Sometimes you have to take a step back from the chaos of daily life and deadlines to take a deep breath. This post is a “social media zen moment”; watch this video and be amazed and simply enjoy the skill. I have never seen balanced stacks of rocks, called “cairnes“, […]
This past weekend, I went to see The World of Charles and Ray Eames exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California. It was great! It covers their careers in design from the 1940’s into the late 70’s. Several of their chair designs are considered modern icon’s and even classics of […]
I don’t know about you, but I am a big believer in New Year’s resolutions. Except, I generally intend to follow through on my resolutions. They really are goals after all. Goals are just dreams if you don’t take action consistently. So that’s what I try to do. I don’t […]
There are so many questions my clients have about Accessory Dwelling Units. If you are like my clients, you probably have questions, too. In order to answer these questions, I started my sister website, MyAccessoryDwelling.com. I have also been developing an online course, ADUs and You. The video based course […]
It is a crazy thing, the relationship between an architect and his or her pens. We all have our favorites. We all have those we loath. This article from NY Magazine popped up on my news feed this week: 100 Best Pens Oh, the joy! I’m like a kid in […]
We’re coming up on the holidays. Giving gifts can be so stressful. But I have some solutions to help relieve that stress: Great modern gifts, available on Amazon, so shipping happens quickly and customer service is great. (Just a disclaimer: Each of these links is through my Amazon Associates account, […]
It is that time of year. The trees are dropping their leaves. There is a crispness in the air. Mountains of enormous turkeys have appeared in the grocery stores. Pumpkin spice has permeated almost every food group. Yup. It is Thanksgiving week! I want to take this opportunity to offer […]
Have you been thinking about adding an accessory dwelling unit to your house? Have you been thinking about building an in law unit, or a backyard cottage? You have several options: you can do tons of research yourself, or you can plunge headlong into designing it yourself, or you can […]
It is autumn! My favorite season. That means, fall foliage, sweater weather, and, of course, updating the website with project pages for projects I worked on in the past year. I’ve added five new projects to my project pages. 4 new residential projects and 1 new commercial project. I encourage […]
In this business, we talk a lot about whether or not something has been “built to code”, or that we must do something because it is “required by the code”. In this post, I want to step back a little bit and examine this issue of code compliance. The building […]
What are the steps you need to take when starting an architecture project? Building in the Bay Area is an expensive and time consuming process. You don’t want to just jump into something without laying the proper groundwork first. Whether you are thinking about a house remodel, addition, new house, […]
October is National Architecture Month, also referred to as “Archtober”. Last year, to commemorate the month, I posted something about architecture every single day of the month. It was not easy to keep up a daily posting schedule. This month, I intend to maintain my mostly weekly posting schedule. This […]
The question is often asked, if not out loud, at least in people’s minds, “what does an architect do?” Most of us don’t have any experience dealing with architects. Sometimes we see them on TV or in the movies. The work in barns and talk to horses (Mr. Ed), or […]
What do architects do when they travel? Mostly we look at buildings. We want to see something wonderful, beautiful, different. We want to see how problems were solved in elegant ways, or how materials were detailed. We want to be inspired. I was in Boston for a day recently. I […]
A couple of years ago friends hired me to help them bring their 1930, vaguely Craftsman style bungalow into the 21st century. Among other things, they wanted a new kitchen. They wanted the kitchen opened up to the dining room. It was a fun project. They were very hands on […]
One of the projects in my studio has hit a road block. The minor variance we applied for has been denied. We had the backing of the planning staff. All we wanted to do was extend an existing non-conforming condition upwards. The existing garage is built right up to the […]
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You have been thinking about remodeling or adding on to your house. You called you’re local building department and described what you wanted to do. They said, “You’ll need plans prepared by an architect for that in order to get a permit.” You had a contractor come over to discuss […]
This week I visited this project in Oakland which converted an existing detached garage into a studio cottage. We started this project a little more than a year ago and now it is very near complete. The owners are waiting on the Murphy bed to arrive, and they want to […]