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en Homes Feed - Dwell http://www.dwell.com/homes/browse? Wed, 8 Feb 2012 09:57:44 -0800 hourly 3 dwell/homeshttp://feedburner.google.com My House » Rock the Boat http://feeds.dwell.com/~r/dwell/homes/~3/9nU3zJwGfRg/rock-the-boat.html http://www.dwell.com/articles/rock-the-boat.html Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:09:32 -0800 <a href="http://www.dwell.com/articles/rock-the-boat.html"><img src="http://media.dwell.com/images/148*148/popadich-residence-facade-square.jpg" alt='affordable house renovation in new zealand' /></a> Davor Popadich, a director at Pattersons Architects in Auckland, New Zealand, never dreamed that he and his wife, Abbe, who runs a small home-furnishings importing company, could gather enough funds to design a home of their own. They figured their chances of finding a vacant site within reasonable distance of their workplaces downtown and having enough money left over to build a house on it were almost zero. “There’s no way we ever thought we would be building,” says Abbe. “It was just too expensive.” In 2008, the couple decided to move out of their central-city studio apartment and look for an existing home they could purchase and renovate. After two unsuccessful bids on small properties on Auckland’s North Shore, about five miles from downtown, they made an impulsive offer on a small site in the coastal area that had been subdivided from a larger property. When that was accepted, they faced a hard fact: They had just $187,000 left with which to build their new house. “I remember saying, ‘We could live in a half-finished house,’ ” notes Abbe. Adds Davor, “We’re quite stupid like that.” In the end, Popadich’s inexpensively exe-cuted building concept, based on a simple, pitched-roof boat-shed form, proved to be very smart. Abbe: We really only looked at this site because we were intrigued by it, as sites hardly ever become available in this area. We thought we’d make an offer because we were almost certain it would be turned down. Then our offer was accepted and we thought, “Goodness—we’re going to need to put a house on that.” So we had to go for it and start the process of building. Davor: The site is small but flat, so I was able to see some possibilities for it. I worked on the design in my spare time for about a year. I loved doing it—I was really on a high throughout the process. Early on we decided we liked the idea of a house inspired by boat sheds, because we thought it would be economical to build and would look appropriate for this seaside suburb. I designed two slightly offset double-height modules with the same dimensions, with a steel portal frame supporting them. One has a mezzanine bedroom with the kitchen and dining area below while the other has the entry, bathrooms upstairs and downstairs, and a double-height living space. Then the building estimate came in at $285,000 and I came down off my high pretty quickly. I had to modify the plans so we could get closer to our budget. The bank was only going to loan us $187,000—there wasn’t any room for cost overruns. A couple of key changes meant big savings. Initially, I had specified commercial-grade aluminum windows and doors, but then I realized that settling for a cheaper range would save us another $22,000, and it didn’t look too different. I also went to meet the window fabricator and worked with him on devising a window structure that would be simple to make and that would use materials efficiently and cheaply. We had planned on installing an under-floor heating system in the concrete floor slab, but we took it out in the hope that there would be enough solar gain during the day and insulation in the walls and ceilings to keep the heat in. We were right, and we saved about $6,000 by doing that. There were other ways we saved money. We got more competitive quotes from plumbers and electricians, and saved about $8,000 by shopping around. In the design, I had originally specified the ridge beams as steel, but it turned out to be cheaper to do them in timber. I didn’t mind as long as we kept to a simple materials palette: timber, ply, and a bit of steel. We chose corrugated, prepainted aluminum sheets for the external cladding because they were relatively cheap and robust. Everything was measured and sized exactly so we didn’t order any more materials than we needed. I detailed the house so its construction would involve as few tradespeople as possible. For example, the internal doors, the built-in seats, and the bathroom and kitchen cupboards were all made onsite by the builder—and the built-in seats saved us money on furniture. And we decided to line the interior in exposed plywood sheets—on paper, plasterboard seemed cheaper, but then we realized it would cost money to plaster and paint it, which pushed the overall cost up. And the builders liked that, because they got to show off their workmanship, which is usually covered up by plaster and paint. I designed the house as a two-stage build—the scheme has a lean-to structure containing a garage and two bedrooms on the southern end of the house, but we decided to build it at a later date to make the house affordable to begin with. The house is 1,184 square feet now, and the addition, when we eventually do it, will add another 348 square feet of living space, plus the garage. Partway into the design process, we found out Abbe was pregnant [the couple’s son, August, is now two years old]. We couldn’t afford to make the house any bigger at that stage, so I designed a spare bedroom in what was originally planned as our walk-in wardrobe so the baby could sleep there. We’ve been in the house over a year, and now we have a new baby, Violeta, so it looks like we might have to try and build the addition sooner rather than later. Abbe: Davor was really careful about the form of the house, and I was focused on how we were going to live: where we were going to sit at night and how we were going to relax. I wanted window seats—I imagined our perfect life as starting the day with coffee on a window seat in the sunshine. The whole process forced us to think about how we wanted to live, which was great. Normally, you move into a house that someone else has designed and just live with it, and not ask yourself these questions. Davor: Abbe wanted the house to feel intimate. The warmth of the interior was more critical than the appearance to her. When it came to the design, I really did pretty much the same thing as we would do at work: I treated Abbe as my client, and asked her what the brief was. We talked a lot during the process about everything to do with the house. It became really enjoyable—in some ways I found having less money gives you more freedom. If we had lots of money I would probably still be trying to decide what to do. If you could have every choice, what choice would you make? This became more about necessity and what was essential. But now that the house is finished, it feels like we have everything we wanted. The beautiful thing about building your own house is that if you get it right it will allow you to live the way you want to. affordable house renovation in new zealand

affordable house renovation in new zealand

Davor Popadich, a director at Pattersons Architects in Auckland, New Zealand, never dreamed that he and his wife, Abbe, who runs a small home-furnishings importing company, could gather enough funds to design a home of their own. They figured their chances of finding a vacant site within reasonable distance of their workplaces downtown and having enough money left over to build a house on it were almost zero. “There’s no way we ever thought we would be building,” says Abbe. “It was just too expensive.” In 2008, the couple decided to move out of their central-city studio apartment and look for an existing home they could purchase and renovate. After two unsuccessful bids on small properties on Auckland’s North Shore, about five miles from downtown, they made an impulsive offer on a small site in the coastal area that had been subdivided from a larger property. When that was accepted, they faced a hard fact: They had just $187,000 left with which to build their new house. “I remember saying, ‘We could live in a half-finished house,’ ” notes Abbe. Adds Davor, “We’re quite stupid like that.” In the end, Popadich’s inexpensively exe-cuted building concept, based on a simple, pitched-roof boat-shed form, proved to be very smart. Abbe: We really only looked at this site because we were intrigued by it, as sites hardly ever become available in this area. We thought we’d make an offer because we were almost certain it would be turned down. Then our offer was accepted and we thought, “Goodness—we’re going to need to put a house on that.” So we had to go for it and start the process of building. Davor: The site is small but flat, so I was able to see some possibilities for it. I worked on the design in my spare time for about a year. I loved doing it—I was really on a high throughout the process. Early on we decided we liked the idea of a house inspired by boat sheds, because we thought it would be economical to build and would look appropriate for this seaside suburb. I designed two slightly offset double-height modules with the same dimensions, with a steel portal frame supporting them. One has a mezzanine bedroom with the kitchen and dining area below while the other has the entry, bathrooms upstairs and downstairs, and a double-height living space. Then the building estimate came in at $285,000 and I came down off my high pretty quickly. I had to modify the plans so we could get closer to our budget. The bank was only going to loan us $187,000—there wasn’t any room for cost overruns. A couple of key changes meant big savings. Initially, I had specified commercial-grade aluminum windows and doors, but then I realized that settling for a cheaper range would save us another $22,000, and it didn’t look too different. I also went to meet the window fabricator and worked with him on devising a window structure that would be simple to make and that would use materials efficiently and cheaply. We had planned on installing an under-floor heating system in the concrete floor slab, but we took it out in the hope that there would be enough solar gain during the day and insulation in the walls and ceilings to keep the heat in. We were right, and we saved about $6,000 by doing that. There were other ways we saved money. We got more competitive quotes from plumbers and electricians, and saved about $8,000 by shopping around. In the design, I had originally specified the ridge beams as steel, but it turned out to be cheaper to do them in timber. I didn’t mind as long as we kept to a simple materials palette: timber, ply, and a bit of steel. We chose corrugated, prepainted aluminum sheets for the external cladding because they were relatively cheap and robust. Everything was measured and sized exactly so we didn’t order any more materials than we needed. I detailed the house so its construction would involve as few tradespeople as possible. For example, the internal doors, the built-in seats, and the bathroom and kitchen cupboards were all made onsite by the builder—and the built-in seats saved us money on furniture. And we decided to line the interior in exposed plywood sheets—on paper, plasterboard seemed cheaper, but then we realized it would cost money to plaster and paint it, which pushed the overall cost up. And the builders liked that, because they got to show off their workmanship, which is usually covered up by plaster and paint. I designed the house as a two-stage build—the scheme has a lean-to structure containing a garage and two bedrooms on the southern end of the house, but we decided to build it at a later date to make the house affordable to begin with. The house is 1,184 square feet now, and the addition, when we eventually do it, will add another 348 square feet of living space, plus the garage. Partway into the design process, we found out Abbe was pregnant [the couple’s son, August, is now two years old]. We couldn’t afford to make the house any bigger at that stage, so I designed a spare bedroom in what was originally planned as our walk-in wardrobe so the baby could sleep there. We’ve been in the house over a year, and now we have a new baby, Violeta, so it looks like we might have to try and build the addition sooner rather than later. Abbe: Davor was really careful about the form of the house, and I was focused on how we were going to live: where we were going to sit at night and how we were going to relax. I wanted window seats—I imagined our perfect life as starting the day with coffee on a window seat in the sunshine. The whole process forced us to think about how we wanted to live, which was great. Normally, you move into a house that someone else has designed and just live with it, and not ask yourself these questions. Davor: Abbe wanted the house to feel intimate. The warmth of the interior was more critical than the appearance to her. When it came to the design, I really did pretty much the same thing as we would do at work: I treated Abbe as my client, and asked her what the brief was. We talked a lot during the process about everything to do with the house. It became really enjoyable—in some ways I found having less money gives you more freedom. If we had lots of money I would probably still be trying to decide what to do. If you could have every choice, what choice would you make? This became more about necessity and what was essential. But now that the house is finished, it feels like we have everything we wanted. The beautiful thing about building your own house is that if you get it right it will allow you to live the way you want to.

]]> popadich residence facade square Popadich Residence http://www.dwell.com/articles/rock-the-boat.html Dwellings » True Value http://feeds.dwell.com/~r/dwell/homes/~3/FlF_gIvj9Rg/true-value.html http://www.dwell.com/articles/true-value.html Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:08:42 -0800 <a href="http://www.dwell.com/articles/true-value.html"><img src="http://media.dwell.com/images/148*148/true-value-kitchen-square.jpg" alt='modern kitchen renovation' /></a> “It was quite a sad place, with yellow painted walls and a strange atmosphere,” says architect Luká&scaron; Kordík of his home in Bratislava. “But I had a feeling it could be easily turned into a cozy and open space.” And by removing a few walls and emphasizing the 1930s flat’s existing rough-hewn charm—exposed brick walls and a ceiling of undulating concrete vaults—he’s done just that. Now, an architect sprucing up a small, dingy apartment for himself may not be news, but it’s how targeted this modern makeover is that makes Kordík’s reorganization of the space so remarkable. For just a little more than $23,000, he transformed his home from a thicket of small rooms into a continuous, light-filled abode. Busting through a few walls took up much of the scant budget, but Kordík—who works for the Bratislava firm Gut Gut—also managed to redo the electrical, pipes, sewage, and heating while imbuing the place with a hip, old-meets-new vibe. Nowhere is the overhaul more keenly felt than in the kitchen and dining room. The sharp, boxy geometry of a modified Ikea cabinet system sets the aesthetic tone, with a wall of black shelving separating the bathroom from the rest of the house. Yet for all the low-cost splash of the dining room, Kordík’s aim was ultimately more about improving his home life than sparing his bank account. “It was not about saving money,” he says, “but about saving the space.” modern kitchen renovation

“It was quite a sad place, with yellow painted walls and a strange atmosphere,” says architect Lukáš Kordík of his home in Bratislava. “But I had a feeling it could be easily turned into a cozy and open space.” And by removing a few walls and emphasizing the 1930s flat’s existing rough-hewn charm—exposed brick walls and a ceiling of undulating concrete vaults—he’s done just that. Now, an architect sprucing up a small, dingy apartment for himself may not be news, but it’s how targeted this modern makeover is that makes Kordík’s reorganization of the space so remarkable. For just a little more than $23,000, he transformed his home from a thicket of small rooms into a continuous, light-filled abode. Busting through a few walls took up much of the scant budget, but Kordík—who works for the Bratislava firm Gut Gut—also managed to redo the electrical, pipes, sewage, and heating while imbuing the place with a hip, old-meets-new vibe. Nowhere is the overhaul more keenly felt than in the kitchen and dining room. The sharp, boxy geometry of a modified Ikea cabinet system sets the aesthetic tone, with a wall of black shelving separating the bathroom from the rest of the house. Yet for all the low-cost splash of the dining room, Kordík’s aim was ultimately more about improving his home life than sparing his bank account. “It was not about saving money,” he says, “but about saving the space.”

]]> true value kitchen square P13 Apartment http://www.dwell.com/articles/true-value.html Dwellings » Builder's Special http://feeds.dwell.com/~r/dwell/homes/~3/sa3o3YY5LPw/builders-special.html http://www.dwell.com/articles/builders-special.html Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:45:39 -0800 <a href="http://www.dwell.com/articles/builders-special.html"><img src="http://media.dwell.com/images/148*148/whitlock-residence-backyard-portrait-square.jpg" alt='affordable house renovation in Montana' /></a> Brian Whitlock had been living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for 15 years when he began to experience an acute case of SSTF (Swanky Ski Town Fatigue). This affable, artistically inclined sound mixer for documentary films and TV longed to put down roots in a low-key community populated by fellow creative souls. And he needed to do it on a budget, which aced him out of Jackson Hole. Whitlock ultimately settled one state north, in the laidback college town of Bozeman, Montana, where he lucked upon a lush, near-to-downtown plot of infill land bordered by century-old hedgerows and three graceful ash trees. He dreamed of a Michelle Kaufman–designed prefab home, but the price—$225 per square foot—was too steep. It turned out, however, that a custom design was less expensive than his prefab fantasy. Intrinsik Architecture, a progressive, collaborative Bozeman firm accepted Whitlock’s challenge: Create an efficient, mountain-ready modern home for $150 per square foot. The compact-yet-airy 1,650-square-foot result of that brief has a modest foundation that tiptoes around the surrounding tree roots, steel siding, and warm brown hues that reflect the Rocky Mountain vernacular. A first-floor open kitchen leads through French doors to a patio equipped with a fire pit, the perfect spot for Whitlock’s frequent parties. The second floor features his home office, his bedroom, a guest room, and a tranquil space for yoga. Whitlock was a hands-on client in the most literal sense—his flexible work schedule permitted him months at a stretch to labor full-time on the house with his contractor, Josh Blomquist of CWJ & Associates. Though hardly a journeyman homebuilder, Whitlock wasn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty, especially if it meant saving some cash. Of all his toil, though—cabinetry, hardscaping, building furniture and concrete forms— he is perhaps the most proud of his DIY electrical work. The cost of hiring an electrician can account for 10 to 20 percent of a building, so by wiring the house himself he saved around $30,000. “People have a visceral fear of electricity, which is healthy in some ways,” he says. “But I think it gets a bad rap.” Those in the “scared of electricity” majority take heart—Whitlock learned a trick worth passing on to your electrician. “Run conduit for locations where you might need future electrical,” he advises. “I ran conduit between panels and subpanels, to exterior locations for outdoor lights, and between my office and the mechanical room.” You never know where you’ll need to plug in in the future, but Whitlock is set if his electrical needs change. He also did all the landscaping—including digging a six-foot hole for a rainwater catchment system in the yard, a task that not only toned his biceps but also unearthed buried treasure: hundreds of turn-of-the-century patent medicine bottles. “I asked around and found out that my backyard was once the site of a Chinese apothecary,” he says. Some of the more intricate and unusual bottles now serve as hard-won decorations and daily reminders of how much Whitlock put into the place. One of the most ingenious money-saving tricks Whitlock and the Intrinsik team employed on the interior is the perfect marriage of custom and off-the-shelf. “I used the Pax closet system from Ikea in a birch finish for both wardrobes and the storage wall in the downstairs bathroom,” he says. Using the company’s online planners and collaborating with Intrinsik principal Dan Harding, he tweaked interior walls to fit the Ikea units to achieve a built-in, high-end look. “It makes cabinets and closets look much more custom than they are,” he explains. Ultimately, the house came in higher than the original estimate, a bump in budget attributable to more solar panels and landscaping. But $165 per square foot includes construction costs, architect fees, Bozeman impact fees and permits, landscaping, fences and hardscaping, a solar hot-water system, rainwater catchment, and electricity. One indulgence Whitlock does feel entitled to is a state-of-the-art Bosch dishwasher, a first for him. “You have a party, you put all the dirty stuff in this box, and the next thing you know, clean dishes!” he says, enthused. The luxe life is all in how you look at it. affordable house renovation in Montana

Brian Whitlock had been living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for 15 years when he began to experience an acute case of SSTF (Swanky Ski Town Fatigue). This affable, artistically inclined sound mixer for documentary films and TV longed to put down roots in a low-key community populated by fellow creative souls. And he needed to do it on a budget, which aced him out of Jackson Hole. Whitlock ultimately settled one state north, in the laidback college town of Bozeman, Montana, where he lucked upon a lush, near-to-downtown plot of infill land bordered by century-old hedgerows and three graceful ash trees. He dreamed of a Michelle Kaufman–designed prefab home, but the price—$225 per square foot—was too steep. It turned out, however, that a custom design was less expensive than his prefab fantasy. Intrinsik Architecture, a progressive, collaborative Bozeman firm accepted Whitlock’s challenge: Create an efficient, mountain-ready modern home for $150 per square foot. The compact-yet-airy 1,650-square-foot result of that brief has a modest foundation that tiptoes around the surrounding tree roots, steel siding, and warm brown hues that reflect the Rocky Mountain vernacular. A first-floor open kitchen leads through French doors to a patio equipped with a fire pit, the perfect spot for Whitlock’s frequent parties. The second floor features his home office, his bedroom, a guest room, and a tranquil space for yoga. Whitlock was a hands-on client in the most literal sense—his flexible work schedule permitted him months at a stretch to labor full-time on the house with his contractor, Josh Blomquist of CWJ & Associates. Though hardly a journeyman homebuilder, Whitlock wasn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty, especially if it meant saving some cash. Of all his toil, though—cabinetry, hardscaping, building furniture and concrete forms— he is perhaps the most proud of his DIY electrical work. The cost of hiring an electrician can account for 10 to 20 percent of a building, so by wiring the house himself he saved around $30,000. “People have a visceral fear of electricity, which is healthy in some ways,” he says. “But I think it gets a bad rap.” Those in the “scared of electricity” majority take heart—Whitlock learned a trick worth passing on to your electrician. “Run conduit for locations where you might need future electrical,” he advises. “I ran conduit between panels and subpanels, to exterior locations for outdoor lights, and between my office and the mechanical room.” You never know where you’ll need to plug in in the future, but Whitlock is set if his electrical needs change. He also did all the landscaping—including digging a six-foot hole for a rainwater catchment system in the yard, a task that not only toned his biceps but also unearthed buried treasure: hundreds of turn-of-the-century patent medicine bottles. “I asked around and found out that my backyard was once the site of a Chinese apothecary,” he says. Some of the more intricate and unusual bottles now serve as hard-won decorations and daily reminders of how much Whitlock put into the place. One of the most ingenious money-saving tricks Whitlock and the Intrinsik team employed on the interior is the perfect marriage of custom and off-the-shelf. “I used the Pax closet system from Ikea in a birch finish for both wardrobes and the storage wall in the downstairs bathroom,” he says. Using the company’s online planners and collaborating with Intrinsik principal Dan Harding, he tweaked interior walls to fit the Ikea units to achieve a built-in, high-end look. “It makes cabinets and closets look much more custom than they are,” he explains. Ultimately, the house came in higher than the original estimate, a bump in budget attributable to more solar panels and landscaping. But $165 per square foot includes construction costs, architect fees, Bozeman impact fees and permits, landscaping, fences and hardscaping, a solar hot-water system, rainwater catchment, and electricity. One indulgence Whitlock does feel entitled to is a state-of-the-art Bosch dishwasher, a first for him. “You have a party, you put all the dirty stuff in this box, and the next thing you know, clean dishes!” he says, enthused. The luxe life is all in how you look at it.

]]> whitlock residence backyard portrait square Northeastside Residence http://www.dwell.com/articles/builders-special.html Dwellings » Self Preservation http://feeds.dwell.com/~r/dwell/homes/~3/7ujbPU9h6Ss/self-preservation.html http://www.dwell.com/articles/self-preservation.html Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:28:09 -0800 <a href="http://www.dwell.com/articles/self-preservation.html"><img src="http://media.dwell.com/images/148*148/bubeshko-apartments-facade-streetview-square.jpg" alt='restoring aging residences' /></a> Though architect Rudolph Schindler (1887–1953) was best known for his dramatic single-family homes, he also completed several multifamily projects, including the Bubeshko Apartments and the nearby Manola Court and Falk Apartments. In fact, his own home, the iconic Schindler House, was a duplex that he shared, for a time, with Richard Neutra. (It’s now open to the public through the MAK Center.) Schindler liked the idea of communal living and often designed wide terraces and open windows to encourage interaction among residents while still including strategic details to afford privacy. For the Bubeshko Apartments he envisioned a Greek village, a bohemian community for artists built in an affordable way. Natural materials like wood and stucco confer a humble vibe of casual indoor-outdoor living, yet there are also grand details, like the sculptures by Gordon Newell on the facade, which provide a glamorous entrance. Like many of Schindler’s works, it was a masterpiece made for everyday living—accessible to anyone who could pay a month’s rent. Rudolph Schindler’s Bubeshko Apartments are legendary in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, their white stucco terraces spilling down the hillside like a chest of drawers pulled ajar. When the 5,000-square-foot apartment complex went on the market in 2004, filmmaker Joe DeMarie finally got to step inside, where he remembers being transported by its simple beauty. “I don’t throw around the word ‘genius,’” says DeMarie. “But Schindler was a genius.” He wanted to buy it, but Luby Bubeshko, who’d owned and lived in the five-unit building for 66 years, was reluctant to sell to just anyone. In 1938, the 20-year-old Bubeshko had worked closely with Schindler on the building’s then-radical design and was adamant about protecting its legacy. If she didn’t find the right buyer, it was said, she would tear the complex down. When DeMarie’s first offer garnered no response, he embarked upon an architectural courtship—writing a four-page personal letter, meeting with the property’s caretaker, and even making a visit to the Schindler archives at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “Luby was so skeptical of us,” remembers DeMarie’s wife, Madeleine Brand, host of an eponymous public radio show in Los Angeles. “It was ten months before she said yes.” What DeMarie and Brand believe finally swayed Bubeshko was the fact that a family—like her own—wanted to restore the two buildings, live in one of the units, and pass the complex down to their own two children. Though the buildings were structurally sound, they had suffered the wear and tear of a half-century of renters. For the renovation, DeMarie and Brand tapped Brand’s cousin, Chava Danielson, who with Eric Haas heads the architecture firm DSH. Because Danielson and Haas hadn’t worked on a restoration project before, they looked at the structures not as frozen artifacts but as functional homes that had been adapted—often by Schindler himself—as the needs of the residents changed. Their pragmatic approach informed some difficult choices—like enlarging the L-shaped kitchen in the owners’ unit so it could accommodate their entertaining needs. Examining plans, scanning receipts, and poring over old photos borrowed from Bubeshko, Haas and DeMarie embarked upon the detective work of deciphering Schindler’s original vision. While DeMarie brought a wealth of experience—he’s restored a brownstone in Brooklyn and a townhouse in Washington, DC—he didn’t find a definitive resource for reproducing Schindler’s distinctive tinted walls and stained plywood. For almost two months, DeMarie spent most of his time holed up in his apartment—often staying up all night—experimenting with a chemistry set of paint, wax, varnishes, lacquers, accelerators, pigments, and shellacs to replicate the original colors and finishes. It paid off: DeMarie even ended up training his staff—made up of architecture students and musicians—in the techniques he invented. Although the nonagenarian Bubeshko never returned to see the home, she approved of the completed work after seeing photographs. Before she died last year, she gave the building’s archive—including plans, drawings, receipts, and even letters between her and Schindler—to DeMarie and Brand. Along with the archive, she also opened the door to a future project. Schindler’s original blueprints revealed a planned (but unrealized) third building parallel to the site. DeMarie and Brand hope to one day fulfill Bubeshko’s dream and build the structure. “Schindler was a romantic,” says DeMarie. “He believed we can change the way we live through art and architecture.” The challenge of following 74-year-old plans while building with contemporary materials offers an unprecedented opportunity to see how Schindler’s idealist vision holds up, he says. “If anyone can be true to Rudy, it’s me.” Renovation Strategies for Historic Buildings Don’t ignore color The curious thing about our perception of modern architecture, says architect Eric Haas, is that it’s mostly defined by black-and-white photos, leading most people to assume the walls were stark white. To find the complex’s original palette, DeMarie and Haas scrubbed walls with ace-tone to uncover decades of paint jobs, which they dubbed “color agates” for their geologic concentric circles. They discovered that Schindler had originally specified warm natural colors for the space. Do your research In this case, DeMarie and Brand could draw on Schindler’s voluminous archives. But some of the same documents can be found by going to your local library and planning department and by reaching out to neighbors, previous residents, or property caretakers. If you’re lucky enough to have the architect’s papers, examine his or her receipts. “Schindler shopped at Sears,” Haas notes. Don’t be a slave to the past Haas and Danielson knew that while it was important to acknowledge Schindler’s vision, the units also needed to work for contemporary residents. Instead of forcing DeMarie and Brand to use a 1930s-era kitchen, they removed part of the interior wall and incorporated a utility room to create extra space. ”An apartment isn’t a museum piece,” says Danielson. Read the architect’s mind Haas and Danielson knew Schindler liked affordable, natural materials, but he also appreciated innovation, using cutting-edge (at the time) inventions like plywood and linoleum. So the architects channeled Schindler’s sensibility and philosophy, discovering contemporary materials they felt Schindler would have liked, such as sturdy, affordable Daltile and a recycled-plastic countertop by Yemm & Hart. Embrace the project’s DNA The Bubeshko Apartments were built during the Depression as a way for Bubeshko to generate income and provide financial security for her Russian immigrant family. As a result, Schindler stayed flexible in his designs, returning to the project to make adjustments in the space, subdividing units and installing a kitchenette on the lower level (since removed). This gave Haas and Danielson confidence in their own renovation interventions. restoring aging residences

Though architect Rudolph Schindler (1887–1953) was best known for his dramatic single-family homes, he also completed several multifamily projects, including the Bubeshko Apartments and the nearby Manola Court and Falk Apartments. In fact, his own home, the iconic Schindler House, was a duplex that he shared, for a time, with Richard Neutra. (It’s now open to the public through the MAK Center.) Schindler liked the idea of communal living and often designed wide terraces and open windows to encourage interaction among residents while still including strategic details to afford privacy. For the Bubeshko Apartments he envisioned a Greek village, a bohemian community for artists built in an affordable way. Natural materials like wood and stucco confer a humble vibe of casual indoor-outdoor living, yet there are also grand details, like the sculptures by Gordon Newell on the facade, which provide a glamorous entrance. Like many of Schindler’s works, it was a masterpiece made for everyday living—accessible to anyone who could pay a month’s rent. Rudolph Schindler’s Bubeshko Apartments are legendary in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, their white stucco terraces spilling down the hillside like a chest of drawers pulled ajar. When the 5,000-square-foot apartment complex went on the market in 2004, filmmaker Joe DeMarie finally got to step inside, where he remembers being transported by its simple beauty. “I don’t throw around the word ‘genius,’” says DeMarie. “But Schindler was a genius.” He wanted to buy it, but Luby Bubeshko, who’d owned and lived in the five-unit building for 66 years, was reluctant to sell to just anyone. In 1938, the 20-year-old Bubeshko had worked closely with Schindler on the building’s then-radical design and was adamant about protecting its legacy. If she didn’t find the right buyer, it was said, she would tear the complex down. When DeMarie’s first offer garnered no response, he embarked upon an architectural courtship—writing a four-page personal letter, meeting with the property’s caretaker, and even making a visit to the Schindler archives at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “Luby was so skeptical of us,” remembers DeMarie’s wife, Madeleine Brand, host of an eponymous public radio show in Los Angeles. “It was ten months before she said yes.” What DeMarie and Brand believe finally swayed Bubeshko was the fact that a family—like her own—wanted to restore the two buildings, live in one of the units, and pass the complex down to their own two children. Though the buildings were structurally sound, they had suffered the wear and tear of a half-century of renters. For the renovation, DeMarie and Brand tapped Brand’s cousin, Chava Danielson, who with Eric Haas heads the architecture firm DSH. Because Danielson and Haas hadn’t worked on a restoration project before, they looked at the structures not as frozen artifacts but as functional homes that had been adapted—often by Schindler himself—as the needs of the residents changed. Their pragmatic approach informed some difficult choices—like enlarging the L-shaped kitchen in the owners’ unit so it could accommodate their entertaining needs. Examining plans, scanning receipts, and poring over old photos borrowed from Bubeshko, Haas and DeMarie embarked upon the detective work of deciphering Schindler’s original vision. While DeMarie brought a wealth of experience—he’s restored a brownstone in Brooklyn and a townhouse in Washington, DC—he didn’t find a definitive resource for reproducing Schindler’s distinctive tinted walls and stained plywood. For almost two months, DeMarie spent most of his time holed up in his apartment—often staying up all night—experimenting with a chemistry set of paint, wax, varnishes, lacquers, accelerators, pigments, and shellacs to replicate the original colors and finishes. It paid off: DeMarie even ended up training his staff—made up of architecture students and musicians—in the techniques he invented. Although the nonagenarian Bubeshko never returned to see the home, she approved of the completed work after seeing photographs. Before she died last year, she gave the building’s archive—including plans, drawings, receipts, and even letters between her and Schindler—to DeMarie and Brand. Along with the archive, she also opened the door to a future project. Schindler’s original blueprints revealed a planned (but unrealized) third building parallel to the site. DeMarie and Brand hope to one day fulfill Bubeshko’s dream and build the structure. “Schindler was a romantic,” says DeMarie. “He believed we can change the way we live through art and architecture.” The challenge of following 74-year-old plans while building with contemporary materials offers an unprecedented opportunity to see how Schindler’s idealist vision holds up, he says. “If anyone can be true to Rudy, it’s me.” Renovation Strategies for Historic Buildings Don’t ignore color The curious thing about our perception of modern architecture, says architect Eric Haas, is that it’s mostly defined by black-and-white photos, leading most people to assume the walls were stark white. To find the complex’s original palette, DeMarie and Haas scrubbed walls with ace-tone to uncover decades of paint jobs, which they dubbed “color agates” for their geologic concentric circles. They discovered that Schindler had originally specified warm natural colors for the space. Do your research In this case, DeMarie and Brand could draw on Schindler’s voluminous archives. But some of the same documents can be found by going to your local library and planning department and by reaching out to neighbors, previous residents, or property caretakers. If you’re lucky enough to have the architect’s papers, examine his or her receipts. “Schindler shopped at Sears,” Haas notes. Don’t be a slave to the past Haas and Danielson knew that while it was important to acknowledge Schindler’s vision, the units also needed to work for contemporary residents. Instead of forcing DeMarie and Brand to use a 1930s-era kitchen, they removed part of the interior wall and incorporated a utility room to create extra space. ”An apartment isn’t a museum piece,” says Danielson. Read the architect’s mind Haas and Danielson knew Schindler liked affordable, natural materials, but he also appreciated innovation, using cutting-edge (at the time) inventions like plywood and linoleum. So the architects channeled Schindler’s sensibility and philosophy, discovering contemporary materials they felt Schindler would have liked, such as sturdy, affordable Daltile and a recycled-plastic countertop by Yemm & Hart. Embrace the project’s DNA The Bubeshko Apartments were built during the Depression as a way for Bubeshko to generate income and provide financial security for her Russian immigrant family. As a result, Schindler stayed flexible in his designs, returning to the project to make adjustments in the space, subdividing units and installing a kitchenette on the lower level (since removed). This gave Haas and Danielson confidence in their own renovation interventions.

]]> bubeshko apartments facade streetview square Bubeshko Apartments http://www.dwell.com/articles/self-preservation.html Off the Grid » Green Is in the Details http://feeds.dwell.com/~r/dwell/homes/~3/y6-oxBX9yf0/green-is-in-the-details.html http://www.dwell.com/articles/green-is-in-the-details.html Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:27:11 -0800 <a href="http://www.dwell.com/articles/green-is-in-the-details.html"><img src="http://media.dwell.com/images/148*148/burnett-residence-exterior-facade-closeup-square.jpg" alt='eco-friendly renovation' /></a> Driving by Jason, Melissa, and baby Sebastian Burnett’s home in the quaint coastal town of Carmel, California, you’d never know it’s LEED Platinum–certified. The 3.44-kilowatt solar array and rooftop vegetable garden are tucked out of street view and the recycled-denim insulation is hidden in the walls. Inside, the Control4 and Lutron lighting smart-home systems manifest only as a small touchscreen placed unassumingly in the office. Sustainably renovating their home was a matter of common sense for the couple. “It was an opportunity to push the envelope and practice what I preach,” says Jason, a former energy and climate-change policy advisor at the Environmental Protection Agency; a founding partner of Clean Fund, a company that finances renewable-energy projects; and a Carmel city council member. “We went through our laundry list of requirements—new siding, insulation, fixtures, and heating system—and realized that if we did just those things we’d probably earn at least LEED Silver,” Melissa says. When the couple teamed up with local firm Carver + Schicketanz, principal Mary Ann Schicketanz encouraged them to consider pursuing Platinum. Modern green homes have been Carver + Schicketanz’s bread and butter for more than two decades, and the Burnetts saw this as an opportunity for its work to be recognized. By making smart, small, and sustainable decisions at every step, the LEED points quickly added up. RETRACTABLE SKYLIGHT The Burnetts longed for an outdoor eating area, but with the house sited smack-dab in the middle of the 40-by-100-foot corner lot, the property offered neither adequate space nor privacy from the streets or neighbors. The design team specified a 14.5-by-6.5-foot retractable skylight over the dining room, which brings in sunshine and provides natural ventilation. The Rollamatic window quietly transforms the space into a near-outdoor oasis in just over 10 seconds. DOUBLE-PANE WINDOWS Like most Northern California homes built in the 1960s, the Burnett residence originally acted like a sieve, letting air and heat easily pass through its uninsulated walls and single-pane windows. “People just pretended it never got cold here,” Schicketanz says. In addition to putting in spray-foam and recycled-denim insulation, the design team replaced all of the windows with double-pane glass, which works wonders to hold the heat in. Your Turn: Double-Pane Windows Even if you’re just replacing windows in a single room rather than redoing your entire house, installing double-pane windows, like ones from these manufacturers, will help increase your home’s efficiency. The two layers of glass sandwich a layer of air or inert gas to reduce heat loss and gain. Selecting windows with low-e coatings further reduces heat loss by diminishing infrared radiation. Andersen Windows & Doors andersenwindows.com Fleetwood Windows & Doors fleetwoodusa.com Hope’s Windows, Inc. hopeswindows.com Marvin Windows and Doors marvin.com Pella pella.com Western Window Systems westernwindowsystems.com RADIANT HEATING AND FAN COILS The architects preserved the existing oak floors but replaced the carpet with white resin, adding in-floor radiant heating along the way. “It’s the healthiest way to heat a home; you’re not blowing dust around your whole house,” Schicketanz says. Radiant-floor systems, like the Burnetts’ EcoWarm Radiant Subfloor, pump heated water through tubes laid under the flooring. The energy from the warmed floor transfers to the air, people, and objects in the room to heat the space. Schicketanz and her team also added hydronic fan convectors by Myson. The in-floor tubing from the radiant-heating system extends up the wall and connects with the convector’s hot water coils. The coils act as heat exchangers, warming the air as it passes over them. The fan then pushes the air into the room, where it distributes the heat. Your Turn: Radiant Heating Think radiant heating is for you? Schicketanz offers these words of wisdom and lessons learned. Add radiant heating when installing new floors. “It’s cost-prohibitive to tear out old floors just to add radiant heating,” Schicketanz says. “But whenever someone is reflooring anyway, I always recommend installing radiant.” Plan well before you install. “The most common mistake is to run the tubes under cabinets, which results in hot pantries and melted medicine,” says the architect. Finalize each room’s layout before installing the radiant heating. Zone the system by the sun’s movements. Assign separate thermostat controls to different areas of the house. Then, when the sun warms one side of the house, it won’t turn off the heating on the other. “Work with the sun,” she says. SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPING The architects worked with biologist and habitat restorer Fred Ballerini to replant the yard with native species, including Senecio daisies and Coast Live Oak trees. The driveway and paths around the house are made up of hundreds of four-by-four-inch concrete pavers that allow water to seep into the ground, important for avoiding runoff. By using small, well-spaced pavers, the architects were able to create paths and a driveway while still meeting Carmel’s requirement that no more than 10 percent of a lot be covered by pavement. Three-watt directional LED lights by B-K Lighting illuminate the path. On the western side of the house, the team built steps into the sloped terrain using salvaged eight-by-eight-inch concrete beams once used by the California Department of Transportation for road repairs. Your Turn: Native Plantings Most states have a native plant society, notes habitat specialist Fred Ballerini, who says to start there. Use plants that complement the ecological habitat. For the Burnetts’ garden, Ballerini selected plants from the California coastal woodlands, near the Carmel shore. Planting took place in the early winter months, thereby lessening irrigation requirements. eco-friendly renovation

Driving by Jason, Melissa, and baby Sebastian Burnett’s home in the quaint coastal town of Carmel, California, you’d never know it’s LEED Platinum–certified. The 3.44-kilowatt solar array and rooftop vegetable garden are tucked out of street view and the recycled-denim insulation is hidden in the walls. Inside, the Control4 and Lutron lighting smart-home systems manifest only as a small touchscreen placed unassumingly in the office. Sustainably renovating their home was a matter of common sense for the couple. “It was an opportunity to push the envelope and practice what I preach,” says Jason, a former energy and climate-change policy advisor at the Environmental Protection Agency; a founding partner of Clean Fund, a company that finances renewable-energy projects; and a Carmel city council member. “We went through our laundry list of requirements—new siding, insulation, fixtures, and heating system—and realized that if we did just those things we’d probably earn at least LEED Silver,” Melissa says. When the couple teamed up with local firm Carver + Schicketanz, principal Mary Ann Schicketanz encouraged them to consider pursuing Platinum. Modern green homes have been Carver + Schicketanz’s bread and butter for more than two decades, and the Burnetts saw this as an opportunity for its work to be recognized. By making smart, small, and sustainable decisions at every step, the LEED points quickly added up. RETRACTABLE SKYLIGHT The Burnetts longed for an outdoor eating area, but with the house sited smack-dab in the middle of the 40-by-100-foot corner lot, the property offered neither adequate space nor privacy from the streets or neighbors. The design team specified a 14.5-by-6.5-foot retractable skylight over the dining room, which brings in sunshine and provides natural ventilation. The Rollamatic window quietly transforms the space into a near-outdoor oasis in just over 10 seconds. DOUBLE-PANE WINDOWS Like most Northern California homes built in the 1960s, the Burnett residence originally acted like a sieve, letting air and heat easily pass through its uninsulated walls and single-pane windows. “People just pretended it never got cold here,” Schicketanz says. In addition to putting in spray-foam and recycled-denim insulation, the design team replaced all of the windows with double-pane glass, which works wonders to hold the heat in. Your Turn: Double-Pane Windows Even if you’re just replacing windows in a single room rather than redoing your entire house, installing double-pane windows, like ones from these manufacturers, will help increase your home’s efficiency. The two layers of glass sandwich a layer of air or inert gas to reduce heat loss and gain. Selecting windows with low-e coatings further reduces heat loss by diminishing infrared radiation. Andersen Windows & Doors andersenwindows.com Fleetwood Windows & Doors fleetwoodusa.com Hope’s Windows, Inc. hopeswindows.com Marvin Windows and Doors marvin.com Pella pella.com Western Window Systems westernwindowsystems.com RADIANT HEATING AND FAN COILS The architects preserved the existing oak floors but replaced the carpet with white resin, adding in-floor radiant heating along the way. “It’s the healthiest way to heat a home; you’re not blowing dust around your whole house,” Schicketanz says. Radiant-floor systems, like the Burnetts’ EcoWarm Radiant Subfloor, pump heated water through tubes laid under the flooring. The energy from the warmed floor transfers to the air, people, and objects in the room to heat the space. Schicketanz and her team also added hydronic fan convectors by Myson. The in-floor tubing from the radiant-heating system extends up the wall and connects with the convector’s hot water coils. The coils act as heat exchangers, warming the air as it passes over them. The fan then pushes the air into the room, where it distributes the heat. Your Turn: Radiant Heating Think radiant heating is for you? Schicketanz offers these words of wisdom and lessons learned. Add radiant heating when installing new floors. “It’s cost-prohibitive to tear out old floors just to add radiant heating,” Schicketanz says. “But whenever someone is reflooring anyway, I always recommend installing radiant.” Plan well before you install. “The most common mistake is to run the tubes under cabinets, which results in hot pantries and melted medicine,” says the architect. Finalize each room’s layout before installing the radiant heating. Zone the system by the sun’s movements. Assign separate thermostat controls to different areas of the house. Then, when the sun warms one side of the house, it won’t turn off the heating on the other. “Work with the sun,” she says. SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPING The architects worked with biologist and habitat restorer Fred Ballerini to replant the yard with native species, including Senecio daisies and Coast Live Oak trees. The driveway and paths around the house are made up of hundreds of four-by-four-inch concrete pavers that allow water to seep into the ground, important for avoiding runoff. By using small, well-spaced pavers, the architects were able to create paths and a driveway while still meeting Carmel’s requirement that no more than 10 percent of a lot be covered by pavement. Three-watt directional LED lights by B-K Lighting illuminate the path. On the western side of the house, the team built steps into the sloped terrain using salvaged eight-by-eight-inch concrete beams once used by the California Department of Transportation for road repairs. Your Turn: Native Plantings Most states have a native plant society, notes habitat specialist Fred Ballerini, who says to start there. Use plants that complement the ecological habitat. For the Burnetts’ garden, Ballerini selected plants from the California coastal woodlands, near the Carmel shore. Planting took place in the early winter months, thereby lessening irrigation requirements.

]]> burnett residence exterior facade closeup square Burnett Residence http://www.dwell.com/articles/green-is-in-the-details.html My House » Party in the Back http://feeds.dwell.com/~r/dwell/homes/~3/KBmOm5zXk78/party-in-the-back.html http://www.dwell.com/articles/party-in-the-back.html Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:59:56 -0800 <a href="http://www.dwell.com/articles/party-in-the-back.html"><img src="http://media.dwell.com/images/148*148/brammy-kyprianou-residence-exterior-pool-family-square.jpg" alt='modern home renovations' /></a> Looking at the traditional Victorian facade of Kylie Brammy and George Kyprianou’s home, you would never imagine it hid such a voluptuous and modern derrière. Physiotherapist Brammy and entrepreneur Kyprianou bought the North Adelaide house in 1999 because they loved its charm and location on the city fringe, close to parkland. Less desirable was its tiny kitchen, dark living spaces, and badly positioned toilet, just three feet from the dining table. Engaging both an architect and an interior designer to collaborate on a renovation and two-story extension, the couple managed to open up the interior and transform the back of the house into an improbably airy and light-filled retreat. Kyprianou: The longer you live somewhere, the more you learn about its idiosyncrasies and potential. We lived here for several years before we started our renovation, which helped us understand what we wanted. The rear of the original house was very dark, and functionally, the space just didn’t work. We love having friends and family over for dinner, but the tiny galley kitchen was only just big enough for two people to walk sideways past each other. There was only one bathroom—right next to the dinner table—so it was a bit uncomfortable when guests had to use it! We decided to open the whole rear of the house right up; it’s north facing, which here in Australia gives you beautiful sunshine all day long. We could see the potential in having a big, tall glass structure to let all the light and warmth in. Around 2005 we approached Phil Harris from Troppo Architects, but they were too busy to take on a job with our modest budget. A couple of years later, we stayed in a Troppo-designed eco-resort in Broome; it had all the qualities we liked—sustainability, space, light, and ventilation. So Kylie called Phil again, and this time he agreed to come out and see us. We bonded straight away. Unlike other architects we’d met, who came with their own set ideas, Phil sat down and asked us what we wanted. He came back with a little story he wrote about us—what we liked and who we were—so we were pretty chuffed. At that point we felt really comfortable with him, and he felt comfortable with us. We worked together really well. Early on, Phil came up with the design that you see now. The original part of the house is only 20 feet wide, so we extended an additional three feet out to the boundary, which gave us room to put a light-filled guest bathroom and laundry in the middle of the original part of the house. The master bedroom floats on a mezzanine in the void above the living area, with a spacious en suite [bathroom] tucked behind it. To meet the local heritage requirements we had to mirror the roofline of our neighbors on the laneway side of the house, so the extension has a unique asymmetrical shape. Kylie has a physio practice in an old warehouse in the city, designed by Susanna Bilardo from Enoki. We loved what she did there, so we got her to do the interior design of the house. Phil was happy to stand back and let Susanna work; she brought softness, comfort, and livability to the house, using lots of natural, warm materials like reclaimed timber and doors. We also hung on to some original features of the house, like the historic facade and the original chimney. Our builder did a great job keeping the existing chimney upright when the walls came down around it. We love its wonky shape. Brammy: I sensed the soul of the house the moment I walked through the front door at the first inspection. It had a story to tell—of happy lives and families—and we are continuing that story. As a physiotherapist, I realize the importance of life balance and our home helps to give this to us. It is simple, open, and flexible, and it supports our casual lifestyle. George and I are both morning people. We love to wake up when the sun comes up and go to bed early at night. Our bedroom is up on the mezzanine level, making us feel like we are in a suspended tree house. At night we are so lucky to be able to see the stars and moon; we sleep so well up there. Soil space is limited on our lot so I grow my veggies “secretly” among the other landscaping plants. I’ve planted lemons and oranges, espaliered along the fence that extends out behind the barbecue. I love our pool—it provides a “yin” element of cooling, moistening, and grounding to the house, in contrast to the warm and dry materials we’ve used elsewhere. I can actually touch the water from inside through the sash window at the end of the bench seat, which gives me a sense of serenity. Being connected to the environment is important to me. Every time of the day feels beautiful here. In the winter, I try to be home for a few hours midday to enjoy the sunshine that streams in below the giant eave. We positioned the window seat in the northeast corner of the window so that as the sun goes down it catches the last rays. I often read there. When I stop and am still, the dogs love it, lying down below me on the floor. modern home renovations

Looking at the traditional Victorian facade of Kylie Brammy and George Kyprianou’s home, you would never imagine it hid such a voluptuous and modern derrière. Physiotherapist Brammy and entrepreneur Kyprianou bought the North Adelaide house in 1999 because they loved its charm and location on the city fringe, close to parkland. Less desirable was its tiny kitchen, dark living spaces, and badly positioned toilet, just three feet from the dining table. Engaging both an architect and an interior designer to collaborate on a renovation and two-story extension, the couple managed to open up the interior and transform the back of the house into an improbably airy and light-filled retreat. Kyprianou: The longer you live somewhere, the more you learn about its idiosyncrasies and potential. We lived here for several years before we started our renovation, which helped us understand what we wanted. The rear of the original house was very dark, and functionally, the space just didn’t work. We love having friends and family over for dinner, but the tiny galley kitchen was only just big enough for two people to walk sideways past each other. There was only one bathroom—right next to the dinner table—so it was a bit uncomfortable when guests had to use it! We decided to open the whole rear of the house right up; it’s north facing, which here in Australia gives you beautiful sunshine all day long. We could see the potential in having a big, tall glass structure to let all the light and warmth in. Around 2005 we approached Phil Harris from Troppo Architects, but they were too busy to take on a job with our modest budget. A couple of years later, we stayed in a Troppo-designed eco-resort in Broome; it had all the qualities we liked—sustainability, space, light, and ventilation. So Kylie called Phil again, and this time he agreed to come out and see us. We bonded straight away. Unlike other architects we’d met, who came with their own set ideas, Phil sat down and asked us what we wanted. He came back with a little story he wrote about us—what we liked and who we were—so we were pretty chuffed. At that point we felt really comfortable with him, and he felt comfortable with us. We worked together really well. Early on, Phil came up with the design that you see now. The original part of the house is only 20 feet wide, so we extended an additional three feet out to the boundary, which gave us room to put a light-filled guest bathroom and laundry in the middle of the original part of the house. The master bedroom floats on a mezzanine in the void above the living area, with a spacious en suite [bathroom] tucked behind it. To meet the local heritage requirements we had to mirror the roofline of our neighbors on the laneway side of the house, so the extension has a unique asymmetrical shape. Kylie has a physio practice in an old warehouse in the city, designed by Susanna Bilardo from Enoki. We loved what she did there, so we got her to do the interior design of the house. Phil was happy to stand back and let Susanna work; she brought softness, comfort, and livability to the house, using lots of natural, warm materials like reclaimed timber and doors. We also hung on to some original features of the house, like the historic facade and the original chimney. Our builder did a great job keeping the existing chimney upright when the walls came down around it. We love its wonky shape. Brammy: I sensed the soul of the house the moment I walked through the front door at the first inspection. It had a story to tell—of happy lives and families—and we are continuing that story. As a physiotherapist, I realize the importance of life balance and our home helps to give this to us. It is simple, open, and flexible, and it supports our casual lifestyle. George and I are both morning people. We love to wake up when the sun comes up and go to bed early at night. Our bedroom is up on the mezzanine level, making us feel like we are in a suspended tree house. At night we are so lucky to be able to see the stars and moon; we sleep so well up there. Soil space is limited on our lot so I grow my veggies “secretly” among the other landscaping plants. I’ve planted lemons and oranges, espaliered along the fence that extends out behind the barbecue. I love our pool—it provides a “yin” element of cooling, moistening, and grounding to the house, in contrast to the warm and dry materials we’ve used elsewhere. I can actually touch the water from inside through the sash window at the end of the bench seat, which gives me a sense of serenity. Being connected to the environment is important to me. Every time of the day feels beautiful here. In the winter, I try to be home for a few hours midday to enjoy the sunshine that streams in below the giant eave. We positioned the window seat in the northeast corner of the window so that as the sun goes down it catches the last rays. I often read there. When I stop and am still, the dogs love it, lying down below me on the floor.

]]> brammy kyprianou residence exterior pool family square Brammy / Kyprianou Residence http://www.dwell.com/articles/party-in-the-back.html Dwellings » Paint it Black http://feeds.dwell.com/~r/dwell/homes/~3/GRFY9JdW0MU/paint-it-black.html http://www.dwell.com/articles/paint-it-black.html Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:39:29 -0800 <a href="http://www.dwell.com/articles/paint-it-black.html"><img src="http://media.dwell.com/images/148*148/black-villa-outside-family-portrait-cropped-square.jpg" alt='affordable modern home renovation' /></a> When Hinnerk Ehlers and Katja Winterhalder moved their family to Hamburg, Germany, after seven years abroad in Canada, they knew what they wanted: a supercool, minimal, modernist house. Ehlers and Winterhalder were after lots of light, lots of functionality, and something durable enough for the kids to run around in. Ideally, they'd also get a chance to implement some of the ideas for better everyday living they’d aggregated over the years. Integrating state-of-the-art energy efficiency was nonnegotiable. Everything they found, however, was too old-fashioned, and it was all too expensive. So the couple—he works for a large frozen-foods company; she was a creative in an ad agency—went back to take a second look at a tiny 1907 villa in a great location they had dismissed the first time around. Their initial reaction was understandable. In the 1960s, the two-story, 1,070-square-foot villa with pea-green faux masonry had been all but swallowed by an L-shaped addition that once served as a minimart. The whole thing—2,200 square feet between the two structures—had since been carved into three separate living units. Only two rooms were inhabitable; the rest were filled to the brim with electronics parts and junk. “It was the black sheep of the block,” says Winterhalder. But the price was right, and an S-Bahn transit station, a school, and a bakery were each a minute’s walk away. So, even though the family couldn’t do anything to change the odd layout without giving up space under new zoning ordinances, they decided to take a chance. With just a few months to go on their temporary housing’s lease, Ehlers and Winterhalder had to get to work. For assistance, they drew on the know-how of Berlin-based architect Frank Drewes, of the firm Drewes+Strenge Arkitekten, whose father designed the modernist house Winterhalder grew up in. While Drewes’s high-end, high-drama, high-design work fit right in with the cool Asian flats pictured in Winterhalder’s inspiration scrapbook, one issue remained. “We told Frank, ‘We have a small budget and no time,’” says Ehlers. “He said, ‘That’s a problem.’” They had spent two-thirds of what they could afford on the property, and the remaining third had to cover all the major renovations, repairs, and energy-savings measures required, leaving almost nothing for stylistic flourishes. Instead, the cool had to be built in from the beginning, along with the new walls and wiring. With the help of Volker Schmidt—a laid-back, experimentally minded local who served as the construction architect—20 debris boxes to haul away junk, and lots of hours clocked on the Internet looking for the right raw materials, the team made it happen. A mere six months after signing the purchase papers, Ehlers, Winterhalder, and their two kids, Jonne and Oona, moved into a truly modernist miracle. affordable modern home renovation

When Hinnerk Ehlers and Katja Winterhalder moved their family to Hamburg, Germany, after seven years abroad in Canada, they knew what they wanted: a supercool, minimal, modernist house. Ehlers and Winterhalder were after lots of light, lots of functionality, and something durable enough for the kids to run around in. Ideally, they'd also get a chance to implement some of the ideas for better everyday living they’d aggregated over the years. Integrating state-of-the-art energy efficiency was nonnegotiable. Everything they found, however, was too old-fashioned, and it was all too expensive. So the couple—he works for a large frozen-foods company; she was a creative in an ad agency—went back to take a second look at a tiny 1907 villa in a great location they had dismissed the first time around. Their initial reaction was understandable. In the 1960s, the two-story, 1,070-square-foot villa with pea-green faux masonry had been all but swallowed by an L-shaped addition that once served as a minimart. The whole thing—2,200 square feet between the two structures—had since been carved into three separate living units. Only two rooms were inhabitable; the rest were filled to the brim with electronics parts and junk. “It was the black sheep of the block,” says Winterhalder. But the price was right, and an S-Bahn transit station, a school, and a bakery were each a minute’s walk away. So, even though the family couldn’t do anything to change the odd layout without giving up space under new zoning ordinances, they decided to take a chance. With just a few months to go on their temporary housing’s lease, Ehlers and Winterhalder had to get to work. For assistance, they drew on the know-how of Berlin-based architect Frank Drewes, of the firm Drewes+Strenge Arkitekten, whose father designed the modernist house Winterhalder grew up in. While Drewes’s high-end, high-drama, high-design work fit right in with the cool Asian flats pictured in Winterhalder’s inspiration scrapbook, one issue remained. “We told Frank, ‘We have a small budget and no time,’” says Ehlers. “He said, ‘That’s a problem.’” They had spent two-thirds of what they could afford on the property, and the remaining third had to cover all the major renovations, repairs, and energy-savings measures required, leaving almost nothing for stylistic flourishes. Instead, the cool had to be built in from the beginning, along with the new walls and wiring. With the help of Volker Schmidt—a laid-back, experimentally minded local who served as the construction architect—20 debris boxes to haul away junk, and lots of hours clocked on the Internet looking for the right raw materials, the team made it happen. A mere six months after signing the purchase papers, Ehlers, Winterhalder, and their two kids, Jonne and Oona, moved into a truly modernist miracle.

]]> black villa outside family portrait cropped square Black Villa http://www.dwell.com/articles/paint-it-black.html Houses We Love » Back Storied http://feeds.dwell.com/~r/dwell/homes/~3/f0cJU1Kbfig/back-storied.html http://www.dwell.com/articles/back-storied.html Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:21:59 -0800 <a href="http://www.dwell.com/articles/back-storied.html"><img src="http://media.dwell.com/images/148*148/houses-we-love-back-storied-square.jpg" alt='Modern renovation in Australia' /></a> When the Haines family approached architect Christopher Polly to renovate their home, they gave him an enviably open-ended directive: “See what you can come up with—we don’t want to restrict you.” The only caveat: The home’s facade, which dates back to 1890 and whose renovation would have to meet stringent conservation requirements, had to remain the same. Polly’s solution was to graft an airy modern addition to the rear of the home. A louvered clerestory of low-e glazed windows naturally ventilates the new space; ample built-in storage completes the crisp, uncluttered interior. Pocket doors and finishes that extend outside seamlessly bridge the combined living-kitchen-dining area with the garden, and help achieve a spacious feel. Material Pleasures Floor: Polished concrete Walls: Pine shiplap boards with Dulux paint in black; Laminex laminate finishes Windows: Viridian ComfortPlus; Breezway Altair louvered windows Lighting: Sonora pendant lamps by Oluce Furniture: Grasshopper chair by Modernica; Stool 60 by Alvar Aalto for Artek Modern renovation in Australia

When the Haines family approached architect Christopher Polly to renovate their home, they gave him an enviably open-ended directive: “See what you can come up with—we don’t want to restrict you.” The only caveat: The home’s facade, which dates back to 1890 and whose renovation would have to meet stringent conservation requirements, had to remain the same. Polly’s solution was to graft an airy modern addition to the rear of the home. A louvered clerestory of low-e glazed windows naturally ventilates the new space; ample built-in storage completes the crisp, uncluttered interior. Pocket doors and finishes that extend outside seamlessly bridge the combined living-kitchen-dining area with the garden, and help achieve a spacious feel. Material Pleasures Floor: Polished concrete Walls: Pine shiplap boards with Dulux paint in black; Laminex laminate finishes Windows: Viridian ComfortPlus; Breezway Altair louvered windows Lighting: Sonora pendant lamps by Oluce Furniture: Grasshopper chair by Modernica; Stool 60 by Alvar Aalto for Artek

]]> houses we love back storied square Haines House http://www.dwell.com/articles/back-storied.html Houses We Love » Going Deutsch http://feeds.dwell.com/~r/dwell/homes/~3/sBzN3xWqiZQ/going-deutsch.html http://www.dwell.com/articles/going-deutsch.html Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:54:22 -0800 <a href="http://www.dwell.com/articles/going-deutsch.html"><img src="http://media.dwell.com/images/148*148/houses-we-love-going-deutsch-justk-haus-exterior-facade.jpg" alt='zero-energy prefab home ' /></a> The world owes Germany a Danke schön for its green standards, but the JustK house does zero-energy with unusual style. Amunt incorporated a geothermal heat exchanger and triple-glazed windows into the strict planning regulations, which dictated the pitched roof and narrow structure (the asymmetric profile accommodates a neighbor who asked that her view of nearby Hohentübingen castle be left intact). Built for Dominik Bless-Martenson, Katrin Martenson, and their four children, JustK (the name comes from its location on the Justinus-Kerner-Strasse) can be divided into two separate units, giving options as the family grows up and leaves the nest. zero-energy prefab home

The world owes Germany a Danke schön for its green standards, but the JustK house does zero-energy with unusual style. Amunt incorporated a geothermal heat exchanger and triple-glazed windows into the strict planning regulations, which dictated the pitched roof and narrow structure (the asymmetric profile accommodates a neighbor who asked that her view of nearby Hohentübingen castle be left intact). Built for Dominik Bless-Martenson, Katrin Martenson, and their four children, JustK (the name comes from its location on the Justinus-Kerner-Strasse) can be divided into two separate units, giving options as the family grows up and leaves the nest.

]]> houses we love going deutsch justk haus exterior facade JustK Haus http://www.dwell.com/articles/going-deutsch.html Dwellings » New McDonald http://feeds.dwell.com/~r/dwell/homes/~3/Eqe2rjauPT8/new-mcdonald.html http://www.dwell.com/articles/new-mcdonald.html Fri, 6 Jan 2012 17:14:55 -0800 <a href="http://www.dwell.com/articles/new-mcdonald.html"><img src="http://media.dwell.com/images/148*148/saunderstown-house-wooden-deck-square.jpg" alt='minimalist modern homes' /></a> Katie and Scott McDonald—she’s a self-described “holistic health coach and raw food chef”; he’s a psychiatrist—were living the architectural high life with their son, Sage, in Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1908 E. E. Boynton House in Rochester, New York. Alas, a desire to return to New England and inhabit a space that more actively incorporated the outdoors prevailed. “The 228 leaded-glass windows were beautiful, but they separated us from nature,” says Katie. Add to that the couple’s shared love of serene, clean interiors, and the McDonalds realized they were ready to exchange Wright’s inward-looking world of crafted ornament and heavy oak furniture for an Eastern-influenced, minimalist environment that embraced nature. They purchased the house Katie’s parents had lived in for 22 years: a non-descript 1950s gambrel-roofed builder’s special on four bucolic acres in Saun-derstown, Rhode Island, a hamlet some 30 miles from Providence. “We didn’t want to add square footage,” says Katie, “but we wanted to capture the view [of the Narrow River],” which is best seen from the decks off the living room and master bedroom. They also desired a seamless, open floorplan where they could embrace their Far Eastern tastes. Accordingly, 3six0 Architecture principals Chris Bardt and Kyna Leski, along with their senior associate Jack Ryan, removed the wall between the existing living and dining rooms. The three spaces (two old, one new) were combined into the McDonalds’ multipurpose zone, and a wall of river-facing glass sliders now frames the vista. They also converted the existing dining room into a library and enclosed its adjacent screened porch to create Katie’s office. While keeping the square footage essentially the same, 3six0’s renovation turned the rambling structure’s complicated aggregation of Ls, angles, and rooms into what Katie calls “a healing sanctuary.” minimalist modern homes

Katie and Scott McDonald—she’s a self-described “holistic health coach and raw food chef”; he’s a psychiatrist—were living the architectural high life with their son, Sage, in Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1908 E. E. Boynton House in Rochester, New York. Alas, a desire to return to New England and inhabit a space that more actively incorporated the outdoors prevailed. “The 228 leaded-glass windows were beautiful, but they separated us from nature,” says Katie. Add to that the couple’s shared love of serene, clean interiors, and the McDonalds realized they were ready to exchange Wright’s inward-looking world of crafted ornament and heavy oak furniture for an Eastern-influenced, minimalist environment that embraced nature. They purchased the house Katie’s parents had lived in for 22 years: a non-descript 1950s gambrel-roofed builder’s special on four bucolic acres in Saun-derstown, Rhode Island, a hamlet some 30 miles from Providence. “We didn’t want to add square footage,” says Katie, “but we wanted to capture the view [of the Narrow River],” which is best seen from the decks off the living room and master bedroom. They also desired a seamless, open floorplan where they could embrace their Far Eastern tastes. Accordingly, 3six0 Architecture principals Chris Bardt and Kyna Leski, along with their senior associate Jack Ryan, removed the wall between the existing living and dining rooms. The three spaces (two old, one new) were combined into the McDonalds’ multipurpose zone, and a wall of river-facing glass sliders now frames the vista. They also converted the existing dining room into a library and enclosed its adjacent screened porch to create Katie’s office. While keeping the square footage essentially the same, 3six0’s renovation turned the rambling structure’s complicated aggregation of Ls, angles, and rooms into what Katie calls “a healing sanctuary.”

]]> saunderstown house wooden deck square Saunderstown House http://www.dwell.com/articles/new-mcdonald.html