Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Pickleball, a mashup of tennis, badminton and ping-pong, is trending, and luxury real estate developers are racing to keep up.

About 4.8 million people play, according to USA Pickleball, the sports governing body. The game can range from a social activity to play with children to a fast-paced, competitive match.

Everyone calls pickleball the great equalizer, said Matt Nixon, the chief marketing officer at Southworth Development. You could be 10 years old, 12 years old, playing with anyone of any age. He said that for the Abaco Club, a development owned by Southworth in The Bahamas, the recreational activity serves as a key channel for building community around health, wellness and the enjoyment of the sport.

For some buyers downsizing from country club neighborhoods, pickleball is already a daily hobby. Theyre drawn to onsite courts because it affords a sense of community close to home.

More: Courtyard Houses for $10 Million and Up

Buyers are definitely asking about pickleball, said Wendy Pines, the sales director for the Casamar Residences, starting at $1.5 million, in Pompano Beach, Florida. Theyre excited were going to have it on the property and it appeals to people of all ages. Its become a popular social activity where people can come together and congregate. A lot of people play doubles, like in tennis. You always have people waiting to jump into the game. Its become that popular.

Since pickleball appeals to all ages, many kinds of properties can benefit from offering courts as a part of their amenity packages. Far from stripped-down public park facilities, pickleball courts are popping up in luxury developments from coast to coast with thoughtful touches including plush seating and branded equipment.

Whether its a retirement community, a housing development thats master planned with a variety of product types for different ages and demographics or a private club, you name it, theyre adding pickle[ball], said Mary Cook, a Chicago-based designer specializing in multi-family developments and amenity facilities.

The Case for New Pickleball Courts

Requiring little more than a badminton-size court, a 34-inch net, paddles and a perforated plastic ball, pickleball is easier to accommodate than other popular amenities, such as golf courses, swimming pools or bowling alleys. Developers are pulling out all the stops, often pairing the recreational activity with cocktail bars and other socially minded additions.

In Miami, the Standard Residences opted to design an indoor court that can be converted into a party room. Giant disco balls will spin from the ceiling, while spectators and players can don branded apparel and paddles styled after the Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums. The building, with pieds-a-terre offered in the mid $700,000s, is expected to be completed in 2023.

We were thinking about what type of sport we could put in the building without affecting the people there. If you put in paddle[ball] or bowling, it can get too noisy and that becomes an issue, said Carlos Rosso, the CEO of Rosso Development, the company behind the Standard Residences. We have a karaoke bar that bleeds into the pickleball court area, so that whole scene will be a very cool way of activating the building.

In The Bahamas, the Abaco Club transformed an underutilized area into pickleball courts and a basketball half-court. The bright blue courts are along a quiet, palm tree-lined road a stones throw from the beach. Lights illuminate the courts for evening matches. Cottages on the Caribbean property are priced up to $3 million and villas are expected to be priced up to $12 million.

More: Mothers Day Gifts for the Mom Who Takes Pride in Her Home

Its opened up the whole area and changed the dynamic, said Matt Young, the Abaco Clubs director of outdoor pursuits. Plans are underway to build an outlet of sorts, with a coffee stand in the mornings where people can sit and watch pickleball or have a cup of coffee in between games.

In the evenings, players and spectators will be able to grab a beer or cocktail while enjoying a game.

Making Use of Existing Tennis and Basketball Courts

Before installing dedicated courts, luxury developers can try out pickleball at their facilities for a negligible price. They can add lines to existing tennis and basketball courts and roll out temporary nets.

The Abaco Club gauged residents interest in the game by adding stripes to its tennis court before committing to the smaller-sized courts. The residential developer Optima Inc., which owns properties in Scottsdale, Arizona and Chicago, did the same by painting stripes on indoor basketball courts.

The requirements are similar to those of an indoor basketball court, so its been an easy addition. The most important thing to consider in planning a pickleball court is space and creating the striping overlay on the existing court in a way thats cohesive, said David Hovey Jr., AIA, president, COO and principal architect of Optima, Inc.

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To meet demand, theyve planned an outdoor pickleball stadium at their forthcoming luxury apartment tower, 7190 Optima Kierland. The 216-unit tower is slated to open in 2023 in Scottsdale, with prices ranging from $1.75 million to $3.25 million. Were excited to build resident programming around this newest feature, possibly hosting a tournament, Mr. Hovey said.

Taking It to the Next Level With Lessons and Coaching

Coaches, who act as ambassadors of the sport, can rally excitement for residents, organize tournaments and take the pastime to the next level. Typically, coaches are experienced racket sports players and natural community organizers.

Fun Bob is our resident pro tennis and pickleball player. Hes involved with all the lessons, hosting tournaments on a weekly basis, Mr. Young said. Hes also involved in the local community program; hes a fantastic guy and our members love him. Hes a great tennis and pickleball player, and sometimes his line calls are questionable, so you need to keep an eye out for that.

Celebrities, too, can add to the excitement around the sport. We want to bring famous artists to the opening of the pickleball court, Mr. Rosso said. I dont know if you know, but Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, Ellen DeGeneres and even Kim Kardashian have pickleball courts at their homes. Maybe we can get them to play doubles.

More: With Working From Home Prevalent Across Australia, Two Are Better Than One When It Comes to Home Offices

Comfort From the Elementsand for the Spectators

If not indoors, courts require a less windy location than tennis due to the lightweight, perforated plastic ball at play. Even if a court is surrounded by lush tropical palms and cabanas, being too close to ocean wind can zap the fun out of a game.

We took into consideration the location because you dont want to have a lot of wind involved with such a light ball. The building blocks the wind from the ocean, Ms. Pines said of Casamars planned court in close proximity to the ocean in Pompano Beach.

Its common for people to watch matches while waiting for their time on the court. Luxury developers are taking this into consideration, building out cabanas and cafe structures to support all who meet around the sport.

The goal is to make a pickleball court a very inviting area with shade and seating for spectators, along with a summer kitchen, so it can be more of an event instead of pickleball all by itself, Ms. Pines said.

More: Homes With Wild Family-Friendly Features Ensure Your Kids Will Never Be Bored

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Pickleball Takes Its Place as the Must-Have Luxury Amenity - Mansion Global

T

he title of mom extends far past motherhood. It also carries the duties of chauffeur, doctor, teacher, and chef. With all those job titles, it's a must to put some effort into praising her every year and making sure she stays out of the kitchen on her special day. Breakfast in bed can feel played out so why not let her sleep in and instead take her to brunch?

You can't cut any corners when it comes to celebrating Mother's Day so it's better to make reservations in advance of the big day, Sunday, May 8. Houston's best brunches are gearing up for a family-filled arena - here's where you should go.

Pondicheri:If mom prefers a more glam brunch experience, this buzzy Upper Kirby restaurant will add some color and spice into her life. Shell love the chefs' picture-perfect dishes and the Bake Labs sweet treats. Plus, as a woman-run establishment, owner Anita Jaisinghani knows just what mom needs, and thats the restaurant's Mothers Day gift box, which comes with skin oils, and baked goodies, including the infamous Crack Balls. Menu specials start at $12. Gift box is $50.

Pondicheri, 2800 Kirby Dr., B 132.

Bloom & Bee:After you surprise mom with a Deep Knead massage from The Spa at Post Oak Hotel, you can head to the main lobby for a three-course brunch that will serve as the perfect backdrop for a mother-daughter day. With a view overlooking the hotel pool, shades of pink sprinkled throughout the restaurant, and a full bar with cocktails perfectfor the occasion, you and mom will be set for the ultimate photo-op. Entrees include vegetable wellington, corned beef hash and eggs, and grilled Alaskan salmon. Plus, indulge her in some sweet treats at the dessert buffet, offering Praline Paris Brest, Pina Colada Verrine, and Hummingbird Cupcakes. $75 per person.

Bloom & Bee, 1600 W Loop S.

The Warwick:Who doesnt love a complimentary mimosa? The newly opened Galleria restaurant will hand mom the well-deserved cocktail when she walks in the door. Dont be surprised if she says the restaurant feels familiar, its the same building as the former Houstons restaurant. The cozy booths are great if you want to have a a more intimate time with mom and express your love for her over succulent plates such as the Hawaiian Ribeye, Charbroiled Gulf Oysters, and the Snapper Orleans.

The Warwick, 5888 Westheimer Rd.

B&B Butchers & Restaurant:Tell mom to get dressed to the nines and take her to this Washington Corridor restaurant. The stellar wine cellar will indeed have her favorite red or white, or she can sip her complimentary Bellini. Dont forget to request a handy purse rack so mom has somewhere to store her bag and keep her hands and arms free for gifts and hugs. Ask to sit on the patio, where you'll get to enjoy live music and a picture with the longhorns out front for a memorable Mothers Day photo.

B&B Butchers & Restaurant, 1814 Washington Ave.

B.B. Lemon:Your mom wont lifta finger at B.B. Lemon except to eat those delicious blue crab beignets and to drink her on-the-house mimosa. Sit outside to appreciate the good weather and the live music under the cabanas, and be sure to tell mom she can order whatever she wants, even if that means a dozen oysters on the half shell.

B.B. Lemon, 1809 Washington Ave.

Turners:Old-world charm and sophistication are the characteristics that embody this Galleria area diner. Brunch here is a dining experience like no other. Executive Chef Robert Del Grande and Chef de Cuisine Jose Valencia curated a menu with Turner's reserve caviar, steak tartare, and monkey bread french toast. She will dine while being serenaded by Henry Darragh and Barry Sames, who will perform live. $250 per person.

Turners, 1800 Post Oak Blvd. Entrance on Ambassador Way.

The Annie Cafe & Bar:This bustling Uptown eatery is the epitome of class; moms will get to bask in the sophisticated ambiance from the dimly lit indoor dining room to the patio. Plus, Moms get a free mimosa or Bellini, while the kiddos are occupied with the balloon artist on site.

The Annie Cafe & Bar, 1800 Post Oak Blvd., Suite #6170.

NoPo Caf, Market & Bar:This quaint North Post Oak restaurant shouldn't be overlooked for brunch with mom, especially if she's a casual diner. You're met with beautiful decor and an inviting ambiance when you walk in. And what mom doesn't want to be welcomed with a cocktail? Satisfy all of her tastebud's desireswhether smoked salmon + schmeer, steak & eggs, or buttermilk pancakes she'll leave feeling satisfied.

NoPo Cafe, Market & Bar, 1244 N Post Oak Rd Suite #150.

Ouisies Table:Families are notorious for passing down antiques, and Ouisies Table reflects that, from the menu to the decor. The Southern restaurant has just the right touch of elegance, and some quirkiness too. Theres a porcelain dog named Patience thats placed throughout the restaurant, and a red dress called Miss Ruby that the owners sister wore in a 1958 debutante ball in Houston. Expect rustic dishes like cornmeal pancakes, grilled beef tenderloin and eggs, and chicken fried chicken. As an additional gift, Ouisies will present each mom with a boxed chocolate at the end of the meal. If mom is looking to escape the crowds Sunday, Ouisies entire menu will be available to-go. Orders should be placed at least several hours in advance of the desired pick-up time.

Ouisies Table, 3939 San Felipe St.

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Where to Get Mother's Day Brunch in Houston - Houstonia Magazine

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on May 31, 2022, at 10:00 a.m., at the offices of Oak Terrace MHP c/o Riverstone Communities located at 1618 Marion Road SE, #175, Rochester, MN 55904, the following property will be sold at public auction by the Sheriff of Olmsted County: A 1978 Nort HS MFG single wide manufactured home, Vin 3139 and any contents therein or about the premises. The manufactured home is located within Oak Terrance MHP c/o Riverstone Communities at 1618 Marion Road SE, #216, Rochester, MN 55904. This sale will be held to satisfy a claim upon the above-described property held by Oak Terrace MHP c/o Riverstone Communities. Upon information and belief, this property is owned by Steven Paul Phillips. The mobile home and contents therein or about the premises was abandoned on January 31, 2022. The amount of the claim against the above referenced property is $5,550.42, computed to the date of sale, exclusive of the expenses of said sale, together with the actual expenses of making said sale. Dated: April 25, 2022 ANDERSON LAW FIRM /s/: Brenda Benitez Brenda Benitez Attorney Registration No.: 0398287 1812 Second Street SW, Suite B Rochester, MN 55902 T: 507 / 536-9933 F: 507 / 536-9391 brenda@carlandersonlaw.com (April 30; May 7 & 14, 2022) 58123

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NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE NOTICE IS HEREBY G - Rochester Post Bulletin

Kohler has launched a limited edition creative AR experience to celebrate the new Statement & Anthem showering collection. The hybrid launch concept extends the boundaries of a showroom by offering digital and physical touchpoints through a Statement & Anthem sculpture, which reflects the colours and finishes of the new collection, and an accompanying QR code which transports the user to a virtual world.

Once the sculpture is configured and the QR code scanned, the user is transported to a virtual world where they can explore different spaces of wellbeing inspired by the stunning design cues of the new Statement Showering Collection and Anthem Digital & Mechanical Controls.The physical pieces create an immersive experience for architects and designers, and encourage Kohlers creative audience to touch and feel the various materials, admire the unique shapes and forms, and build their own configurations.

Our new Statement & Anthem collection represents a generational shift in the shower experience and we wanted to celebrate that, explains Angela Zahn, Kohler Kitchen & Bath Group Director of Global Campaigns and Channel Marketing

As these products break out of traditional bathroom design, by blurring the lines between the bathroom and other interior spaces (Statement forms were inspired by household objects found outside of the bathroom) as well as allowing users to control the shower mechanically or digitally, we saw an opportunity to showcase them by creating a hybrid experience that similarly blurred the lines between home/work, and digital/physical.

The spatially-aware, mobile and webAR browser experience enables participants to step inside a 360 virtual space to explore three beautiful landscapes that showcase Kohlers products. Within these landscapes, participants can find and interact with a life-sized, animated, abstract sculpture inspired by the physical sculpture, as well as rotate, pinch and zoom in to examine the details.

Architects are also able to leverage their own physical environments and transform them into interactive playspaces by virtually walking around, examining the product from all angles, and taking in their surroundings. Each sculpture is accompanied by high-quality product cards containing imagery and helpful specifying information.

Through this immersive hybrid experience, architects and designers can discover the endless ways Kohler products can bring a sense of harmony and revitalization into their designs and create their own spaces of wellbeing.

We understand our audience of global architects, designers, developers and hoteliers gains so much more from an experience that can be seen, felt, and appreciated in the context of a physical environment, continues Angela. Therefore, the creative team landed on a concept that was both transportive and grounded, while embracing the constraints of a remote setting in a thoughtful, sophisticated, and innovative way.

Gift boxes containg the sculpture, product codes and portal QR code have been sent to 500 key figures in the architect and design community. As travel resumes, the AR experience will be featured at Kohler events and retail locations, providing Kohler with an opportunity to enable its customers to explore both the physical and digital world of Kohler Showering simultaneously.

https://experience.kohlerglobalshowers.com

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Kohler turns to AR to immerse architects and designers in latest launch - TOPHOTELNEWS

When I first moved to Toronto about a decade ago, Tel Aviv-born, Paris-educated architect and urban designer Naama Blonder recalls, the one complaint I heard the most was about the ugly condos with cold, monstrous features.

Sound familiar? With condo construction continuing to dominate redevelopment around the city, many fear more bland blocks of steel and green glass will follow. But among developers and city planners, signs of point to a new focus being put on not only what new buildings themselves will look like, but also how they can best fit into existing neighbourhoods and streetscapes.

Fifteen years ago, Toronto established the Design Review Panel, a group of design and landscape architects, transportation engineers and experts in heritage and environmental sustainability, who voluntarily evaluate development proposals and tell the builders as well as city planners how to improve them. (The city also has other panels specializing in waterfront and transit infrastructure development proposals.)

Emilia Floro, Torontos director of urban design and head of the department to which the Design Review Panel provides feedback, says the panel looks at both the esthetics of new buildings as well as their compatibility and fit with the public realm around them streets, parks, open spaces.

Were really focused on the highest quality of life for people using (them), Floro says, and achieving a high quality of architecture, and landscape architecture that incorporates heritage preservation and environmental sustainability.

Floro points to One Bloor Street East as an example of substantial improvement through the Design Review Panel process. The new tower, on the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor, was reshaped at street level to better match Yonge Streets narrower and multiple-unit retail face. Sidewalk space was enlarged and enhanced and provides better weather protection, while the buildings top was refined with an eye toward its significant impact upon the skyline, Floro says.

King Toronto, a massive condo development now under construction on King Street west of Spadina, promises to be a dramatic new addition to the face of the city. Inspired by Moshe Safdies Habitat housing complex built for Expo 67 in Montreal, it stacks terraced units into four main mountains, with each suite facing at a 45-degree angle. This gives the complex an undulating appearance, in contrast to the usual flat wall-and-windows faade.

Ground-level retail will frame wide passageways leading into courtyard of more shops, rigged with a mist-producing cloud-maker for hot summer days. A new public park will mark the south flank.

King Toronto will incorporate several of the streets classic red-brick heritage buildings into its decidedly modern motif. The developments Danish architect, Bjarke Ingels, told the Star in an interview when the development was first announced in 2018, that he understands the importance Toronto places on preserving city streetscapes.

You have to tread carefully when you have existing qualities like we do at King Street, he said.

There should be a way where the two can successfully co-exist. By not confusing whats old and whats new, you preserve the past and reinvent it and contribute something toward the future.

For Naama Blonder, who is the co-founder of Torontos Smart Density design firm (which recently won the 2022 Ontario Association of Architects award for best emerging practice), that compatibility between new developments and their surroundings is key. Design (of the building) matters, design of the public realm matters, design of the ground floor and of retail matters, she says. All of the things that build your experience as a pedestrian will matter far more than just the height of the building or the number of windows.

Blonder says development in Toronto is very bottom-line-driven, and pressures to cut costs have led to the dominance of steel and glass facades. Its the most feasible form of construction, she acknowledges, but its unnatural to the human eye to see the same window hundreds of times in a tall building with hundreds of units. In nature, you dont have anything that repeats itself like that.

In Blonders view, the Ontario College of Art and Design building (completed in 2004) and the Brookfield Place atrium (1992, also home to the Hockey Hall of Fame) are some of the most recent innovative, yet already dated, standouts. Eighty per cent of the architecture in this city is not star flashy buildings, she says.

However, Blonder looks forward to the completion of the Well, the mixed-use residential/retail/office complex and future home of the Toronto Star under development on Wellington Street west of Spadina, praising its design, which includes a beautiful, two-storey, high-ceilinged food court.

For similar reasons, she thinks the redevelopment of the former Honest Eds site at Mirvish Village (to feature a new market area and brewery) holds promise, as does the Waterworks condo on Richmond Street West, which incorporates a large food hall into the Art Deco-inspired public works building constructed in the 1930s.

Its a fact of life in Toronto that most major new builds will be condos. Blonder says because of residential zonings dominance in the city, along with the ongoing demand for new housing, its imperative that the city strike the right balances between new projects design and their integration into their communities.

With Boston or New York, Blonder says, the character is not of one building. Its mostly the streets of the city that create the identity, the brand that you think of.

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Leading architects and city planners share their ideas for Torontos urban vista - Toronto Star

Renew Calumet / wkshp/bluemarble

By Wkshp/bluemarble

A Green New Deal means designers can live up to their potential to address the wicked problems of our time. Landscape architects, planners, and architects may be familiar with the Green New Deal Superstudio, which was a call for designers to spatially manifest the Green New Deal, or to imagine projects centering jobs, justice and decarbonization.

The Superstudio marks an inflection point for landscape architecture. Grounded in policy and the context of climate change and social unrest, the Superstudio is the landscape architecture communitys public acknowledgement that our work is deeply intertwined with politics.

As a collective of young practitioners, we understand the significance of the Green New Deal conversation happening within and outside of our profession. ASLA and the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) have embraced the Green New Deal, and organized students and practitioners to imagine its tangible implications within the built environment. These steps represent real action towards the shift in practice that Billy Fleming, ASLA, the Wilks Family Director at the McHarg Center at the University of Pennsylvania, called for in his 2019 article, Design and the Green New Deal. Like Fleming and the professions organizations, we recognize a shift that needs to happen if landscape architecture is to stand a chance.

It is crucial for landscape architecture to change if we are to have a meaningful contribution toward a habitable future. As Superstudio participants, Wkshp, a team of emerging professionals, viewed the Superstudio as a way to imagine both future projects and adapted practice.

For us, the Superstudio was fulfilling in several ways. With limited experience in professional practice, we found a shared sentiment that our professional experiences were not in complete alignment with what we were sold in school a sometimes romanticized version of our personal career paths and the impact they will have. After a couple of years in practice, we have maintained faith in the potential of landscape architecture to make large-scale change. Perhaps the most significant aspect of the Superstudio was that it prompted us to make space to rekindle our passions and sense of purpose, in ways that often dont fit into typical modes of practice.

What exactly doesnt fit into existing practice and why? While developing our Superstudio submission, our time was dedicated to identifying barriers to implementation and asking questions. Repeatedly, we were brought back to the same power dilemmas, which are beyond the scope of the typical landscape architecture project, but were centered in our Superstudio work: structural racism, a patriarchal society, colonialism, severe economic inequity, and environmental injustice, among others.

Working under the framework of the Green New Deal was liberating it meant that we could transcend the constraints of the current market, and a model of practice formulated to serve it. It allowed us to imagine design processes and projects to serve geographies and communities that have been economically, socially, and environmentally abandoned, while considering how we can work differently.

We imagine a culture that has moved beyond megalomania, utopianism, and individualism. In the Superstudio, we find the seeds of a collaborative realism and inclusive organizing that we are now working to scale and ground. So, a Green New Deal project is not necessarily a new project in its built form, but the where, how, and for whom represent a practice transformed. The Green New Deal creates living infrastructure in places that need it but cant afford it, repairing landscapes that have been endlessly extracted from, preparing underserved communities for unpredictable futures, with an emphasis that it will all be co-designed. This is a new means and mode of practice one of which does not yet exist, but desperately needs to.

The Superstudio was an experiment in process, just as much as it was a design project. Wkshp/bluemarble, a non-hierarchical collective with collaborators from multiple firms working together across three time zones, embodied this ethos throughout. We understand that ethics of flexible leadership and constant growth are critical for facing the challenges of our generation.

The Modernist approach exemplified by architects Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright is a deeply flawed, failed model. We cannot rely on individuals to save the planet. In the same vein, we must stop placing individuals on a pedestal within design culture as a whole. Almost nothing in our field is created or even conceived by a single individual, and its time to acknowledge the power of a team as well as elevate the power of the ideas, rather than praise a single person. On this note, we reject destructive criticism by those in power within our tiny profession. Young designers need support, especially those willing to dedicate a career (or even one year as a thought experiment) to re-conceiving our collective future.

With this transformational spirit, the Superstudio summit, Grounding the Green New Deal, was an opportunity to begin imagining next steps with fellow Superstudio participants and leaders. The summit organized by LAF, with the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, ASLA, and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., featured a curated selection of projects and speakers from practice, policy, and advocacy. The summit which was thought-provoking, informative, and beautifully executed, igniting a series of deep reflections.

Both the immediate and more distant futures of the profession were on display at the summit. For those seeking spark notes on advancing jobs justice and decarbonization, here are some general themes we came away with:

We were especially inspired by the work and vision of organizers such as Colette Pichon Battle, Esq., the executive director of Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy, an organization that is actively bringing justice to front line communities in the Gulf Coast Region, and represents the type of organization that designers could support in projects akin to the Green New Deal. The voices of those with public sector experience stood out as well, such as Mitchell Silver, Hon. ASLA, former Commissioner of New York City Parks & Recreation department. These panelists shared their strategies of working within existing institutions to produce projects embodying the pace, scale, and justice-orientation of the Green New Deal in the now.

Kate Orff, FASLA, founder of SCAPE, and Fleming, both key figures in the Superstudio and the profession at large, provided essential framing through presentations that served as a prompt for advocacy and guide for implementation.

We felt that the lack of organized dialogue among the mass of Superstudio participants was a missed opportunity, and that the format of the summit, while inspiring, felt devoid of the popular, inclusive spirit of the Superstudio. Some challenges mostly of the how do I start doing this right now? variety still need further testing in the real world. For example, once we connect with community organizers, are we prepared to work differently from our normal practice? Can this work happen at scale outside of academic spaces? How does this work get done where there isnt an existing implementation structure, or the structure cannot transcend existing forms of development? How do we scale up this transformative practice outside of the most populous, resource-rich regions of the country?

Urgency is in the air. The summit must be the beginning of a conversation, yes, but most importantly must further contribute to radical action both within and beyond the field locally and globally. Now is the time for landscape architecture to evolve.

Here are our next steps: capacity building, organizing, and, most critically, doubling down on the collective imagination that the Superstudio so radically and meaningfully engaged.

Wkshp/bluemarble is a team of emerging professionals working for transformations within practice and the world at large.

Adriana Hernndez Aguirre, Associate ASLA, Coleman & AssociatesMaddie Clark, Design WorkshopOlivia Pinner, Associate ASLA, SWAAdam Scott, PLA, Associate ASLA, SWANicholas Zurlini, Associate ASLA, GGLO

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Whats Next for the Green New Deal in Landscape Architecture? - American Society of Landscape Architects

ORIGINALLY BUILT IN 1958, THE ARCHITECTS RETREAT IS FULLY UPDATED AND READY FOR ITS NEXT CUSTODIAN

Located in Vancouver, Canada, the Architects Retreat is a residential structure previously occupied by three generation of architects and designers. Originally built in 1958, the house has gone through dedicated renovations directed by the different owners, fully updating it to fulfill contemporary necessities.

Listed by West Coast Modern, this cabin in the woods recently sold for nearly $2.4 million 10% above its asking price.

images by Jesse Laver + Yan Timo, courtesy of West Coast Modern

Built and owned by Henry Yorke Mann a contemporary of Ron Thom and Arthur Erickson the Architects Retreat is located on Clements Avenue in North Vancouver. The original cedar box structure was built at a cost of $8,000 and encompassed only 700 square feet and one bedroom. Made with double tongue-and-groove cedar, the walls were not insulated.

For Mann, the place of the architect is alongside great composers, musicians, painters and poets who aspire to fully express the beauty, depth and mystery of humanity. Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC)

Thirty years later, the house changed owners when architect Perter Buchanan bought it. He began his own renovations, which included the addition of two stories. The resulting 1,910-square-foot plan contains the main bedroom and a den, and a two-bedroom basement suite below. Building on Manns design, Buchanan tested out experimental ideas that would lead to some of Vancouvers most iconic buildings.

It was in fact Buchanan who gave the Architects Retreat its current form, drawing inspirations from aerial and nautical designs.

The new structure was built by repurposing old building materials, Buchanan told West Coast Modern. In fact, all of the fir needed was supplied by one single old growth blown down fir tree taken from Sea Schelt. It was a model and experiment for sustainable environmental design. Anne and I lived in the home for 26 years and raised our two kids Nevada and Max in the home and neighborhood until we sold it and moved to Whistler in 2015.

Finding the right buyer was not easy as its effectively a one-bedroom house on a small lot. Buyers kept telling us they could get double the house for the same price, said Trent Rodney from West Coast Modern.

The current owners the Noel family local designers themselves, completely restored the house maintaining the original feel of the home, while improving its livability. The project earned them North Vancouvers 2018 Heritage Award.

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architect's retreat, a home intervened by three generations of architects + designers - Designboom

A fresh cohort of 38 American creatives have been bestowed with the gift of time and space to think and work and will be headed to the Eternal City this September as recipients of the American Academy in Rome (AAR)s 20222023 Rome Prize.

Awarded annually to fellows working across a range of 11 different disciplines including architecture, landscape architecture, design, and historic preservation and conservation, the Rome Prize that includes a stipend, workspace, and room-and-board at the Academys historic 11-acre campus on the Gianicolo. The Academy, a prestigious research and arts institutiondomestically headquartered in New York City, was first established in 1894 under the leadership of architect Charles McKim of McKim, Mead & White.

RomePrizewinners are selected by independent juries of distinguished artists and scholars through a national competition.

Among the just-announced 20222023 fellows are Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers, founding principals of Minneapolis- and Ithaca, New Yorkbased creative practice Dream The Combine (Newsom and Carruthers are also on the curatorial team of the 2023 Counterpublic Triennial in St. Louis); Michael Meredith and Hilary Sample, principals and founders of New York City-based MOS Architects; Monica Rhodes, Loeb Fellow at Harvard Universitys Graduate School of Design; Los Angeles-based landscape designer and accessibility specialist Alexa Vaughn; Katherine Jenkins and Parker Sutton, co-funding principals of Columbus, Ohiobased landscape architecture studio Present Practice; and Preeti Chopra, a professor in the Department of Art History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, whose research is focused on South Asian architecture and urbanism.

In addition to the 20222023 Rome Prizes, the Academy has also announced the four recipients of the Italian Fellows, a complementary program in which Italian scholars and artists are invited to live and work at the Academy alongside their American counterparts. As detailed by the Academy, this cycle of the Rome Prize competition received 909 applications, with applicants representing 47 states. Like last year, this cycle marks one of the most diverse groups of fellows in the Prizes history, with approximately 46 percent of the winners identifying as people of color. (In 20212022, the figure was 44 percent). Twenty-four percent of the Rome Prize winners were born outside the United States, and the average age of the incoming cohort is 43.

This yearsRomePrizewinners and Italian Fellows represents the diversity of the United States, and their projects build on the Academys commitment to the global impact of the arts and humanities,said Mark Robbins, president and CEO of the AAR in a statement. These fellowships are transformative, and we look forward to seeing the ways this experience is translated in the work to come.

Below is the full list of Rome Prize winners organized by discipline along with the 20222023 Italian Fellows. Following that is a list of jurors for each respective discipline. An in-person prize ceremony, the annual Arthur and Janet C. RossRomePrizeCeremony, was held yesterday the Great Hall at Cooper Union in New York City.

Now, without further adohere are this years class of Rome Prize fellows and Italian Fellows:

Andrew Heiskell Rome Prize:Sarah BeckmannAssistant Professor, Department of Classics, University of California, Los AngelesThe Villa in Late Antiquity: Roman Ideals and Local Identities

Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Rome Prize:Emily L. HurtPhD Candidate, Department of History, Yale UniversityPalimpsest Cities of the Roman Empire

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Rome Prize:Evan JewellAssistant Professor, Department of History, Rutgers University, CamdenYouth and Power: Acting Your Age in the Roman Empire (149 BCE68 CE)

Arthur Ross Rome Prize:Andrew R. LundPhD Candidate, Department of Classics, University of CincinnatiSeneca Comicus: Comic Enrichment and the Reception of the seruus callidus in Senecan Tragedy

Samuel H. Kress Foundation/Emeline Hill Richardson Rome Prize:Lillian Clare SellatiPhD Candidate, Department of the History of Art, Yale UniversityWhen Is Herakles Not Himself? Intentional Iconographic Slippage in Greater Central Asia, 330 BCE to 230 CE

Arnold W. Brunner/Katherine Edwards Gordon Rome Prize:Michael Meredith and Hilary SamplePrincipals and Founders, MOS Architects, New YorkCorviale: One-Kilometer-Long Social Housing

Rome Prize in Architecture:Jennifer Newsom and Tom CarruthersFounding Principals, Dream The Combine, Minneapolis; Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of the Practice, College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Cornell UniversityWandering Stars, Vanishing Points: Overwriting Spatial Imaginaries of Rome

Rolland Rome Prize:John DavisPianist, BrooklynKeys to the Highway: Nineteenth-Century African American Pianists on the Road to Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, and Rock n Roll

Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Rome Prize:Jasmine Hearn and Athena KokoronisDesigners, BrooklynAn introduction TOWARDS A REPERTORY CLOSET

Suzanne Deal Booth Rome Prize:Preeti ChopraProfessor, Department of Art History, University of Wisconsin, MadisonHistoric Preservation, British Monuments, and the Legacy of Ancient Rome in Modern India

Adele Chatfield-Taylor Rome Prize:Monica RhodesLoeb Fellow, Graduate School of Design, Harvard UniversityPreservation and Public Engagement

Gilmore D. Clark and Michael I. Rapuano/Kate Lancaster Brewster Rome Prize:Katherine Jenkins and Parker SuttonPrincipals, Present Practice, Columbus, Ohio; and Assistant Professors of Landscape Architecture, Knowlton School, Ohio State UniversityRoman Aesthetics of Care

Garden Club of America/Prince Charitable Trusts Rome Prize:Alexa Vaughn, ASLALandscape Designer and Accessibility Specialist, Los AngelesSorda Nella Citt Eterna | Deaf in the Eternal City: Deaf and Disabled Storytelling and Creative Investigations in the Aesthetic Intersections of Accessibility and Historic Preservation in Roman Landscapes

John Guare Writers Fund Rome Prize, a gift of Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman:Gina ApostolTeacher, Department of English, Ethical Culture Fieldston SchoolThe Treatment of Paz (novel)

Rome Prize in Literature:Jamel BrinkleyAssistant Professor, Fiction, Program in Creative Writing, Iowa Writers Workshop, University of IowaAnother Life: A Novel

Rome Prize in Literature:Tung-Hui HuAssociate Professor, Department of English, University of MichiganPunishment, an Index

Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize, a gift of the Drue Heinz Trust:Robyn SchiffProfessor, Department of English, Emory UniversityInformation Desk: An Epic

Donald and Maria Cox/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/National Endowment for the Humanities Rome Prize:Lamia BalafrejAssociate Professor, Department of Art History, University of California, Los AngelesCorporeal Instruments: Art, Technology, and Slavery in the Medieval Mediterranean

Samuel H. Kress Foundation Rome Prize:Denva E. GallantAssistant Professor, Department of Art History, University of DelawareIllustrating the Vitae Patrum: The Rise of the Eremitic Ideal in Fourteenth-Century Italy

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Rome Prize:Carolyn J. QuijanoPhD Candidate, Department of History, Columbia UniversityForeign Magistracies and Accountability in the Medieval Italian Communes, c. 12001400

Lily Auchincloss Rome Prize:Saskia K. VerlaanPhD Candidate, Department of Art History, Graduate Center, City University of New YorkBetween Drawing and Script: Asemic Writing by Feminist Artists in Italy 19681980

Millicent Mercer Johnsen/National Endowment for the Humanities Rome Prize:Konstantina ZanouAssistant Professor, Department of Italian, Columbia UniversitySoldiers of Fortune: Two Brothers and the Adventures of Antiquities from the Ottoman Mediterranean to Gilded Age New York

Luciano Berio Rome Prize:Miya MasaokaAssociate Professor and Director, Sound Art, School of the Arts, Columbia UniversityThe Horizon Leans Forward for the International Contemporary Ensemble

Elliott Carter Rome Prize:Christopher StarkAssociate Professor, Department of Music, Washington University in St. LouisPiano Trio

Paul Mellon Rome Prize:Elizabeth G. ElmiVisiting Assistant Professor, Department of Musicology, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillInscribing the Self in Occupied Southern Italy: Culture, Politics, and Identity in Lyric Song Practices of the Aragonese-Ruled Kingdom of Naples

Marian and Andrew Heiskell Rome Prize:Stephanie LeitzelPhD Candidate, Department of History, Harvard UniversityEconomies of Color: Italian Capitalists, Dye Commerce, and the Making of a Global Economy (14501650)

National Endowment for the Humanities Rome Prize:S. Elizabeth PenryAssociate Professor, Department of History, Fordham UniversityThe Italian Renaissance in Diaspora: Jesuit Education and Indigenous Modernities

Rome Prize in Visual Arts:Tony CokesProfessor, Department of Modern Culture and Media, Brown UniversityThe Daily Practice of Representation: The Artist and the Studio

Joseph H. Hazen Rome Prize:Todd GrayArtist, Los Angeles and Akwidaa, Ghanathe hidden order of the whole

Nancy B. Negley Rome Prize:Ester PartegsArtist, New YorkBreathing Structures

Abigail Cohen Rome Prize:Elle PerezAssistant Professor, Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies, Harvard UniversitySurrender

Philip Guston Rome Prize:Ioana M. UricaruAssociate Professor, Department of Film and Media Culture, Middlebury CollegeURSA MAJOR

Philip Guston Rome Prize:Bradford M. YoungOwner and Cinematographer, Bradford Young DP, BaltimoreUntitled GYMR

Franco Zeffirelli Italian Fellow:Edward LossJean Franois Malle Fellow, I Tatti, Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance StudiesThe Pope as a Spymaster: Papacy, Espionage, and Institutions of Information Gathering of Late Medieval Italy (Late Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries)

Marcello Lotti Italian Fellow in Music:Marco MomiMusic Composer, PerugiaCommunity Concerto

Enel Foundation Italian Fellow in Architecture, Urban Design, and Landscape Architecture:Alessandro MulazzaniLandscape Architect, VeniceThe Sea of Rome: A Quest for a Coastal Sustainable Landscape

Fondazione Sviluppo e Crescita CRT Italian Fellow in Visual Arts:Alice VisentinVisual Artist, TurinMalefate

Anna E. Arabindan-KessonAssistant Professor, Departments of African American Studies and Art and Archaeology, Princeton UniversityA Dream of Italy: Black Geographies and the Grand Tour

Emily Greenwood, Jury ChairLaurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Classics and the University Center for Human Values, Princeton UniversitySeth Bernard(2011 Fellow)Associate Professor, Department of Classics, University of TorontoJane D. ChaplinJames I. Armstrong Professor of Classics, Eve Adler Department of Classics, Middlebury CollegeAllison L. C. Emmerson(2019 Fellow)Associate Professor, Department of Classical Studies, Tulane UniversityJinyu LiuProfessor, Department of Classical Studies, DePauw University

Michael Bierut, Jury Chair (2016 Resident)Partner, Pentagram, New YorkJ. Yolande Daniels(2004 Fellow)Principal, studioSUMO; and Associate Professor, Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyFelecia DavisPrincipal, Felecia Davis Studio; and Associate Professor of Architecture, College of Arts and Architecture, Pennsylvania State UniversityGary Hilderbrand(1995 Fellow, 2018 Resident)Principal, Reed-Hilderbrand, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Peter Louis Hornbeck Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design, Harvard UniversityWalter J. Hood(1997 Fellow, 2014 Resident)Creative Director, Hood Design Studio, Berkeley; and Professor of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning and Urban Design, University of California, BerkeleyCalvin Tsao(2010 Resident)Principal, Tsao & McKown Architects, New York

Thompson M. Mayes, Jury Chair (2014 Fellow)Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, DCAmy FreitagExecutive Director, J. M. Kaplan Fund, New YorkStella Nair(2017 Fellow)Associate Professor, Indigenous Arts of the Americas, Department of Art History, University of California, Los AngelesCristina PuglisiConservator and Senior Project Manager, Integrated Conservation Resources and Integrated Conservation Contracting (ICR-ICC), New York

Bruce Smith,Jury Chair (2016 Resident)Professor, Department of English, Syracuse UniversityAlexandra Kleeman(2021 Fellow)Assistant Professor of Writing, Creative Writing Program, New SchoolYiyun LiProfessor of Creative Writing, Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton UniversityMary Jo SalterKrieger-Eisenhower Professor, Writing Seminars, Johns Hopkins University

William Connell, Jury ChairProfessor of History and La Motta Endowed Chair in Italian Studies, Department of History, Seton Hall UniversitySusan Boynton(1999 Fellow)Professor of Music (Historical Musicology), Department of Music, Columbia UniversityJoshua ODriscollAssistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Morgan Library and MuseumJolle Rollo-KosterProfessor of Medieval History, Department of History, University of Rhode IslandTeofilo F. Ruiz(2020 Resident)Distinguished Research Professor (emeritus), Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles

Silvana Patriarca, Jury ChairProfessor of History, Department of History, Fordham UniversitySean S. Anderson(2005 Fellow)Director, Undergraduate BArch Program and Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, Cornell UniversityLeslie Cozzi(2018 Fellow)Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, Baltimore Museum of ArtShelleen GreeneAssociate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media, University of California, Los AngelesGaoheng ZhangAssociate Professor, Department of French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, University of British Columbia

Andrew Norman, Jury Chair (2007 Fellow)Professor of Composition, Juilliard SchoolChen YiLorena Searcy Cravens/Millsap/Missouri Distinguished Professor of Composition, Conservatory, University of Missouri, Kansas CityVittorio Montalti(2014 Italian Fellow)Professor of Composition, Potenza ConservatoryAugusta Read ThomasUniversity Professor of Composition, Department of Music, University of ChicagoBarbara WhiteProfessor, Department of Music, Princeton University

Estelle Lingo, Jury ChairProfessor of Art History and Floyd and Delores Jones Endowed Chair in the Arts, School of Art, Art History, and Design, University of Washington, SeattleSusanna BergerAssociate Professor of Art History and Philosophy, University of Southern CaliforniaMargaret Meserve(2007 Fellow)Glynn Family Honors Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Notre DameJessie Ann OwensDistinguished Professor Emeritus, Music, University of California, DavisNicholas Terpstra(2019 Affiliated Fellow)Professor, Department of History, University of Toronto

Kate Fowle, Jury ChairDirector, MoMA PS1E. V. Day(2017 Fellow)Artist, New YorkAllen Frame(2018 Fellow)Artist and Adjunct Professor, Photography MFA, Pratt InstituteRashid JohnsonArtist, New YorkCarrie Mae Weems(2006 Fellow)Artist and University Artist in Residence, Syracuse University

John Davis Jury ChairPresident, Historic Deerfield, Deerfield, MassachusettsDiana GreenwoldLunder Curator of American Art, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian InstitutionMargaretta LovellProfessor, Jay D. McEvoy Jr. Professor of American Art and Architecture, Department of Art History, University of California, Berkeley

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Dream the Combine, MOS Architects among 202223 Rome Prize winners - The Architect's Newspaper

Technology has always played a role in our work as architects and designers, but its effect has been more exponential the past few years.

We now have BIM modeling, data-driven design, iterative design tools along with cloud-based collaboration software that help us create more robust, meticulous buildings and components. For the past two years, many of us have worked from our homes, but these programs, virtual meeting software, and the cloud have kept us connected to our work and each other.

As we continue to lean into learning and mastering the latest technologiesas we shouldwe must not forget the foundational, fundamental skills that are still expected from us by our clients. These low-techand even no-techhallmarks, when used in conjunction with the latest tech, can help us design better projects and better communicate them with the outside world.

There are different demands on us as designers from our communities and the public realm down to architecture review boards. The public realm requires the ability to express yourself in a setting other than the office, sometimes a charged public environment, which can be challenging especially when not everyone wants to hear what you have to say.

We have an obligation to say the things that need to be said to benefit society. Oftentimes, finding that courage can be difficult. Were not trained to participate in such an environment, but there are ways we can step into those conversationswith respect and dignityand then own that moment.

The projects we work on are often complicated and may have a lot of stakeholders at the table. Many of these stakeholders may not see the whole purpose, best use or the full nature of what a building owes the end user and community around it. When their decisions start to turn in a tragic direction based on their rationale, sometimes we only have a few seconds of a gap in between to step in and communicate that full picture to get a project back on track.

For instance, when it comes to sustainability, we can talk about energy savings but some struggle to talk about the social responsibility we have. Those conversations need to happen as often as we talk about savings. Those conversations can change where investments are made in the building and remind people of their obligations.

After all, we have an obligation ourselves to speak on the behalf of the 98 percent of people who dont work with architects but are subject to our decisions in the built environment.

That obligation carries into our design workshops and charrettes. These environments present a melee of activity, and oftentimes the most knowledgeable people in the room can be the quietest. We have to lift these voices up. By the same token, sometimes the loudest voices are the least knowledgeable, so they have to be managed.

We must pursue a just-in-time delivery of intellectual content. There is a perfect time for that interjection in these complicated projects. If you are directing the conversation, you may as well be a conductor of an orchestra. You must know when to bring these voices in and amplify them. You have to be able to harmonize the group. That harmonic convergence of these different voices is when miracles occur.

When the project enters the construction phase, we must continue to be vigilant. While construction can be difficult and lead to overwhelming situations, we have to return to the documents, remain open to what the situation is and have those difficult conversations with contractors and designers and ownersagain, doing so with respect and dignity.

How are these interpersonal skills developed? It goes back to training.

When new designers join our group at RS&H, I start with them in a safe environment to get their ideas acrossjust them and me. From there, we can bring their voice into our internal meetings in a group environment, which is not as safe as a one-on-one environment.

I make sure they are knowledgeable about the subject matter and that they are expected to deliver, knowing I will call on them. They prepare and prepare over and over and over again, and I get to watch them rise up in our meetings. At that point, they are ready to have a meaningful role in our client meetings. I let them know whats expected and what the design workflow is and when they will be expected to engage the team.

Time and time again, these new voices hit their marks and deliver. They rise to the occasion.

There are low-tech skills our clients and the public at large still expect from us. They expect us to be able to draweven right in front of themto communicate a project. They think of architects and their drafting abilities, which are still honorable skills, but so are low-tech skills like drawing and painting, using chalk and oils. These skills release a creativity that is different depending on the medium.

When you paint a watercolor, its unforgiving. Anything that goes down on the paper cant be erased. It requires flawless deliveryof course, if you think about it like that, youre bound to make a mistake. On the other hand, using oil pastels over a photograph creates a gooey blending that matures in different ways. The same goes for Gouache or graphite and turpentine on mylar.

Look at some of the old masters and their half-painted pieces, and youll see something like a profile of angels wings shifting down until they finally get into that perfect state. What is intriguing to me are all the states before that built up to the perfect state. All these lines are going to be painted over, which means all these drafts will be lost, but for a moment you can see the movement of it.

You dont get that experience with some of the new technologies. The big advantage of computer programs is in their definitive properties. There are thousands of options for doors, windows, flooring and everything else you need to create the most specific of building projects. But sometimes youre just not ready for that. Access to so many options can cause you to lose track of your big idea.

The pencil process is different. If you draw a line wrong, its OK to get it wrong and get it wrong and get it wrong again. These imperfect lines can ultimately settle themselves into the perfect place.

Sketching, drawing and painting can release the mind in different ways. You may get hints of a big idea in your mind, but these moments can be fleeting and often disappear before you can fire up your computer. Thats why its important to keep that sketchbook close by. Once you draw something, you capture an idea that you can now develop.

Put another way, when we wake up in the morning from a dream, the dream slowly begins to slip away. By the end of the day, its gone. The reverse of that is true for the creative process. Its elusive and undefined, and as the day goes on, it gains clarity. As time goes on, it becomes real. You just have to let that creative state go from an unbridled suggestion to concrete form.

As I sit in my studio there is a marker board behind me. Even in zoom meetings, when I illustrate the non-physical aspects of a building, it is captured most clearly with diagrams that can be non-form generating. Clients get it when you say it and diagram it, and the idea gets embedded with them. Our thoughts, words and simple sketches have power.

Another way to embed the project idea with them? Build a physical model. When I build one, I know every piece of it, the back, side, top and bottom along with proportions. Having something in your hand and moving it around is different than spinning a computer model.

I can walk into a room and hand the model to a client. Weve used models not only to win work, but to mature different aspects of a project. When a client holds a model or looks at a sketch right in front of them, they understand their project in a new way.

What does an architects office look like now? In mine, I have three monitors, a camera and light for virtual meetings, VR goggles next to a drafting elbow, a markerboard and a curtain to sit in front of for conversations.

The modern architects office should support the high-tech, low-tech and no-tech tactics we must use. Moving effortlessly between these three levels of technology is the talent of the modern designer.

As design charrettes have gone digital, there are new tools we use that we could never have brought to a physical charrette.

We can provide environmental modeling through open-source software like Ladybug, Honeybee and Dragonfly along with Insight and Safaira. Iterative design is achieved through the dynamic scripting in Grasshopper, which allows us to on the fly explore the many possibilities. Real time, anonymous surveys and polls allow us to rapidly advance the design and get accurate data on consensus. Cloud based collaboration tools like Mural become digital sketchbooks capturing everybody's contributions.

This allows for a dynamic design process, where we can watch our project morph and change.

We can even bring watercolors into digital models with programs like Enscape, do real-time flythroughs and then share with a client via a QR code that they can view on their phone. As we focus more and more on sustainability in every project, we use the concepts of biophilia and biomimicry to develop a more meaningful connection with the world around us.

Im a firm believer in all these tools. Time and time again, the best designers I have been around can model on multiple platforms, and they can draw.

By having access to all of these tools we must, through practice and learning, know when to sketch and when to go to our computers. With a balanced toolkit, we can create beautiful, insightful projects and buildings that reflect our emerging face of humanity.

ABOUT THE AUTHORPhilip Robbie, AIA OAA, is the National Design Director for RS&H. He has more than 30 years of international experience in all areas of architectural practice, including master planning, programming, space planning, interior design and architectural design. He has specialized in the collaborative process and is a graphics facilitator. He can be reached atphilip.robbie@rsandh.com.

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Low-tech skills architects need to keep in a high-tech world - Building Design + Construction

If a flat, empty plot of land is an architects blank canvas, designing a building around Boston is more like sketching in the margins of a tattered paperback while someone is turning the pages.

There are few blank-slate construction sites left in the Boston area, so architects routinely find themselves working around obstacles like steep grade changes, rocky ledges, tight confines, and overlapping layers of zoning and other restrictions some of which can even change midway through a project. But for many of them, the challenge is half the fun.

Having really unique or difficult circumstances can very often lead to really interesting design, said Colin Booth, managing director at Placetailor, a sustainable design-and-development firm that builds to Passivhaus standards.

Indeed, celebrated architectural triumphs are often partly a product of their challenging settings. Frank Lloyd Wrights famous Fallingwater house, for example, built atop a waterfall in Mill Run, Pa., is what it is because of the site, said Beth Lundell Garver, dean of practice at Boston Architectural College. There wasnt one good boulder to put a single foundation on, and so theres sort of broken up plates of concrete foundations that are attached to the rocks like diving boards, and that is what makes Fallingwater Fallingwater a really difficult site.

Likewise, the place makes the space when looking at the Regeneration Medicine Building at the University of California San Francisco, impossibly perched on a mountainous slopeside at the edge of a eucalyptus forest in a region known for earthquakes. Its a long, narrow sliver of a site that was essentially the last piece of vacant land on the campus, said Garver, who worked on the project when she was at Rafael Violy Architects. Space trusses allow the building to hover horizontally over the forested hillside, and the team developed seismic base isolators kind of like ball joints in the ground, she explained to accommodate seismic movements.

Back in Boston, Placetailor completed a pair of projects on similarly challenging terrain in Roxbury scraps of leftover land that, until recently, may not have made financial sense for developers to build on, Booth said.

Fort House is a series of five town houses built on a narrow ledge that slopes dramatically down and ends at a century-old, 30-foot-high stone retaining wall. The structure is nestled into the hill, with the foundation pinned into the ledge at various points not an overly complicated solution for the foundation, Booth said, but certainly a precarious construction site. It was really a bit of a nightmare to build on.

Residents enter the building from Fort Avenue, up on the hill, into the middle of three floors. And each living area is on the top floor so it has views, but also so its adjacent to the roof decks above that, Booth said. In that sense, the site forced a different layout that results in beautiful, grand views.

The firm also designed and built a single-family house on nearby Highland Avenue, again on a steep slope with an upper-level entry. But this time, the structure extends out from the ledge on steel supports, thrusting the living area into the treetops. Having that slope, being able to enter, and then immediately be very high up amongst the trees, is kind of a unique thing in the city limits, to feel like youre in a forest, Booth said. Because all the foliage limits the amount of heat that can be harvested from sunlight, the windows are strategically placed to maximize views.

Land shape is, like, the least of our worries

Difficult lots are the norm in the Boston area, said Dan Skolski, owner of DMS Design. Its rare these days to find an easy site. They all have their challenges zoning, wetlands, brownfields, current buildings to remove, remnants of former buildings, waterfront regulations such as Chapter 91, ledge, he said.

One of Skolskis recent projects had a trifecta of issues: Not only did the site have steep grade changes, it also had a ridiculously large gas pipeline running beneath it. And to complicate matters further, the lot straddled city lines, with one side in Lynn and the other in Saugus.

Skolskis team split the project into two buildings, one on each side of the pipeline, and then decided to fit the entire project on the Lynn side of the lot, because to build in two towns means two sets of regulations and two sets of towns to deal with, he said. Then we had some clever grading and retaining walls to help with the topographical change and kind of use the elevation to our advantage, he said, allowing cars to enter the garage at the lower level while placing the pedestrian entrance higher up.

Oftentimes, its not natural obstacles architects are trying to overcome its the labyrinth of zoning, historical, and environmental restrictions that can vary from site to site. The land shape is, like, the least of our worries, said Marilyn Moedinger, founder of Runcible Studios.

She recently completed a project in Cambridge that required keeping the shell of an existing house just for zoning purposes. It was in the worst shape, Moedinger said of the house. But because its footprint was grandfathered in whats called a preexisting nonconforming lot any new construction would have had to be much smaller to conform to current zoning rules, building codes, and setback requirements (or how far a structure is from the property line).

Working with the gutted shell, Moedinger maximized the amount of square footage they could gain on each level by right that is, without applying for special zoning variances. The result is kind of this funky box with all these sorts of bumps and carve-outs, and each carve-out is literally the exact mathematical restriction derived from zoning, she said, adhering to both setback rules and height restrictions.

Moedinger also lifted the house off its foundation, raising the first floor by a couple of feet and deepening the shallow, dirt basement to create about 900 square feet of new living space below grade. It was a difficult and expensive job, she said, but with real estate averaging $870 per square foot in Cambridge, according to Redfin, such extreme interventions are financially viable.

Butz + Klug partner Jeffrey Klug also finds himself trying to overcome the man-made obstacles related to zoning, working on lots that are the precise size and shape of a historic brownstone. On a recent South End project, he was tasked with squeezing modern, suburban-style comforts into a 16-foot-wide shell. On one floor, we had to have two kids bedrooms, a guest bedroom, a bathroom, a laundry room, he said. How do you get all this stuff into sixteen feet by thirty-five feet?

Klug tucked two small childrens bedrooms side by side along one wall, so each has a window, and installed a big sliding door between them. That allows for a more spacious feeling when its open, he said, but if someone wants privacy, they can pull it closed. The laundry room is a long closet in the hallway, and features a clothes-drying rod that can be hoisted upward and out of the way. Some of the hardware just comes from boat catalogs, Klug said, since theyre so good at fitting more function into less space. Theres a lot of furniture that does double duty.

On a different project, a waterfront home in Gloucester, Klug had what should have been an easier lot to work with but the owner really wanted an infinity pool. Where it made sense to put the pool was inside the 100-foot buffer to the ocean, and there was no way the Conservation Commission would allow anyone to put a swimming pool in that area, and rightly so, Klug said. But he noticed there were naturally occurring vernal pools on the lot, which reminded him of something hed seen in Europe an idea of which the Conservation Commission approved: naturally filtered swimming ponds, which mimic the biological balance of alpine lakes.

In an alpine lake above the treeline, there isnt much organic matter such as falling leaves decomposing in the water, and that limits the production of phosphates. That allows tiny zooplankton to kind of take over and keep everything clear, Klug explained. To mimic that delicate ecological balance, a natural swimming pond demands more space than a normal pool: half of the area is devoted to plant- and gravel-lined filtration beds.

The plants help to draw the phosphates out of the water, too, so its quite beautiful in the right hands, Klug said. The result was breathtaking: While the homeowner was intent on having an infinity pool, he wasnt sure he would like the view in the off-season. The natural pool, however, can simply freeze over like a pond. He loves the aesthetic component of it being beautiful in all seasons.

Catherine Truman, founder of Catherine Truman Architects, is designing a home for a large, flat lot in Lincoln but the seemingly inviting lot hid some challenges, she said. Sometimes a lot that might look super, super easy may actually be more complicated, but not because of anything that you can see, Truman said. What made it super tricky is that the zoning requirements and a conservation requirement overlapped in such a way that meant you could basically, by right, only build like a ten-by-sixty-foot bowling alley.

Honoring the intent of both the zoning and environmental restrictions required a very delicate dance that proved every bit as difficult as building around a ledge, Truman said. The permitted home will be more narrow than square, if not quite the dimensions of a candlepin bowling lane. We used kind of a simple barn inspiration, so aesthetically, it was appropriate to the context and appropriate to the site and the dimensions that we were navigating, she said.

But Truman enjoys the challenges and problem-solving that comes with a tricky site. When you see these things as limitations and problems, they become problems. And if you see them as just this is what Im dealing with, they become part of the solution.

What lies beneath

In addition to zoning or environmental restrictions, many other hidden problems can plague a building site, from clay soil to excessive ground water. So Garver said anyone buying land to build on should invest in a geotechnical report even if its not something on the mind of most residential homeowners.

Theyre looking for views and proximities, and theyre not necessarily thinking, OK, let me get a geotechnical engineer on the phone so that I can run an in-depth analysis on the rock strata and the bearing capacities and slip stabilities and ground surface water, she said. But that really is kind of the best bet, is at least knowing what it is that youre getting yourself into.

That way, your architects will know what theyre dealing with, too. Designing around obstacles is all part of the job, architects said, and can sometimes result in even better work.

When we have constraints, then were sort of forced to take a closer look at everything, and then you sort of naturally iterate more, and the end result ends up being better, Moedinger said. So working within constraints is fun and challenging, and I actually really love that.

Jon Gorey blogs about homes atHouseandHammer.com. Send comments to[emailprotected]. Follow him on Twitter at@jongorey. Subscribe to our free real estate newsletter atpages.email.bostonglobe.com/AddressSignUp.

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In fighting shape: Architects get creative with unlovable lots - Boston.com