Physical Structure - Photos & Ideas

Located above the coast of Malibu, this two-story concrete and glass home is organized into a series of bands that hug the hillside and a central circulation spine. Living spaces are compressed between the retaining walls that hold back the earth and a series of glass facades facing the ocean and Santa Monica Bay. The name of the project stems from the physical and psychological protection provided by wearing reflective sunglasses. On the house the “glasses” allow for panoramic views of the ocean while also reflecting the landscape back onto the exterior face of the building. PROJECT TEAM: Peter Tolkin, Jeremy Schacht, Maria Iwanicki, Brian Proffitt, Tinka Rogic, Leilani Trujillo ENGINEERS: Gilsanz Murray Steficek (Structural), Innovative Engineering Group (MEP), RJR Engineering (Geotechnical), Project Engineering Group (Civil) LANDSCAPE: Mark Tessier Landscape Architecture INTERIOR DESIGN: Deborah Goldstein Design Inc. CONSULTANTS: Lighting DesignAlliance (Lighting), Audio Visual Systems Los Angeles (Audio/ Visual), Rothermel & Associates (Rothermel & Associates (Acoustic), GoldbrechtUSA (Curtain Wall) CONTRACTOR: Winters-Schram Associates PHOTOGRAPHER: Benny Chan AWARDS: 2007 American Institute of Architects Merit Award, 2010 Excellence Award, Residential Concrete Building Category Southern California Concrete Producers

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2016 Tucker Award Winner

Natural Stone Institute

Tucker Design Awards celebrate the innovation and vision that designers bring to their projects through the specification and use of natural stone materials. For members of the Natural Stone Institute, acknowledgment as a contributor to a Tucker Design Awards winning project is a genuine tribute to their traditional values, physicality of work, and dedication to precise specifications required in the realization of such accomplished architectural design. Landscape Architect Design Workshop, Aspen, CO Landscape Contractor/ Installer Landscape Workshop, Carbondale, CO Stone Installer JD Masonry, Arvada, CO Stone Suppliers Coldspring, Cold Spring, MN Gallegos Corporation, Vail, CO Through a collective dialogue between landscape, architecture and interior design, a new vision reimagines the disturbed site into a livable landscape, emblematic of our American West. The residence – an ensemble of structures designed in a modern ranch vernacular – is effortlessly unified through layered, interconnected outdoor gathering spaces and regional materials that elaborates upon the experience of moving between structures, heightening and renewing one’s sense of place. Upon entering the courtyard, one is immediately aware of seamless and unfolding relationships between architecture and landscape through a sophisticated, regional palette of natural stone, water, and plants. Set upon architectural focal points, two perpendicular sandstone paths descend into the space and converge upon a monolithic, hand-carved granite fountain. The design of the fountain is purposefully quiet, both in its detailing and operation. The feature includes a recessed interior, allowing water to become still before it reaches the surface, with lightly cleft sides, allowing the water to delicately bounce as it descends into the geometric lower granite basin. The landscape architect’s selection of various stone material extends the tones of the home’s granite walls and contextual surroundings into the garden, but also be detailed in a manner that balances rural and modern qualities. The majority of the paving is constructed of rectilinear gray sandstone with a natural finish and snapped edges, laid in a staggered running bond organization. Throughout the garden, thoughtful attention was also given to the configuration and layout of terraces, pathways, and steps. In doing so, this ensured that the edges of the terrace and its interface to other elements were designed so that no “leftover” stone paver pieces would be found. Within the central courtyard, split-faced stone stairs descend into a rectilinear plinth of lawn, punctuated by a carved granite fire pit. Leveraging the property’s existing topographic relief, a shallow infinity-edge dipping pool abstracts the transparent and cavity-like pools found throughout the Rocky Mountains. The design purposefully achieves the illusion of a larger water feature with the distant pond and offers a refreshing recreational element. Containing the infinity edge, a designed granite escarpment emerges from the meadow, juxtaposing the geometric water feature and providing informal seating ledges. The site’s prior use required the landscape architect to incorporate a highly technical and complex sub-surface structural system. The initial geotechnical report identified the building envelopes rested on 12 feet of man-placed fill. Assuming a 1 percent settlement, the team faced concerns that the terraces would settle up to 12 inches. In response, a grid of structural micro-piles provides the necessary foundation for the construction of terraces immediately outside of the architecture, under the water features and site walls. The solution enabled the crisp detailing and design resolution of the architectural structures to seamlessly connect with the horizontal stone terraces.

Sunglass House

TOLO Architecture

Kitchen Cube- Upper East Side

MCDW + Architecture

Kitchen Cube 1 Upper East- Residence Work: Full Gut renovation- 2 apartments- in the same ‘S’ line Size: 650 Sq Ft of space in both apartments, 5S and 4S Using the Frankfurt Kitchen of 1926 for inspiration, Ms.Cianfaglione began asking herself how the typology of the NYC kitchenette for her building, in the ‘S’ line, needed to be upgraded to fit today’s physical and aesthetic needs. The Frankfurt Kitchen was the forerunner of modern fitted kitchens and had an unified concept to enable efficient work, consolidating a woman’s efforts and allowing her more time to spend else ware. But unlike the Frankfurt kitchen, Ms. Cianfaglione wanted to take this a step further and open it up rather than concealing it, and its user, inside a room. This would showcase the designer’s evolved notion of “cooking”,that would now become an orchestrated dance to be put on display. Ms. Cianfaglione had a typical NYC kitchenette, a small room with an air grille for ventilation, and in this case, there was a small window that was currently blocked by a refrigerator. There was also the problem of the foyer space, which was just a waste in an apartment this small, and the structural wall that could not be removed. Ms. Cianfaglione responded to these conditions by designing the kitchen to become a wrap around condition, in an ‘L’ shape, that would use the foyer more effectively and at the same time, face the living area, and all the while concealing the structural wall that separates them. The interesting thing about the ‘L’ shape was that it allows for a beautifully orchestrated flow that makes cooking look like a beautiful dance that moves back and forth along the’ L.’ The appliances are designed within the cabinetry to give a tailored look that does not allow for distraction, and you instead focus on the user. This renovation made the otherwise small, unused foyer and ineffective kitchen, now a focal point that dictates movement throughout. The kitchen has unified and designed an otherwise standard one bedroom apartment and seeks to become a new standard in this building’s typology.

Sunglass House

TOLO Architecture

Sponsored

Columbus, OH

Structural Remodeling

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Wittman Estes Landscape

Detail of rusted steel gate structure, with black stained cedar infill. photo: grant wilds
Inspiration for a modern landscaping in Seattle.

Waite Residence

AoDK Inc.

A couple wanted a weekend retreat without spending a majority of their getaway in an automobile. Therefore, a lot was purchased along the Rocky River with the vision of creating a nearby escape less than five miles away from their home. This 1,300 sf 24’ x 24’ dwelling is divided into a four square quadrant with the goal to create a variety of interior and exterior experiences while maintaining a rather small footprint. Typically, when going on a weekend retreat one has the drive time to decompress. However, without this, the goal was to create a procession from the car to the house to signify such change of context. This concept was achieved through the use of a wood slatted screen wall which must be passed through. After winding around a collection of poured concrete steps and walls one comes to a wood plank bridge and crosses over a Japanese garden leaving all the stresses of the daily world behind. The house is structured around a nine column steel frame grid, which reinforces the impression one gets of the four quadrants. The two rear quadrants intentionally house enclosed program space but once passed through, the floor plan completely opens to long views down to the mouth of the river into Lake Erie. On the second floor the four square grid is stacked with one quadrant removed for the two story living area on the first floor to capture heightened views down the river. In a move to create complete separation there is a one quadrant roof top office with surrounding roof top garden space. The rooftop office is accessed through a unique approach by exiting onto a steel grated staircase which wraps up the exterior facade of the house. This experience provides an additional retreat within their weekend getaway, and serves as the apex of the house where one can completely enjoy the views of Lake Erie disappearing over the horizon. Visually the house extends into the riverside site, but the four quadrant axis also physically extends creating a series of experiences out on the property. The Northeast kitchen quadrant extends out to become an exterior kitchen & dining space. The two-story Northwest living room quadrant extends out to a series of wrap around steps and lounge seating. A fire pit sits in this quadrant as well farther out in the lawn. A fruit and vegetable garden sits out in the Southwest quadrant in near proximity to the shed, and the entry sequence is contained within the Southeast quadrant extension. Internally and externally the whole house is organized in a simple and concise way and achieves the ultimate goal of creating many different experiences within a rationally sized footprint.