The house was built at the foot of a hill and —to make the most of the lot—concrete piling was done to have the necessary structure to meet the program required by the clients. It is a two-storey house with a flat roof and elevator that also has an attractive hill where herbal and fruit gardening was developed. It’s like a boat on the sky by the way it stands out from the piles and integrates into its environment.
Article source: David Hertz FAJA & The Studio of Environmental Architecture
The house is located on 28 x 89 foot lot on the Ocean Front Walk in Venice Beach. Due to the lots’ long and narrow dimensions, the design intent is to create a series of angled walls and reveals in the side elevations in order to provide for view corridors down the side yards to the ocean. The space between the tapered walls is used for pivot windows, which allow for the modulation of the natural prevailing breezes through the house.
This project is a renovation and addition to a custom-built home built in 1954 at the base of San Jacinto Mountain in Palm Springs, California. The original layout, post-and-beam construction, wall of custom wooden windows and unique architectural detailing are reminiscent of Cliff May’s iconic Rancho homes, yet the original architect is unknown.
A new, environmentally friendly airport traffic control tower has opened at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) designed by Fentress Architects of Denver in association with HNTB Architects of San Francisco.
San Francisco International Airport (SFO), the “gateway to the Pacific”, is a world-class airport serving tens of millions of domestic and international passengers annually. Committed to maintaining a competitive facility, the Replacement Airport Traffic Control Tower and Integrated Facilities project provides a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport Traffic Control Tower, including a new Integrated Facility base building for offices, support and other airport functions.
The Yard is an early activation project at future site of a large mixed-use development project for the San Francisco Giants. Outdoor spaces provide venues for activities ranging from a beer garden to movie nights and yoga, while the repurposed shipping containers hold a range of vendors including local retailers and foodservice providers.
This project is a rebuild of an existing post 1991 Fire-storm house. Situated high on top of the Eastbay mountain range overlooking the city of Oakland, the site has unobstructed view’s toward the southwest Bay and Golden Gate. It was designed for a young family, who desired an open plan home that embraced the views of the bay and a connection to the existing garden.
Article source: David Hertz FAIA Studio of Environmental Architecture
The Butterfly House is a project in Venice Beach California that resides on a 40′ x 90′ end lot. The name of the house is derived from the butterfly roof which is formed to collect rainwater for irrigation and creates a dramatic elevation especially when the wooded ceiling is illuminated. The main concept of the house, was based upon maximization of the long south facing elevation to create a dark solar absorbent surface and to provide exposed solar thermal heating with evacuated tubes used as an architectural accent. The glass tubes provide hot water for both domestic uses and hydronic radiant as well heat for the the narrow lap pool along the edge of the property. On the outer edge of the property is a 90 foot long 8 foot tall double-sided living vegetative wall with durable drought tolerant succulents on the southern face at the street, as an offering to the community, while the inside surface facing the house is a living wall of edible landscape so that the occupant needs only to go a few steps to pick his wall to make a salad, pick herbs or vegetables. The entrance to the house is from the side yard, between a courtyard that separates the garage from the main house and connects the buildings at the second floor through a glass bridge. A warm palette of sustainable materials are used throughout the house to create an environment that is at once private yet opens from the interior to the exterior. The house takes advantage of natural ventilation and prevailing breezes through a high solar chimney and stair tower that leads to the roof deck as well as thermostatically controlled operable windows that cool the interior. The house also has solar photovoltaic panels which along with advanced lighting controls the state-of-the-art information systems throughout the house creates a zero net energy building.
The previous owner of this 1960s modern home covered over the walls of glass with plywood and installed a massive awning at the rear of the house, blocking out most light and connection with the outdoors. The original interior had a maze-like layout starting with a small entry area and moving into too many hallways. In short, the house felt dark and closed-in. Nevertheless the new owners saw the potential in the home, purchased it, and hired Klopf Architecture to help them realize the potential. Today it is an open, light and bright, indoor-outdoor, clean and simple, modernist home for two professionals and their young son.
In his essay, “On Trial 1: The situation. What architecture of technology?,” published in1962, Reyner Banham called the suspended ceiling a “Utopian or a Dymaxion dream.” He maintained that suspended ceilings had achieved a degree of industrialization, flexibility, and interchangeability of parts—accommodating a range of services such as heating and cooling, ventilation, lighting, sound, fire-extinguishing, acoustic control, etc.—that far surpass the limited functions of exterior paneling or curtain-wall systems. “Taken grosso modo, one-offs, off-the-pegs, standardized and specialized,” he wrote, “all together, suspended ceilings represent probably the greatest achievement to date in accommodating technology to architecture.” Yet, despite its remarkable all-pervading presence, in Banham’s view, the suspended ceiling had been unremarked in the mythologies of modern architecture. “No one is for or against suspended ceilings,” he argued, “and yet they constitute one of the most sophisticated elements in the technology of architecture.”
Folsom Bay Tower is an urban residential community at the heart of San Francisco, just blocks from the Bay Bridge, Embarcadero, and Rincon Park.
Rising to 400 feet, the tower is low enough to be sensitive to its natural environment and urban context, yet tall enough to accommodate a wide range of units, with more than a third designated below market rate.
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