American Modern – ‘USC Style’ 2012 Spring Home Tour

Had Gregory Ain been observing hundreds of rain-drenched Southern Californians navigate through the spaces of one of his recently renovated Park Planned Homes, he may well have taken greater satisfaction in their appreciation than that of the homeowners themselves.  His advocacy for the “everyday people” is a well known parallel to his mastery of the MCM style and his ability to sculpt large ‘metaphysical’ spaces out of small ‘actual’ spaces.

Many congratulations to the Pasadena Heritage Society for organizing a great Spring 2012 Home Tour.  This year’s theme “American Modern – USC Style and Beyond” turned the spotlight on Mid-Century Modernism and five projects which were completed during that era by graduates, students and faculty of the University of Southern California School of Architecture.  The homes featured were originally designed by Harwell Hamilton Harris, Gregory Ain, Harold B. Zook, Conrad Buff, Donald Hensman, Calvin Straub and John Galbraith.

While we are honored that one of our own projects [Harold B. Zook @ 1125 Mesita Road] was one of those featured, this was a unique opportunity to see how some of our colleagues in architecture and historic restoration have handled the delicate responsibility of restoring, renovation and/or rehabilitating the work of these MCM masters.

The property which impressed me the most was the Thomson House [Buff, Straub and Hensman @ 1695 Poppy Peak Drive].  While the expected post and beam details were on stage, they allowed some of the other features to carry the show:

spatial arrangement: The vertical split level plan allows the house to take a rather small lot with a drastic slope that rises from the fronting street and weave you vertically through the spaces in a manner that draws your focus far beyond the site itself.  Entering from the street-level porte-cochere the first movement is downward to the main entrance.  One should appreciate the rigor with which the designer and carpenter insisted on carving dowels and placing them over the piloted holes which keep each hand planed stair treads in place – not to mention the thin copper strips clad atop the wood outriggers,  fabricated to protect the beams from deterioration.

orientation: Once at the main entrance, the post-and-beam ballet begins.  Whether looking eastward to the outdoor garden or northeast towards Downtown Pasadena, the symmetry and order of the mullions – which do double duty as the structure – are delightful.  Though the two-story glass wall is in a single plane, the mastery of the original design is in that each space provides a different perspective through this glass wall: the kitchen seems to flow vertically into the tree canopies firmly lined along the north property line; the sitting room orienting you inward with careful attention to detail and material compositions; the bedrooms at the loft level with seemingly endless views towards the city and Upper Arroyo.

movable partitions: The feature which a appreciated the most were the sliding – Japanese shoji screen inspired – panels which glide atop the half-height wall of the loft level above.  When closed, the bedroom has the visual and lighting qualities of a private space.  When opened, light from the two-story glass wall flood the spaces to give a perceptual feeling of openness.

Thanks to The Pasadena Heritage Society, Chair Lambert Giessinger, Executive Director Susan Mossman and Communications Director Lisa Montano and the several volunteers and docents who did a tremendous job of organizing, researching and presenting the invaluable historic work of some of the MCM elite architects as well as our own work and that of our colleagues.  Also to those in the City of Pasadena Planning Department, Historic Preservation Commission and the Mills Act Nominating Committee.

Very special thanks to our clients – whose trust and patience was second to none and whose commitment to the project and the historic qualities therein helped to make the project a success.

Thank you to Mr. Harold B. Zook himself.  Your kind words of praise and compliments in allowing our work to highlight and interpret the many great features of this property are our greatest reward.

Pasadena Heritage Society:

http://www.pasadenaheritage.org/

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Article Abstract: Ornamentation as Expression

Article abstract for an upcoming piece on ornamentation in contemporary architecture.

Amidst the pursuit for purity and austerity in the architecture of the 20th century, ornamentation came under siege as being superfluous, unnecessary – and in the case of Loos – criminal. By contrast, through the work of Moussavi, Rashid, Van Berkel, et al, the reputation of ornamentation is being resurrected. The reason perhaps for this phenomenon has less to do with the actual significance of ornamentation and more to do more to do with our understanding of ornamentation. For this, we should perhaps look into the accepted meanings of ornamentation and the evolution of that meaning through the different periods in architecture. This article will identify a connection in the philosophical interest of society with the role and understanding of ornamentation in that time. …

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‘spacio’ Logo Concept

location: n/a

scale: graphic design

scale type: n/a

client: ourselves

client type: Neighbors

status: released for print and digital reproduction

services: Graphic Design, Conceptual Design, Printing

description: Our core interest is space so it was pretty obvious for us that our graphic identity should reflect this interest. Space is not tangible – its boundaries are often difficult to distinguish. Matter – walls, floors, surfaces, objects and colors are the elements which assist us in acknowledging space and taking notice of its behavior. We settled on the vertical planes of two implied walls to help define this concept. The intersecting planes are not orthogonal, also a reflection of our interest in irregular forms. The rules of two-point perspective drawing are applied to the sketch which pull the forms back towards the vanishing points. The final touch is the integration of the word ‘form + context + community’ which are the three principal values in our design process.

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Collaborator: Edward Albert Design

We have recently started collaborating with Edward Albert Design on a few custom architectural metal pieces.  As Owner, Designer and Fabricator, Edward Albert – or “Al” as we know him – has the skills in metallurgy that we respect, runs a metal shop that we fantasize about and has an aesthetic sensibility that we respect and value greatly. …

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