. We enclosed the loft with low walls to hide any boxes stored up there, but added open railings for the last 18″ or so. This way the required 42″ tall “guards” don’t seem so tall and a bit more light circulates.
I didn’t get any photos of the loft itself, but it has built-in shelving and a fir plywood floor, finished with polyurethane. (As you can see the project isn’t quite finished yet)
The homeowner waited for me below while I toured the loft area.
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