design | civil | architect | engineering | building

Twisting Ivory Observation Tower for Dubai

2009-07-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

Dubbed the ZPO Tower, the structure features a beautiful latticed facade inspired by traditional motifs, and includes plans for solar film, geothermal heating and cooling, a green roof, and grey water recycling.

The tower is designed to be constructed from mostly recycled materials at net zero energy, and it can generate enough solar energy to completely power itself!

The woven design featured in the tower’s tubes is inspired by traditional patterns that relate to the Islamic religion. The tubes unfurl at the top of the structure in a trio of petals that are “oriented towards specific views and directions that resonate with both the past and future of Dubai.

The first petal is aligned with Mecca, to the Southwest of the project site. Moving clockwise at the top of the ZPO Tower, the second petal is directed toward the old town of Deira, a neighborhood of traditional souks, mosques, old fortress walls and wind towers.

From the observation deck in the third petal of the tower one surveys the changing skyline along Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Road.”

Even though XTEN Architecture went to great lengths to ensure this structure’s sustainability, we couldn’t help but be a bit critical of the tower’s functionality.

Observation towers seem to be a bit of a luxury in the architectural world these days, due to decreased tourism and a shortage of steel and other resources. Across the board, we might soon be seeing a shortage of beautiful structures that don’t serve a daily function.

XTEN Architecture recently unveiled an elegantly spiraling observation tower that stands to make an incredible new addition to Dubai’s skyline.

The Hello Kitty House

2009-06-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

This cute looking mansion has Hello Kitty themed interiors and a charming exterior that would make a guy blog live from the premises if permission granted.

The famous kitty bow in pink and white is spread all across the walls, the clock, the furniture and (even) the bed etc.

The wooden houses in the traditional Swiss style

2009-06-11T14:01:00.000-07:00

The wooden house was built in the traditional Swiss style.

The walls are composed of pine boards that are assembled, frame free, by tongue and groove. The height of the houses make the walls appear to be paper thin.

Zumthor likes his structures to exude lightness and even fragility. All of the roofs of the region are obligated by law to use rough-hewn granite slabs for roof tiling. These roofs, require massive structures including one, or two central beams at the peak of the roof.

Zumthor eliminates the central beam by pulling the frames together at their bases with steel rods in order to form the peak thus creating an empty space between the house and the roof.

architect : Peter Zumthor

Contemporary Urban Coastal Residence Architecture Design

2009-06-09T02:28:00.000-07:00

With clean design in glass accent, the architecture of this modern house has innovation idea of how living space should like be.

This modern contemporary house is awesome from side of the house.

The upper floor have stairways to the swimming pool. A palette of natural materials sliding from inside to outside, offering a variety of living spaces. The masonry structure is topped by a fiberglass canopy that extends down to a lap pool below.

Designed by Godward Guthrie Architects.

Modern and Minimalist Black Zinc Boxes Home Design

2009-06-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

Formed boxes at front outdoors, feel massive and elegant with black zinc block, this modern house wonderful.

Not only the outdoors, the indoors has clean layout fulfilled with natural light and fresh air because of its smart aperture strategic.

A minimalist indoor garden courtyard become a center focus.

The central courtyard and a void running the length of the house connect these zones and allow natural light to be captured absorbed and bounced throughout the house.

This is expansive building volume, but feel so intimate.

Designed by Bower Architects.

Modern Home Design on Wonderful Views

2009-06-07T02:21:00.000-07:00

The house features modern design that capitalizes on wonderful views offered by the hilly terrain.

The whole style of the home is built in a way that maximizes the views through windows on the first and second floors.

On the right hand side of the first floor, you can see the amazing windows that make up the living room.

The night time imagery from the photo is truly amazing.

The same theme continues up to the next floor where windows are strategically incorporated to maximize the experience of he home owners.

For those of us that have been fortunate enough to visit the area, the gorgeous hilly terrain creates wonderful views of Los Angeles for local real estate owners.

This is the Bueth residence designed by SPF Architects.

Modern Big House

2009-06-06T01:53:00.000-07:00

This home on Mercer Island utilizes the elemental natures of concrete, steel and glass to create a family refuge.

Two concrete structures, which house the garage, mudroom, and a play area, present themselves to the street.

Between them runs an exposed steel bridge which leads over a private courtyard and into the main house.

A bent plate steel staircase descends into an open plan, double-height living space, which is dominated by an immense concrete fireplace and chimney (in the living room) and a massive black granite-covered island (in the kitchen).

Floor to ceiling windows provide unimpeded views of the water from the courtyard or inside the house.

Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects designed this house located on Seattle, Washington’s Mercer Island.

Friendly environment home

2009-06-04T19:31:00.001-07:00

“Zero House” is a prefabricated house of 200 square meters totally autonomous and environmentally friendly.

The roof is made of solar panels that provides electricity so you don’t have to worry about electricity and the power is then stored in a battery backup. Once completely charged, the home can run efficiently for one week without a hint of sunlight.

The roof and also includes a tank of rainwater harvesting over 10 cubic meters.

The ground floor when it is equipped with a unit of waste composting. The rest of the house features energy saving design strategies including ample daylighting (led lights are used for artificial light requirements), incredibly energy efficient wall assemblies (r-58 in fact), triple glazed windows, and a compact design (reducing overall energy requirements). Initial studies indicate that the home will sell for around $350,000. - Via - Treehugger & Materialicio

Designed by Scott Specht studio architecture Spect Harpman Architects.

Modern Wooden House

2009-06-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Jason Creek weeHouse is consist consists of a larger main unit accommodating most daily activities and a smaller sleeping tower. Both units are connected by an elevated patio bridge component.

The main unit’s upper level is designed to allow for numerous vista points and provides an almost complete immersion into the spectacular setting of the heavily wooded site.

The simple and contemporary modular home design, perfect for a new family or home office. Lets see the interior, its clean and look so natural with wooden pattern at the floor and the roof.

The modular house designed by Alchemy Architects, its a stunning wooden prefab house in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

Minimalist House for Young Family

2009-05-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

This House the minimalist house in Saltsjo-Boo Sweden which has unique and simple name inspired by a Chinese puzzle box. This house was especially designed for young family with small children. An elongated box based on standardized dimensions for building materials.

This house has 3 bedrooms, one larger living/dining space with kitchen and bathroom. Each room then has one of its four sides completely glazed.

Basically open towards one cardinal point each, leaving the opening in each façade. The surrounding landscape is always a part of the space. The bathroom, which has no wall opening, has a roof window instead.

There is glazed doorway from the living area to a partially walled terrace, creating an outdoor room that is open to the sky at one end and open to view at the other. Design by Claesson Koivisto Rune.

A sensuously building

2009-05-24T07:03:00.000-07:00

Designed by Sotheby’s Home in 2006, the house exudes an ambient charm. This gorgeous home with elongated and large rectangular spaces is located in Santa Ynez Valley. It is hard to believe that such a sensuously building with a touch of rustic essence is actually nestled in some part of California.

Situated on a 20- acre large and spacious setting , while the main residence spread over a 7,000 square foot area, there’s a master bedroom, a guest suite with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathroom, a common den with a fireplace, an art studio with adjoining office and an exercise room. Looks like the perfect dream home, don’t you think?

Minimalist House in White

2009-05-23T04:31:00.000-07:00

Choosing white for the color of exterior and interior, make this house look more knowledgeable.

The house was designed in minimalist style but the modern feel still emitted.

The wind flow through the interior, so that in the summer house is not too hot.

Modern Residence

2009-05-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

It looks like a charming old-fashioned home wrapped up by sleek and minimalistic modern walls. And the ease which it combines design elements for an amazing visual treat is simply astounding.

The interiors use plenty of wood, traditional furniture and a cozy looking fireplace, while the patio on the outside, the straight lines of the pool and the lighting, give it a very modern feel on the exterior.

Apart from the vivacious look and charming simplicity, the Princeton residence is a wonderful blend of the opposites.

Designed by the creative architects from MorrisonSeifertMurphy

Modern Lake Hollywood House With Spectacular Views

2009-05-20T04:56:00.000-07:00

Featuring spectacular views of Lake Hollywood, this magnificent modern five bedroom home was designed by Jeffrey & Rochelle Mills of Mills Studio and completed in 2007.

Published and architecturally significant, the residence is made up of two unique glass and steel boxes perched in and cantilevered from a series of exposed poured concrete walls.

A soaring two-story entry features a stunning use of steel with a glass floor bridge that cantilevers out over the swimming/reflecting pool below and out to the lake itself.

Luxurious living

2009-05-19T03:32:00.000-07:00

Luxurious living, it’s what this modern, three-storey house in Manhattan Beach, California, is all about.

With a stunning view over the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Malibu, the house manages to pack a small but luxurious backyard in the tight space, a lush living space with large floor-to-ceiling windows, numerous skylights, an amazing pool and an elevator - that’s a pretty high building out there..

Design a modern kitchen and up to date participated in the luxury of filling the planned.

Modern, beautiful and sophisticated

2009-05-18T05:03:00.000-07:00

All part of making it modern. Both the interior and exteriornya impressed modern and sophisticated.

Not always. Just take a look at the Dupli.Casa in Ludwigsburg, Germany, where architect Jürgen Mayer H worked on the footprint of a 1984 house to create this beautiful shaped spatial villa. I still can’t decide what looks best.

Is it the sophisticated large spaces interior or the stunning contrast at the exterior between the white walls and the black windows? Or the fact that it avoids detailing using homogeneous transitions? Maybe all of them.

Casa Segrada - heavily wooded lot

2009-05-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

The family was creating a New Mexico house on a 20 acre heavily wooded lot.

Their goal was to keep as many of the trees as possible to preserve the natural landscape.

The challenge of building on a rocky hillside was a big factor in the footprint and shape.

luxurious impression can be obtained without the need to override the impact of environmental because the design for this house is very friendly to the environment

House from Steel, Aluminum and Glass

2009-05-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

The house is now have two stories and the main entrance has double staircase to the second floor.

The living room, dining room, kitchen, utility room, library, and two guest bedrooms with baths are on the first floor.

The second floor has the master bedroom / sitting room with two dressing rooms, two vanity areas and a large bathroom with separate tub and shower.

All rooms are open to walkways and terraces at both the first and second floors. The studio and garage are attached to the main house with a glass walled and roofed corridor.

Modern Couran Point House

2009-05-14T02:32:00.000-07:00

The house is a simple extruded profile with its form being solely dictated by town planning constraints. Height, setback and roof pitch essentially created the volumetric section which was extruded to the road and waterfront boundary setback to maximise the enclosed space. The house breaks out onto the terraced waterfront on the east, to an enclosed ‘winter courtyard’ on the west and closes down to the north and south to retain privacy from the adjacent blocks.

For interior design with the various supporting facilities in order to remain comfortable even when the weather is not friendly

More trendy exterior view with the stout dark basic colors

The core drivers behind the build were maximising space and privacy, sheltering from the predominant south-easterly wind/weather front and creating a simple, low maintenance, sustainable living volume which could be enjoyed all year round. The isolation of the site and the harsh climatic conditions on the island are evident in the simplicity of the structure, the choice of basic, low maintenance materials and in the ability which the house is able to isolate, reorientate and shut down against the elements.

Modern house with elegant architectural composition

2009-05-13T03:26:00.000-07:00

the house is a marriage of environmentally responsible building strategies and elegant architectural composition. The design is shaped around the concept of making visible the architecture as interface between habitation and landscape.

Oriented on a strict Cartesian axis, the house is designed to maximize its potential for natural light. The integrated design combines a high-performance building envelope with passive solar design systems as an effective environmentally-responsible strategy for its northern context. A two-storey tall expansive window along the buildings south facing elevation allows the low winter sun to penetrate and warm the house.

An internal triple height slate wall captures available solar energy and keeps the house warm during evening hours.

Smaller apertures within the wall dapple adjacent rooms with light while its resonance within the house frames views and anchors internal circulation.

Along the street façade is a prominent glass privacy screen made from 475 panels of 19mm vertically stacked glass.

Set in a crenellated pattern, this sculptural screen allows a maximum diffusion of light while providing visual privacy from the street. The screen also becomes a striking element when viewed from the street. Even on the greyest days of the year, its subtle shifts in colour and texture imbues the street with vitality.

When viewed from the interior, the ethereal light quality evokes being caught up in the crest of a wave or being suspended behind the cascade of a waterfall. At its opposite end, the room opens out to a generous terrace and pool, extending the interplay of light and water in a continuous flow between interior and exterior space.

Modern balck house

2009-05-12T04:46:00.000-07:00

The open landscape either side of an ancient country lane between Vriezenveen and Almelo forms the backdrop to this house. The house has a linear layout. The contours of the sections, which are linked one behind the other, come together to form a unified, statuesque whole.

The house is lengthened by the formation of the upper floor in two separate elements that are offset towards the front and rear ends. This produces a silhouette of apparently separate sections that stands out in the surrounding area. In addition, this formation leads to the creation of the requested covered terrace at the rear and a carport at the front.

This house follows the linear structure of the landscape. The black zinc of the outer walls is applied in long, horizontal strips with folded seams. Due to the sheen and somewhat uneven finish of the material, the house reacts in a subtle way to the colours of the Dutch sky. Thanks to the dark, subdued colour, the house blends in with the landscape more than the big farmhouses with their orange roofs.

The rooms of the house, with their large windows, are oriented towards the surrounding area. Each room has a strong focus on one of the points of the compass. Only the kitchen has a multiple orientation and functions as the central hub of the house.

All the rooms are accessible from this central space, some of them via open staircases. The main load bearing structure consists of three steel portals supporting two laminated beams, each 1 metre high and 27 metres long! In combination with walls of a wooden skeleton structure, this allowed overhangs in multiple directions to be created.

An Architectural Masterpiece

2009-05-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

New architectural masterpiece

A 4 bedroom residence providing the ultimate in flowing light filled rooms transitioning seamlessly to bluestone pool.

The room felt wide and relieved because the inter-space without using a divider

bathrooms are spacious and equipped with complete facilities

Modern IJburg house

2009-05-10T04:04:00.000-07:00

This freestanding villa on the new island of IJburg provides for a family to live both independently or together.

A lowered children’s level with kitchenette and bathroom can be accessed from the street, while the raised groundfloor provides the communal living zones that proceed to the canal side garden.

The upper level contains the parents’ studio space, bedroom and bathroom.

The internal levels are demarcated in the facade with white bands and horizontally laid western red cedar boards further striate the volume.

natural and beauty for luxury glass house

2009-05-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

It occupies the plot of outstanding natural beauty and continue it in the inside with wall transparency. The fully glazed steel frame structure, suspended above the site makes that possible.

The fully glazed steel frame structure, suspended above the site makes that possible.The house has a covered swimming pool, two main bedrooms, 140 sqm living area and a 5 storey viewing tower.

Modern home trends

2009-05-08T05:37:00.000-07:00

With plenty facility will keeping well in tune with today’s modern designer trends. 4 bedrooms, a home theatre, stunning staircase, two courtyards and a large alfresco area for outdoor entertaining.

Area
Ground 124.8m2
Upper 125.35m2
Garage 41.3m2
Porch/Alfresco 35.8m2
Total 327.25m2

Dimensions
Width 12.5m
Depth 20.77m

Prestige home

2009-05-07T13:19:00.000-07:00

From the wide entry statement to the kitchen, dining and family rooms, this living space just flows while acting to divide the home into separate zones. The front is very functional with a large study and formal lounge room. the main body of the house has the very attractive master bedroom, magnificent ensuite and large walk in robe. And to the rear the two other bedrooms, second bathroom and laundry complete this home. this home provides prestige with differentiation.

Area
Main 205.1m2
Garage 36.7m2
Porch 3.5m2
Alfresco 22.7m2
Courtyard 4.5m2
Total 272.5m2

Dimensions
Width 14.35m
Depth 21.50m

Floorplan

Modern entertainer home

2009-05-06T03:54:00.000-07:00

The entertainer has got it all. 4 bedrooms and a study, media room, activity room, super sized living areas but above all you won’t miss it’s bigger than life kitchen and alfresco areas. With walk in pantry and three island benches you simply won’t find a better rural home design. Sit back and let this home do the entertaining for you.

Area
Garage 41.92m2
Main 346.48m2
Porch/Alfresco 50.94m2
Total 439.34m2

Dimensions
Width 42.95m
Depth 12.48m

Classic Homeplan With Bay View

2009-05-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

As a weekend retreat or an economical starter home, the Bay View is cozy and spacious all in one. It has three bedrooms and two full baths with extra storage in the loft area. A very spacious living and dining area lends to its chalet charm and affordable price.

first floor floorplan

second floor floorplan

Modern Contemporary style

2009-05-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

This 1800 sq. ft. Modern Contemporary style log home plan has three bedrooms, 3 full baths and spacious kitchen, dining and living rooms. Planning and interior design is flexible due to the trussed roof system.

ground floorplan

upper floorplan

Modern and Comfortable House Plans

2009-05-03T04:49:00.000-07:00

To support a modern and comfortable home design, it must be supported with some supporting facilities, such as in the plan of this house of which there are home theatre, study room, spacious bedrooms and family room, functional kitchen and alfresco area.

Data :

Area
Main 181.81m2
Garage 38.78m2
Portico 4.02m2
Alfresco 23.53m2
Total 248.14m2

Dimensions
Width 14.15m
Depth 22.03m

Simple and elegance home plan

2009-05-02T03:17:00.000-07:00

The simple modern home plan represents a great family environment; this practical 3 bedroom home represents a very functional layout whilst occupying an economical land footprint.

It’s the perfect configuration for the addition of a pool or simply a large back yard. The imaginative design provides lifestyle for the modern family.

data:

Area
Main 151.90m2
Garage 38.20m2
Porch 3.20m2
Total 193.3m2

Dimensions
Width 12.47m
Depth 22.55m

The modern home plan

2009-05-01T03:09:00.000-07:00

The modern home plan has all the requirements for the modern family while providing practicality and affordability.

The master bedroom has a large ensuite with plenty of natural light and large walk in robe. A great size kitchen with corner pantry along with plenty of bench space provide for all family requirements.

The “must have” home theatre also provides a modern family feel.

Require data for the plan :

Area
Main 161.68m2
Garage 37.75m2
Porch 1.81m2
Alfresco 13.56m2
Total 214.8m2

Dimensions
Width 11.51m
Depth 21.71m

Home design with feng shui

2009-04-30T05:04:00.000-07:00

A truly unique and unprecedented design.

Just look at the contemporary flair this plan has. The graceful bowed windows, and the sleek contemporary roofline are winners on any street.

The Master Suite on the upper floor has a rounded sitting room with window seat, a fireplace, spa and walk-in wardrobe.

The master bath comes complete with two private toilet and sink compartments insuring marital bliss and harmony.

The main floor has it all from the gracefully elegant living and dining rooms, the exciting kitchen, nook and family as well as the convenient and well planned utility room.

The kitchen has a walk-in pantry (a big one) and large food prep and dining island. The lower floor comes with two large bedrooms and a handy recreation room.

Artistic and functional modern home

2009-04-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

A unique blend of shape and dimension that is both artistic and functional.

first floorplan

Second floorplan

The semi traditional floor plan is a contrast to the modern architecture, and provides an interesting transition from one room to the next.

Modern design of container building combine with bamboo

2009-04-26T02:20:00.000-07:00

Design of container buildings should not be limited by the form of a rigid container.

Variations in model design and building of container can be adjusted with the modern design of the present.

combination with other construction material will be more supportive of building exotic container

Container house combine with bamboo construction

2009-04-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

The use of container as building a house combined with the construction of bamboo is a smart innovation as one of the recycle container and used to obtain a cheaper building.

Ethnic values that are very unique and interesting is supported with the use of bamboo as construction materials and additional support elements.

The use of ventilation that allows air circulation is better, so for in the tropics it will reduce the use of electricity.

American Home

2009-03-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

With the economy reeling, luxury homes are a bit politically incorrect these days. That’s especially true in areas of the country that are suffering most, like Las Vegas – the site of the 8,800 square foot 26th New American Home, unveiled last month at a show hosted by the National Association of Home Builders. The New American Home – or New American Mansion, for those of us (ahem) who live in 700-square foot studio apartments – is beautiful and modern, but how green can such a massive residence be?

The mansion is studded with 12,000 khz worth of solar panels - that’s an 11 kw system with dual-sided panels. It’s also stocked with LED lights and built with insulated concrete and spray-foam insulation with R-values of up to 50. It’s outfitted with a natural gas-powered heating and cooling system and a solar water heater. It’s got windows with low-emission coatings and mechanized sunshades to shield some of the desert sun. The builders are striving for a yearly gas and electric bill of $2,500 and net-zero electricity usage.

The New American Home was also planned to optimize its input of solar energy and limit water and energy demand. Soil erosion was minimized throughout construction and the builders monitored disturbance on site. The house is surrounded by native plants and drought-tolerant, non-native plants that were planted instead of grass to decrease water use.

On-site recycling? “During construction, a recycling and waste management program included on-site bins for collecting and sorting materials to be recycled off-site,” the press release says. Recycled materials? The teak foyer table, elm office floor, and the chaise lounge’s velvet and the countertops were all made from reclaimed materials.

The first hint of greenwashing comes from the press release on the International Builder’s Show web site, which declares that “the home scored at the gold level under the NAHB National Green Building Program.”

The NAHB Green Building Program offers two scoring options – the rigorous ANSI ICC 700-2008 National Green Building Standard and the more lax Model Green Home Building Guidelines. The New American Home was certified under the Guidelines.

The Guidelines are not much different from the rules and regulations in many state and local energy codes, says Tom Coalson, a LEED-AP and VP of commercial and sustainable construction at C&A Companies in Colorado. The Guidelines have the same intent as programs like ENERGY STAR and LEED, but differ greatly in point structure and requirements for verification. He calls it a “developer-friendly approach.”

“On many of the ‘requirements,’ the point structure is heavily in favor of taking the path of least resistance,” Coalson said in an email. “As noted in the NAHB Guidelines (Introduction, p. 5): ‘A line item will have a positive environmental impact only if it is implemented. Line items that were relatively easy to implement (and therefore more likely to be implemented) were assigned a greater point value than the items that are more difficult to implement.’ My experience with the HBA has left me with a different definition of ‘easy’ than most may have: ‘easy’ means having little or no cost effect on the bottom line.”

Furthermore, the NAHB Guidelines don’t require third party verification to claim a rating. The builder can essentially “verify” the information herself, called the “Prescriptive Path.” This is in sharp contrast to the bulky, lengthy, expensive verification process required for LEED-H certification.

The builder, Blue Heron, says they chose to use the Guidelines and not pursue LEED-H certification because they wanted to support the home building industry and the NAHB standards rather than LEED-H. Tyler Jones, principal of Blue Heron, said the NAHB guidelines “are equally as relevant, but much more practical for residential construction.”

A home that qualified for a rating under the NAHB Guidelines would “most certainly not” qualify for LEED-H certification, Coalson said. The reason is because LEED-H awards points for implementing more difficult solutions, while the Guidelines do the opposite. LEED-H also has some mandatory requirements that aren’t listed in the Guidelines, and the lack of verification would doom the home’s application.

Carlos Martin of the NAHB led me to believe the opposite. “It depends on the threshold levels for both rating systems, but most of the homes that are getting the Guidelines certification would qualify for LEED-H but just aren’t doing that. We do have some homes that are going for the NASCAR effect though (multiple certifications),” he said in an email.

Is It Green?

So is the place green? That would be a lot easier to answer if the home in question was a lot smaller. The NAHB Guidelines award points for building small homes, but don’t deduct any for large homes the way the LEED-H program does. If this home were occupied by a mom, a dad, a daughter and a son, they’d have a separate floor and 2,200 square-feet of space each. And how much energy would they use to turn on those LED lights, keep the house cool in the desert sun and heat the outdoor pool?

“The majority of any home’s energy requirements are in its heating and cooling system and its heating and demand for domestic hot water,” Coalson said. “This home uses natural gas to do just exactly that, in fact about 300 million Btu’s of natural gas every year. When converted to kWh of electricity (293 kWh = 1 million Btu) that’s about 87,900 kWh of electricity. In my estimation, that’s a far cry from an energy-efficient home. When natural gas use in the typical American home is converted to kWh and added to normal electrical usage, that home’s annual energy footprint is a little over 27,000 kWh, or about 31% of the New American Home, and that’s without the typical home employing any energy saving features!”

A few closing thoughts: The green features of the New American Home show thought and commitment, but this house is just too big to be green. Developers deserve some sympathy, but green building guidelines that don’t require verification are an invitation to greenwash.

Incredible Eco-Park

2009-01-30T20:25:00.000-08:00

New York’s Governor’s Island is set to receive an incredible set of renovations that will transform the 172-acre plot of decaying Coast Guard structures into a stunning eco-park.

Designed by West 8, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Rogers Marvel Architects, the project is a hybrid of landscape and architecture based around a sinuous set of new paths, watercourses, restaurants, aquaria and even complimentary wooden bicycles. Slated for completion in 2012, the ambitious, new and improved Governors Island will incorporate a host of environmentally friendly features.

governors island, sustainable development, new york city, west 8, diller scofidio, reclaimed materials, sustainable landscaping, green building, rogers marvel architects, governors island redevelopment

Sold to the city and state for $1 in 2003, Governor’s Island is set become the site of one of New York City’s greenest destinations. Diller Scofidio + Renfro say the plan “uses the man made topography of lower Manhattan as a starting point; the southern tip of the island is transformed into an artificial landscape with hills constructed of reclaimed materials from existing Governors Island buildings. As the new topography approaches the Western edge of the island, it transforms into EPDM-covered greenhouse structures, programmed as botanical and aquatic research centers.”

The proposal also features a Marine Exploration Center that consists of a set of off-shore “programmed structures” including a coastal plant greenhouse, marine life tank, vertical reef, and two restaurants. “Off-shore programmed structures emerge like bubbles from the water, moving with the tides…” say Diller Scofidio + Renfro, “The Oyster Restaurant floating directly across the harbor from the Statue of Liberty is an inflated sphere, 150′ in diameter, anchored by a man-made oyster reef. Rather than focusing its gaze on the world, it turns to the ecology of the local, allowing guests to eat the site by serving foods from the Hudson and the harbor.”

As visitors head to the southern tip of the island, they will encounter a “Vertical Landscape” of man-made mountains that will incorporate recreational, cultural, and educational functions. Though still in the development stage, features may include snack bars, exhibits, a funicular, and caves for spelunking. West 8 partner Jerry van Eyck says: “We wanted to give it the attitude of a national park, one with primal nature, robustness, where you don’t feel the hand of man.”

Last but certainly not least, complimentary wood bicycles—designed by the architects themselves—will be provided for visitors to cruise the winding paths of the park. Attractions accessible by bike will include the tidal basin, the planned 10,000 seat amphitheater, and a perimeter promenade with killer views of the city and its legendary landmarks. Given the stunning design, recreational and educational opportunities the park will provide, not to mention the tourist dollars it will generate, Governors Island may prove to be the best $1 investment the city has ever made.

Zero Energy Home

2009-01-30T17:56:00.000-08:00

Bird Island is a stunning urban renewal project that is currently being developed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Designed by Graft Lab architects for the YTL Green Home Competition, the project comprises a zero energy home made of sustainably-sourced silicone glass fabric.

Its lightness and flexibility will allow it to sway organically with the breeze just like a treetop, and slots in the fabric will give visitors a unique peek into the sky as the wind ebbs and flows.

The YTL Green Homes Competition challenged eight architects and designers from around the world to submit designs for six eco-friendly homes on Bird Island. Graft Lab’s proposal is an airy voluminous structure that utilizes a variety of energy-efficient building practices.

The building consists of a lightweight bamboo frame wrapped in a tensile, environmentally-friendly fabric. The material reflects sunlight, keeping the interior cool and reducing the need for AC. Bird Island will also be outfitted with a grey water recycling system that channels water from sinks and showers back into the plumbing.

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Graft states: “We have applied an integrated strategy of developing a zero-energy house that seamlessly dovetails the economic and environmental advantages of environmentally friendly living with the needs of a demanding and cosmopolitan clientele.

The environmental and economic features of this way of living do not conflict with our client’s lifestyle; rather it furthers their ability to comfortably enjoy their time at home.”

A New Green Skyscraper, FUSIONOPOLIS

2009-01-22T06:39:00.000-08:00

The Singapore skyline has been getting greener these days with new developments from some of the world’s most renown architects, one of them is a new futuristic green building from architect Ken Yeang named Fusionopolis. A research and development complex, this structure will adorn Singapore as the island nation’s most eco-friendly skyscraper.

The 15-story building will be 1.4 Km high, and boast of a ‘green infrastructure.’ The building will be home to the longest continuous vertical stretch of vegetation of any building in the world. A vertical spine of planting will rise up through the building, and landscaped garden terraces will be located on each floor of the building. The vegetation will help in passive cooling and insulation. The vegetation will also improve the sense of well being of the residents.

Natural daylight will be directed into the building interior by prisms which deflect the sunlight as it hits them. The drainage and irrigation system will also integrated green features. The whole building will function as an ecosystem, and strive to strike a balance between the organic and inorganic elements so as to make the building work like a living system.

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The building has been designed by the visionary architect Ken Yeang. He is currently working as the director of Llewelyn Davies Yeang, a leading design and architect firm. He is well-known for developing environmentally sustainable buildings for the tropics and believes in the philosophy that buildings should work like living systems.

Unfurls A Sail-Shaped Green Skyscraper

2009-01-21T06:29:00.000-08:00

Designed by NBBJ Architects, The Sail @ Marina Bay consists of two smoothy sculpted skyscrapers inspired by the sun, wind, and water. A luminous sail-shaped skyscraper is nearing completion in Singapore, proving that there’s always room to grow despite the constraints of urban density. Due for completion later this year, the project is expected to earn Singapore’s Gold Standard of Sustainability badge.

Singapore is striving to establish itself as a destination city for those who are interested living, working, and playing. The city recently moved its main port to Jurong, opening up new land ripe for development in the Marina Bay area of its Central Business District.

The Sail @ Marina Bay will be a mixed-use building that includes restaurants, health clubs, recreation decks with pools and tennis courts and parking all to service some of the loftiest apartments in the world.

The residential units in the Sail will be the first to be built in the area, and will add density while hopefully eliminating the need to produce any carbon emissions on the way to work in the morning.

Lead photo by Tim Griffith. Additional renderings provided by NBBJ.

Cultivated aesthetic

2009-01-15T10:38:00.000-08:00

The temporary exhibition gallery at the Garden Museum on the Thames at Lambeth is a triumph of architectural imagination over budgetary constraint.

The talents of Elizabethan polymath John Tradescant extended to engineering and garden design, but he is remembered principally as the founder of Britain’s first museum.

Tradescant assembled a collection of natural and ethnographic curiosities sourced on his travels to corners of the world as far flung as Russia, the Levant and Algiers, and displayed them at the Ark, a large house at Lambeth in south London. Exotic plant specimens constituted a significant part of the museum’s holdings — Tradescant maintained a botanical garden near the house — and many of the species he introduced to these shores are now common features of British gardens.

Following his death, the collection was maintained by his son and subsequently by Elias Ashmole, who bequeathed it to Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, where it remains today. The Ark has long been demolished. Indeed, just about the only trace of this extraordinary story that can be found in modern-day Lambeth is the Tradescant tomb. Here, father and son lie buried in the graveyard of St Mary’s, a former parish church which stands at the gates of Lambeth Palace.

St Mary’s dates from the 14th century, but its structure today is very largely the product of a Victorian remodelling. It is actually a wonder anything survives at all. In the 1970s, the building was deconsecrated and scheduled to be replaced by a coach park serving nearby Waterloo Station.

It escaped that fate only through the heroic efforts of John and Rosemary Nicholson, garden enthusiasts who had sought out the Tradescant tomb in the overgrown graveyard. They hatched the idea of converting the building into the world’s first Museum of Garden History — a fitting memorial to the Tradescants’ work — and managed to get the necessary backing just five days before the demolition date.

The Nicholsons formed a charitable trust, and after four years of fundraising and repair to the severely dilapidated structure, opened its doors to the public in 1981. Over the course of the subsequent quarter century, the museum built up a substantial archive of tools, garden-related publications, paintings and ephemera, and also established an energetic events and education programme. These activities were conducted on a shoestring budget which certainly didn’t extend to major building works. Studwork partitions closed off space for offices and a store; otherwise, the interior was essentially as found.

It was a charming set-up, but from a curatorial perspective, a highly constrained one. The permanent exhibits had to be mounted in vitrines that could be wheeled out of the nave whenever it was needed for a lecture, concert or private party (one of the museum’s key sources of income). More problematic still was the absence of an environmentally controlled gallery space. Without it, the museum’s ability to borrow artefacts was severely restricted, with the consequence that it struggled to mount the kind of temporary exhibitions that would bring in new audiences.

In 2006, Christopher Woodward took over as director and set about tackling these fundamental issues. The funds available for any building project were extremely tight. But Woodward has a keen interest in architecture — in his previous position as director of Bath’s Holburne Museum, much of his energy had been taken up by the proposal to build Eric Parry’s extension — and had high ambitions for what might be achieved.

He asked BD and the Architecture Foundation to help run a competition for a temporary exhibitions gallery. His initial idea was that this would be a short-term intervention, a stop-gap measure until funding was found for a more comprehensive transformation of the building.

Given that expectation, he saw the opportunity for the museum to be bold in its choice of architect. A shortlist was drawn up of six young practices, each of which had yet to complete a public project. Their submissions (Works November 30, 2007) broadly divided into two camps: freestanding interventions within the nave, or structures that hugged the perimeter walls, leaving the centre of the church empty.

The winning entry, by Dow Jones Architects, belonged to the latter group. It housed the temporary gallery in a single-storey structure that filled the west end of the church, and extended this volume down the length of the north aisle to accommodate storage space. What singled the project out was that it allowed the permanent collection to be removed from the nave and displayed on top of the new block. Although this necessitated the construction of a stair and lift, it allowed the museum’s holdings to be presented in a much more convincing manner, free of the need to wheel them around the building three or four times a week.

Key to achieving all this within the budget was Dow Jones’ proposal to construct the scheme using the Crosslam timber panel system manufactured by the Swiss company Eurban. These enormous glued spruce panels, functioning as both wall and floor elements, opened up the possibility that the primary structure could be entirely prefabricated off site, while the secondary trades could be kept to a minimum.

A year on, St Mary’s has reopened under the new name of the Garden Museum. The wisdom of Dow Jones’s strategy has been borne out by the startlingly modest final build cost — around £300,000, of which £93,500 was the cost of the Crosslam — and by the fact that the whole project was completed in just 12 weeks.

From an architectural viewpoint, it also proves to have been a sound decision. In terms of its massiveness, scale and colour, the structure strikes a surprisingly close relationship to the stone construction of the surrounding shell. Indeed, although Dow Jones has been scrupulous about leaving a 200mm gap between its work and the original fabric, the two feel very much of a piece.

Where the new work is distinguished from the old is in its looser geometry. Both the wing that occupies the north aisle and the enormous scala reggia stair that answers it on the far side of the nave buckle slightly in plan. In fact, scrutiny of the plan reveals that the original architecture is far less precise than it at first appears — the columns on either side of the nave are wildly mismatched — and the wonkiness of the new work is in part merely an accommodation of this. However, Dow Jones has compounded such moments of bodgery with a number of instances where the structure departs from an orthogonal geometry for purely expressive reasons. The effect is rather as if the new work has wriggled into position around the old: a fit, but a loose fit.

Heightened impact

The principal entrance remains at the south-east corner of the plan, immediately adjacent to the tower. Passing through the porch, we find the view ahead has been closed by the reception desk and the one to our immediate right by the lift. The view between these obstructions — the long diagonal one that cuts to the opposing corner of the church — is thus privileged and in fact enforced by the massive stair that extends out in front of us in the same orientation.

The view may be a found one, but in reframing it, Dow Jones has greatly heightened its impact. I was reminded of the house that the practice completed in Walberswick last year (Works April 20, 2007), where it was also much concerned with setting up corner-to-corner views across the plan’s dominant geometry.

The temporary gallery space is a little more involved than one might tolerate were this a new building. There is a column dropping down in the middle of it, steps and a ramp accommodate an irksome level change, and the museum’s requirement for 40 linear metres of wall space has pushed the plan into an L-shape. That said, this was never conceived as a pristine picture gallery and shouldn’t be judged as such.

The current exhibition, devoted to the gardens of Beth Chatto, contains the odd painting but largely comprises letters, books and other small artefacts that the space accommodates perfectly well. Its walls have largely been lined in plasterboard, but happily, the timber structure has been left exposed across the ceiling and as a narrow band at the top of each wall, a zone in which the air vents have been sited. These are fed by a modest mechanical ventilation kit that has been fitted on the gallery’s rear face. Being located close to the perimeter wall and at high level, it draws in air that is both cool and relatively dust-free.

While the creation of the temporary gallery may have been the project’s principal driver, the upper level packs the greater spatial punch. Save for the little education room that lies at the end of the visitor’s route, it is open to the roof. An exhibition design by Dow Jones and graphic designer Sara de Bondt elegantly choreographs objects ranging from Gertrude Jekyll’s desk to a grotesque curio that was once thought to be part vegetable, part lamb.

Rich shapeliness

At the competition stage, the architect described the project in terms of a belvedere, the implication being that the elevated view would invite a reading of the church interior as a quasi-landscape. The decision to occupy the nave very lightly — a Dow Jones-designed art cart and a few tables carrying reading material are ordinarily all that is provided — supports that ambition. However, the chancel and side chapel that lie at the end of the south aisle are still partitioned off, so the idea doesn’t yet sing as clearly as it surely will.

The practice has proposed a second phase of work which would see the chancel become an additional exhibition area and the side chapel occupied by a Crosslam administration tower, the first floor of which would be linked back to phase one by a bridge. That is a really captivating prospect, promising to extend the already rangy morphology of phase one into something very rich indeed, while consolidating the rather theatrical sense of enclosure with which it has charged the central nave.

All this is, of course, dependant on funding. But the fact that work is being considered to extend what has been built is remarkable in itself. Through Dow Jones’ initiative, a project originally conceived as standing for between five and 10 years has become the first phase of a long-term masterplan for the museum’s transformation.

ZIGGURAT: Carbon Neutral Pyramid

2009-01-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

The Mayans and Egyptians constructed incredible feats of architecture able to weather the test of time, but they had no idea their pyramids would inspire the shape of the latest carbon-neutral super-structure to hit Dubai. Dubai-based environmental design firm Timelinks recently released some eye-catching renderings of the gigantic eco pyramid - aptly named Ziggurat - with plans for its official unveiling scheduled for the Cityscape Dubai event which runs October 6-9 of this year. The ginormous pyramid will cover 2.3 square kilometers and will be able to sustain a “community” of up to 1 million.

Timelinks claims that their Ziggurat will be capable of running completely off the grid by utilizing steam, wind, and other natural resources. The tightly knit city will also feature a super efficient public transportation system that runs both horizontally and vertically, and plans are being drawn up to utilize both public and private green spaces for agricultural opportunities.

According to the International Institute for the Urban Environment, the technologies incorporated into the Ziggurat project will make it a viable metropolis, and Timlinks has responded by quickly patenting the design and technology developed for the project. A number of European professors will be on hand at CityScape Dubai to explain how the Ziggurat project can be incorporated into grander plans, meaning that it may not be a one-off structure.

PENTOMINIUM

2009-01-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

We’ve shown you some of the extravagant architecture that is being done in Dubai, and this one is no exception. The 120 floor tower, designed by Aedas, was conceived with two challenges in mind, that of dealing with the existing urban landscape and with the extreme desert environment and climate conditions in Dubai. That and also to provide an extremely luxurious living to its occupants. As you see, every floor of the building will be an individual apartment.

With all the construction happening in the Middle East, it was just a matter of time before someone proposed a building that would aim to challenge the title of the tallest residential tower, a title currently held by Q1 at the Gold Coast in Australia. So, please allow us to introduce you to Pentominium, a 576 metre tall building that has been proposed in — where else — Dubai.

We don’t usually go around criticizing designs, preferring to focus on the benefits of good design, but something rattled us a bit about this one. Perhaps it was the sheer chutzpah of creating the largest residential tower in the world, what could be the tallest building in the world, in the middle of the desert. Perhaps it is the hint of sustainability, where the designer alludes to environmentally friendliness because they threw in a few skygardens every 5 or six floors. We really couldn’t tell. We must admit that while the full features of the building have not been shown, this project could potentially be an environmentally friendly building, athough we sorta doubt it will turn out that way. Having said that, it certainly is eye-catching.

Jumeira Gardens, A Super-City Within Dubai

2009-01-15T07:21:00.000-08:00

Master-planned by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and developed by Meraas, Jumeira Gardens is a modern megopolis that will feature no fewer than three soaring superstructures designed by AS + GG: 1 Dubai, Park Gate, and 1 Park Avenue.

As the inexorable juggernaut of Dubai’s construction boom wears on amid a turbulent economic era, the city recently unveiled an incredible new development that is intended to cement its status as “a global city of the future”.

Although the super-massive project will consume approximately $95 billion, it’s encouraging to see that the entire community has been designed with sustainability in mind.

Conceived as “an integrated city within a city”, Jumeira Gardens is designed to be a mixed-use development that incorporates low, medium, and high-density zones for business, residences, retail, leisure, and recreation. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill master-planned the East Park Zone, while Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill master-planned the Atrium City area. Although plans are still being finalized, Meraas Development has confirmed that “‘Green’ buildings and construction, resource conservation and overall sustainability will inform every aspect of this new district, with tools such as intelligent infrastructure technology and cutting-edge eco design serving to reduce the district’s collective ecological footprint.”

Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture are credited with designing scores of other structures that incorporate sustainable strategies. The centerpiece of Jumeira Gardens will be 1 Dubai, A tri-partite skyscraper that will rise to 3281 feet, making it the third structure tower in the UAE. Its soaring towers will be connected by a series of glass suspension sky-bridges.

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Park Gate comprises six mid-rise towers that are arranged in facing pairs. A hanging garden canopy stretches between each set of structures, providing shade and cooling the neighborhood by as much as 10 degrees centigrade.

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The smooth curves of 1 Park Avenue evoke Dubai’s historic relationship with the Arabian Gulf. The 1,800 foot tower will incorporate solar panels, wind turbines, and a variety of other sustainable strategies in its design.

Excavation for Jumeira Gardens has already begun, and the development is expected to take 12 years to complete.

CASA OS Spanish Green House

2009-01-10T02:26:00.000-08:00

Perched atop a Spanish cliff sits this gorgeous green home, a privately-owned holiday house that’s as lovely as it is sustainable.

Located in Cantabria, Spain, and designed by Madrid-based Nolaster Architects, Casa OS integrates green building techniques to create high-end, low-impact accommodation. The irony is that the original design scheme wasn’t intended to be a green building, but the architects employed many green features for visual impact and practical benefits. We’d just love to live an eco life on that cliff.

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The front of the home looks out over the sea with the back end supported by stilts over a cavern in a dug-out hill. Combining this wind protection with insulating grass roof means that temperature is much easier and less energy-intensive to control and the building’s visual impact is much less imposing. Other features include an inner yard to provide an open space protected from wind and rainwater collection for reuse fushing toilets and watering the roof and garden in summer.

The black panels are zinc; ideal for seaside houses as it lasts longer. If desired, the entire house can be dismantled and reconstructed elsewhere, as the panels have been screwed together rather than welded. If not, the zinc can be recycled at the end of its useful life.

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Sleeping up to 24 people but with use for only four in mind, the house was built to cater for a range of different uses and events. Certain areas, such as the south hall and vestibules, have been designed for flexibility, perhaps to serve as a dormitory, games room or welcome hall as required. Efficient underfloor heating allows temperature to be controlled room by room, consuming only as much energy as is needed. We love the modern aesthetic, gorgeous Euro context, and green materials and systems!

The Choy Residence, 1960’s Meets Sustainable Modern

2009-01-09T03:55:00.000-08:00

Nestled in Noe Valley, a San Francisco neighborhood known for its contradictions, rests the Choy Residence, a newly remodeled 1960’s home turned modern dwelling.

Terry & Terry Architecture took a decidedly “less is more” approach to the project, literally carving out the 1960’s home’s front entry and center core, straight through to the rear facade. The results of their carefully crafted subtractions is an exterior deck with a view and an entry that allows tremendous amounts of natural daylight to flood the interior spaces while increasing natural ventilation and circulation.

The bands of wood running along the home’s interior and exterior contribute more than visual appeal - they’re part of a double-wall system that allows the exterior panels to breathe and avoid heat build-up. The wood itself is IPE, a sustainably harvested Brazilian Hardwood that has the natural ability to resist mold, rot, and insects without the application of any chemicals.

During the rainy season, the roof of the Choy Residence collects all the runoff and drops it into storage tanks in the basement to be used to irrigate the landscape during the dry season. Provisions have been provided on the north end of the roof, for a soon-to-come solar array that will capture energy whenever the sun shines down on the home.

Green super city : Milano Santa Monica

2009-01-09T02:47:00.000-08:00

Milano Santa Monica is a lush green super city that is scheduled to sprout up just outside of Milan.

Envisioned as a stacked series of high-rises overflowing with flowering terraces, the self-contained development will employ principles of bio-architecture in addition to photovoltaic panels and solar-thermal water heaters to cut down on energy use.

Designed by Polis Engineering, Studio Nicoletti, and the Marzorati Architecture Studio, Milano Santa Monica will comprise more than 2000 apartments centered around a 2 million square meter park.

The complex will be completely self-contained, offering schools, sporting facilities, and a shopping center, reducing the distance that its inhabitants will need to travel in the course of their daily activities.

The lush green high rises are efficiently designed and enshrouded in vegetation that helps to insulate the interiors while providing fresh air. Photovoltaic panels help to shade sun-facing windows while generating energy, and solar water heaters help to further increase efficiency. The development is currently slated for construction in 2013.

The amazing green roof at the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore

2009-01-08T03:35:00.000-08:00

If art school was in our future we might opt to study under, or on top of, the amazing green roof at the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

This 5 story facility sweeps a wooded corner of the campus with an organic, vegetated form that blends landscape and structure, nature and high-tech and symbolizes the creativity it houses.

The glass façade provides a high performance building envelope that reduces solar gain and heat load while allowing the benefits of natural views and daylight into creative spaces.

The glass walls provide a visual exchange between indoors and out allowing students and teachers to experience the building, the surrounding landscape and the interior plaza as fluid spaces. Diffused natural daylight is abundant throughout studios and classrooms, filtered through the surrounding foliage.

The curving green roofs distinguish the building from among the other structures on campus but the line between landscape and building is blurred.

The roofs serve as informal gathering spaces challenging linear ideas and stirring perception. The roofs create open space, insulate the building, cool the surrounding air and harvest rainwater for landscaping irrigation. Planted grasses mix with native greenery to colonize the building and bond it to the setting.

Finishes are intentionally raw to act as a backdrop for the art, media and design projects. Concrete walls and columns, cement-sand screeded floors, timber railings and a neutral palette define the interior spaces which vary in shape and size. This amazing design seems to offer a new experience at every elevation or perspective fulfilling the intent that a school for art should inspire creativity.

Shanghai Tower

2009-01-08T02:19:00.000-08:00

Recently Gensler broke ground on a soaring sustainably skyscraper that is set to become the tallest tower in China. The slender, elegantly spiraling Shanghai Tower will rise 632 meters, making it the latest super-tall to spring up in China’s rapidly developing Luijiazui Finance and Trade Zone. A beacon for a more sustainable future, the skyscraper will feature a high-performance façade that shelters no fewer than nine sky gardens, a rainwater recycling system, and a series of wind turbines perched beneath its parapet.

Gensler’s latest skyscraper will grace the skyline of Shanghai’s Luijiazui Finance and Trade Zone, an area that was predominantly farmland just eighteen years ago. The region is now poised to become China’s first super-tall district as the Shanghai Tower joins the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Finance Center.

The Shanghai Tower is composed of a set of nine cylindrical buildings stacked on top of each other and surrounded by an inner façade. A triangular outer façade encloses the entire structure, creating room for nine sky gardens, which serve as public spaces. The mixed-use structure will house businesses, restaurants, cafés, coffee shops and convenience stores.

The skyscraper’s twisting, asymmetrical envelope features a carefully considered structure and texture that work together to reduce wind loads on the building by 24%, saving building materials and construction costs. The building’s spiraling parapet collects rainwater to be used for the tower’s heating and air conditioning systems, and wind turbines situated below the parapet generate on-site power. Additionally, the gardens nestled within the building’s double-skin façade create a thermal buffer zone while improving indoor air quality.

The Shanghai Tower is slated to be completed in 2014, and Art Gensler, Chairman of Gensler has stated: “We hope Shanghai Tower inspires new ideas about what sustainable tall buildings can be . . . We’ve lined the perimeter of the tower, top to bottom, with public spaces, and we’ve integrated strategic environmental thinking into every move. The tower is a stage that comes to life through the presence of people.”

Green Garden Tower for NYC

2009-01-07T05:43:00.000-08:00

Daniel Libeskind recently unveiled a soaring green skyscraper for New York that is constructed of mostly glass and stands to be the city’s tallest residential structure at 900 feet. Dubbed the New York Tower at One Madison Avenue, the 54-story apartment building features a series of ‘sky gardens‘ cut out from its facade that provide green space and terraced balconies for residents. Terraced gardens are becoming quite popular as a means for people to have an outdoor connection, fresh air, and even a place to grow their own food.

There’s a certain competitiveness involved in designing a skyscraper that drives designs to be bigger, better, greener and more innovative. Often the designs for skyscrapers are unveiled and promoted extensively by very proud architects. Daniel Libeskind, on the other hand, has been considerably modest about his newest skyscraper design, which has no other name but the New York Tower.

Rumors have circulated for over a year about the New York Tower, but nothing had been seen of it until recently, when Libeskind’s new book, Counterpoint, was released on November 18th. The pictures you see here were actually scanned from his book, as they are the only known images of the design.

As for the other green amenities, few details have been released. We can most likely expect the residential project to have great great indoor air quality, and be very energy and water efficient thanks to the insular effects of the sky gardens. No word as to whether this project would seek LEED certification. The images you see here were created over a year ago, so it is likely the project has undergone significant changes since and hopefully has become even greener.

As the architect tells New York Magazine, “We didn’t just fill up the tower, we’ve taken space away [from the apartments] to create the gardens,” which are actually balconies tucked within the envelope. “It’s as if nature has come back into the city.”

THE OLD STONE HIGHWAY HOUSE

2009-01-07T02:33:00.000-08:00

The Old Stone Highway house was designed by John Berg as a “Single Family Residence with Environmentally Low Impact Building Technology”. We totally dig their uncompromising approach to housing that is luxurious, super green, and chock full of mid-century charm.

Surprisingly, this sleek sustainable haven draws its inspiration from a Long Island barn built in the 1800’s. Completed in July 2007, the Highway House was conceived as a “modern interpretation of the Long Island agricultural vernacular”. It’s an elegant marriage of glass, western cedar siding, and concrete block interspersed with large windows that bring the outside in, suffusing the interior spaces with a lovely use of natural light.

The innovations are in the details: the house makes use of high performance Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS) that are airtight, well insulated, and quick to assemble. These panels are complemented by a 98% efficient boiler, radiant concrete floors and a geo-thermal HVAC system. The ubiquitous windows fold open during warm weather, and are composed of dual-pane low-e glass filled with argon gas, while the roof is constructed with tough, UV-resistant Kynar. Energy Star appliances and a saline pool (no chemicals!) round out a house that mixes classic lines with the latest in eco-tech.

Container House (by Leger Wanaselja)

2009-01-05T03:47:00.000-08:00

We’ve featured a variety of different shipping container homes, from a quick emergency shelter, to LOT-EK’s container home kit, student housing , and even an entire container city in London. One thing’s for sure, there isn’t a shortage of uses for containers as shelter, especially for those who like that super industrial architecture aesthetic. Leger Wanaselja Architecture finished their Container House at the close of last year, bringing a more traditional look to the container composed residence, located on top of a hill in an East Bay suburb overlooking San Francisco, Calif.

The 1350 square foot, three bedroom house incorporates three forty-foot containers, two stacked on one another, and the third cut in half and stacked on itself. For their version of a container house Leger Wanaselja Architecture repurposed refrigerated shipping containers, which provides instant exterior siding, insulation, and a built-in structural frame. Additional framing was only needed where windows and interior partitions within the containers were added.

Leger Wanaselja Architecture didn’t stop with the containers, shipping container doors were repurposed as retaining walls used within the site. Additional green materials were used throughout the Container House include blown cellulose insulation to the roof and floors, 50% fly ash/slg in concrete foundation and piers, “green seal” paint on the interior, along with 100% wool carpet and bamboo flooring.

The green aspects do not stop at the materials, with the inclusion for Solar Tubes for day lighting, energy star appliances, super high efficiency water heater and dual flush Caroma toilets.

The $14.2 million Orchid House

2009-01-05T01:29:00.000-08:00

Nestled on a 450-acre nature reserve in the UK, the luxury and eco-friendly Orchid House designed by Featherstone Associates will actually produce more energy that in consumes, making it a pinnacle in contemporary sustainable housing design.

The unique facade is inspired by local plant and animal life, utilizing laminated veneer lumber and covered in timber shingles to provide beauty and durability for years to come while blending in with the surrounding environment.

Interior spaces fan out from a central living area, with portions floating on the lake. Fetching an astounding £7.2 million (or $14.2 million) from an anonymous buyer, sources indicate that interested parties included Brad Pitt and Kylie Minogue, but if you really want to know who bought this ultra-modern abode, you’ll have to wait until its completion in 2011.

Containers House

2009-01-05T00:43:00.000-08:00

Here is another one to add to the list - the 2+ Weekend House by Jure Kotnik Arhitekt. This mini housing unit is constructed from two stacked containers, and can be shaped according to its owner’s particular needs using the ConHouse System. The difference between this prefab house and the rest of the houses we’ve seen is that this house is made from containers specifically manufactured to housing units, and not recycled shipping containers.

Shipping containers have become a popular choice for prefab construction due to their structural stability and ability to provide a quick frame for a building– not to mention the excess supply of them in shipping yards around the country. The designers using them are taking a wasted resource and upcycling them to give them a useful life as a home–which is also hopefully affordable. Putting it bluntly, the whole point of using shipping containers was to use up something that would end up wasted otherwise, not necessarily because everyone loved the look.

This design by Jure Kotnik, based in Slovenia, utilizes ConHouse container units, developed expressly for housing and office purposes. ConHouse asserts some of the typical characteristics that other prefabs claim - recyclability, adaptability, modular additions, and affordability, but do not push the envelope in sustainable design. Unfortunately, none of these features are innovative or new and the 2+ Weekend House doesn’t seem to encourage energy efficiency, renewable energy generation and there is no mention of healthy, non-toxic interiors.

Modular and affordable housing are certainly important and we look forward to seeing more attempts to create such customizable homes. The ConHouse system isn’t doing anyone favors though. They have merely capitalized on the popularity of the shipping container look, while attempting to offer more customization. Additionally, we worry for the family who has to reside in a home with garish pink polka-dots.

Square building : Cool....

2008-12-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

The residents of IJburg (pronounced “i” burg) - a quiet Amsterdam suburb that sits on artificial islands along the IJ river - have a new, flashy neighbor, but we doubt that anyone will complain about it.

Already known for his trademark design style that lives somewhere at the busy intersection of architecture, communication, community and ecology, Marc Koehler’s latest project - the IJburg House - does not disappoint. This is one cube house that refuses to be square.

Envisioned as a monolithic sculptural mass that was carved out of solid matter rather than a series of walls raised around a defined structure, the IJburg House contrasts introverted private spaces that form the mass with open collective spaces that seem to have been carved out of the solid volume.

The collective spaces, or removed chunks of the mass, effectively connect the house with the street, the garden, and the roof terrace. The house is at once stable, simple, and permanent.

Rather than be limited by the small lot size, Koehler was inspired to create a vertical garden, merging nature and culture in on simple structure. The brick detailing draws inspiration from the famous Amsterdamse school style of the 1920s and serves both as gorgeous ornament and as an integral underlay for the different sorts of climbing plants that will eventually grow up the facade.

Plant barges are built in on several levels. Besides boasting a living wall that will surely be the envy of all of IJburg, the ecological character of the house is reinforced by the use of passive and active solar-energy and an earth heating-pump.

Within the house, storage spaces are invisibly integrated into the thick walls. IJburg House recently made the awards shortlist in the private house category at the first-ever World Architecture Festival in Barcelona.+ Marc KoehlerVia World Architecture News

Interior Design of Pedersen and Viñoly Pair for Health Care

2008-12-18T04:26:00.000-08:00

The projects will add a total of 704 new hospital beds to the Silicon Valley city.

It was development which rallied supporters for the unveiling of William Pedersen and Rafael Viñoly's expansion of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and Stanford Hospital. At a joint reception in a downtown hotel, the medical institutions revealed display models and renderings for the projects, which will add 704 new hospital beds in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Lobby View, Stanford Hospital

The Lucile Packard Children's Hospital will address a growing need for specialized pediatric and obstetric care by adding a 104-bed addition, designed by Pedersen of Kohn Pedersen Fox. His concept centers on an "Explorer's Pavilion" that places information and patient services at the front door, with a garden-lined public trail that leads families to their destinations. Single-patient rooms are envisioned as "nests" that allow families to stay in the patient's room, along with "tree houses" that view the garden.

Level Three Corridor and Roof Garden, Stanford Hospital

"As waves emanate from a stone tossed into a tranquil pool, our design is influenced by nature radiating from a healing garden placed between architecture, which represents the present and the future," says Pedersen.

Forecourt Entry, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

Rafael Viñoly Architects designed a new 600-bed hospital from the ground up for Stanford University's hospital, one of the nation's leading medical centers. Considering that medical and technological advances frequently originate there, Viñoly’s plans feature modular pavilions that will adapt to future innovations. Light-filled corridors that view the area's foothills figure prominently, while gardens and outdoor courtyards are utilized extensively to promote healing through nature. A sloped courtyard will organize public circulation on lower levels, and accessible roof gardens surround a public floor that offers amenities for visitors and staff.

Ground Floor Lobby, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

"We are challenging outdated conventions in hospital design to establish a new architectural identity for Stanford Hospital that will allow it to continue to provide outstanding care for its community, as well as innovate and develop treatments that will benefit communities the world over," says Viñoly.

The Phoenix of Phnom Penh

2008-12-11T08:11:00.000-08:00

Some say youth is a state of mind. But when your back is aching and your eyes are dim, that idea can be hard to swallow. In the field of architecture, however, where recognition is often elusive until one's sixth or even seventh decade, the notion of youth remains staunchly relative. Which is good news for 82-year-old Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann.

Schooled at l'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris under the tutelage of Le Corbusier, Molyvann was handpicked by King Norodom Sihanouk after Cambodia's liberation from France in 1953 to lead a modernist movement to restore Phnom Penh as a cultural capital. Through the 1960's, Molyvann reinterpreted 20th-century building principals, endowing them with a distinctly Cambodian vernacular, and erected dozens of structures that became known as New Khmer Architecture. At the heart of Molyvann's work are the legendary temples of Angkor, which are referenced powerfully in such projects as the Institute for Foreign Languages. A collection of brick and concrete buildings raised high on columns, the 1972 design is also a response to the harsh Cambodian climate's intense sunlight, heavy rainstorms, and minimal airflow.

The Khmer Rouge brought Molyvann's exile and an end to his ambitious plans, but several of his landmarks, such as the National Sports Complex and the Chaktomuk Conference Hall, managed to survive the regime's reign of terror. Now, however, a new threat looms: development. With the cost of responsible renovation being astronomically high given the country's floundering economy, bulldozing the old and building new is an increasingly attractive option for both public and private schemes. Certainly, the time seems right for Molyvann's own to preserve his architectural legacy of cultural fusion and aesthetic innovation, allowing him to evolve from cult hero into full-blown icon.

Restoration of Glenmalloch Lodge

2008-11-28T18:37:00.000-08:00

Glenmalloch Lodge was built in the 1830’s by the Countess of Galloway, as either a schoolhouse for children of the Glenmalloch Estate, or a schoolhouse for the governess herself. This charming cottage is set in a remote location within the estate and contains beautiful architectural detailing which includes ornate cusped and pierced bargeboards, a lancet arched window and a distinctive, large patterned, lozenge shaped ashlar sandstone chimney stack, thought to be built out of remnants from Galloway House Estate.

The diminutive Category B listed lodge comprises a bed/sitting room, kitchen, bathroom and vestibule. It had been unoccupied for many years and in its neglected state was on the verge of collapse. Following recording, analysis, and research, the lodgehouse was carefully restored and provided with a sensitive addition at the rear of the property to include bathroom facilities.

Three stones were used for indents and new external walling, These were locally sourced granite, Locharbriggs red sandstone and whinstone which was split from boulders within the site boundary excavated when forming the foundation for the extension.

Externally the works included indenting, re-pointing in lime mortar, reslating with second hand Lancashire slates in random widths and diminishing courses to match that lost from the roof and the installation of diamond patterned single glazed leaded windows.

Interior restoration included the use of traditional lime and horse hair plastering on chestnut lath, the reuse of existing moulded architraves where possible, together with the installation of reclaimed softwood floor boarding and traditional handmade pamments.

The completed restoration is now let by the Landmark Trust who have rescued this picturesque property, not only through restoring the building fabric, but by also providing a sustainable use, as a place stay and experience its unique character.

PROJECT: Restoration of Glenmalloch Lodge
LOCATION: Cumloden Estate, Minnigaff, Newton Stewart
CLIENT: The Landmark Trust
ARCHITECT: Robert Potter & Partners
QUANTITY SURVEYOR: Armour Construction Consultants

Suppliers:
Main Contractor: Cumming & Co
Stone Masons: Cumming & Co.
Glazing: Stained Glass Design Partnership
Roofing: Cumming & Co.
Heating/Insulation/Ventilation: Cumming & Co.

Gothic House

2008-11-28T08:05:00.000-08:00

ataSTUDIO where commissioned to renovate, extend and open this gothic villa to its woodland garden setting in Lanarkshire.

Traditional materials are used to deliver this modern house from a gothic shell.

Two separate extensions balance visually around the centre of the existing house, to form two new 'bay windows' to the rear south-facing garden. These have enabled simple reorganisation of internal spaces to meet current and anticipated future needs of the family and open the interior to the garden.

PROJECT: Gothic House
LOCATION: Lanarkshire
CLIENT: private
ARCHITECT: ataSTUDIO
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Petrie Robertson Design
QUANTITY SURVEYOR: Douglas Dickie

Suppliers:
Main Contractor: Newbrick Builders

Eden Court Theatre & Cinemas

2008-11-28T01:24:00.000-08:00

Opened in 1976, Eden Court Theatre plays a pivotal role in the cultural life of Inverness and the Highlands and Islands.

In recent years it has become clear that the theatre’s existing accommodation needed to be refurbished and extended to provide for a broader range of cultural activities and expand it’s conference facilities.

The main entrance was re-orientated to address the city centre, and this new arrangement dramatically changes the character of the circulation in the 1976 building with views opened up from all public front of house areas to the new garden.

The works carried out to the Bishop’s Palace in the 1970’s adversely affected the arrangement and quality of the historic fabric. The refurbishment works carried out have sought to undo this damage and to introduce public access into the principal ground floor areas of the house.

Eden Court appointed Page\Park to develop proposals for the following: a second theatre, 2 cinemas, 2 studios for dance/drama, new office & dressing room accommodation. The existing accommodation was to be refurbished with essential DDA provision, new café, restaurant, bars, box office and shop, toilets and meeting rooms.

Page\Park have conceived of the new facilities as a third building element located on the south side of the 1976 building which mirrors its relationship with the existing Bishop’s Palace. The building is of a larger scale to accommodate the new theatre, studios and cinemas, arranged to wrap around the existing building, with at its front a café terrace overlooking the river and landscaped grounds. The new accommodation is assembled under a simple roof, which extends forward to provide cover to the external seating terrace to provide the new building with an appropriate civic presence to the riverfront and city beyond. The asymmetry of the new extension and the rooftop expression of the ventilation towers echo the form of the Bishop’s Palace. The more prosaic “back of house” building is located to the rear of the existing theatre and allows a sharing of scene dock and loading facilities between the 2 theatres. A main feature of the design is the use of sustainable passive natural stack ventilation to the new main spaces.

Following a design competition, new artworks are incorporated into the new building such as the wind tower cladding, garden landform, foyer slate flooring and glass windows.

PROJECT: Eden Court Theatre & Cinemas
LOCATION: Bishops Road, Inverness
CLIENT: Colin Marr, Theatre Director, Eden Court Theatre
ARCHITECT: Page\Park Architects
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Scott Wilson Scotland Ltd
SERVICES ENGINEER: Cundall Johnston & Partners
QUANTITY SURVEYOR: Gardiner & Theobald

Suppliers:
Main Contractor: Robertson Contruction Northern Ltd
Photographer: Kieth Hunter
Stone Masons: STONECRAFT
Glazing: AC YULE
Flooring: JACK CARMICHAEL FLOORING
Roofing: AB BUCHAN
Interiors: GRAVEN IMAGES
Heating/Insulation/Ventilation: NG BAILEY SCOTLAND
Chimney Cladding: W B WATSON LTD
Stone Rainscreen: STIRLING STONE

A’CHRANNAG

2008-11-27T18:06:00.000-08:00

A’Chrannag is located on the edge of town, just outside the Rothesay Conservation Area, using a brownfield site that was formerly occupied by the Foley House Hotel, demolished after a fire in 1995. The site has considerable wildlife value and is frequently used by locals for recreational walking and cycling. The name A’Chrannag was selected through a formal competition among pupils at Rothesay Academy and it is Gaelic for ‘Crow’s Nest’. This is particularly appropriate, as the building peers discreetly over the tree tops where crows actually nest, and it enjoys splendid views across Rothesay Bay and to Arran.

The £1.4 million tower, including the site works, was built by the local contractors Stewart and Shields, and it was funded by Communities Scotland. The construction time was about one year and completed in May 2004. Each floor is split into two flats, with roof terraces for the top floor flats. The staircase and lift are located to the rear, freeing up the front to provide each living room with a balcony and a splendid view. An early post occupancy study from the occupants indicates that the flats are bright, energy efficient and residents making good use of their balconies.

The brief was to build around 14 two and three bedroom homes for rent to meet local needs for affordable housing. The client was Fyne Homes, the Argyll and Bute based housing association, which specified that the dwellings should be sustainable and innovative, and that the local community should be encouraged to participate in the planning process. Prior to the planning application three design options were presented to the people of Rothesay: 14 detached and semi-detached houses with front and back gardens, a series of terraced blocks, and the round tower idea. The majority of respondents preferred the tower as it minimised the amount of land used and took advantage of the magnificent views.

The tower is one of Europe’s most energy efficient social housing projects that manages to reduce the heat requirements to 1KW, thus eliminating the need for a dedicated heating system for each flat. The bedrooms do not require heating at all, and the CO2 emission is reduced by 70%. Maximum energy efficiency was achieved by using 600mm rendered thick thermal block work walls with 300mm insulation, triple glazing with airtight construction, and a heat recovery ventilation system. The ‘U’ value of the ext walls are reduced to 0.1W/m2K.

Social inclusion was one of the main objectives of this scheme. In Scotland, compared with some other countries, there has traditionally been a distinct difference in appearance between public and private housing. The design philosophy behind this project was to eliminate this perceived difference so that all people are proud of where they live.

The sustainability and innovation aims were met by:

• Respecting the landscape character and distinctive identity of the location.

• Encouraging local participation, social inclusion and a sense of local ownership.

• Striking the right balance between density and provision of green open space.

• Applying best available technology for design to reduce waste and energy use.

• Making a quantifiable contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gases.

• Using local resources, both human and physical, to implement the development.

• Adopting best UK practice for sustainable development through partnering.

• Maximising public accessibility, especially for walking and cycling.

• Developing an attractive design aesthetic of which local people can feel proud.
PROJECT: A’CHRANNAG
LOCATION: ROTHESAY, ISLE OF BUTE
CLIENT: Fyne Homes Ltd
ARCHITECT: G.DEVECI CHARTERED ARCHITECT
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Ramage Young Engineers

Suppliers:
Main Contractor: Stewart & Shields Ltd
Photographer: Andrew Lees Photography & Gökay Deveci
Cladding Contractor: Sto Ltd
Glazing: Nor-Dan UK
Insulation: Knauf Insulation
Ventilation: Passivent

1073 ARGYLE STREET

2008-11-27T11:06:00.000-08:00

1073 Argyle Street sits on a triangular site fronting onto Argyle Street where the Finnieston Railway Line cuts through the urban block formed by the St Vincent Crescent and Napier Place tenements.

The upper floors of 50 flatted dwellings are organised in a double banked plan form which is clearly expressed in the eventual massing and treatment of front and rear blocks. By holding a shorter block away from the tenement wall of the street dual aspect viewing is maximised. The curved rear elevation of angled and recessed screens and private balconies exploits the sun and views over garden backcourts and the St Vincent Crescent to the south.

The new building seeks to be compatible with the overall integrity of the area and reinforces the classical tenement street edge to Argyle Street with a strong formal elevation respecting the scale and rhythm of Napier Place. The street elevation has an enhanced ground floor zone of retail units below a main wall of four floors of residential flats and a stepped back roofscape of 2 storeys.

PROJECT: 1073 ARGYLE STREET
LOCATION: 1073 ARGYLE STREET, GLASGOW
CLIENT: LANDCOVE (AYR) LTD
ARCHITECT: ELDER & CANNON ARCHITECT LTD
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Odin Consulting Engineers
SERVICES ENGINEER: The Hawthorne Boyle Partnership
QUANTITY SURVEYOR: Summerfield Robb and Clark Ltd

Suppliers:
Main Contractor: Fulcrum Construction Management
Photographer: Keith Hunter

Mull & Iona Swimming Pool

2008-11-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

First public swimming pool and spa facility on the Isle of Mull

PROJECT: Mull & Iona Swimming Pool
LOCATION: Craignure, Isle of Mull
ARCHITECT: Crerar & Partners
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Goodson Associates
SERVICES ENGINEER: Henderson Warnock
QUANTITY SURVEYOR: Morham & Brotchie

Suppliers:
Main Contractor: TSL Contractors

Lothian Chambers

2008-11-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

Lothian Chambers was constructed in 1904 (J MacIntyre Henry) as the civic headquarters for Midlothian County Council. It is a high quality (B) listed building and forms part of a major urban grouping along with St Giles’ Cathedral, the City Chambers and the Signet Library. As part of their Fit for Future initiative the City of Edinburgh Council, owners of the building, made the decision to have it refurbished as a Ceremony Centre and meeting rooms, for events such as marriages, civil partnerships and citizenship ceremonies. It also provides accommodation for their Registry Service, forming a much needed focus for public services and gathering in the heart of Edinburgh.

The focal point of this regeneration was the creation of a dramatic “gathering space” detailed in a contemporary manner. Previously non-existent it was created through the demolition of toilets and corridors, repositioning of a main floor and the insertion of a lift into the well of an existing stair. One of the most positive aspects of this space, particularly from the conservation view, is that architecturally it perfectly merges the old with the new, clearly exhibited in the original windows which remain in position, creating a sense of intrigue and ambiguity when experienced along with the design of the original building. The main reception area also demonstrates this with the elaborateness of marble and the stairs contrasting with the sleek lines of the newly designed reception desk.

At the outset, architects Smith Scott Mullan and the Council agreed that as much of the important historic fabric as possible should be retained and the final result maintain and celebrate the “old” architecture, whilst simultaneously revealing striking modernity. This resulted in a series of dramatic contemporary interventions produced using high quality materials and with a high level of environmental responsibility.

PROJECT: Lothian Chambers
LOCATION: Royal Mile, Edinburgh
CLIENT: City of Edinburgh Council
ARCHITECT: Smith Scott Mullan Associates
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Will Rudd Davidson
SERVICES ENGINEER: WSP Buildings Ltd
QUANTITY SURVEYOR: Thomas & Adamson
Suppliers:
Main Contractor: Thomas Johnstone Ltd
Lighting: Kevan Shaw Lighting Design
Photographer: Paul Zanre Photography

an Art Museum of Imposing Simplicity in Qatar

2008-11-27T04:19:00.000-08:00

Fireworks lighted up the sky at the inaugural festivities for the new Museum of Islamic Art, in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday. I. M. Pei designed the building.

There is nothing timid about the ambitions of the new Museum of Islamic Art that opens here next week. Rising on its own island just off the city’s newly developed waterfront corniche, it is the centerpiece of an enormous effort to transform Qatar into an arts destination. The inaugural festivities on Saturday, including a performance by Yo-Yo Ma, attracted art-world luminaries from around the globe.

The new Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I. M. Pei, opens next week in Doha, Qatar.
Nicolai Ouroussoff writes: "Rising on its own island just off the city’s newly developed waterfront corniche, it is the centerpiece of an enormous effort to transform Qatar into an arts destination."

Viewed under the light of a spectacular evening fireworks display, the museum’s colossal geometric form has an ageless quality, evoking a past when Islamic art and architecture were a nexus of world culture. At the same time it conveys a hope for reconnecting again.

"The inaugural festivities on Saturday, including a performance by Yo-Yo Ma, attracted art-world luminaries from around the globe.
"Viewed under the light of a spectacular evening fireworks display, the museum’s colossal geometric form has an ageless quality, evoking a past when Islamic art and architecture were a nexus of world culture. At the same time it conveys a hope for reconnecting again."

The building seems austere by the standards of the flashy attention-grabbing forms that we have come to associate with Persian Gulf cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Designed by I. M. Pei, 91, who has described it as his last major cultural building, it recalls a time when architectural expression was both more earnest and more optimistic, and the rift between modernity and tradition had yet to reach full pitch.

"Mr. Pei visited several proposed sites in downtown Doha before settling on the area just off the end of the seafront corniche.
"Worried that his building might one day be hemmed in by new construction, he asked Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, chairman of the museum’s board, to build him a private island so that his monument would be isolated from the rest of the city."

The museum, which houses manuscripts, textiles, ceramics and other works mostly assembled over the last 20 years, has emerged as one of the world’s most encyclopedic collections of Islamic art. The origins of its artifacts range from Spain to Egypt to Iran, Iraq, Turkey, India and Central Asia. (Among the exquisite works on view at the opening were a bronze Andalusian fountainhead in the form of a doe with a heart-shaped mouth, and an ornate spherical brass plate from Persia or Mesopotamia used to measure the position of the stars. Both date from the 10th century.)

Taking his cue from the diversity of the collections, Mr. Pei sought to create a structure that would embody the “essence of Islamic architecture.” He spent months traveling across the Middle East searching for inspiration. He visited the ninth-century Ahmad ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo, a sober structure organized around a central court with a templelike central fountain, and ancient fortresses in Tunisia.

"The building seems austere by the standards of the flashy attention-grabbing forms that we have come to associate with Persian Gulf cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi."

“Islam was one religion I did not know,” Mr. Pei said in an interview. “So I studied the life of Muhammad. I went to Egypt and Tunisia. I became very interested in the architecture of defense, in fortifications.”

“The architecture is very strong and simple,” he added. “There is nothing superfluous.”

Mr. Ouroussoff says the museum "recalls a time when architectural expression was both more earnest and more optimistic, and the rift between modernity and tradition had yet to reach full pitch."

The imposing simplicity of his new museum is brought to life by the play of light and shadow under the gulf’s blazing sun. Mr. Pei visited several proposed sites in downtown Doha before settling on the area just off the end of the seafront corniche. Worried that his building might one day be hemmed in by new construction, he asked Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, chairman of the museum’s board, to build him a private island so that his monument would be isolated from the rest of the city.

"The museum, which houses manuscripts, textiles, ceramics and other works mostly assembled over the last 20 years, has emerged as one of the world’s most encyclopedic collections of Islamic art.

"The origins of its artifacts range from Spain to Egypt to Iran, Iraq, Turkey, India and Central Asia."

“I worried a lot about what will come after,” Mr. Pei said. “Even a beautiful piece of work can be overshadowed, destroyed by something else.”

For now, “Doha in many ways is virginal,” he said. “There is no real context there, no real life unless you go into the souk. I had to create my own context. It was very selfish.”

The resulting structure is a powerful Cubist composition of square and octagonal blocks stacked atop one another and culminating in a central tower. An esplanade of giant palm trees leads to the island. Inside the museum, 41,000 square feet of galleries are organized around a towering atrium capped by a dome, with a narrow beam of light descending from its central oculus.

“Islam was one religion I did not know,” Mr. Pei said in an interview. “So I studied the life of Muhammad. I went to Egypt and Tunisia. I became very interested in the architecture of defense, in fortifications.”

“The architecture is very strong and simple,” he added. “There is nothing superfluous.”

Seen from across the water its massive sand-colored stone blocks call to mind the Tunisian fortresses it is modeled after.

“The museum is an object,” Mr. Pei said. “It should be treated as a piece of sculpture.”

The Times’s New Home

2008-11-26T01:27:00.000-08:00

The New York Times Building

The grand old 18-story neo-Gothic structure on 43rd Street, home to The New York Times for nearly a century, had its sentimental charms. But it was a depressing place to work. Its labyrinthine warren of desks and piles of yellowing newspapers were redolent of tradition but also seemed an anachronism.

Mr. Ouroussoff writes, “The last decade has been a time of major upheaval in newspaper journalism, with editors and reporters fretting about how they should adapt to the global digital age. In New York that anxiety has been compounded by the terrorist attacks of 2001, which prompted many corporations to barricade themselves inside gilded fortresses.”

The new 52-story building between 40th and 41st Streets, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, is a paradise by comparison. A towering composition of glass and steel clad in a veil of ceramic rods, it delivers on Modernism’s age-old promise to drag us — in this case, The Times — out of the Dark Ages.

The heart of the newspaper is the main newsroom, on the second, third and fourth floors, topped by a skylight and linked by stairways, with a wraparound balcony on the highest level.
I enjoy gazing up at the building’s sharp edges and clean lines when I emerge from the subway exit at 40th Street and Seventh Avenue in the morning. I love being greeted by the cluster of silvery birch trees in the lobby atrium, their crooked trunks sprouting from a soft blanket of moss. I even like my fourth-floor cubicle, an oasis of calm overlooking the third-floor newsroom.

The New York Times Building: The new headquarters by Renzo Piano

Yet the spanking new building is infused with its own nostalgia.

The last decade has been a time of major upheaval in newspaper journalism, with editors and reporters fretting about how they should adapt to the global digital age. In New York that anxiety has been compounded by the terrorist attacks of 2001, which prompted many corporations to barricade themselves inside gilded fortresses.

“Mr. Piano’s building is rooted in a more comforting time: the era of corporate Modernism that reached its apogee in New York in the 1950s and 60s. If he has gently updated that ethos for the Internet age, the building is still more a paean to the past than to the future.”

Mr. Piano’s building is rooted in a more comforting time: the era of corporate Modernism that reached its apogee in New York in the 1950s and 60s. If he has gently updated that ethos for the Internet age, the building is still more a paean to the past than to the future.

What makes a great New York skyscraper? The greatest of them tug at our heartstrings. We seek them out in the skyline, both to get our bearings and to anchor ourselves psychologically in the life of the city.

“The building’s most original feature is a scrim of horizontal ceramic rods that diffuses sunlight and lends the exterior a clean, uniform appearance. For The Times, Mr. Piano spent months adjusting the rods’ color and scale.”

Mr. Piano’s tower is unlikely to inspire that kind of affection. The building’s most original feature is a scrim of horizontal ceramic rods that diffuses sunlight and lends the exterior a clean, uniform appearance. Mr. Piano used a similar screening system for his 1997 Debis Tower for Daimler-Benz in Berlin, to mixed results. For The Times, he spent months adjusting the rods’ color and scale, and in the early renderings they had a lovely, ethereal quality.

Viewed from a side street today, they have the precision and texture of a finely tuned machine. But despite the architect’s best efforts, the screens look flat and lifeless in the skyline. The uniformity of the bars gives them a slightly menacing air, and the problem is compounded by the battleship gray of the tower’s steel frame. Their dull finish deprives the facades of an enlivening play of light and shadow.

“The architect’s goal is to blur the boundary between inside and out, between the life of the newspaper and the life of the street. The lobby is encased entirely in glass, and its transparency plays delightfully against the muscular steel beams and spandrels that support the soaring tower.”

The tower’s crown is also disappointing. To hide the rooftop’s mechanical equipment and create the impression that the tower is dissolving into the sky, Mr. Piano extended the screens a full six stories past the top of the building’s frame. Yet the effect is ragged and unfinished. Rather than gathering momentum as it rises, the tower seems to fizzle.

But if the building is less than spectacular in the skyline, it comes to life when it hits the ground. All of Mr. Piano’s best qualities are in evidence here — the fine sense of proportion, the love of structural detail, the healthy sense of civic responsibility.

“Pierced by a double-height skylight well on the third and fourth floors, the newsroom has a cool, insular feel even as the facades of the surrounding buildings press in from the north and south. The well functions as a center of gravity, focusing attention on the paper’s nerve center. From many of the desks you also enjoy a view of the delicate branches of the atrium’s birch trees.”

The architect’s goal is to blur the boundary between inside and out, between the life of the newspaper and the life of the street. The lobby is encased entirely in glass, and its transparency plays delightfully against the muscular steel beams and spandrels that support the soaring tower.

People entering the building from Eighth Avenue can glance past rows of elevator banks all the way to the fairy tale atrium garden and beyond, to the plush red interior of TheTimesCenter auditorium. From the auditorium, you gaze back through the trees to the majestic lobby space. In effect, the lobby itself is a continuous public performance.

The sense of transparency is reinforced by the people streaming through the lobby. The flow recalls the dynamic energy of Grand Central Terminal’s Great Hall or the Rockefeller Center plaza, proud emblems of early-20th-century mobility.

Architecturally, however, The New York Times Building owes its greatest debt to postwar landmarks like Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Lever House or Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building — designs that came to embody the progressive values and industrial power of a triumphant America. Their streamlined glass-and-steel forms proclaimed a faith in machine-age efficiency and an open, honest, democratic society.

Newspaper journalism, too, is part of that history. Transparency, independence, the free flow of information, moral clarity, objective truth — these notions took hold and flourished in the last century at papers like The Times. To many this idealism reached its pinnacle in the period stretching from the civil rights movement to the Vietnam War to Watergate, when journalists grew accustomed to speaking truth to power, and the public could still accept reporters as impartial observers.

This longing for an idealistic time permeates the main newsroom. Pierced by a double-height skylight well on the third and fourth floors, the newsroom has a cool, insular feel even as the facades of the surrounding buildings press in from the north and south. The well functions as a center of gravity, focusing attention on the paper’s nerve center. From many of the desks you also enjoy a view of the delicate branches of the atrium’s birch trees.

Internal staircases link the various newsroom floors to encourage interaction. The work cubicles are flanked by rows of glass-enclosed offices, many of which are unassigned so that they can be used for private phone conversations or spontaneous meetings. Informal groupings of tables and chairs are also scattered about, creating a variety of social spaces.

From the higher floors, which house the corporate offices of The Times and 22 floors belonging to the developer Forest City Ratner, the views become more expansive. Cars rush up along Eighth Avenue. Billboards and electronic signs loom from all directions. By the time you reach the 14th-floor cafeteria, the entire city begins to come into focus, with dazzling views to the north, south, east and west. A long, narrow balcony is suspended within the cafeteria’s double-height space, reinforcing the impression that you’re floating in the Midtown skyline.

The 14th-floor cafeteria of the Times building offers expansive views.

Many of my colleagues complained about the building at first. There’s too much empty space in the newsroom, some groused; they missed the intimacy of the old one. The glass offices look sterile, and no one will use them, some said.

I suspect they’ll all adjust. One of the joys of working in an ambitious new building is that you can watch its personality develop. From week to week, you see more and more lone figures chatting on cellphones in the small glass offices with their feet atop a table. And even my grumpiest colleagues now concede that a little sunlight and fresh air are not a bad thing.

“Depending on your point of view, the Times Building can thus be read as a poignant expression of nostalgia or a reassertion of the paper’s highest values as it faces an uncertain future. Or, more likely, a bit of both.”

Even so, you never feel that the building embraces the future wholeheartedly. Rather than move beyond the past, Mr. Piano has fine-tuned it. The most contemporary features — the computerized louvers and blinds that regulate the flow of light into the interiors — are technological innovations rather than architectural ones; the regimented rows of identical wood-paneled cubicles chosen by the interior design firm Gensler could be a stage set for a 2007 remake of “All the President’s Men,” minus the 1970s hairstyles.

Maybe this accounts for the tower’s slight whiff of melancholy.

Few of today’s most influential architects buy into straightforward notions of purity or openness. Having witnessed an older generation’s mostly futile quest to effect social change through architecture, they opt for the next best thing: to expose, through their work, the psychic tensions and complexities that their elders sublimated. By bringing warring forces to the surface, they reason, a building will present a franker reading of contemporary life.

An enclosed garden of birch trees and moss greets visitors to the lobby and TheTimesCenter auditorium.

Journalism, too, has moved on. Reality television, anonymous bloggers, the threat of ideologically driven global media enterprises — such forces have undermined newspapers’ traditional mission. Even as journalists at The Times adjust to their new home, they worry about the future. As advertising inches decline, the paper is literally shrinking; its page width was reduced in August. And some doubt that newspapers will even exist in print form a generation from now.

Depending on your point of view, the Times Building can thus be read as a poignant expression of nostalgia or a reassertion of the paper’s highest values as it faces an uncertain future. Or, more likely, a bit of both.

The newsroom is pierced by a double-height skylight well on the third and fourth floors

By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF

A Berkeley Museum Wrapped in Honeycomb

2008-11-25T07:01:00.000-08:00

A model of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

In this dismal economic climate, the University of California will find the money to build its new art museum here. But if it fails, it will be a blow to those of us who champion provocative architecture in the United States.

Designed by the Japanese architect Toyo Ito, the three-story structure suggests an intoxicating architectural dance in which the push and pull between solitude and intimacy, stillness and motion, art and viewer never ends. Its contoured galleries, whose honeycomb pattern seems to be straining to contain an untamed world, would make it a magical place to view art.

The museum would replace the existing Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, a bunkerlike building completed in 1970 that was badly damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Standing on a rough commercial strip at the campus’s southern edge, the old building is still marred by the big steel columns that were installed after the quake to support its cantilevered floors. Its rough, angular concrete forms and oddly shaped galleries are awkward settings for art.

Beyond its aesthetic appeal, however, Mr. Ito’s design underscores just what is at stake as so many building projects hang in the balance. On a local level, the museum could help break down the divide between the ivory tower at the top of the hill and the gritty neighborhood at the bottom. More broadly, it could introduce an American audience to one of the world’s greatest and most underrated talents, sending out creative ripples that can only be imagined.

The new museum would rise several blocks away, at the seam between the main entrance to the university’s leafy hillside campus and Berkeley’s downtown area. Mr. Ito conceived the design as part of a drawn-out public promenade, and he has packed the bookstore, a cafe, a gallery, a 256-seat theater and a flexible “black box” onto the ground floor. The more contemplative galleries, which include spaces for temporary exhibitions and the museum’s permanent collections of Western and Asian art, are on the second and third floors.

A digital rendering of the exterior and a pedestrian walkway of the Berkeley Art Museum.

In the renderings the building’s creamy white exterior vaguely resembles a stack of egg cartons that has been sliced off at one end to expose the matrix of contoured chambers inside. The forms peel away at various points to create doorways and open up tantalizing, carefully controlled views into the interiors, as if the building’s facade had been slowly eroding over the millenniums.

Teasingly voyeuristic, the effect brings to mind partly demolished buildings and the aura of intimate secrets about to be revealed. But Mr. Ito is not interested in simply obliterating boundaries, as you would with a conventional glass box. His aim is to create a relaxed relationship between private and public life: while acknowledging that contemporary museums are often hives of social activity, he understands that they can also be places where we want to hide from one another and lose ourselves in the art.

The ground floor is conceived as an intense, compressed version of the surrounding street grid. Once inside, visitors will have to pay to enter a formal temporary gallery just to the right of the main entry. Or they can slip around it and follow the procession through the more informal interstitial spaces, which will be used for video art and site-specific installations. The theater and black box space are tucked away in the back.

Mr. Ito once said that he would like to create spaces that are like “eddies in a current of water.” The interstitial spaces seem to swell open and close up to regulate the movement of people through the building; the self-contained, honeycomblike spaces, by contrast, produce a sense of suspension rather than enclosure, as if you were hovering momentarily before stepping back into the stream.

As you ascend through the museum, this effect intensifies, and the spaces become more contemplative. The main staircase is enclosed in one of the contoured volumes, giving you psychological distance from the activity below. Once you reach the main gallery floors, the experience becomes more focused: the rhythm through the rooms is broken only occasionally, when a wall peels back to allow glimpses of the city.

Mr. Ito has positioned most of the doorways in the galleries’ contoured corners, which allows for a maximum of uninterrupted wall space for the art while emphasizing the rooms’ sensual curves. Most of the galleries have a single opening; others are contained in interstitial spaces, part of the general flow through the building. The contrast, which creates unexpected perspectives, has more to do with Tiepolo’s heavens than with Mondrian’s grids.

As with all of Mr. Ito’s work, the building’s structural system is not an afterthought but a critical element of the ideas that drive the design. The honeycomb pattern gives the building a remarkable structural firmness, allowing for walls only a few inches thick. Made of steel plates sandwiched around concrete, they will have a smooth, unbroken surface that should underscore the museum’s fluid forms. The tautness of the bent steel should also heighten the sense of tension.

Of course, Mr. Ito is still fine-tuning his design, and critical decisions have yet to be made. Museum officials plan to eliminate two 30-foot-high galleries that were part of the original proposal to add wall space and cut costs. This is unfortunate: the soaring spaces would tie the building together vertically and create voids on the upper floors that would add to the sense of mystery.

The museum is also pushing to make the curved corners in the galleries more compact to add still more wall space, which could create an impression that the art is crammed in.

A photograph enhanced to show the area to be occupied by the new museum.

For decades now, Mr. Ito has ranked among the leading architects who have reshaped the field by infusing their designs with the psychological, emotional and social dimensions that late Modernists and Post-Modernists ignored. They have replaced an architecture of purity with one of emotional extremes. The underlying aim is less an aesthetic one than a mission to create a more elastic, and therefore tolerant, environment.

These ideas have found their firmest footing in Europe and Japan and are now filtering into the mainstream here. It would be a shame to leave Mr. Ito out of that cultural breakthrough. The museum would not only be an architectural tour de force but would also introduce him to a broad American audience, stirring an imaginative reawakening in a country that sorely needs it.

Burj Al Arab

2008-11-25T00:37:00.000-08:00

Location. Burj Al Arab is located in Dubai, 100 metres from the Souk Madinat Jumeirah and five kilometres from Palm Island. The city centre is 15 kilometres away.

Hotel Features. This hotel sits 321 metres above sea level on an man-made island linked to the Dubai mainland by causeway. The decor throughout is lavish, in bold tones, and amenities include a full-service health spa, indoor swimming pool, and hair salon. Complimentary wireless Internet is available throughout, and airport transfers via limousine or helicopter can be arranged.

Burj Al Arab has a selection of restaurants including pan-Asian cuisine, a seafood restaurant reached via submarine, and a cocktail bar with panoramic views of the Jumeirah Beach shoreline.

This hotel has an amphitheatre, conference rooms, and meeting rooms on the 27th floor.

Guestrooms. The air-conditioned guestrooms are spread over 27 floors, and are decorated in vibrant tones. All have sea views, separate living areas, and dining tables. Amenities include laptops with wireless Internet, satellite television with pay movies, direct-dial phones with voicemail, fax machines, minibars, safes, hair dryers, and jetted tubs.

Property Amenities

* Concierge services
* Audiovisual equipment
* Exhibit space
* Room service (24 hours)
* Supervised child care/activities
* Elevator/lift
* Arcade/game room
* Swim-up bar
* Breakfast services - surcharge
* Health club
* Suitable for children
* Kids' activities
* Conference room(s)
* Dry cleaning service
* Steam room
* Babysitting or child care
* Fitness equipment
* ATM/banking
* Banquet facilities
* Security guard
* Airport transportation (fees apply)
* Hot tub
* Comp newspapers in lobby
* Full-service health spa
* Spa services on site
* Television in lobby
* Billiards
* Internet public area - comp
* Gift shop or newsstand
* Private beach
* Pool table
* Hair salon
* Microwave in lobby
* Express check-in
* Event catering
* Marina on site
* Spa Tub
* Beauty services
* Swimming pool - children's
* Cell phone/mobile rental
* Business center
* Library
* Swimming pool - indoor
* Concierge desk
* Shoe shine
* Massage-treatment room
* Safe-deposit box
* Medical assistance available
* Currency exchange
* Grocery
* Sauna
* Restaurant(s)
* Business services
* Meeting room (small groups)
* Technology helpdesk
* Internet public area - wireless
* Bar/lounge
* Translation services
* Laundry facilities
* Ballroom(s)
* Floor butler
* Parking (Complimentary)
* Express check-out
* Air-conditioned public areas

Property Information

Doorman/doorwoman Limo/Town Car service available Multilingual staff 24-hour front desk

Area Activities

Wild Wadi Waterpark: 200 metres
Souk Madinet Jumeirah: 100 metres
Gold and Diamond Park: 4 km
Palm Island: 5 km
Dubai city centre: 15 km

Driving Directions

From Dubai Airport (DXB): Distance to Burj Al Arab is 25 kilometres, approximately 30 minutes' drive.

Getting there. Private limousine or helicopter transfers can be arranged by the hotel at a surcharge.

Getting around. Public buses offer a reasonable service between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. Buses travel from Bur Dubai station, on Al-Ghubaiba road, and Deira bus station, near the gold souk. Buses have separate seated sections for women and men, with women typically sitting near the front. Travellers should pay the correct fare to the driver. In older parts of Dubai, small wooden motorboats cross over Dubai Creek between early morning and midnight. Air-conditioned taxis are efficient, cheap, and safe, and can be pre-booked by telephone or hailed in the street.

Sheet Metal Roofing

2008-11-18T07:53:00.000-08:00

Sheet metal roofing, a material that has grown increasingly popular for residential roofing in recent years, begins as “flat stock” (flat metal panels) that roofing manufacturers or fabricators form into roofing panels and components. With many types, manufacturers also apply a finish.

Some metal roofing installers fabricate flat stock into roofing materials on site; of course, this requires the proper forming equipment. Problems with this method are wide variations in the quality of the work, limited possibilities for finishes, and usually very limited warranties (one year or less). With site-formed roofing, you also don’t have the strength of a large manufacturer behind the product.

Manufactured sheet metal roofing is sold in large panels—normally 26-gauge coated steel that weighs about one pound per square foot. Other materials include painted aluminum, solid copper, zinc alloys, and terne-coated stainless steel. Because of the large panel size, this roofing works best on large, unbroken expanses.

The two main systems are named after the method of joining panels together: “Standing-seam roofing” has a self-sealing, raised seam, and “batten roofing” employs a wider cover cap. Special matching metal parts are made for ridges, hips, edges, and connections.

Sheet metal roofing materials are typically priced by the square foot. Prices vary widely, depending on the material and finish; they range from a low of about $1.50 per square foot to about $6 per square foot. Figures typically include panels, fastening clips, caps, and all trims and flashing. If you ask for ballpark square-foot prices, be sure they’re inclusive of all necessary parts.

To get bids, begin by calling the manufacturer, which will usually put you in touch with a local representative or installer who will bid (or arrange for several roofers’ bids) on your job. Be sure to clarify whether or not labor and freight are included in the price. Because freight can be very expensive, it usually pays to choose a manufacturer in your region.

Here’s a closer look at some popular brands of sheet metal roofing. Depending on your geographical region, prices may vary sigificantly from those given here; the best way to get precise prices is to request bids.

• Microzinc Roofing System from W.P. Hickman is manufactured from a zinc-copper-titanium alloy in both standing-seam and batten systems. This metal weathers naturally, developing a gray patina in six to 18 months. It’s beautiful and very expensive; materials run from about $4 to $6 per square foot, depending on quantity and freight.

• Follansbee Steel terne coats standing-seam roofing for ease of soldering during construction and excellent paint adhesion. On standard steel, this finish, a mixture of 80 percent lead and 20 percent tin, must be painted. But on stainless-steel panels, it can be left to weather naturally (stainless steel won’t rust). Stainless-steel terne-coated roofing is both durable and beautiful; with oxidation, terne coating transforms from a shiny metallic finish to a matte gray. This type of roofing material runs about $3 per square foot plus installation. The lead content of the terne coating is a concern to some. Gloves are recommended for installers to protect against lead poisoning. During initial oxidation, some lead washes off the roof, and traces may be detected in the soil around the structure.

• Berridge offers a wide variety of metal roofing and siding materials. Of these, the Victorian and classic shingles, prefinished or unfinished in Galvalume are particularly interesting. These shapes are especially appropriate for older home restorations.

The Drawbacks Metal Roofing

2008-11-18T07:23:00.000-08:00

Though metal roofing offers many pluses, there are a few drawbacks or concerns worthy of mention. For the most part, metal roofing manufacturers have improved their products to address or solve many of these concerns:

Cost. The biggest drawback is initial cost. Metal roofing is equivalent in cost to other premium materials: from about $150 to $600 per square (100 square feet). The trick is that you get it back if you stay in the house for a long time. Of course, if you plan to move in a couple of years, you probably won’t get the cost returned. Metal roof installation can, however, allow you to save on engineering the supporting structure and on maintenance.

Noise. For some, the sound of rain tapping on the roof is romantic and homey; for others, it’s like living inside a drum. In a rainstorm or hailstorm, living beneath thin sheets of metal is bound to be noisier than living beneath thick slate or tile. Noise can be controlled both by using materials that have structural barriers to minimize the drumming effect and by applying them over sound-deadening insulation and solid plywood sheathing.

Denting. Just as your car will dent if a golf ball hits it, a metal roof may dent if large hailstones fall on it. Aluminum and copper, much softer than steel, are more prone to denting. Some types are guaranteed not to dent, however. Though you shouldn’t have to walk on a roof that doesn’t leak, there may be occasions when a plumber needs to snake out a vent pipe or a chimney sweep needs access to the flue. You can walk on some metal roofs but not all; it depends on how the particular product is made and the type of construction supporting it. Also, metal is slippery when wet.

Marring. Some painted metal roof finishes can peel, chip, fade, scratch, or chalk, although nearly all are guaranteed for many years. Walking on some types, particularly those with a granulated-stone surface, may cause wear. Installers must be careful not to scratch or dent roofing during installation; panels must be treated with care. Unlike conventional roofing, some metal shingle systems are installed from the top down, eliminating the need to walk on them. Once installed, it may be necessary to hose-off roofing now and then to keep it looking good.

Expansion & contraction. Because metal expands and contracts as it warms and cools, most new products have fastening systems that account for movement; otherwise, fasteners that secure roofing tend to be loose.

Modification. Metal roofing materials installed in large panels are more difficult to replace if damaged than individual shingles. Also, if you remodel or add on to your home 10 or 20 years from now, it may be difficult to match the material.

Lightning. Many people assume that, because metal “conducts” electricity, it also “attracts” it. This really isn’t the case, and there are many documented instances of lightning striking trees or other high objects located near metal roofs rather than the roofs themselves. Just the same, if desired, metal roofs can be easily grounded by a lightning protection company.

The Benefits of Metal Roofing

2008-11-18T04:26:00.000-08:00

Metal beats out conventional roofing materials on a number of counts:

Expected life. Properly installed, a metal roof should last as long as the house, completely sealing out water, surviving high winds, and easily shedding snow. Metal is resistant to fire, mildew, insects, and rot. Warranties vary widely, but most companies strongly back their products for 20 to 50 years.

Weight. Compared with tile at 750 pounds per square (an area equal to 100 square feet) or concrete tile at 900 pounds per square, metal roofing is lightweight. Most varieties run from 50 to 150 pounds per square. Some types of metal shingle systems may be applied over one or two existing roofs without the need for tear-off or additional structural support. In fact, if you’re building a house or an addition, you can often downsize or reduce the number of roof support members.

Speed & ease of roofing installation. Most metal roofing materials come in multi-shingle sections or in sheets. An accomplished contractor can install these quickly. If your roof is stripped off and a storm is on the way, shortening the process by a day or two may prove to be a critical advantage. You can also buy single metal shingles that are relatively easy—though time-intensive—to install. Unlike three-tab asphalt shingles, each piece must be individually placed and nailed.

Fire resistance. Because metal roofs are noncombustible, they’re given a Class A fire rating (the most resistant). Part of a roof’s classification depends on materials beneath the surface that could ignite in intense heat, so some metal roofs applied over an old combustible roof, such as wood shingles, may be rated lower.

Heat conduction. Metal reflects radiant heat from the sun, minimizing midday heat gain. Though the material itself is low in insulation R-value, many systems utilize a dead-air space between the metal and roof deck to increase energy efficiency.

Minimal roof pitch. Most metal roofing materials can be installed on gently pitched roofs without danger of leaking. Minimum roof pitch is 3-in-12 (the roof rises 3 inches for each horizontal foot).

Material of Metal Roof

2008-11-18T04:19:00.000-08:00

The word “metal” covers a lot of ground. Several metals are used for roofing materials: steel, stainless steel, aluminum, copper, and zinc alloys. Each has different properties that affect durability, price, and appearance.

Steel, used for most metal roofing, is heavier and sturdier than aluminum. Manufacturers have settled on a number of durable coatings and finishes that protect steel from rust and corrosion. It’s usually zinc-coated for corrosion protection and then sealed. A coating of epoxy primer offers adhesion and a baked-on acrylic top coating adds color and protection. Because sheet systems are designed for commercial applications, they generally are given highly durable paint finishes. One popular fluorocarbon coating used on many products is called Kynar.

Stainless steel, a very expensive roofing material, won’t rust or corrode. Terne coating can give it a natural matte-gray finish.

Aluminum, extremely lightweight, is used in much residential metal roofing. It won’t rust, but it must be painted or coated for appearance. Coatings are similar to those used on steel. Environmentalists have expressed concerns about using this precious resource for purposes such as roofing.metal house roofing

Copper (shown at right), rooted in centuries of use, will not rust, has no “finish” to scratch or peel, is soft enough to easily tool, and weathers naturally to a beautiful verdigris patina. Unfortunately, it’s very expensive.

Alloys are formulated for strength, graceful weathering, and durability. Cost depends on the specific material, but, as a group, they are pricey.

Metal Roofing Buying Guide

2008-11-18T04:17:00.000-08:00

According to the National Roofing Contractors Association, the popularity of metal roofing products has increased dramatically over the past decade, a clear sign that homeowners and builders are growing more and more aware of this product's benefits.

In fact, a whole new genre of metal roofing materials has hit the market. These are a far cry from the corrugated "tin" barn roofs that leap to mind at the mention of metal. They are high-tech answers to the need for durable, fire-resistant, lightweight roofing that looks at home on a house.

Metal roofs are favored for their speed and ease of installation, fire-resistant qualities, and expected longevity. They are also surprisingly lightweight and are great at reflecting heat from the sun.

During the past 20 years, an entirely new genre of metal roofing products has emerged to rival more-conventional materials. They are highly durable, lightweight, fire-resistant, and—in most cases—quick for professionals to install.

These roof materials are made primarily from aluminum and steel—but other materials such as copper and alloys are also used. Some sheet-style materials—notably “standing seam roofing”—have a decidedly commercial look that is favored by architects for the clean, contemporary appearance.

Other products are formed into shapes that imitate Spanish tile, wood shakes, or slate, and they’re given multi-layer factory finishes that include granulated-stone topcoats to complete the realistic effect.

Metal roofing typically runs from $150 to $600 per square, making it a fairly expensive choice. But most products carry very long-term warranties.

Drawbacks? There are a few. In most cases, metal roofing requires professional installation, and, because of this, repairs and modifications can be trickier than with more common DIY roofing materials such as asphalt-fiberglass or wood shingles.

In this section, we'll look at the pros and cons of metal roofing, materials used for metal roofing, popular brands, how to choose a metal roofing contractor, and basic roofing terms.

Modern Evolution

2008-11-05T22:07:00.000-08:00

Architect Jordan Goldstein expands a Bethesda cottage into a light-filled, functional retreat using elements from commercial design

The living room of the Goldstein's home features its original 1930s wainscoting intact, but now opens to an expansive new family room.
Though an old proverb says that a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client, the New Testament instructs, “Physician, heal thyself.” So what about an architect? How should he approach the invention of his own home?

That was the challenge facing Jordan Goldstein, an award-winning principal and design director for the DC offices of Gensler, the world’s largest architecture firm. “When you are your own client, you have to figure out a way to filter your wants and desires to satisfy your true needs. We had an amount of money that could only go so far,” he says. “When working with my clients, it’s a lot easier because decisions are made in a collective manner, with a collective vision. And it’s their funds. Here, it’s our vision, our funds.”

That vision came together by combining the best of the old and the new.

The idea was to expand a single-story cottage built in 1938 in Bethesda’s picturesque Sonoma neighborhood from 1,400 to 3,000 square feet so it would function as a family home for Jordan, his wife Laurie, precocious five-year-old Alexa, one-year-old Sari and an affectionate golden retriever. But at the same time, Goldstein sought to preserve the character of the original structure and modernize the residential space to reflect his progressive commercial design sensibilities.

When the Goldsteins purchased the property in 1998, they decided to renovate and enlarge the home in phases. “It had no porch and a mock Spanish tile roof,” Goldstein remembers. “But when we did the first addition, we wanted to be sensitive to the old look. We didn’t want you to feel like you were seeing a McMansion from the front. Our other priority at first was to get the house more efficient by updating the internal systems—like the plumbing and heating—and to attach a dining room on the first floor and a bedroom above that.”

In the second phase, completed late last year, they took advantage of a generous yard to append an entirely new back half to the house. Through the process, they visually bared the space to the south with floor-to-ceiling glass doors and windows to gain as much natural light as possible, put in state-of-the-art interior lighting and broadened the flow and the new rooms according to Goldstein’s professional viewpoint.

“Many of the products I deal with for commercial environments are much more durable than some of the residential products I was seeing. So I used a lot of commercial products here, like the lighting and the carpet tiles. Also, in the construction, we discussed different ways of doing things with materials that you don’t necessarily use in the same way in a residential environment—such as the giant glass windows and their unique narrow framing.”

Goldstein’s expertise enabled them to focus on materials and workmanship. Laurie, a publicist for Marriott Corporation, explains, “We felt strongly that we wanted the best quality. So that’s why we were willing to compromise on doing the work in phases.”

It’s not surprising that the couple—both 35-year-old natives of Montgomery County, Maryland—share a similar outlook. They are childhood sweethearts who met in nursery school. Laurie’s maiden name is even the same as her married name. “We go way back,” she smiles. “His mom and my dad went to high school together.” Jordan and Laurie Goldstein attended the same junior high and high schools too. “Because it was Goldstein and Gold- stein, we were usually in the same homeroom,” Jordan recalls. “But we didn’t start dating until our sophomore year together at University of Maryland.” They married in 1997, shortly after Jordan joined Gensler straight out of graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania.

In this case, the layman spouse of an architect actually did have input into the design of the house. “I trusted him. But I definitely had a say too. We discussed everything,” she says. She was especially interested in the functionality of the kitchen.

“I wanted to pick out the appliances. And I really liked the open kitchen and family room combination; it has been a blessing. I get home from work after being gone all day and it allows me to be with my kids while I’m trying to make dinner and do other things,” she says.

The Goldsteins call it “the big room,” which includes an adjacent mudroom for laundry and pantry storage. The kitchen section is appointed with mottled granite counters in shades of ivory and malachite to match the muted shades of green in the glass tile backsplash. “I used that tile in a bathroom exhibit in a show house at The Washington Design Center and I just loved it,” Jordan reveals. The kitchen also features custom cherry cabinets with an espresso finish and stainless-steel hardware and appliances.

Most of the furniture throughout the house came from accessibleretailers such as Pottery Barn and Theodore’s in Georgetown. But a few special pieces were designed by Goldstein himself.

Architect Jordan Goldstein with his wife Laurie and daughters Alexa and Sari.

When you first enter the house, the combination foyer/living room has the home’s original molding and fireplace. It also showcases two Goldstein prototypes in black and white: the one-armed, asymmetrical lounge chair that Goldstein designed for David Edward of Baltimore and an innovative reception bench with an integrated wood end table, which he designed for Tuohy Furniture, in the adjoining hallway. He also designed the dining room table. With a defined geometric look echoing lines and forms found throughout the residence, the ebonized maple and sycamore table is punctuated by a clean, stainless-steel inlay.

Upstairs, the orangey-red accent walls of the bridge space between the master loft and the girls’ rooms offer the home’s one big shot of saturated color. Explaining his choice of a largely neutral color palette throughout the home, Goldstein asserts, “The family is the color.”

Representing the architect’s overall goal to merge indoors and out, a view of a verdant canopy of foliage through the windows gives the main bedroom a unique effect. “I always feel like we live in a tree house, especially upstairs,” Laurie Goldstein says. “We have so many trees and it’s so green around here. When we added the big skylights, we could see nature even more.”

Conceiving a “tree house” seems a long way from Jordan Goldstein’s day job: to design important commercial buildings, retail spaces and products for mass consumption. He is currently tackling a massive project, helping to develop a retail destination at the entrance to the new baseball stadium along the DC waterfront.

But conjuring up his family’s private haven required putting all that aside.

“I think the biggest thing for me was to free my mind. You have to lose all the baggage from previous projects. If you try to integrate things from other projects,” he says, “then your house becomes bandaged residue from all your past work. I had to decide that this is my house; my family and I have this canvas to paint on. I can’t go too crazy with all the great new materials, all these cool techniques. It would destroy functionality. So you must bring the essence of the ideas you use at work into the space.”

Sally Kline, a Washington-area arts and culture writer for 17 years, is a regular contributor to HOME &

DESIGN. Photographer Kenneth M. Wyner is based in Takoma Park, Maryland.

RESOURCES

FOYER/LIVING ROOM
Chair: Jordan Goldstein for David Edward Ltd., Batlimore, MD. Bench in Hall: Jordan Goldstein for Tuohy, Chatfield, MN. Rug: Interface FLOR. Floor Lamp: Artemide. Photographs: Richard Greenhouse. Painting: Harriet Goldstein.

DINING ROOM
Table of Ebonized Maple, Sycamore & Stainless Steel: Custom-designed by Jordan Goldstein. Pendant: Leucos.

FAMILY ROOM
Rug: Interface FLOR. Coffee Table: Designed by Jordan Goldstein for Tuohy, Chatfield, MN. Custom Windows: Weathershield Windows. Glass Doors: T.W. Perry, Kensington, MD. A/V System: Innovative Multimedia, Gaithersburg, MD. Downlights: Targetti. Sofa & Cube: Crate & Barrel. Oak Floors: Atlas Hardwood Floor, Alexandria, VA.

KITCHEN
Custom Cabinetry: Made by Canyon Creek through Mill Valley Cabinet Shop, Mill Valley, CA. Hardware: Häfele. Granite: A&S Granite and Tile, Alexandria, VA. Art Glass in Cabinet Doors: Designed by Jordan Goldstein; Fabricated by Joel Berman Glass, Vancouver, BC. Lighting: Lightolier. Backsplash Tile: Architectural Ceramics, Rockville, MD. Appliances: Jenn-Air. Bar Stools: CB2. Oak Floors: Atlas Hardwood Floor, Alexandria, VA. Pendant Lights: Leucos.

STAIR
Custom Steel: Rockville Steel, Rockville, MD. Light Fixture: Lightolier.

MASTER BEDROOM
Bed, End Tables & Bureau: Theodore’s, Washington, DC. Chair: Kielhauer. Drapery: The Shade Store, Long Island City, NY. Ceiling Fan: Casablanca through Annapolis Lighting.

Architecture & Interiors: Jordan Goldstein, AIA, Gensler, Washington, DC General Contractor: Witters & Bank, Arlington, Virginia

Goldstein designed the dining table made of ebonized maple, sycamore and stainless steel.

In the second phase of the renovation, they took advantage of a generous yard to append an entirely new back half to the house, adding a generous kitchen and sitting area.

The sitting area features state-of-the-art lighting, video and sound system.

The kitchen is appointed with mottled granite counters in shades of ivory and malachite to match the muted shades of green in the glass tile backsplash.

Goldstein detailed the second-floor bridge between the master bedroom and his daughters' rooms with glass, steel, modern lighting and a punch of color.

The rear view of the home reveals its dramatic new addition.

Written by Sally Kline
Photography by Kenneth M. Wyner

A traditional design with ornamental elements

2008-09-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

Ornamental elements such as moldings and posts are commonly used in a traditional design to reflect timeless elegance and sophistication. The classical style is represented by crown moldings, light valences, raised panel doors, columns with ornaments, hardwood flooring, and rich materials such as tumbled marble.

A Traditional Design Bathroom

A Traditional Design Home Entrance

Modern designs are very popular styles

2008-09-19T06:27:00.000-07:00

Modern designs are very popular styles due to the creation of spaciousness with its clean lines. Style is reflected through technological materials such as stainless steel, glass, plastic, smooth wood veneers and other sleek materials. High-gloss lacquer finishes, exotic wood veneers, and stainless steel accents create a high-tech look.

A Modern Design Bedroom

A Modern Design Living Room

A Modern Design Bathroom

HomeTech : Home Security

2008-09-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

The 6271CV touch-screen by Ademco-Honeywell provides quick and easy control of a whole-home security system.

Home security, once contained in a plain and simple wall unit, has taken a futuristic turn with new technologies. From systems run by key-faubs to biometric fingerprint identification, there are numerous possibilities available to homeowners today. While they may seem like something out of The Matrix or Gattaca, they are real and ready to use.

New Technology
Biometric fingerprint technology is something homeowners are just beginning to utilize. It involves placing one's finger on a scanner and having it read before gaining access to a building. Previously, the technology was only used in high-security or corporate settings, but now with its lower cost and easy installation, it is available for home use, according to Joe Gordon, president of Leading Edge Residential System Integration in Severn, Maryland.

Like biometric fingerprinting, iris scanning is also available for the home. It involves the installation of front door cameras that scan a person's iris before they can gain clearance to enter a home.

Card readers, also previously reserved for corporate settings, are now available for home-based security systems. Like the other technologies, they have also decreased in price, making them more accessible to homeowners, Gordon said.

Another new technology is key-faubs, similar to the devices used with cars to automatically lock, unlock, open the trunk and issue panic signals. Sherman Eisner, president of A&E Home Security in Silver Spring, Maryland, said key-faubs are an ideal choice for families. They can be used to open and close the garage door, engage or disarm the security system and also have a panic button. When a busy parent is transporting children, groceries and the like, he or she can just press the key-faub and enter the house, rather than worry about opening the garage and turning off the security system manually, Eisner said.

Most of these access-control technologies can be remotely programmed over the phone and the Internet. For example, if a homeowner is at work and a cleaning service is coming to the house, he or she can program a code online, give it to the service person and it will expire the next day.

Sherman Eisner, president of A&E Home Security in Silver Spring, Maryland, said key-faubs are an ideal choice for families. They can be used to open and close the garage door, engage or disarm the security system and also have a panic button.

Wireless Security Technology
Wireless security is another big trend, since it eliminates the need to hard-wire
a home. When it first became available, said Eisner, wireless systems had a bad reputation, but today they are very reliable. Wireless sensors are installed on doors and windows; system control pads can be wireless as well. The wireless technology is run on batteries, which last much longer than they once did. Additionally, the systems notify the user well in advance when the battery needs to be replaced.

Integrated Security Systems
Today's security systems are often integrated into other "smart home" technology, Gordon said. Experts can set up an integrated home system that controls lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), audio and video. With an integrated system, for example, if a security alarm goes off, the external lights will go on and start flashing to scare off intruders and attract attention to the home. "We design everything around the notion of a control system—the security system becomes a component," Gordon said.

Security cameras are one component of this system. Cameras are placed around the home and integrated with televisions. Views around the home are shown on the TVs at designated times or occurrences. For example, when someone rings the door bell, the camera is activated and the selected TV shows who is at the door. According to Gordon, the system can also be integrated into the phone system so that when someone rings the doorbell, the phone rings and the resident can speak to the person at the front door through an intercom. Once the resident answers, they can let the guest in through a keypad or touch panel.

Touchpads are an important part of an integrated system—they control everything in the home from security to climate to lighting. They can be located on the walls, in handheld devices, or sit on a counter or desktop. Most touchpads range in size from 3.5 inches to 17 inches, Gordon said. The pads are available as wireless, wired or a combination of the two. Some also include graphics and have video input to show activity at the exterior doors.

Installing Home Security
As security systems become more prevalent, more homes are being pre-wired to accommodate them, Eisner said. Leading Edge Residential System Integration does a mix of retrofit and new home work. The amount of time to install these integrated systems depends on the size of the home.

With new construction, home-security experts like to start at the beginning and work with the homeowner's architect orgeneral contractor. They install components as the house is being built. "If the house takes a year to build, we're there for a year," Gordon said.

Installing a system in a pre-existing home is much more compressed. A simple system takes a couple of weeks while a more complicated system takes longer, Gordon said. Of course, it's easier to install a new wireless system in an existing home, as opposed to retrofitting a conventional system that would require hard wiring.

Home security has come a long way over the past decade. Whether you opt for a new futuristic solution or a more traditional system, the new products on the market today can help secure your family and your home in an effective and easy-to-use way.

Charm City's

2008-09-16T23:35:00.000-07:00

This isn’t your grandmother’s Baltimore, hon. Or even your mother’s. (If you aren’t clued in, hon is the friendly, universal greeting used by the locals). This reinvigorated, bustling port city continues to be one of the shining lights in the nation’s urban renewal movement. Building on the stellar success of the city’s waterfront redevelopment begun in the 1960s, community leaders, civic organizations and elected officials have found common ground and continue to revitalize, preserve and reshape this dynamic city.

Patrick Sutton Home is a soothing, artfully arranged showroom featuring a mix of modern and traditional furnishings, accessories and a well-edited selection of antiques.

Nicknamed “Charm City” because of its hospitality, Baltimore is every bit as proud as it is welcoming. Pride sparkles in the bold designs of the skyscrapers and museums that surround the Inner Harbor and in its historic, reclaimed neighborhoods. Baltimore is interesting. Even Hollywood thinks so. HBO selected Baltimore as the setting for the hard-hitting series, The Wire, and independent filmmaker John Waters has been mining the city’s visual brilliance for years, bringing its quirky, eclectic character to a much wider audience.

Baltimore’s growth and changing population have fueled its thriving art, architecture and design scenes. The historic neighborhoods of Federal Hill, Fell’s Point and Canton that enjoy proximity to the harbor are home to many long-established furnishing and design stores. The immense popularity of these neighborhoods has not gone unnoticed by retailers and designers, many of whom have recently opened new stores, along with several long-time merchants who have either expanded their presence or moved to larger locations in these areas.

Begin your exploration in historic Federal Hill where the shops are housed in delightful buildings of late 18th-, 19th- and early 20th-century architecture. Light and Charles Streets have become a niche market for upscale home furnishings and interior design resources. Patrick Sutton Home is a soothing, artfully arranged showroom (located below the designer’s studio) featuring a mix of modern and traditional furnishings and a well-edited selection of antiques. The space reflects the vision of owner/designer/architect Patrick Sutton, whose sophisticated eye was developed from years spent abroad. Sutton stocks the shop with unique objects found across the globe and in the flea markets of Paris, Brazil and Peru. A Cameroonian ceremonial Juju headpiece graces a dark coffee table and antique steel jewelry and cutlery molds from France might be pressed into use as bookends or doorstops. Sutton’s upholstered sofas, chairs, benches and ottomans are made exclusively for the store and are covered with luxurious chenille, linen and mohair in a range of colorsand patterns. Accent pillows made from vintage fabrics and casually draped throws complete the traditional look, which has a thoroughly modern flair.

A half-block across Light Street, you’ll find Charles Tiles, which carries a large selection of ceramic and hand-painted tiles from around the globe. The only shop of its type in Baltimore City, it features tile from Italy, Spain and Mexico and carries fashionable flooring such as African and South American slates, rustic-looking tumbled marble and sealed limestone. Reflecting current design trends, the store carries a nice selection of larger format tiles (up to 24 by 24 inches) made from stone, glass and porcelain.

A quick one-block stroll brings you to Charles Street and the venerable Shofer’s Furniture showroom. Opened in 1914 by Harry Shofer, the store defines “family business” and is still owned and operated by its members: Harry’s son, Herb Shofer, and grandson, Hank Shofer. Recently expanded to 70,000 square feet, the huge inventory of traditional, contemporary and transitional designs represents more than 200 manufacturers. With names like Baker, Henredon, Century, Hickory Chair and designer lines like Ralph Lauren, there is something here for nearly every taste and budget. To help customers more easily navigate the huge store, the showroom is laid out by furniture style and area of the home. The lower level features both the bedding and youth galleries. On an upper floor, customers will find a library that houses hundreds of manufacturers’ catalogs where knowledgeable sales staff and in-house designers assist clients with custom orders. Service is a large part of this operation and there are full design resources available. In addition to furniture, the store also carries complementary lamps, wall art, bed linens and tabletop accessories.

A short drive through Federal Hill and adjacent to the Ravens’s stadium, you will find four warehouses covering several acres in an industrial area of south Baltimore including Second Chance Inc., a nonprofit architectural salvage venture founded by Mark Foster, a former area restaurateur. Second Chance gives old buildings new life. Working with local and regional architects, builders and contractors, Foster searches out buildings being readied for demolition. Second Chance crew extract whatever is saleable and identify items that may have architectural significance. Having restored his own Roland Park home, Foster recognized a need among owners of old homes for salvage.

The venerable Gaines McHale antiques has relocated to a restored warehouse in Fell's Point.

Amid the overwhelming volume of amazingly well organized “stuff,” buyers will find leaded glass windows, claw-footed tubs, old stoves, miles of doors in every style and vintage, and fittings, fixtures and relics from older commercial buildings. Many pieces will find new life fashioned into something else—an old section of fence can become a headboard for a bed and a piece of tin ceiling can become a picture frame. Opened in April, Foster’s newest warehouse features older furniture, antiques and accessories—a browser’s paradise where you can feel good about shopping—the operation has been recognized by Mayor O’Malley’s office for providing training to displaced workers who make up the salvage crew headed by Foster.

The next stop is Fell’s Point, just east of Federal Hill and the Inner Harbor. Designated as Maryland’s first National Historic District in 1969, the area is benefiting from the development of Harbor East, a massive mixed-use, residential-retail project tying the Inner Harbor to this historic district. No doubt about it, Fell’s Point is hot. So hot, in fact, that a few stores have relocated here from other sections of the city. Gaines McHale, considered one of the region’s premier antique emporiums, opened a new 17,000-square-foot showroom here, in a former 1881 metal fabrications warehouse. The newly refurbished space offers touches that welcome shoppers—chirping birds in cages, music and a bar outfitted with television and comfortable stools. For more than 25 years, the McHale family has traveled to Europe seeking out the best in antiques, accessories and antique replicas. Focusing on Ireland, England, Denmark and France, the company stocks the best in a wide range of periods and one could spend days admiring the pieces represented in its collection. The showroom vignettes are designed to inspire a customer’s imagination, however full design services are offered. Antiques represent most of their business, but an increasing portion of sales is reflected in handsome, custom-built reproduction case goods that are made by master cabinetmakers from England and the Czech Republic.

A few blocks further away on Fleet Street is blueHouse. David Buscher, a former graphic designer, recently opened Baltimore’s first environmentally friendly home store and café. The airy space with a Zen vibe is your source for organic and recycled furniture, organic mattresses and bedding, organic towels and bath products, environmentally friendly hardwood and bamboo flooring from leading supplier Eco Timber, healthy zero-VOC paints and beautiful gifts and accessories. The store carries the hip, Salvor NYC line of silk-screened, animal print organic cotton pillows, and is the sole American distributor of the ArborVetum furniture line made from salvaged teak wood from India. We also liked the wall mirrors cleverly framed with painted, recycled tire rims. After filling your shopping cart head to the front of the store—a quiet café features a selection of healthy, prepared foods and organic coffee drinks. The blueHouse Web site features a fun, chatty blog with information on featured products and announcements of new arrivals.

The Gaines McHale showroom stocks European antiques and custom reproduction case goods arranged in inspiring vignettes.

Eclectic Elements is located several blocks away on Broadway adjacent to the Broadway Market, a Fell’s Point landmark. The store’s success dictated a recent relocation to a new, much larger 17,000-square-foot showroom a half block from its former location. In its ninth year, the new, renovated space offers furniture and accessories with a heavy Asian influence. Owner Susan Singer carries lines from India, Indonesia and China—you’ll feel like a world explorer navigating the aisles. Amid the exotic, dark wood armoires and bookcases, you’ll also find buttery, contemporary leather chairs and couches from Italy. Standouts include tables made from old Indian ox carts and beaded Moroccan lamps. The second floor houses bedroom and dining room furniture and a large selection of bar and tableware. Singer is seeking approval to open a small restaurant-café inside the massive space so shoppers may catch a second wind before tackling the large garden accessories gallery to the rear of the building.

Walking along the waterfront on nearby Thames Street, you will encounter The Robert McClintock Studio/Gallery at Fell Street. Although not new to Baltimore, photographer-artist McClintock is new to Fell’s Point. The walls in the corner gallery display his unique, super-saturated colorful hybrid images that combine photography and digital painting. His “Baltimore Seen” portfolio reflects the artist’s take on the sites, people and landmarks of greater Baltimore. Affordably priced starting from $12, the prints will let customers grace their own walls with a little piece of Charm City.

A block away, also on Thames Street, is Brassworks Co., Inc. The small storefront windows beckon visitors with the shine and stateliness of lacquered, polished brass accessories and home décor. Decorative and functional items include fireplace grates, floor registers, switch plate covers, bookends and candleholders. The shop’s skilled artisans offer polishing, lacquering, lamp rewiring and repair services and will also create custom fabrications from brass, copper, silver and pewter.

Shofer's 70,000-square foot showroom is laid out by furniture style and area of the home.

Leaving the waterfront behind and heading north a few miles, rolling hills and greenery replace Baltimore’s urban hustle. Leesha Lee Limited sits in a small shopping plaza just off Falls Road. In business for 29 years, the store specializes in Asian and European decorative accessories, fine lighting and accent furniture. The emphasis here is on transitional and updated traditional pieces whose clean lines and colors fit well with mixed and eclectic interiors. Best sellers are occasional tables, screens, chests, nesting pieces, hand worked stone accessories and hammered metal lamps. Art and accent pillows round out the fine mix. Family owned, Leesha Lee is an outlet for a much larger wholesale, international home furnishings business that supplies the store with a constantly changing selection of furnishings at below market prices. Designer services are available on request.

Next door in the same plaza is The Kellogg Collection. With five locations in Maryland, DC and Virginia, the Kellogg Collection style is warm and inviting, with roots in sophisticated English country family homes. Fresh colors, balanced design and luxurious comfort are essential elements that incorporate designer upholstery, handcrafted furniture, pine antiques, oil paintings, mirrors, lamps, floral needlepoint pillows and English ceramics. To the rear, customers will find a gallery with a selection of Aubusson, needlepoint and dhurrie carpets. For the time- and design-challenged, the store offers “Immediate Interiors.” After an initial consultation, the design team drafts a plan incorporating the customer’s existing pieces. Rooms are then created from furnishings and accessories chosen from the Collection’s five shops and warehouse. Fee is just $250 per room.

After spending time shopping and visiting the many and varied attractions of Charm City, you’ll likely leave agreeing with the motto developed by the Live Baltimore Home Center, “It’s Better in Baltimore” (hon optional).

Tracy Mitchell Griggs is a freelance writer who currently writes from Philadelphia and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. After completing this story, she is convinced Baltimore will be her next home.

RESOURCES

blueHouse 1407 Fleet Street (410) 276-1180; (877) 276-1180 www.bluehouselife.com
Brassworks Co., Inc. 1641 Thames Street (410) 327-7280 www.baltimorebrassworks.com
Charles Tiles 801 Light Street (410) 332-1500 Eclectic Elements 723 S. Broadway (410) 675-5105 www.eclecticelementsonline.com
Gaines McHale 700 Caroline Street (410) 625-1900 www.gainesmchale.com
The Kellogg Collection 6241 Falls Road (410) 296-4378
Leesha Lee Limited 6245 Falls Road (410) 337-7916
Patrick Sutton Home 1000 Light Street (410) 783-1500
Robert McClintock Studio/Gallery 1809 Thames Street (410) 814-2800 www.robertmcclintock.com
Second Chance, Inc. 1645 Warner Street (410) 385-1101 www.secondchanceinc.org
Shofers 930 S. Charles Street (410) 752-4212 www.shofers.com

Shofer's has a level stocked with a wide selection of rugs.

The new, environmentally friendly blueHouse stocks an array of furniture made from salvaged Indian teak. It also boasts a café serving healthy prepared foods and organic coffee.

The Kellogg Collection features sophisticated, English-inspired furniture.

Multi-Level Living

2008-09-16T23:25:00.000-07:00

Terraces always lend a grand, open feeling to gardens, but the starting point for this Vienna, Virginia, garden was simply to come up with useable space. Landscape designer Joel Hafner of Fine Earth Landscape says his clients were building a 16,000-square-foot house on a property that had a 20-foot drop in the backyard. “What we needed to do,” he said, “was correct the rear yard grading problem so that they would have a rear yard, period.”

Hafner came up with a series of terraces built of segmental retaining walls to allow the homeowners to traverse their property. The wall closest to the rear property line is more than 12 feet tall—and essentially retains the entire garden area, including the waterfall and pond, the lawn and lower patio area.

The only flat area on the entire lot is in front. Next to a wraparound driveway already in place, Hafner designed a paved parking court area, including a bench, in front of the main door to the house. Flowering plum trees greet visitors and Kwanzan cherries flank the front entrance. An island planting bed features blue Colorado spruce and a hedge of burning bush screens off the parking area.

Contemporary modern house

2008-08-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

specs

Basics:
Levels: 1
Bedrooms: 2
Baths: 1

Dimensions:
Width: 36'
Depth: 48'
Height:: 16'

Ceiling Heights:
Ceiling Main: 8

Square Footage:
Heated Square Footage: 1372
Main Floor: 1372
Basement: 1372

Wall Information
Exterior Wall Constr: 2"x6"

Roof Information
Roof Pitch: 10:12

Foundations:
Basement

Style:
Style: Modern
Related Styles: Contemporary

Lifestyle Features:
Roof garden/sundeck

LifeStyle Features Cont:
main floor master bedroom
peninsula/eating bar
covered front porch
storage area
unfinished/future space
walk-in closet
suited for narrow lot
nook / breakfast area
suited for corner lot

LifeStyle Features Cont:
den/office/computer
open floor plan

Contemporary modern design

2008-08-25T03:17:00.000-07:00

specs
Basics:
Levels: 2
Bedrooms: 2
Baths: 2

Dimensions:
Width: 31'
Depth: 36'
Height:: 27'

Square Footage:
Heated Square Footage: 1024
Main Floor: 710
Upper Floor: 314
Basement: 638

Wall Information
Exterior Wall Constr: 2"x6"

Roof Information
Roof Pitch: 6:12

Foundations:
Crawlspace
Slab

Style:
Style: Contemporary

Lifestyle Features:
storage area
loft / balcony
suited for vacation home
volume/vaulted ceiling

Modern Essence

2008-08-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

As Steve Reiss prepared to retire from the large architecture firm HNTB, he began to think about a second home that would eventually become his primary residence. Reiss found that house in Irvington, Virginia, near the southern tip of Virginia’s Northern Neck. Its beautiful site overlooking Carter’s Creek, a tributary of the Rappanhannock River, and eclectic architectural elements appealed to his design sensibility. “It had a Frank Lloyd Wright quality to it—low, not overwhelming on its site,” the architect explains. “It sat gently on the land.” At first, he focused on lightening the interior, getting rid of dark floors, painting most surfaces white and observing how sunlight moved through the house during the day and the seasons.

Designed by Richmond architect Allan McCullough in the early 1960s, the house had since suffered a number of unsympathetic alterations. When Reiss was ready to renovate, he decided to hire another architect. “My background is with large, publicly funded transportation projects,” he says. “I realized I could do the design work, but that if I wanted to do something special, I should engage an architect who could bring a lot of residential design experience to the project.” A modernist, he had long admired the houses designed by Mark McInturff, who had as much experience with renovation as he did with new construction, another plus.

That an architect would hire another architect to design his home is not as unusual as it might seem. “We’ve had seven or eight clients who are architects,” says McInturff. “Some had practices that focused on large buildings. Others worked for organizations such as the World Bank, in positions related to architecture but not in actual practice.”

“I was excited about working with Mark as a client, which was completely new to me,” says Reiss. “We shared a common language. We had the same sensibility, the same objectives.” The design, he says, developed quickly. “Mark came up with a concept that I had thought about, but had never been able to completely visualize. Within a week, he showed me sketches of what he thought the broad concept should be.”

McInturff quickly realized that the house and an adjacent guest cottage did not take advantage of the elevated site, which is surrounded by water on two sides. He saw the house as having two parts: a head and a tail. A large living space at the edge of the property overlooks the water, while the bedrooms and bathrooms are arranged behind it in a row. A long corridor extends along one side of the bedroom wing to face a courtyard between the house and guest cottage, and connect the entrance to the waterside living space.

“It was clear to us right away that the big space had been cut up,” says McInturff. “A kitchen had been carved out of one corner. It would feel more generous if it was opened up and the kitchen relocated. That was the major move. After that, the d ecisions were about how to articulate the room.”

The architect replaced a fussy arrangement of doors and bay windows along the outer wall of the corridor with floor-to-ceiling windows to create a light-filled art gallery and a stronger visual connection to the courtyard. He moved the front door from the end of the corridor to the middle, calling attention to the entrance by placing it at a shallow angle to the new glass wall.

The kitchen was relocated to what had been an enclosed porch, and the partitions removed from the large living space, revealing the fireplace as the centerpiece of a large, flexible great room with expansive waterfront views in two directions. “The house is now very simple and elegant, a simple box with the fireplace at the center,” says Reiss. “All spaces meld into each other. There are no walls; the furniture defines the spaces.”

The interior is animated with a series of colored gypsum board panels set into simple wood frames painted black and applied to the walls and ceiling. They provide a greater sense of height, a contrast to the adjacent white surfaces and a backdrop for art. The idea for the panels arose when project architect David Mogensen, while measuring the corridor, gazed down its length to the far wall of the great room and realized that the view needed to be framed in some way. Opening the ceiling to the underside of the rafters of the great room proved too costly, so he and McInturff ingeniously raised the ceiling in select locations to subtly define the dining space and seating areas throughout the great room.

Reiss chose his builder as carefully as his architect. Mason Hearn, president of HomeMasons of Manakin-Sabot, Virginia, outside Richmond, had studied architecture at the University of Virginia. “Mason was familiar with Mark’s work, and had always wanted to do a McInturff project,” says Reiss. “Between the three of us, we sort of had an architectural thread connecting us.” Hearn also agreed to put his lead carpenter, Wayne Wilfong, on the project full-time. “That made me feel comfortable having a remote relationship with the contractor,” says Reiss, who still spent most of his time in Northern Virginia.

During construction, the three settled into a comfortable, though not entirely planned, routine. “I would come down here on the weekend,” says Reiss. “I would take photos and make sketches, and send them to Mark electronically either Sunday night or Monday. He would offer suggestions and solutions, and on Monday morning I would meet with Wayne. So I was not only Mark’s client, I was also his construction field rep. As an architect, I could understand his sketches and communicate them to the contractor.”

During construction, Reiss found sketches made by McCullough, the original architect, that the previous owner had left behind. The sketches showed the main part of the house facing the water as one large space. McInturff, it turns out, had returned the house to its original design.