We are excited to be working with the owners of this house who have a such a vision for simplicity of form and materials. The simplicity of the form is enlivened by the beauty and life of the materials: true slate roof, exposed timbers, and thoughtfully laid stone that has been hand-cut on-site. As the eye ranges over this house it is not bored, nor is it over-stimulated by many elements competing for attention, rather the order, pattern and beauty of materials bring life to the structure. When it is completed, we hope that visitors will feel like they’ve stepped across the ocean, if only for a minute.

See more pictures after the break…

Drop by the next time you are in Townsend and look through the gallery, you might even get a tour of the shop while you are there. Following are some photos from our visit…

Custom cabinetry by W.B. Richardson

Buffet with integral lighting

Wade is also known for his stick furniture. Looks great in a cabin.

Top-of-the-line washer/dryer concealed behind custom cabinets

The forge used to make custom hardware

Jonathan Miller Architects is pleased to announce that one of our recently completed projects has been certified as an ENERGY STAR 2.5 Qualified Home. A typical Energy Star home is 20%-30% more energy efficient than an average new home. We are proud to be involved in a project that is making efforts to respect the environment by reducing energy consumption.

The design is a classical, tripartite design, the central element being a covered waiting area which is flanked by bathroom facilities, a storage area and future room for stairs and an elevator to a second level viewing deck which will also connect via a bridge to an adjacent senior living complex. The facade utilizes simple brick-veneer with a heavy stone base. The brackets and awnings echo those of a nearby train station which is one of the oldest structures in the town. The hope is that this building will look like it has always been there.

Extending out from the side is a covered bicycle storage area. Commuters can ride from their home to the Transit Center, lock their bike in a secure bike-locker (looks just like a school locker, but bike sized), and ride the bus to their destination. Mounted on the roof which covers the bike storage are solar panels which contribute to the lighting and power needs of the building.

The developer of this project has shown great devotion to executing truly sustainable design concepts, from rain gardens and green roofs to bike storage and solar. This Transit Center is only one part of the whole development which is now leading the way in sustainable developments.

To find out more about Woodlands Perryville, its developer, Town Point Development, and the forward looking sustainable concepts that they are implementing, go to their website (www.woodlandsperryville.com) or find them on Facebook.

Architectural education, at many schools, now consists of egotistical, fanciful designs full of landscape forms, digitally inspired chaos, and uniqueness at all costs. Uniqueness is prized most of all in the arts now and often leads designers into the realm of the absurd as they search for the next unique thing that will land them on top. This search for uniqueness has pushed designers away from the real materials that the master-builder manipulated to create his buildings, and has done so especially during the formative years of school when budgets and real world construction problems don’t have to be accounted for. We learn how to design with very few constraints and very little experiential understanding of the materials we are calling into being when we draw a line or model a wall. The master-builder often rose up through the ranks of the construction site, giving him first hand knowledge of how the materials he was calling for could be used. Working within the restraints of the material, his creativity allowed him to produce myriad iterations of natural uses of those materials. Thus, his creativity was born out of the very restraints of the materials versus bending the materials to the abstract inventions of his whim.

In the architectural practice of today, many of the same problems exist that are in the schools. It makes sense since the graduates end up in practice. But there are other things in the practice that the demise of the architect-craftsman has precipitated, namely a lack of authority in the construction process. The issue is complex, and is surely affected by other circumstances such as a highly litigious development environment and a general decline of appreciation for great beauty and craft in society around us, but surely the lack of experiential construction knowledge on the part of the architect has led to a decline of his authority on the jobsite. The contractor has replaced the architect as the one knowledgeable in putting things together. On the other hand, the architect has taken away much of the creativity that the builder once employed while constructing the things he built, often forcing the builder to do unnatural things with the materials he is using.

Finally we see an area of hope for the master-builder in design/build firms. These firms at their smallest combine architect and contractor into one person and in their larger manifestations employ a close-knit team of like-minded professionals who do both the design and the building of the projects they complete. In the smaller firms where the architect is the builder, we see the remnant of the master-builder still holding strong. If he doesn’t come out of the construction side of his vocation then his first few projects give him a crash course in experiential materials. And if he comes from the construction side, his natural inclination to tweak and adjust and manipulate how he puts his building materials together will soon blossom into a sharp design eye backed up by his experience with the nature of the materials he works with. We hope that by continuing to educate ourselves on the materials we employ and by gaining experience working with them we can restore a bit of the tradition of the master-builder to our profession.

The Knoxville Parade of Homes is just around the corner, literally! Beginning today, October 1st, and running the next three weekends, Friday through Sunday of each weekend, 26 homes around town will be open for viewing from noon until 5pm each day. The event is completely free and showcases some of the newest homes and latest interior design trends in the area. Jonathan Miller Architects is pleased to have three homes from our studio included in the Parade this year (if you get the Parade guide, they are homes 2, 12 & 14).

We hope you get a chance to visit some of the homes while they are open to the public. This is an exciting opportunity for the general public to see some of our latest projects as they come to fruition. We are honored that they are included in this year’s Parade.

As always, the builders are the real heroes. They are the ones out on the site every day making sure all the little details are in, from foundation to finishes. A big thanks to Charles Atkins of Charles R. Atkins, Inc. and to Mike Dulin of Ethics Construction. They make it happen.

For at least one project we are currently working, the why doesn’t hide. It actually runs up to greet you when you arrive, flashing a huge smile, it asks you to take it’s picture (which you can see right below…), it grabs your hand and won’t let go.

The why is the children of One Vision International’s orphanage in Haiti. The challenge is building a new home for them. Nothing fancy, just something to put a roof over their heads, something that will have a better chance at withstanding hurricanes and earthquakes than the buildings they inhabited in the past. Something that might give them a chance in a country that more often than not takes chances away. These children are the future of Haiti. If you can’t change Haiti now, change its future, or at least give it a chance.

Drop by One Vision’s website, give a buck or two and see what they are up to in Haiti and elsewhere.

It was fun seeing Warroad, MN – aka Hockeytown, USA and was very impressed with every person I meet there.   For a great article on Warroad’s love for hockey read this NYT article.   I love small town America and was reminded that it is the backbone of this great country.  I am sure it has not been without pain that Marvin has kept Warroad and the surrounding region working during this difficult economic time without layoffs – Amazing Job!

Thanks to Mike St. John and Bob Davis with Marvin Window Concepts for making the trip happen.