Posted in Design Projects, tagged accessory dwelling unit, ADU, Berkeley, eaves, housing, process, small buildings, wood, WUI on January 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The owner took these photos for me of our little ADU taking shape. In the first photo you can see our 4×6 rafter tails with a curve. These will get gyp sheathing above with non flammable (Hardiboard & Boral) material on the outside. No venting. (Roof sheathing is kept above the dewpoint with rigid insulation on top.) The lower eaves that are less visible will be enclosed completely. The last photo is john rabbeting one of the exposed fir beams for the interior.
Posted in Design Projects, tagged color, housing, infill, lighting design, mixed use, native plants, Oakland, Pilates, ventilation on November 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I have been spending some time enjoying the Pilates and Rehab studio that McBride Construction and I finished last year. At long last PGE hooked up the electricity and the mostly native plants that I helped select and install in front are growing in fast and the studio is shaping up nicely. Calscape has a tool where you can enter your address and it will give you a list of plants they consider native to that spot. This guided some of our choices.
The project involved remodeling the existing floor of the single family house into two residential units – a two bedroom in front and a one bedroom ADU in back, and adding a brand new accessible Commercial space below. (It was a dirt crawlspace)
Posted in Found Objects, Information, tagged blue space, copenhagen, courtyard, green space, housing, parks, planning, sharing space, urban design, water on July 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Also in Copenhagen we went on tours of some of the newly developed mostly residential areas…in particular, Nordhavn, which used to be a port and is now mostly apartments. Our tour guide told us that this and other newer parts of Copenhagen are built on what was once water. She mentioned that the master plan included both green space and blue spaces for enhancing the human environment – regular parks (green) and all sorts of connections to the water and uses of the water for transit, swimming, boating etc. (blue) Lots of mention of environmental certifications, and we also toured a very nice recycling/reuse facility. Nesting sites for 3 species of bird were incorporated into the roof of one tall building. The courtyards and other outdoor spaces, (blue and green) were mostly quite nice. We were wondering about impacts on the greater environment, wildlife, of expanding over the water…and how they were preparing for sea level rise. Multi family housing is already more energy efficient than single family houses, but we were told that most of these buildings incorporate many environmentally conscious features, but that wasn’t the focus of the tour. We did tour a very nice recycling and reuse facility serving the neighborhood. The entire waterfront is public space available to all residents and non- residents.
deedsdesign 