this is a house I designed in Brentwood just after graduating from Berkeley.

Small House #2

This is the second of a series of prototypes for small houses which are designed to fit into a rural setting. House #2 contains four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a study, all contained in a footprint of only 160 square meteres.

The idea is to begin with a typical layout for an apartment and to see what it can develop into as a free standing single family house, while retaining is spatial efficincy. All elements of the design lend themselves to prefabrication. The entire house can be built off site and assembled at an affordable cost.

Of special note in this design is the use of a modified rain screen cladding system, which I have never seen used in exactly this way. I believe it opens the door to an endless variety of creative solutions for the exterior skins of buildings. The system is made up of horizontal strips of wood which are fastened over a waterproof membrane. The final skin is made up of panels consisting of a waterproof wood product such as is made in Finland under the name of "Parklex". One could also use panels with either perforated or applied patterns with built in repeats exactly like large scale fabric prints. The panels are attached to the horizontal backing strips by aluminum rain screen clips which fasten to the back side of the panels and remain invisible to the eye.

Rethinking the Small House

This is the first in a series of small houses I am designing specifically meant to be located in a rural, or very leafy green suburban setting. In addition to crisp edges, nature contains beuatifully sulptural forms, sinuous lines and materials which are warm and pleasing to both the eye and the touch. I am attempting to bring these element into the design of the houses so that they feel part of, and happily nestled into their settings.

This particular house is quite small- about 100 square meters, and has two bedrooms and an open great room containing the kitchen, dining and living areas. It has the same layout and is about the same size as a typical small, two bedroom apartment, with the addition of a spine of floor to ceiling storage which runs the length of the house, and a taller, vaulted ceiling over the living area.

A Round House

I've always wanted to design a round house - so I did! This design is a gift for a friend who lives in Finland, where I think it would fit very well somewhere on the edge of a forest or beside one of the many beautiful lakes there- anywhere with a nice view of the countryside!

The house has two levels, containing 180 square meters of floor area which are raised 3 meters above the ground, to avoid all the snow and to provide covered parking in the winter. The house also has a roof garden and a glass enclosed stair tower.

Residential Tower

This is a design for a 17 story mixed use building. The two ground floor levels contain commercial uses and offices, while the remianing 15 floors are designed for residential use. The typical floor plan is made up of (2) 100 sm 2 bedroom units, and (4) 150 sm 3 bedroom units.

The attempt has been made to create a building with an interesting and dynamic skin in combination with a simple, rectangular plan.

Commercial / Residential Highrise

The building has a central circulation core and a floor plan which allows for division into either residential or commercial units.

Design for Twelve Residential Flats in Echo Park

The following is a preliminary design for a small building in Echo Park made of 12 residential flats. It is designed to be built out of the prefabricated steel moment frame system of the company Ecostell, and should be very affordable to construct. More to follow as the design progresses...