The primary concept was inspired by the idea of Asian privacy: nature, peace and solitude. The sandstone walls accentuated with teak wood flooring give the feeling of a balance of natural elements within the house. Each of the feature walls successfully devise a natural partition against less positive surroundings. This allowed the architect to create a tranquil confine for the owner to reside. The secondary concept stems from the owner's individuality. The feature walls put an emphasis on elements of space, time and ambiance created by natural light, beams, a skylight, shadows and texture of materials as he sun moves, producing continual changes of various dimensions. This design is purely driven by the needs of the owner coupled with the composed ideals of the architect.

Matched vein-cut travertine paving covers the floor and seamlessly continues through the living room and out onto the exterior sundeck, terminating at the swimming pool which is completely bordered by travertine coping containing slots for drainage that allow the top edge of the pool’s water to become perfectly aligned with the top edge of the adjacent travertine paving, thus creating a level surface from the kitchen to the infinity edge of the pool.

2018 HNA Awards Winner - Vintage Installation Contractor: Stowe Contracting Producer(s): Calstone & Pacific Interlock Designer: Walt Combs In 2004 paving stones were still a young industry. Cobblestones were the main stay and a three color mix was cutting edge. Customers were not adventuresome enough to try something like this so one of the owners of the company did this at his house. The industry has come a long way. This installation certainly shows the resilience and longevity of paving stones. The kids that lived here now have kids. Multiple birthdays, anniversaries, and celebrations have taken place here with virtually no degradation of the installation. The pizza oven was added four years ago and fits in seamlessly. Only wish the patio furniture lasted as well. that is the third generation since the patio was installed.

Traditional Thai homes are usually built as a cluster of physically separated rooms arranged around a large central terrace. Interpreting the traditional typology of the Thai houses, the Residence Navathani consists in two parallel wings, separated by a large garden and a swimming pool. The objective of the stone architecture is to give a sense of unity and blend the building with trees, plants and other natural landscape. Trees are often allowed to grow in the central area of the traditional Thai house with plants always featured prominently to create a strong relationship with nature. The choice of Thai travertine as the main stone for the building stems from the following objectives: first, the stone must display a strong natural character with contrasting color hues and crystalline veins, which contribute to blending the architecture into the landscape. Second, the design of the stone provides a sense of unity to the building. The façade of each wing displays an array of columns of various widths and spacings and there is an alignment of the columns between the two wings. The texture is rough on the outside face of the columns and honed on the sides as it continues through the window to the inside of the house. The two wings are connected by a long screen wall that separates the drop-off area from the private areas. This wall is pierced with square openings which helps to show a relationship between the two areas. The façade facing the entrance features stone in contrasting but related ways: the right hand wing is clad with honed stone on top of a large window, while the opposite wing displays a chiseled stone wall on the bottom with a large window on top. The architecture extends to the outside of the right-hand wing with a private theater of a modern contemporary design. The stone featured on the façade changes to a minimalist grey basalt while continuing the column concept with the alternate textures grooved on the facing and honed on the sides.

Jane Messinger
Home design - traditional home design idea in Boston

This house sits along an array of lakes and canals which highlights the landscape of a golf course. A clear objective of the architecture is to focus on large openings to enjoy the view of the surrounding landscape. Serving the same purpose, the house has been set high on stilts, a clear reference to Thai traditional architecture. The house seems to float in the air. The large cantilevered openings are framed by the stone cladding. Another objective of the architecture is to blend itself seamlessly into the landscape. The two objectives of the stone work were to focus on the large framed openings and to blend into the landscape. The travertine chosen by the architect has a smooth and warm color which blends well with the wood cladding and landscape. It displays complex movements, crystalline veins, and color blends which accentuates its natural character. The challenge was to display this natural character, while ensuring a perfect continuity in the opening frames. The color and pattern of the stone had to continue seamlessly along the four sides of each frame, while still featuring the natural character of the stone. This required long drying times in our factory, and detailed piece-per-piece touch-up to smooth outstanding features of the stone.

Living room - modern living room idea in San Francisco

The mixture of grey green cabinets with the distressed wood floors and ceilings, gives this farmhouse kitchen a feeling of warmth. Cabinets: Brookhaven and the color is Green Stone Benjamin Moore paint color: There's not an exact match for Green Stone, but Gettysburg Grey, HC 107 is close. Sink: Krauss, model KHF200-30, stainless steel Faucet: Kraus, modelKPF-1602 Hardware: Restoration hardware, Dakota cup and Dakota round knob. The finish was either the chestnut or iron. Windows: Bloomberg is the manufacturer the hardware is from Restoration hardware--Dakota cup and Dakota round knob. The finish was either the chestnut or iron. Floors: European Oak that is wired brushed. The company is Provenza, Pompeii collection and the color is Amiata. Distressed wood: The wood is cedar that's been treated to look distressed! My client is brilliant , so he did some googling (is that a word?) and came across several sites that had a recipe to do just that. He put a steel wool pad into a jar of vinegar and let it sit for a bit. In another jar, he mixed black tea with water. Brush the tea on first and let it dry. Then brush on the steel wool/vinegar (don't forget to strain the wool). Voila, the wood turns dark. Andrew Mckinney Photography

Photo Credit: Maxwell MacKenzie Architectural Photographer
Trendy patio photo in DC Metro

2018 HNA Awards Honorable Mention - Combination of Hardscape Products - Residential (size more than 4,000 sf) Contractor: GoldGlo Landscapes Producer: Techo-Bloc Designer: GoldGlo Landscapes The clients wanted the driveway, walkwayss and patio colors and textures to compliment the colors of the brick on the house. The client requested that the front walk extend into the yard to create a focal point. Sufficient access to the carriage house and ample parking for guests were important to the client. The client wanted a large entertaining space with a grill and a large wood burning fireplace, and a smaller fire pit patio with pillars and a pergola to create a separate intimate seating area. All materials and products were carefully chosen to bring out the compliment and enhance the desired style of this property and the look of the new home. The vast hardscape areas surrounded and completed with landscape plantings that provide four seasons of stunning color and interest truly creates the look and feel of a Federal style Estate.

The building was formed by the connection of 3 shop-houses. Typically shop-houses are designed vertically with a set of half story floor levels connected by a central staircase. The connection of the 3 shop-houses created a set of 3 staircases opened to a large central open space topped by a skylight glass roof. The stiar steps and risers are paved witha a light color limestone which provides the link connecting the set of stairs and corridors. The lightness of the liemstone participated in creating luminosity in the large stairwell. The hand-rail molded in the same limestone, underlines the graphic layout of the staircases. Each level is designed as a living area with bedrooms and adjacent bathrooms. The bathrooms are paved and cladded with 2 stones of contrasting colors: dark grey basalt and white limestone. The alternative use of these 2 colors throughout the set of bathrooms and the similarity in the stone pattern and details provides a sense of unity through all the levels. The detailed design, selection and arrangement of bathroom hardware, association of the contrasting textures create a contemporary and distinctive atmosphere.

This 6,000 square foot residence in Newport Beach, CA exemplifies classic elegance through a combination of glass, wood and split-face Roman Travertine. The Roman Travertine was purchased directly from an Italian supplier by the general contractor. Accurate shop drawings and cut lists developed by SMG Stone Company allowed the material to be ordered effectively and ensured a smooth transfer and installation of the stone to the job. Approximately 3,300 square feet of split-face Roman Travertine dressed interior and exterior walls using a mechanical attachment system with stainless steel clips and ungrouted joints. Some onsite work included chiseling face edges to match the split-face finish of each piece. Shop drawings allowed planning for slightly oversized pieces to accomodate the field finishing of 4" thick pieces of a height of 24" and varying lengths of 12: - 60". From an installation stand point the lintels proved to be the biggest challenge of the project because the size of the doors were 6' - 8' and longer. Due to this each piece had to be handled by hand due to the small space of the job site. After five years of stone selection and detailed drawings, this dream home was completed in 2007.

2018 HNA Awards Honorable Mention - Combination of Hardscape Products - Residential (size more than 4,000 sf) Contractor: GoldGlo Landscapes Producer: Techo-Bloc Designer: GoldGlo Landscapes The clients wanted the driveway, walkwayss and patio colors and textures to compliment the colors of the brick on the house. The client requested that the front walk extend into the yard to create a focal point. Sufficient access to the carriage house and ample parking for guests were important to the client. The client wanted a large entertaining space with a grill and a large wood burning fireplace, and a smaller fire pit patio with pillars and a pergola to create a separate intimate seating area. All materials and products were carefully chosen to bring out the compliment and enhance the desired style of this property and the look of the new home. The vast hardscape areas surrounded and completed with landscape plantings that provide four seasons of stunning color and interest truly creates the look and feel of a Federal style Estate.

The design of this new 1,900 square foot home adjacent to a working vineyard in Sonoma, CA begins with a simple, one-story rectangular “box” floor plan, not unlike any number of recent prototypes for low cost, sustainable single-family homes. Yet while these new designs have been successful in many regards, they are typically less flexible in their ability to respond with nuance to their sites and particular environmental conditions. This project embraces the notion of an economy of means, but argues that within this economy, there is still great potential to customize the relationship of a home to its site. Image by Matthew Millman.

Residential Landscape Design of the Year and Gold Award in Plantscape Designer - Phil Antcliff E. hello@5thseason.com.au W. 5thseason.com.au Inst. @fifthseasonlandscapes

The design of the living room continues the non-orthogonal concept of the external architecture. The facets enhance the modernity and underline the light beams entering the room from the south west side. The stone color reacts and contrasts in relation to the angle and orientation to the main natural light source in ar array of hues of greys, greens and blues. The continuation of the stone pattern from the outside to the inside emphasizes the flow of the light. Stones and Roses International (SRI) started this challenging piece of work from a general elevation. The first step consisted in building a 3d model in particle board. Then SRI followed through with the 3d Auto-CAD drawing of the stone wall. Folding the stone along the facets, involved the drawing of more than 40 sections which were later assembled at precise angles. The last step consisted of calculating the size and angle of each slab for production. SRI also designed and manufactured the steel structure which was erected parallel and recessed from the stone wall in order to receive the dry fixing anchors for the installation of the stone slabs.

Columbia Stone designed and installed the 23,000 square feet of French limestone cladding that was utilized on the exterior of a private residence in San Francisco, CA. The project included 2" thick typical cladding with 2 3/4" thick bands to create a reveal, as well as, carved columns, carved balustrades, carved cornices, carved window surrounds, cubic parapet caps, and carved chimney enclosures. The project provided several serious challenges including water control, waterproofing, and the fact that the location was very tight. The site only allowed for 10 feet of clearance on each side of the building and a 2-4 story elevation difference from front to back. Due to the soft nature of French limestone, extreme care hat to be taken in handling the stone. The selection and inspection of the material was a full-time job for Columbia's inspector in France, who reviewed each of the approximately 6,000 pieces prior to shipping. From start to finish, this beautiful residence took 5 years to complete.

Photo Credit: Maxwell MacKenzie Architectural Photographer
Trendy patio photo in DC Metro

Columbia Stone designed and installed the 23,000 square feet of French limestone cladding that was utilized on the exterior of a private residence in San Francisco, CA. The project included 2" thick typical cladding with 2 3/4" thick bands to create a reveal, as well as, carved columns, carved balustrades, carved cornices, carved window surrounds, cubic parapet caps, and carved chimney enclosures. The project provided several serious challenges including water control, waterproofing, and the fact that the location was very tight. The site only allowed for 10 feet of clearance on each side of the building and a 2-4 story elevation difference from front to back. Due to the soft nature of French limestone, extreme care hat to be taken in handling the stone. The selection and inspection of the material was a full-time job for Columbia's inspector in France, who reviewed each of the approximately 6,000 pieces prior to shipping. From start to finish, this beautiful residence took 5 years to complete.