Project 1
ROCHE+ROCHE Landscape Architecture
Napa, CA, USA
Rural Craftsman
Design Statement: This Craftsman influenced garden features a pool cabana that combines open-air trellised lounge and dining areas with motorized sunshades and heaters, with a covered grilling area and a fully enclosed kitchen. Beyond are a bathroom/changing room with outdoor shower, and a storage room.
The cabana sits adjacent to and slightly elevated above the pool and lawn areas to capture views of the owner’s vineyards and the rolling hills beyond.
Automated sunshades and quartz heaters at the lounge and dining areas provide comfort when the sun is low, the breeze picks up or the evening grows chilly.
The kitchen with sink, refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher and ample work areas features custom glass pocket doors so it can be fully open to the cabana when in use, and weather- and critter-tight when closed.
Project 2
Red Bark Design, LLC
Tucson, AZ, USA
Design Statement: This historic home rests among an eclectic mix of architectural styles along the Santa Cruz River in Tucson, Arizona. A recent commercial building development included an 8′ high perimeter wall on the adjacent parcel. It replaced a native mesquite bosque, which altered the art-filled naturalistic space into something that felt more like jail than a residential backyard. As a result, the backyard was remodeled to mediate the less than friendly atmosphere and included an outdoor kitchen area, new ramada, edible gardening space, and location for a future guest-house, and native vegetation. Materials such as steel, concrete, and decomposed granite were used for their tolerance to the harsh desert sun. An existing wooden ramada was replaced by a larger ramada made of steel and a corrugated metal roof – complete with a cocktail rail for beverages and a work of contemporary art for roof run off. The modern steel rain chain and custom gutter collects water, and directs flow to adjacent native plantings.
Ramada with Trellis in the Background
Cocktail Rail
Roof Detail
Contemporary Functional Art – Rain Chain – Drainage
Custom Gutter/Rain Chain
White Marble Rain Chain Detail
Project 3
Maggie Anthony Designs
Nashville, TN, USA
The Shelter
Design Statement: “The Shelter” – clad with locally harvested Eastern Red Cedar – serves as studio office space for the homeowner, offering a peaceful place for creative and therapeutic work. The north end houses the garden shed and the metal roof serves as a rain catchment system to water nearby vegetable beds. The south wall features exterior art (commercial HVAC panels and vintage auto insignias & truck door) among naturalized yucca and ornamental grasses.
Veggie “Bedroom”
The Shelter in situ
Vintage auto insignia art on HVAC panels
Entry bed: junipers and Hinoki cypress
Desk & Library w/centered view
Bird’s eye view
Project 4
Nest Menders
Perrysburg, OH, USA
Pottery Studio
Design Statement: After trying to work on my ceramic work at group studios, being able to create in a place right in my backyard was a dream realized. The ability to be in my studio at any time, any day of the week with no commuting.allows me to work as we’ll as check on kiln firings and projects in progress was ideal. I can view my kitchen garden and other parts of the yard from the space. Christopher Jones of Nest Menders understood my vision and created this personal space that is just steps away from the house.
Backyard pottery Studio built by Nest Menders for Cheryl Takata.
The kitchen garden that is situated in front the studio.provides an idyllic view from inside the studio.
The sign.
Interior wall near the potter’s wheel.
Project 5
kantelberg + co
Mulmur Township, Canada
Mulmur outdoor lounge
Design Statement: To create a 3 season entertainment room in the Canadian countryside. Must be screened to protect from bugs, and roofed to protect from elements. Loungy open air seating, with cooking facilities, fireplace and storage.
Screened window vignette.
Outdoor lounge wide shot.
Fireplace frontal view.
Raised outdoor fireplace vignette.
Love wood and faux wood bucket.
Project 6
Sweeds Fabrication
Tucson, AZ, USA
Dunbar Spring Residence
Design Statement: The Ramada Deck was designed to replace an existing dilapidated structure in an historic neighborhood in Tucson, Arizona. The clients wanted an expansion of their home through an outdoor room, shade, and an observation deck. The result offers spectacular views of the western mountains, year round sunsets, and stargazing not to mention the perfect gathering space for an outdoor pool party. The Ramada Deck is 10′ tall and constructed primarily of steel with wood accents to withstand the region’s year round blazing desert sun. A trellis (soon to be planted with a vine) runs along the west edge for screening and provides additional shade from the western sun. A cocktail rail runs the east edge to hold cold beverages – of course. The upper deck is constructed to support roof top gatherings. A removable custom ladder with Oak treads leads upwards, where collapsible handrails engage for safety. When the rooftop deck is not in use, the rails fold in and the ladder is removed to prevent the littlest owners from playing rooftop hide and seek.
Ramada/deck with ladder.
Custom oak and steel ladder.
Cocktail rail.
Collapsible railings.
West trellis/screen.
Latch detail.
Project 7
Whitten Architects
Scarborough, ME, USA
Cole Farm Residence
Design Statement: This contemporary farmhouse in southern Maine takes its cues from an historic 1915 milking barn that was once part of a dairy. Built of hemlock and spruce with mortise-and-tenon joinery, the 40- by 60-foot timber frame barn was no longer in use, but remained in excellent condition. The barn was relocated to the site and designed a new farmhouse to go with it, creating a modern connected farmstead that would serve as a lifetime home for a couple with adult children and grandchildren. Portions of the Barn were converted to a wood working workshop for the home owner.
Wood working workshop.
Workshop.
Terrace.
Siding detail.
Barn meets new house.
Original barn.
Project 8
Rees Roberts and Partners
Hudson, NY, USA
Entertaining Barn
design_statement: This project involved the adaptive reuse of a barn that sits on a 100-acre former working farm in Hudson, NY. The objective of the project was to create a living and entertaining space while leaving the existing structure aesthetically intact. The barn is an L-shaped structure; one wing was a hayloft and granary, while the other wing was a dairy stable. The hay barn, which was made into a space for entertaining, was kept uninsulated, and many of the found details, such as the gaps in the cladding, were kept. When in use, the barn emits a lantern-like glow in the blue light of Hudson Valley evenings, a beckoning effect that is acutely appropriate for a reception space. The timber structure was restored where necessary, and a gently sloping stone ramp, reminiscent of the earth and masonry ramps traditionally used in hay barns, was added at the entrance. The exterior cladding of the dairy barn was kept intact, though insulation and conditioning were added within the exterior shell to create a livable space. This wing now houses a screening room, bedroom, bath, and garage. The overall result is a compound that adheres closely to American farm vernacular and manages to enhance, not replace, the ambience of the original structure and landscape.
The barn sits adjacent to the farmhouse and provides additional sleeping and living quarters for guests.
An earth and stone ramp, appropriate to the vernacular of hay barns, gently slopes to the entrance.
The asymmetrical fenestration is both appropriate to the original vernacular and intriguingly abstract.
Sliding panels reveal an opening that was originally the hay loft.
The guest wing at twilight.
At night, the barn takes on a jewel-box quality on the vast landscape.
[Project 9 Removed.]
Project 10
James Dixon Architect PC
Chatham, NY, USA
Sharon Pool Barn
Design Statement: Our client approached us to renovate a dilapidated barn which detracted from an otherwise pristine estate in Sharon, Connecticut. The barn had been neglected by previous owners and was not only an eyesore, but a safety concern as well. Programmatic elements include a basketball court, performance stage and a home theater, as well as guest rooms and a full kitchen. A roof terrace provides sweeping views over the rural landscape. Operable window walls open the building to the exterior much like the original barn doors.
A tractor ramp provides easy access to the building from the pool.
Folding glass doors blur the lines between interior and exterior spaces.
The lower level features a basketball court.
The pool barn at twilight.
A view of the dilapidated barn before our intervention.
