Residential Architect articles from November 2002

Residential Architect archives from November 2002

Caught in the middle class: can you afford a custom home?(from the editor)(Editorial)
November 1, 2002... Some readers wonder how I can argue for affordable housing in one of my editor's columns and then admire big beautiful houses in the next. Sometimes I feel cursed because I see and sympathize with so many sides of so many housing debates. I...

Charge!(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2002... as an architect, I appreciate your efforts to maintain the fight ("Clients' Choice," April, page 13). I believe that every building project profits from the involvement of the architect. I also believe that many clients don't value professional...

Panning out on plan man.(Letters: keep those cards, letters, and e-mails coming.)
November 1, 2002... having read all Having the slam-dunks about Don Gardner in your April issue ("Letters," page 15), I feel compelled to respond to the hypocritical editorials against stock-plan designers. I wholeheartedly agree that each home built should be a...

Legorreta for less.(Home front: tips and trends from the world of residential design)(Ricardo Legorreta commissioned to design residential community Zocalo in Santa Fe.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... nearly half a million dollars for an attached housing unit doesn't sound like a bargain. But bring in the name Ricardo Legorreta and it suddenly seems (at least to upscale home buyers) like the deal of the new century. Albuquerque, N.M.,...

Frugal frills.(Home front: tips and trends from the world of residential design)(Bancroft Senior Homes in Oakland California.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... for Berkeley, Calif., architect Erick Mikiten, AIA, affordable housing design is all about give and take. "You decide there are certain things that are worth doing, even though they're a little more expensive," he says. "You do them in an area...

Setting it wright.(Home front: tips and trends from the world of residential design)(Ennis Brown house receives grant for restoration.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... thanks to a $100,000 Preserve L.A. grant awarded by the J. Paul Getty Trust, Frank Lloyd Wright's 1924 Ennis Brown House will receive the structural stabilization it desperately needs. Ravages of time, elements, and the 1994 Northridge...

Calendar.(Home front: tips and trends from the world of residential design)(Calendar)
November 1, 2002... residential architect design awards: call for entries deadline for entry fee: November 25, 2002 deadline for completed entries: January 7, 2003 Our annual residential architect Design Awards program honors outstanding architecture in...

Joining the book group: book packager James Trulove uncovers the mysteries of monographs and more.(perspective)(Column)
November 1, 2002... I first met Dennis Wedlick, an architect practicing in New York City, when I was scouting for projects for a book I was editing, The New American Cottage. The first meeting at his office was not a productive one. While he had a perfect house...

The outsiders: landscape architects are not your enemies. In fact, they may be your best aesthetic allies.(practice)
November 1, 2002... The landscape of coastal Massachusetts is a mixture of wooded uplands, rocky outcrops, and long, low meadows that sweep down to the sea. Substantial new homes stand tall on bluffs, their windows filled with water views. Not so the house at Hawk...

Beauty and security in perfect symmetry.(Architectural Showcase)
November 1, 2002... Design Solution Based on what Kupi describes as a blend of Classic Traditional and British Colonial styles, the home he designed near Jupiter, Florida features Weather Shield windows and French doors that bathe the rooms in warm sunlight...

Cool within reach: Studio E rewrites the rules of affordable housing.
November 1, 2002... Studio E Architects did its very first affordable housing presentation in crayon on brown packing paper. While part of the stunt's aim was to introduce some humor into the dry process of choosing an architect, the members of the San Diego-based...

Briar commitment: Omaha engages a different kind of affordable housing.
November 1, 2002... Omaha, Neb., is rife with run-of-the-mill apartment buildings, many of them only partly occupied. But that didn't stop architect Randy Brown, AIA, and developer Main Street Properties from dreaming up yet another rental complex. The site for...

Some assembly required: is modular construction an answer to the affordable housing problem?(doctor spec)
November 1, 2002... Once considered the answer to America's affordable-housing void, the mobile home just can't escape its low-class, trailer-park stigma. So some pros are looking for a fresh start with modular housing, a distant, less-tainted cousin of the mobile...

Lanz, ho.(Architects' choice: product picks from the pros.)
November 1, 2002... Lanz Cabinets offers quality products at reasonable prices, Merryman says, which make them a firm favorite. The products have solidwood face frames and are made from oak, maple, alder, cherry, hickory, and pine. All are offered with European...

Vinyl analysis.(Architects' choice: product picks from the pros.)
November 1, 2002... "Nothing is more important than windows and natural light in the design of small spaces," Merryman says. "They can turn a closet-size space into a charming living area." RMB typically specs Milgard's vinyl windows because they provide lots of...

Fit and trim.(Architects' choice: product picks from the pros.)
November 1, 2002... RMB dislikes most trim packages found in affordable housing because the base is usually a narrow piece of wood. Instead, the firm prefers medium-density fiberboard from manufacturers such as SierraPine. It's an inexpensive product "that has a...

Dry wall.(New material: piping-hot products for your next project.)
November 1, 2002... Because architects "repurpose" Benjamin Obdyke's Cedar Breather roofing underlayment and spec it for exterior walls, the company has designed one specifically for that application. Home Slicker is a 3-D nylon matrix that provides a continuous...

Dimmer down.(New material: piping-hot products for your next project.)
November 1, 2002... No one likes a smart aleck, but a smart building product is another matter. Using a microprocessor control in a unit that fits behind a standard face-plate, Faedra features "smart" dimming technology that enables variable fade times and...

Rock paper.(New material: piping-hot products for your next project.)
November 1, 2002... This natural-fiber countertop surfacing material is made primarily of paper, but it has a soapstone appearance and costs a fraction of the price of granite, says Don Atkinson, sales and marketing director for Tacoma, Wash.-based Richlite. The...

The fab floor: funky and affordable flooring options.(off the shelf)
November 1, 2002... fruit roll-ups A fruit bowl assortment of colors (including raspberry, lemon, cherry, tangerine, blueberry, lime, and plum) make up the Colormetrics line of laminate floor tiles. Two 3-D motifs, Rib and Wave, add light-reflecting...

Stone sober: glessner house, chicago, 1885-1887 Henry Hobson Richardson.(end quote)(Glessner House has been turned into a decorative arts museum.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... the house H. H. Richardson designed for John and Frances Glessner on Chicago's fashionable Prairie Avenue was definitely more cathedral than chicken coop. Located on a choice corner lot, the granite structure presented an imposing, almost...