Some Current Work
These houses are not quite identical twins. Maximizing views and the utilization of a tight lot will allow these two friends and their families to make a neighborhood between them, while the natural materials, green roof garden and projecting decks help soften the forms and ensure they are never wanting for a spot for a BBQ or cocktails with a view.
Right now we’re working on several kitchens - some with simple cabinet revisions, some for commercial restaurants, and some within a complete new house design. The kitchen pictured here is a schematic for some great clients in Seattle looking to really improve an area of the house where they spend a good deal of their time. Like a lot of folks, the kitchen is where many of their daily routines and rituals take place, and so investing in the room makes great sense.
We’re still noodling over each cooking sequence, each plumbing fixture and each appliance. But we’ve developed a pretty good system over the years for configuring all the elements that make up a great kitchen, and so within a matter of weeks we’ll be able to take this project from blank slate to construction-ready.
We recently completed a classroom and community gathering space with a caretakers apartment above for Montezuma Land Conservancy (MLC), a local SW Colorado land trust serving Montezuma, Dolores and San Miguel counties.
The building will host classes from local schools, community events and help MLC to both manage their working farm property and engage the community around agricultural education and events.
The largely grant funded project is clad in regionally harvested beetle kill rough sawn lumber that will weather to a silvery grey over time. Its simple form is at home with both the local agricultural vernacular and the agrarian landscape its situated in.
The classroom at Fozzie’s Farm for Montezuma Land Conservancy
The Buffaloe Residence was featured on houzz a while ago
https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/61511318/list/usa-houzz-a-modern-mountain-home-takes-off
And one of the photos of the cozy library fireplace was just featured again.
Thanks for noticing, houzz editors!
 |
Hi, We've been so busy with client projects and new ventures we haven't made time for blogging. Give us a call, it's more fun to talk about ideas anyway!
We are using a point cloud survey of the site for a new house design we are working on outside of Durango, Colorado. It has been an amazing way to bring the site back to the office so to speak. We still spend a lot of time walking, photographing, and taking notes on site at different times of day. Taking the time to let the character of the land, vegetation, and place soak in, understand the path of the sun, the views, etc. cannot be replaced. But once we bring all that back to the office, the point cloud model acts as a kind of trace of memories of our time on the site. Because of its detail and our ability to examine it from any angle in 3d, combining the point cloud with our photographs and notes jogs very specific associations that we can hold onto and consider as we design the house in relation to the land. Point cloud surveys have quickly become one of our favorite new tools in the architect's toolbox.
We are working on conceptual designs for a new coffee shop in Seattle, it will be a beautiful, warm space designed to showcase single origin direct trade coffees from around the world and pay homage to the interconnectedness of coffee farmers and coffee drinkers.
A lot of projects have a hard time justifying using a service cavity to separate wiring and other service runs from the main wall cavity, though it is still considered best practice.
The Intello air/vapor barrier method is one way: https://foursevenfive.com/how-to-stay-airtight-without-a-service-cavity
Another is the airtight drywall approach, seen here: https://buildingscience.com/documents/information-sheets/air-barriers-airtight-drywall-approach
While airtight drywall is not as "smart" as the Intello option, it can work well if done right. When you are weighing your options for airtightness remember that you have to design an assembly that controls air and water vapor movement while allowing drying, and the details will be specific to your construction method and climate. If you accomplish all that, you can save up to 35% of your energy costs over standard construction - well worth the extra effort.
"And so really designing this Fire Rescue 2 started me thinking about, are there ways that design could help improve the relationship between community members and police if we looked at the architecture? Not that it can solve everything. But I think, you know, maybe it can be part of that dialogue in creating — relationships between police and community members which are not just the confrontational relationships."
Jeanne Gang
The way we shape our environment shapes us. No, architecture can't solve all of our problems but with most of most people's lives spent in and around buildings, it sure does have a profound effect. Jeanne Gang has spent a good bit of time thinking about this, check out this interview with the NY Times here. - http://nyti.ms/2aa9aq5
Our good friend and frequent collaborator Ben Berman of BermanBuilt had a design question for us: can we come up with a wall that can move out of the way when more open space is needed, go into a closed position when separation and privacy are needed, make some jogs around a couple 90 degree turns, and incorporates a bunch of douglas fir flooring that he has stockpiled?
Our solution: a wood tambour wall. Wood tambour is typically constructed as a series of wood strips (or flooring, in this case) that are joined in a way that allows it to articulate and curve (or in this case, jog around some turns in the room). Most of us are familiar with wood tambours on old, roll top desks. This is much like a horizontal version of that.
We'll be building the mock-up over the next two weeks, so stay tuned as we work out the kinks and get this custom piece figured out!
Usually in the architecture world we think of renderings as sales tools or representations of the final design. Since we work in 3D from the beginning, we create as many views as we need to help understand the details and spaces. We then generate quick renders, not worrying too much about the image quality, and draw over them digitally with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. While we still always start a project with our sketch books and trace, as we get into the building model this all digital work flow speeds up the process, saves resources and generates lots of feedback from our clients. In the end, we are always searching for better ways to understand and communicate the design so that the whole team can put together a better project.
We're getting excited to start construction on our new home in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle! We've started to work out some final details that really help to define a space, including one wall in particular that needs to do a lot of different things: let light through, act as a visual accent to demarcate the entry to the offices, and define a path of circulation. As the details shape up, we're finding great inspiration from artists like Gabriel Dawe and Lenore Tawney (works pictured here).
We'll be sure to post more as we start to build mock-ups!
The preliminary energy analysis on the Mancos Valley passive house is looking good, we are coming in under our targets on both annual total energy use and space conditioning demand. Now we are working on optimizing solar gain and shading, daylighting, and cost effective building assemblies. It's an incredible learning experience to put so much study, science, and simulation to the test. We're really looking forward to building a beautiful and extremely comfortable and efficient house with our clients here.
We're really into flashing. Architectural flashing, that is. It's central in good waterproofing practices, and proper flashing details are critical in rainy regions like the Pacific Northwest.
In these photos of a remodel we're doing in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle, some excellent flashing installation work can be spotted behind the new rainscreen. We try to educate our clients about the importance of all these waterproofing measures, especially with remodels, wherein many seemingly great ideas combine to either add water intrusion points (which can occur with new window installations) or prevent your home from drying out the way it probably had for years (as happens in a previously drafty home that is now packed tight with insulation).
It all comes down to proper detailing of your building envelope. Not exactly sexy stuff for the homeowner thinking of a remodel. Racy stuff for your architect.
Our hats are off to University of Kansas's Studio 804, springing from the same tradition as Auburn's Rural Studio, and making architecture an overall more socially and environmentally conscious endeavor.
Check out their 2015 success story, now attaining net-zero certification after a year of testing, here.
Why is your office too hot, your kitchen too cold? Meet Pointelist and find out.
Pointelist is a high density sensor network that measures temperature and relative humidity and makes the data available in the cloud.
They are looking for beta testers with compelling study questions that can be up and running in two weeks. So, we want to apply and we want you to help.
If you have an interesting, confusing, or challenging situation with your building that you think could apply to their beta testing program, we’re all ears. We’d love to help you figure it out, while at the same time increase our collective knowledge of building physics. Oh, and of course make our homes, schools, and offices more comfortable and energy efficient, which is the point after all!
Read more about it at pointelist.com and send us a message with your idea.
Good design often enlists the simplest solutions. Take this @billmcdonough quote, for example. Fitting for #ArborDay
We just started designs for a new home on this fantastic spot along the Mancos River. Amazing site, amazing clients - really looking forward to making a beautiful and incredibly energy efficient house here!
#EarthDay2016 fact: our buildings are responsible for nearly 1/3 of #carbonemissions. They don't have to be. http://bit.ly/1mICiBq