Archive by Author
Sand and Steel: Sand Studios’ Work Shows a Lightness of Hand
“Steel is feminine. Thin, strong, and lithe, it has a certain lightness. It’s the connective tissue for disparate elements; it can be used to integrate or mediate between heavier and thicker materials to make things float and stand off from one another. We fine-tune our designs using classical proportions, and le Corbusier’s Modulor system. In Miami, our style was so completely different from what was already there. Of course there was already a lot of contemporary design, but we were recognized as having a unique sensibility. My work was softer, more textured, more detailed. Unexpected materials, and a lighter hand.”
(Photos: Ken Hayden Photography)
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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Zack/deVito Architecture: Designers and Master Builders, Part 2
“Even though a painting is ‘done’ it’s never really done. I’m always walking around my house and wanting to pull a painting off the wall and work on it some more. Or I look at something in the house and wonder, ‘Why did I do that? What have I learned from that?’ One needs to be continually asking that question.” – Lise de Vito
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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Zack/deVito Architecture: Designers and Master Builders, Part 1
“I like to make things. You can do things structurally with metal that you can’t do with other building materials. Steel is strong, so you need less of it, less bulk, to create a structure. It’s about tinkering, and paring down… how slender can I make this piece of steel and still have it work? Working with stairs, the question is, can I make a particular structural element any smaller?” – Jim Zack
“When you become the client, you realize how hard it is to be a client. Working on our own homes has given me a lot more empathy for the role of the client. When you live in your own projects… you get a heightened understanding of where things should go, and how to accommodate the human body. In my own designs, I emphasize views and vistas, both of other parts of the house and of the outside. Each view is constantly referring to something else, but it’s also telling you where you are.” – Lise de Vito
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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John Klopf: Respectfully Renovating Eichler Homes
When he first started building, real estate developer Joseph Eichler probably had no idea that his homes would turn into prized collectors’ pieces. His radical contribution to the Mid-Century Modern movement was to strip it down and make it affordable – and, to sell his homes to anyone who wanted to buy one. This made him unique, because back in the 1940s, racial housing discrimination was still widely practiced. At the same time, Eichler employed a series of talented architects to create beautiful and well-thought-out designs with features such as radiant heating that were not widely used at the time. John Klopf of Klopf Architecture shared his insights and experience with renovating Eichler homes. “We approach Eichler remodels and additions with a respect for the language of the homes, but not a strict preservationist perspective.”
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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Malcolm Davis’ Earthy, Approachable Modernism
“I’ve thought about housing for a long time.” Architect Malcolm Davis reminisced about his early childhood, when one of his favorite activities was drawing floor plans. “I guess you’d say I’m a believer in the power of environmental determinism,” Davis went on. “It’s the idea that we are formed by the spaces we inhabit. A house should feel comfortable and restorative.”
(Above photo: Joe Fletcher)
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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Ross Levy on Design, Sustainability, and Contemporary Architecture
“Sustainability in architecture is a conceptual underpinning from which we can generate new forms.” Ross Levy, one of the founding principals of LSarc , explained his design philosophy at his sunny and bright offices on the upper floor of refurbished Victorian in San Francisco’s Noe Valley. Employing principles of green building, environmental conservation, historic preservation, adaptive re-use, and “unusual use of usual materials”, Levy and his team at LSarc are successfully producing beautiful contemporary architecture while at the same time investing in cutting-edge technologies and environmental practices.
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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Hiram Banks on Seeing the Light
Light is something we all take for granted, like water or air – meaning we mostly notice it when we don’t like it, when there’s not enough of it, or when there’s way too much. Premier lighting designer Hiram Banks has worked everywhere from Presidio mansions to the South Pole.
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
