Blue Dog Residence by smitharc architects Photo © Keith Isaacs

filip dujardin

Foto Kai Schlender, www.bugks.com

iris melt

Fredric J. Ueckert

Paul Bardagjy

Photographer: Jay Goodrich This 2800 sf single-family home was completed in 2009. The clients desired an intimate, yet dynamic family residence that reflected the beauty of the site and the lifestyle of the San Juan Islands. The house was built to be both a place to gather for large dinners with friends and family as well as a cozy home for the couple when they are there alone. The project is located on a stunning, but cripplingly-restricted site overlooking Griffin Bay on San Juan Island. The most practical area to build was exactly where three beautiful old growth trees had already chosen to live. A prior architect, in a prior design, had proposed chopping them down and building right in the middle of the site. From our perspective, the trees were an important essence of the site and respectfully had to be preserved. As a result we squeezed the programmatic requirements, kept the clients on a square foot restriction and pressed tight against property setbacks. The delineate concept is a stone wall that sweeps from the parking to the entry, through the house and out the other side, terminating in a hook that nestles the master shower. This is the symbolic and functional shield between the public road and the private living spaces of the home owners. All the primary living spaces and the master suite are on the water side, the remaining rooms are tucked into the hill on the road side of the wall. Off-setting the solid massing of the stone walls is a pavilion which grabs the views and the light to the south, east and west. Built in a position to be hammered by the winter storms the pavilion, while light and airy in appearance and feeling, is constructed of glass, steel, stout wood timbers and doors with a stone roof and a slate floor. The glass pavilion is anchored by two concrete panel chimneys; the windows are steel framed and the exterior skin is of powder coated steel sheathing.

Architecture by Mark Brand Architecture Photos by Chris Stark

Another view of the master bathroom looking toward the toilet compartment with its frosted glass panel barn door. The bathroom has access to the spa and pool beyond.

Modern Home Dallas Texas

Bay Area Custom Cabinetry: wine bar sideboard in family room connects to galley kitchen. This custom cabinetry built-in has two wind refrigerators installed side-by-side, one having a hinged door on the right side and the other on the left. The countertop is made of seafoam green granite and the backsplash is natural slate. These custom cabinets were made in our own award-winning artisanal cabinet studio. This Bay Area Custom home is featured in this video: http://www.billfryconstruction.com/videos/custom-cabinets/index.html

photos: Matthew Millman This 1100 SF space is a reinvention of an early 1960s unit in one of two semi-circular apartment towers near San Francisco’s Aquatic Park. The existing design ignored the sweeping views and featured the same humdrum features one might have found in a mid-range suburban development from 40 years ago. The clients who bought the unit wanted to transform the apartment into a pied a terre with the feel of a high-end hotel getaway: sleek, exciting, sexy. The apartment would serve as a theater, revealing the spectacular sights of the San Francisco Bay.