Dwell Sep-14

The key to small-space living is flexibility. At home, this can mean incorporating cleverly designed storage opportunities, finding furnishings that do double duty, or simply embracing an openness to owning less stuff. We love stories that include all of these strategies and more. Throughout this issue, we examine homes that support a variety of lifestyles: in Brooklyn, a young family with a toddler and another little one on the way gut-renovated a 675-square-foot apartment to maximize every inch (page 104); a couple on Vashon Island, Washington, transformed a onetime toolshed on their property into a glass-walled pavilion for entertaining and contemplation (page 96); a Los Angeles family with two sons reimagined their garage as a serene and comfortable hangout space (page 48). Another exciting project is a multiunit property in…

Love the simplicity of the materials and the white walls and floors of Casa Azul (Focus, May 2014, above). They make every other element and the furniture stand out. Congratulations to Cincopatasalgato and José Roberto Paredes. I look forward to seeing their next project! Roberto Newbill Posted to dwell.com In 1980, I built a passive solar house with lots of glass expanses. As I looked through your beautiful May issue, I wondered if there had been advances in protecting birds from flying into glass that reflects the sky. I applaud the reflective beauty of Grimshaw Architects’ waste-to-energy exterior (Concepts, May 2014), but I am concerned about birds crashing into it. As I prepare to build my retirement home, I want to address this issue in the best way possible. Dee…

September 2014 Joakim Blockstrom An interiors, food, and still-life photographer, Sweden’s Joakim Blockstrom shot Simone ten Hompel’s 576-square-foot London residence (“Stairway to Heavens,” p. 88). “Arriving at Simone’s apartment, I instantly fell in love with the place,” Blockstrom says. “The light was beautiful and the design superb.” Brian Libby Writing about two tiny works of Pacific Northwest architecture (My House, p. 68, and “Vashon Show,” p. 96) was a treat for Portland-based journalist Brian Libby, who enjoys seeing modern design applied to modest budgets and scale. “They’re both these little jewels, and their owners have so much passion,” says Libby, who also contributes to The New York Times, Architect, and The Atlantic Cities. Grant Harder For “Vashon Show” (p. 96), Vancouver photographer Grant Harder spent the night in Bill and…

PROJECT Kiest Residence BUILDER Method Homes, methodhomes.net location Marrowstone Island, Washington Architect Chris Pardo designed the Element 1 model for prefab builder Method Homes, cladding it in Cor-Ten steel and cedar. Pardo’s design “is the definition of simple, elegant, straightforward building,” resident Karen Kiest says. Karen Kiest’s plot of land on Marrowstone Island, Washington, came with a surfeit of scenery—it overlooks Puget Sound—but suffered from a dearth of buildable space. The lot is near a bluff and a stream and has a wetland on and adjacent to it. “The [house’s] footprint became critical,” says Kiest, a landscape architect. She considered modular construction as a way to streamline the building and permitting process for her weekend retreat, and researched a slew of firms. The clincher was finding out that architect Chris…

PROJECT May/Mahony Studio architect Jagoda Architecture, jagodaarchitecture.com location Santa Monica, California When Libby May and Eoghan Mahony purchased a 1950s post-and-beam house in Los Angeles’ Santa Monica Canyon, they envisioned someday transforming the garage and adjoining workshop into livable space, with an office for each of them and a family room they could share with their sons, Wes, 14, and Duncan, ten. But then an enormous stone pine crashed unceremoniously into the garage, and suddenly the plan was no longer on the back burner. “Our ‘someday’ could have been years,” May acknowledges. “In the end, it was great that we were forced to do the project.” May, a freelance book editor, and Mahony, a television writer, called on architect Emily Jagoda, who had designed an addition to their previous home.…

Born-and-bred New Yorkers Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi of SLO Architecture moved to Spain after getting their master’s degrees in the late 1990s, and they had no intention of returning. While abroad, the married couple taught at Barcelona’s ESARQ-UIC and started their own architecture practice in Madrid in 2005. When their home city eventually beckoned in 2007, they found themselves strangers in their own land. “It was very exotic coming back,” Levi says. “We felt like we were seeing everything anew.” The couple embraced their new outsider status by taking long walks and bike rides around the five boroughs. On these explorations, a flurry of activity on and along the Bronx River caught their attention. “When we were growing up, you couldn’t even get near the water,” Schachter says. “There…