Table of contents for Oct-15 in Dwell

The Fruit Bowl Manifesto

Generally, in magazines concerned with the design of homes, fruit bowls abound. High-priced photo stylists spend hours arranging them. You see them in photographs of kitchens and living rooms. Often there’s a bowl of unblemished green apples on the bathroom vanity or a bowl of pomegranates in the bedroom. The fruit bowl is sometimes accompanied by a vase of tulips, glistening with spray-on dew, and precious little else. No quart of milk. No crumpled bag of Pepperidge Farm cookies with only half of one cookie left at the bottom. No dish of Meow Mix on the floor. In short, no signs of life. At Dwell, we’re staging a minor revolution. We think that it’s possible to live in a house or apartment by a bold modern architect, to own furniture…

To The Trade

To The Trade

ART UNIFIED In Art Unified’s most popular line, the Mappa Mundi Series, artist Ewan Eason explores the sacred spaces between the roads in diverse metropolitan cities. By removing the street names and coloring the buildings in gold, he aims to draw on the egalitarianism of the city and the sacredness therein. Maps are made on either mirrored gold dibond or 24-karat gold leaf and are available in black or white. Custom cities and dimensions are available. Contact Art Unified to order your customized map today. TO THE TRADE Tel. 424-259-3820 www.artunified.com WILSONART QUARTZ What else can you say about Wilsonart® Quartz? How about: versatile, consistent, translucent, ambiguous, hard, shiny, modern, colorful, cool to the touch, resilient. Inspired by the places and the people of our journeys around the world, this…

Designed Well

Designed Well

BLUEBEAM Bluebeam Software develops PDF-based markup, measuremeant and collaboration solutions for digitzing paper-intensive workflows in the office, in the field, or anywhere in between. Use Bluebeam’s flagship solution, Revu, to create 2D and 3D PDFs from Revit, Navisworks, SketchUp Pro, or any IFC file and electronically redline PDFs with customizable annotation tools. Track and manage all comments in the Markups list. Store and manage a digital master set of unlimited project files in the cloud with Revu’s integrated cloud-based collaboration solution, Bluebeam Studio. DESIGNED WELL 866-496-2140 bluebeam.com/designbetter A NEW SPIN Certainly capable of eliciting bemused puzzelment at first glance, the Pablo Circa Pendant doesn’t neatly fit the preconceptions of what a pendant should look like. Circa’s super-thin LED flat-panel saucer offers a consistent output of warm, even and glare-free illumination…

In Good Order

PROJECT Bancroft Residence ARCHITECT Jack Hawkins LOCATION Truckee, California Ever since the birth of Amy and Nick Bancroft’s triplets six years ago, the couple’s lives have been a whirlwind of activity. But when their son and two daughters were diagnosed with autism four years ago, things shifted into overdrive, and the family’s home, near Truckee, California, became a de facto therapy center, with a stream of professionals cycling through daily to provide specialized interventions. The Bancrofts didn’t just need a place for themselves, they needed their home to be a home. “During the week, we’d have up to a dozen people at the house,” says Nick. “We figured out quickly that we needed separate areas for kids and therapists, and areas off-limits to them during therapy so that Amy and…

In Good Order

Mission Statement

PROJECT upShift ARCHITECT David Baker dbarchitect.com LOCATION San Francisco, California ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED June 2008 A few years before we visited his remodeled Edwardian home in 2008, architect David Baker planted an outdoor screen of bamboo that, thanks to diverted rainwater and greywater, now towers over and even obscures some of his handiwork on the rear facade—a colorful patchwork of recycled shingles. In 2010 his partner, Yosh Asato, moved in, and in 2013 he finished a net zero guest cottage on the property.…

Mission Statement

Steel and Magnolias

PROJECT SunHome DESIGNER Tonino Vicari LOCATION Ann Arbor, Michigan ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED December/January 2006 The eco-friendly Ann Arbor home of Tom McMurtrie, Genia Service, and their son Gary features a brilliant reflective steel cladding. Since Dwell’s first visit in 2006, Gary—now 14 years old—has outgrown the swing, and the home has seen a few final updates: The second-floor deck is now covered in reused barn wood, and the terraces have been finished with railings and awnings of recycled plastic.…

Steel and Magnolias

The Triplets of Bulverde

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED July/August 2004 PROJECT Johnson Residence ARCHITECT Lake|Flato Architects lakeflato.com LOCATION Bulverde, Texas When Janette Johnson and her husband Billy, then a designer with Lake|Flato Architects, were expecting triplets, they built a Hill Country home that embraces nature. Since our 2004 story on the residence, (from left) Jacob, Joshua, and Jordan, now 15 years old, have traded in their tricycles for two-wheelers. “Living here, we’ve learned to appreciate star-gazing, sunsets and the outdoors,” says Janette.…

The Triplets of Bulverde

Feedback

In a world that can underappreciate great design, I love Dwell’s ability to help me recharge and be inspired. Dwell celebrates human-scaled modern architecture, design, and the talented people that make it reality. @johnmckusick Posted to Instagram I am a high school art teacher and have a double subscription to Dwell because I love the images and articles, and so do my students. Dwell is the best way to introduce students to contemporary and sustainable architecture. Also love the heavy paper on which Dwell is printed, it’s great for collages! @uhsart Posted to Instagram When I opened my frst Dwell it was like hearing the Beatles for the frst time. It was that epiphany when you realize that it’s simplicity that is beautiful. @rayream Posted to Instagram I’ve loved Dwell…

Feedback

Modern Awakening

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED October/November 2004 PROJECT Jespersen Residence DESIGNER Jespersen Design Associates jespersendesign.com LOCATION Salt Lake City, Utah In 2004, designer Brent Jespersen’s luminous canyon retreat presented a modernist haven for Salt Lake City. Then nascent, the local design scene has since “grown and grown,” he says—as has his daughter, Berlin, who, he adds, “has grown up and moved out!” Gracing our 2004 “Modern Across America” cover at age 10, she’s now a 21-year-old environmental studies major at Westminster University.…

Modern Awakening

Heart of Stone

PROJECT Concrete Box House DESIGNER Robertson Design LOCATION Houston, Texas “ Concrete is a live material—there’s a big element of chance. You have to live with the imperfections.” —Christopher Robertson, designer “Concrete has always had a mystical hold on architects,” says designer Christopher Robertson. Visionaries such as Le Corbusier, who used concrete in many of his 75 projects, loved this basic material. Robertson and his wife, Vivi Nguyen-Robertson, his partner at Robertson Design, were also enamored with the amalgam of sand, gravel, cement, and water, and the newlyweds dreamed of using it for their own house. “We just couldn’t wrap our heads around the cost,” Christopher says, referring to the labor-intensive poured-in-place procedure he prefers. “It’s way more expensive than any other option we considered.” An eye-opening trip to Naoshima,…

Heart of Stone

The Power of Three

The Power of Three

PROJECT Little House on the Ferry ARCHITECT GO Logic LOCATION Vinalhaven, Maine It’s perhaps misleading to call three structures a summer house. But measuring 890 square feet altogether, referring to them as a set of summer houses would imply something grander than three cabins tucked into a defunct granite quarry. From a distance, the buildings look like a cluster of bait shacks you might see on the harbor side of the Vinalhaven, the island where they sit. Fifteen miles offshore from the town of Rockland, Maine, the island is its own world, its very separateness a part of its magic: It can win people over in one visit, which is all it took for Nick and Nadja van Praag. Both expats—he from England, she from Austria— they’d only just arrived…

Arts and Crafted

Arts and Crafted

PROJECT August Moon ARCHITECT SPAN Architecture LOCATION Bar Harbor, Maine In Bar Harbor, Maine, on a secluded waterfront property once used by Brooke Astor as a summer hunting ground, sits an eclectic little garden of collected curiosities: a fragment of a French-style chapel, a Chinese teahouse, a meteorite. At the center of it all, blending right into the landscape, is a 2,500-square-foot wood-and-stone cabin, designed by New York’s SPAN Architecture principals Karen Stonely and Peter Pelsinski. Nestled into a fern-covered hillside, the modest structure looks to the traditions of John Calvin Stevens, local architect Robert Patterson, and a modernism steeped in vernacular architecture rather than the International Style. “We took a really strong cue from that influence and from the landscape,” says Stonely. The most arresting feature of the house…

Dwell on Design Los Angeles 2015

Dwell on Design Los Angeles 2015

10 Years The culmination of Dwell Design Week, which included home tours, discussions, and festivities throughout the city, Dwell on Design Los Angeles 2015 was our largest show to date. Dwell welcomed more than 32,000 attendees and 400 exhibitors, with three stages hosting more than 200 speakers at the Los Angeles Convention Center. We partnered with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), among other industry leaders, on educational programming for professionals, and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti issued a proclamation lauding Dwell on Design for “showcasing to our residents the best that the growing world of design has to offer.” Show Floor Encompassing some 326,000 square feet, the show floor flowed through many zones, from Kitchen and Bath to Design Materials and…

Sourcing

58 Backstory Robertson Design robdes.com Sofa by Roche Bobois roche-bobois.com Rug by Tissage from Rug Mart rugmarthouston.com Good Morning table in copper and Anytime table in frosted glass by Ligne Roset ligne-roset-usa.com Chairs by B&B Italia bebitalia.com Capolavoro granite countertops by Antolini for Master Tile Colours mastertilecolours.com My Planet Kitchen cabinets in natural oak wood finish by Varenna for Poliform poliformusa.com Cooktop by Fisher & Paykel fisherpaykel.com/us Dining table by Restoration Hardware restorationhardware.com Tub and sink by ADM Bathroom Design admbathroomdesign.com Pendant by Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co. schoolhouseelectric.com Showerhead and Axor faucet by Hansgrohe hansgrohe-usa.com 76 Concrete Plans Kerstin Thompson Architects kerstinthompson.com Roof cladding by Colorbond Steel colorbond.com Concrete Panels by Thermomass thermomass.com Le Bambole sofa, armchair, and ottoman by B&B Italia bebitalia.com Sling chair by Clement Meadmore 1stdibs.com…

Contributors

Contributors

Dave Lauridsen A Los Angeles–based photographer who shoots for the New York Times, Travel & Leisure, and Sunset, Dave Lauridsen first visited architect David Baker’s home in San Francisco for Dwell in 2008 and attempted to recreate one of the shots in this issue (p. 120). “The spot I’d taken the original photo from no longer existed,” Lauridsen says. “There used to be a small one-story garage at the back of the lot, which I got on top of for the original photo. Now there’s a new building in that spot so I wasn’t able to get quite the same perspective as before.” What does your dream home look like? “It doesn’t need to be too big, but it has to have an efficiently laid-out kitchen with an island, a…

Juhani Pallasmaa

After more than 40 years of working in the field, Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa recently closed his independent practice. A prolific author, essayist, professor, critic, and former museum director, he’s since focused his creative energy on teaching and writing about architecture. We caught up with the polymath ahead of a guest lecture at the NewSchool of Architecture & Design in San Diego to discuss what’s on his mind. Nearly all cities have some version of a central downtown. What is your view on the world’s centers of architecture, the skylines? Why do we build this way? It’s an obsession, but then particularly a consequence of the consumer and a surreal materialism. It’s a process of acceleration, which is based on certain aspects of modernity—globalization, computers, and digital technology—and always paradoxical.…

Juhani Pallasmaa

Concrete Plans

Concrete Plans

PROJECT House at Hanging Rock ARCHITECT Kerstin Thompson Architects LOCATION Victoria, Australia On a hillside about an hour’s drive from Melbourne sits the house that architect Kerstin Thompson designed for artist Titania Henderson and her husband, Ian, a retired orthopedic surgeon. It overlooks a verdant rolling valley and, in the distance, a mountainous outcrop called Hanging Rock. Thanks to the popular novel Picnic at Hanging Rock and its successful film adaptation, this odd geological formation has become a quintessential part of Australian folklore. (In the book, teachers lead a group of schoolgirls on a climb of the rock, several of whom are never seen again.) More recently, concerts nearby featuring Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen have added to Hanging Rock’s fame. The sharp, low silhouette Thompson designed adds to the…

Felt So Good

PROJECT South End Apartment DESIGNERS Chris Grimley and Kelly Smith LOCATION Boston, Massachusetts Late afternoons at Chris Grimley and Kelly Smith’s Boston apartment are illuminated by a warm glow. It’s a familiar, busy time of day for many parents, when the kitchen becomes a hub, and the kids come in for a landing: dinner, bath, and bedtime. It’s also the point when this apartment’s seven-foot-tall windows send sunlight bouncing off the walls, ricocheting from the white concrete floors through to the kitchen on the opposite side of the space. It’s a minimalist oasis in white, with appliances and cabinets hidden to keep clutter, and the curious hands of the couple’s children, Mae, three, and Roen, one, at bay. Of all the renovations Grimley and Smith have done in the apartment,…

Felt So Good

Home Security What Burglars Want

Chris Casey has seen a lot of burglaries. He knows that burglars’ methods are as varied as the types of targets they choose: Someone breaks into the back of your house while an accomplice knocks on the front door to distract you. After you buy gold jewelry from a pawnshop, the store owner notes your address and sends someone to kick in your front door and steal it all back (along with any other valuables they see). A kid is paid $50 a day to raid homes in the distant suburbs, assuming all the risk—and doing all the jail time—for an organized crime ring. Casey is a detective third grade with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Commercial Crimes Division. He is an energetic and talkative lifetime police officer, approaching his…

Home Security What Burglars Want

Time Trial

Time Trial

For the third consecutive year, Dwell has partnered with Klein Financial and the American Society of Interior Designers to reimagine a handful of apartments at Met Lofts, an artfully constructed, modern retreat located one block from the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. In a challenge that’s as fast-paced as the buzzing entertainment district, three L.A.-area designers— Adrienne Mascaro of Studio Blu, Lauri Howell of Lauri Howell Interior Design, and Lucinda Pacé of Laurel & Wolf and ConceptXL—were given $5,000 and a little over a month to transform three of the community’s industrial-style lofts into luxurious showcases of modern style. Each designer relied upon a network of local tradespeople and vendors to plan and carry out their interior makeover. This year, for the first time, each designer was given a…

15 Years Already?

It seems like almost a lifetime ago that I started Dwell and got married in the same year. My twins are now 12 years old, and I have watched my other baby, Dwell, grow into a mature publication with over 325,000 subscribers. What a ride it has been. When I started Dwell, it was with the vision of elevating the level of discourse about architecture, design, and the communities in which we live. I am deeply gratified to see that so many of you have embraced Dwell’s ethos and have embarked upon projects that express your own interpretations of how to live “At Home in the Modern World.” I’m so excited to invite you to join me on the next chapter of our journey, as we launch a new digital…

15 Years Already?