If you haven’t been to Madison, Wisconsin, you should go. Make sure you go in the warmer months as things tend to get a bit cold up there in the winter, but on any given Spring or Summer day you will find the city filled with bicyclists and pedestrians, walking and riding the greenways, enjoying the two (big!) lakes that sidle up on either side of the downtown, and living in the great urban environment that Madison has become.

There are so many things to like a about Madison that it is hard to choose what to do if you only have a long weekend to be there. The essential list for someone interested in experiencing some great urban life would probably include:

1. Staying in one of the downtown neighborhoods. The city is built on an isthmus between lake Monona and lake Mendota and that’s where all the best urban action happens. The terrain is flat which allowed the planners to smack down a grid which makes for some great traditional neighborhoods.

2. Renting a bicycle and using that as transportation. It won’t take you long to figure out that about half of the town does the same thing, every day. Make sure to ride over to the Capitol Building on a Saturday morning during the spring and buy some fresh local produce from one of the Nation’s largest farmer’s markets. Also, don’t miss the beautiful, bike-friendly greenways down by the lakes.

3. After the Farmer’s Market, take a tour of the Wisconsin Capitol Building, a beautifully designed building that will have you walking around with your camera glued to your eye. You see a couple pictures of it here, but exploring the building is half the fun. This is one of the few examples of a great public building that you can still enjoy without getting searched as you enter and without feeling like you are limited to only a few interior vantage points. So much of the building is open to explore…don’t miss the viewing patio at the top.

4. For Frank Lloyd Wright fans there are plenty of his works nearby, including the Unitarian Meeting House directly in Madison.

5. Last, but not least, the Terrace at the University of Wisconsin offers a taste of the European square right in the heart of America. Take an afternoon to slow down a bit, grab a beer from the Student Center, play cards, wax philosophical and watch the sailboats float by on Lake Mendota. You won’t regret it.

We love this place…. and if you love homes, planning, architecture (particularly English Tudor), gardens, and trees you must put this place on your bucket list.  Forest Hills Gardens was developed by the Russell Sage Foundation in 1909 and largely completed by 1940.  The Architect was the brilliant Grosvenor Atterbury and the Landscape Architect renowned Fredrick Law Olmstead.   We have never seen a development that has such a wide array of residential offerings, from single family homes, garden homes and carriage houses to apartments and duplex homes.  In addition to the wonderful homes, there are several outstanding church buildings, a train station, parks, and a marvelous commercial center.  The design ideas found at Forest Hills are endless.  This community will be loved forever and for that reason it is truly a “green development”. No modern “cutting edge” development will ever improve on the timeless beauty and rightness found in Forest Hills Gardens.

For additional reading on this development get a copy of The Architecture of Grosvenor Atterbury and/or Tudor Style. Either book is a great addition to the library.

Above you see masons working on a brick sample, performing a technique called mortar washing.  In recent years this has become a popular way of giving  brick a look that is somewhere between painted brick and stucco.  We worked with the masons to find the desired effacement, or brick exposure, for this French-eclectic-style home.  We wanted a formality to the home with a wall that expresses age but is not rustic, so we elected to use a three step process of applying the mortar by trowel, brushing it clean, and then lightly rubbing the wall with a dry rag to expose some of the raised corners of the brick.  We really love the sample and are excited about seeing the wall completed.

Just returned from Asheville, NC where I was attending to my father who is recovering from surgery, and yes, even in a serious time like that, I could not resist the urge to take a quick drive through a few downtown neighborhoods. I came away refreshed and inspired by Asheville’s rich architectural tradition and with plans to spend more time there in the near future.

It is very hard finding communities in the US that have their own local style of architecture.  But in Asheville you can find the same architectural theme on homes and commercial buildings: pebble-dash stucco walls, half-timbering, cedar shake accents, broad overhanging eaves with dove-tail rafters, timbered brackets supporting deep gable ends, and warm earth-tone colors resting on split-face granite foundations.  The best term I have found for this style comes from The Architectural Pattern Book by Urban Design Associates: “Biltmore Mountain Shingle” (p. 184).

Above are some prominent examples of this style. They are (top to bottom) the Southern wing of the Manor Inn and Cottages on Charlotte Street, a cottage once associated with the Manor Inn, and the new Grand Bohemian Hotel in Biltmore Village. Next time you are in town be sure to go by both locations. They are great examples of Asheville’s living tradition of a timeless local architectural style that is making Asheville one of our Nation’s most loveable places.

When first approached by the developer to design a group of neighborhood market buildings, we felt it was vitally important that these buildings feel like they had always been there and look like part of the existing community.  So we designed the them using traditional types and forms that are consistent with East Tennessee downtowns and building materials from our region.  The buildings were designed to bring the street alive with shopping, dining, and play.  The use of large glass picture windows, transoms, and glass doors create a direct connection between the shops and their customers without sacrificing the old town feel that is so cherished but rarely found in our suburban culture.  Each building also has offices above that can be accessed from the sidewalk below through the arched entryways.

Our hope is that this center, and many more like it, will create something not previously possible in suburban Residential Zones: a place to gather for a morning bagel, a haircut at the barbershop, a gathering of families outside the ice cream parlor; that these would become new beloved places where business takes place and communities can gather to share life and good times for generations to come.

Every so often we stretch our wings and reluctantly try new construction materials.  I say reluctantly because we have been burnt in the past by materials that were cutting edge and overtime ended up being major problem products: ie, PVC membrane roofing, EIFS, and most recently Tendura Plank porch decking.

However, after consulting with members of our project team we felt it was time to try an insulation system we have been hearing about for several years now – Icynene.  We decided to use it on a LEED-certified and Energy STAR qualified project in Knoxville, TN.  The Icynene system’s strength is not in a higher R-value as much as in its ability to seal the home tightly and prevent unwanted air leakage.

Iceynene explains on their wesite that “R-value measures energy moving in and out of a home through the insulation material (conduction).  But the real energy-waster is air leakage (convection) – the cause of up to 40% of a home’s energy loss (Source: U.S. Department of Energy).”

I like how quite this insulating system makes the home even before gypsum board is applied.  I also like the ability to insulate the ceiling deck so that all attic mechanical ducts are within the insulated envelope of the home providing additional energy performance.  And it is fun making hand and face prints in the stuff before the wall boards go up.  Once the insulation is installed, the house is so tight that the HVAC system must provide fresh air to keep the indoor air healthy for the inhabitants, so a poor mechanical system with this product could be a real problem.  My biggest complaint about Icynene so far is the strong odor the product emits when being installed.  Also, like most chemically created products, it consumes a great deal of energy during manufacturing.  Icynene cost about %40 more than standard Fiberglass batt insulation but the trade off is some significant payback on the utility bill.   In the end, I am confident the product will perform well for the home’s inhabitants for generations to come.

These sketches show a modular house concept we are developing based on a 14′ module. The frame of this house is built in the warehouse in 14′x14′x50′ sections, shipped to the future location of your home and assembled on site. This method of construction combines the best parts of modular homes (i.e. trailers) with custom, site-built homes. It provides the efficiency and controlled environment of a factory while breaking out of the 15′x50′ or 30′x50′, height-limited boxes that modular homes have been relegated to in the past. Just like building with legos; you’re limited only by your imagination.

Serenity

A perfect garden, no matter what its size, should enclose nothing less than the entire universe.  -Barragan

Can you find the garage?

Can you see it now?

Hidden Garage Entry

This home was built in the mid-1930s and is one of our all-time favorite garage designs.  If it were raised up to ground level, this three car garage would be the first thing seen in the approach to the house.  But, due to the ingenious design, it fades out of view.  We are fascinated by the architect’s decision to design it as a subterranean structure.  It is lovely on the back side and completely disappears from the front entry side.  This design solution would be perfect for a downhill building lot.