Do architects of modern homes have a responsibility to the surrounding property owners when designing their projects? Should they? Or is it all about what they are doing, pushing the edge. Can modern houses ever be out of context and still be a good neighbor?
Of course it’s impractical, but I think there’s something to be gained from what they’re proposing, even if it’s just the questions their work poses. Where do you go when there’s nowhere to hide? Is it possible to furnish a room and set a tone with a home’s location?
I like interior designers. I think that they make my projects, and by extension me, look good. Sure I have my issues but they aren’t systemtic to interior designers as a group of professionals. Just like with all things, there are some good ones and some not so good ones.
I want to highlight a project that we completed a few years ago that does not fit our typical client profile; one of our very few speculative residential projects.This developer wanted to be a part of the design process – so a imaginary family was developed.
I already wrote a post on why modern style residential projects cost more to build (here) but I thought it would be nice to look at one of my firm’s projects to see if the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Take a look at these photos and look for the little details. [...]
I like tell clients that everyone needs to have skin in the game, that both architect and client are accountable to one another and while we both have something to gain, we both also have something to lose. I received some questions about hourly fees that I didn’t address the first time around so let’s revisit hourly fees –
The Saint Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Churchtransformed a generic shop building into a place of worship and fellowship. The existing structure was oriented in opposition to the Eastern axis that typically prevails in an Orthodox Church, so a narrow addition was placed on the western side, allowing the narthex to be folded, ending at the base of the tower. The skylight tower pours red light down into the transition between the narthex and the sanctuary, giving a moment of pause before entering to worship. A narrow cross is suspended on the western side of the tower, back-lit by the morning sun to become a beacon for arriving parishioners. Once inside the sanctuary, a transom that spans the entire width of the space faces east and bathes the space in soft morning light during Sunday morning services. The exterior skin is a box rib metal panel, common in local industrial buildings, while the interior finishes are kept simple, though handled carefully. Portions of the existing building are still exposed, reminding visitors of the history of the site and the transformation the church has undergone. (descriptive text taken from the website of Marlon Blackwell Architect)
I asked Marlon how the neighbors responded to the house and he told me that they have an open door policy and I am pretty sure all his neighbors have been through to take a look. The house is the same scale as the other houses in the nieghborhood and the wood rainscreen that clads the house goes a long way to soften any perceive harshness of the forms.
This 4,000 square foot office building is tucked back in an office park and is demonstratively unique compared to the other buildings in the development (most of which look more like tract housing than office buildings). The front facade of the building does not face the street but that is far from the the only thing that makes this building different than most commercial buildings. The front entry way is easy to find but not so easy to see – Marlon calls this a “slipped entry”. At the knuckle where the masonry base rotates off from the metal clad two-story, the fissure that is created is where
I got up early this morning so that I could get things going only t o see that it was gray and gloomy outside – bummer. Trying to practice with my new camera and overcast isn’t going to give me very many options (at least not at my skill level). The haze burned off around [...]
