“How do you want to live?“
Partnership with Jack Smith, FAIA
“We want a beautiful, family-centered, radiant Modern House with a view of a landscape”
Announcing a new partnership with Jack Smith FAIA to design modern luxury homes in Idaho, Montana, California and Illinois Contact us for details Jack Smith was a partner of the legendary landscape architect Dan Kiley and a professor at Montana State University in Bozeman for decades. Contact us for more details. #modernarchitecture #aiaawards #dwell #sunvalleyarchitect #woodarchitecture #highlandpark #ravine #sheridanroadmagazine #modernluxury #crosslaminatedtimber #latimes #laconfidential #dirt #lahome #architecturaldigest #faia #mies #chicagoarchitect #lincolnparkarchitect #vacationhomearchitect
Photographer: Gabe Border
Announcing a new partnership with Jack Smith FAIA to design modern luxury homes in Idaho, Montana, California and Illinois Contact us for details Jack Smith was a partner of the legendary landscape architect Dan Kiley and a professor at Montana State University in Bozeman for decades. Contact us for more details. #modernarchitecture #aiaawards #dwell #sunvalleyarchitect #woodarchitecture #highlandpark #ravine #sheridanroadmagazine #modernluxury #crosslaminatedtimber #latimes #laconfidential #dirt #lahome #architecturaldigest #faia #mies #chicagoarchitect #lincolnparkarchitect #vacationhomearchitect
Photographer: Gabe Border
“How do you want to live?“
The LightBox
“We want an inside/outside space with a new kitchen & place to gather”
We believe architecture can help almost any space to welcome light and nature. Architecture should be restorative, move us away from our screens and provide a place to invite and experience the beauty of the seasons.
A couple purchased a narrow, attached, masonry row house in Chicago's Grand Boulevard–an area known for its rapid conversion from an open field into a dense, beautiful, upper-middle-class neighborhood in the 1880s. New, luxurious amenities coincided with the Columbian Exposition, yet the row house was crudely divided into apartments during the Great Depression. Fast forward to the 2010s. A contractor restored the building’s single occupancy status, but the the rear of the house no longer had any light and air, not to mention the “backyard” was a gravel-and-dirt pad.
Our clients’ request: create an indoor/outdoor space for a new kitchen and a comfortable place to gather that would feature light, color and materials, that would reflect a sense of family, community and mindfulness.
Our contractor brought a refined level of detail to the project and made it better. We collaborated with him to design a steel tube post and sleeve that is hidden in the wall. Quartzite benches are siliconed to a steel tube frame that slide into a larger steel tube sleeve into the posts hidden in the wall. The owners could remove the benches to clean or paint behind them. We were honored to work with these clients and for maintaining their design focus to a beautiful finish.
This was–and is– a unique situation. Only 2 or 3% of today’s contractors could have accurately built the post and sleeve. Our result was well-crafted and beautiful because of clear communcation and consistent alignment among the clients, the architect and the contractor. #lincolnparkhouseaddition #oldtownhouseaddition #lincolnparkarchitect #chicagoarchitect #modernarchitect #wickerparkhouseaddition #goldcoasthouseaddition #hydeparkaddition #modernaddition #remodelista #dwellarchitect
Published: Archipendium and Gizmodo and the American Institute of Architects
Photographer: Gregory Scott
We believe architecture can help almost any space to welcome light and nature. Architecture should be restorative, move us away from our screens and provide a place to invite and experience the beauty of the seasons.
A couple purchased a narrow, attached, masonry row house in Chicago's Grand Boulevard–an area known for its rapid conversion from an open field into a dense, beautiful, upper-middle-class neighborhood in the 1880s. New, luxurious amenities coincided with the Columbian Exposition, yet the row house was crudely divided into apartments during the Great Depression. Fast forward to the 2010s. A contractor restored the building’s single occupancy status, but the the rear of the house no longer had any light and air, not to mention the “backyard” was a gravel-and-dirt pad.
Our clients’ request: create an indoor/outdoor space for a new kitchen and a comfortable place to gather that would feature light, color and materials, that would reflect a sense of family, community and mindfulness.
Our contractor brought a refined level of detail to the project and made it better. We collaborated with him to design a steel tube post and sleeve that is hidden in the wall. Quartzite benches are siliconed to a steel tube frame that slide into a larger steel tube sleeve into the posts hidden in the wall. The owners could remove the benches to clean or paint behind them. We were honored to work with these clients and for maintaining their design focus to a beautiful finish.
This was–and is– a unique situation. Only 2 or 3% of today’s contractors could have accurately built the post and sleeve. Our result was well-crafted and beautiful because of clear communcation and consistent alignment among the clients, the architect and the contractor. #lincolnparkhouseaddition #oldtownhouseaddition #lincolnparkarchitect #chicagoarchitect #modernarchitect #wickerparkhouseaddition #goldcoasthouseaddition #hydeparkaddition #modernaddition #remodelista #dwellarchitect
Published: Archipendium and Gizmodo and the American Institute of Architects
Photographer: Gregory Scott
“How do you want to live?“
Updating an apartment in a classic modernist highrise overlooking Lake Michigan
“We want to update a shag rug covered diamond-in-the-rough into the warm, relaxing and rejuvinating space it is”
Our client asked their landlord to remove the dingy carpeting in the 2 bedroom apartment they rented in the gorgeous lantern-like 21 story modernist high rise designed by Myron Schwatz on Lake Michigan. The landlord installed inexpensive bamboo hardwood floors. I brought in my trusted painter and transformed the walls from a dismal greige to a pasty white called mortar made by Sherwin Williams. Modern furniture family heirlooms and recently acquired pieces fill out the generous open plan living space in this modernist 1953 National Landmark. A standout piece is my lounge chair and ottoman from the mountain room in a house on Saddleback Mountain in Arizona. (The chair’s original owner is credited for inventing the applause sign for radio soap operas in the 1930s.) The chair and ottomon are paired with a low, black-painted-oak Phoenix table acquired from the architecture firm Gensler's Chicago lobby for $400. An inexpensive new blue wool rug from Macy’s defines the the sitting area. A piece of 1990s vintage graffiti on an IKEA art rail provides the background for the lounge chair and ottoman. The Franco Albini designed table, purchased from Circa Modern in Wicker Park, anchors the dining area. The client needed dining room chairs that could match the Albini table’s elegance and beauty. The client encountered some beautiful Saarinen dining room chairs at a house sale, but, at $900 per chair, the asking price was too high. She felt that the Saarinen chairs were the most comfortable dining room chairs she had ever sat in. Six, year-old Saarinen chairs were for sale on craigslist in New York City for half the price of the ones at the house sale in Chicago. The client met seller–a lawyer–on Sunday on 101st Street near Columbia University and bought the 6 chairs. They have the same gorgeous Rivington red fabric as the ones in Whitney Museum restaurant. The lawyer had originally purchased them for his Brooklyn office in February 2020 which the pandemic closed a month later. She returned to Chicago and put up a Laura Letinsky photograph she affectionately called “Martha Stewart’s Dead Picnic” and a painting of the Arizona night sky by the artist Lew Davis, by her family friend as backdrops and catalysts for dinner conversation. #dwell #chicagomodernarchitect #remodelista #apartmentherapy #circamodern #chicagoapartmentherapy #chicagomoderninteriordesign #chicagomoderninteriors #chicagomodernarchitecture
Photographer: Michael Lipman
Our client asked their landlord to remove the dingy carpeting in the 2 bedroom apartment they rented in the gorgeous lantern-like 21 story modernist high rise designed by Myron Schwatz on Lake Michigan. The landlord installed inexpensive bamboo hardwood floors. I brought in my trusted painter and transformed the walls from a dismal greige to a pasty white called mortar made by Sherwin Williams. Modern furniture family heirlooms and recently acquired pieces fill out the generous open plan living space in this modernist 1953 National Landmark. A standout piece is my lounge chair and ottoman from the mountain room in a house on Saddleback Mountain in Arizona. (The chair’s original owner is credited for inventing the applause sign for radio soap operas in the 1930s.) The chair and ottomon are paired with a low, black-painted-oak Phoenix table acquired from the architecture firm Gensler's Chicago lobby for $400. An inexpensive new blue wool rug from Macy’s defines the the sitting area. A piece of 1990s vintage graffiti on an IKEA art rail provides the background for the lounge chair and ottoman. The Franco Albini designed table, purchased from Circa Modern in Wicker Park, anchors the dining area. The client needed dining room chairs that could match the Albini table’s elegance and beauty. The client encountered some beautiful Saarinen dining room chairs at a house sale, but, at $900 per chair, the asking price was too high. She felt that the Saarinen chairs were the most comfortable dining room chairs she had ever sat in. Six, year-old Saarinen chairs were for sale on craigslist in New York City for half the price of the ones at the house sale in Chicago. The client met seller–a lawyer–on Sunday on 101st Street near Columbia University and bought the 6 chairs. They have the same gorgeous Rivington red fabric as the ones in Whitney Museum restaurant. The lawyer had originally purchased them for his Brooklyn office in February 2020 which the pandemic closed a month later. She returned to Chicago and put up a Laura Letinsky photograph she affectionately called “Martha Stewart’s Dead Picnic” and a painting of the Arizona night sky by the artist Lew Davis, by her family friend as backdrops and catalysts for dinner conversation. #dwell #chicagomodernarchitect #remodelista #apartmentherapy #circamodern #chicagoapartmentherapy #chicagomoderninteriordesign #chicagomoderninteriors #chicagomodernarchitecture
Photographer: Michael Lipman
How do you want to live?
Midcentury Modern on a Ravine
“I want to remake a 1949 midcentury modern house for today’s lifestyles.”
This residential job presented some challenges. The lot on a ravine was pan-handle shaped with no front zoning yard and the client purchased it before understanding the zoning implications.
We encourage our clients to spend a small amount of time and money to create a zoning analysis before moving forward with a large purchase. The client’s plan unexpectedly went from a large 2 story addition to trying to make the most of the existing envelope in some creative ways. That’s where we went to work. Because the house backed up to the lot on the north side, we created a new living/dining open plan concept with a large new, clerestory light that brought a warm glow deep into the interior. We gutted the house and designed a new structure to eliminate many walls. Existing walls were filled with spray foam insulation to make the envelope as energy efficient as possible. We expanded the footprint with a sympathetic addition to create a new living/dining/kitchen space focused on the patio and the ravine garden. The wood siding and the horizontal rails of the new windows bring a freshness and timelessness that will serve the new home owners well into the future. #remodelista #dwell
This residential job presented some challenges. The lot on a ravine was pan-handle shaped with no front zoning yard and the client purchased it before understanding the zoning implications.
We encourage our clients to spend a small amount of time and money to create a zoning analysis before moving forward with a large purchase. The client’s plan unexpectedly went from a large 2 story addition to trying to make the most of the existing envelope in some creative ways. That’s where we went to work. Because the house backed up to the lot on the north side, we created a new living/dining open plan concept with a large new, clerestory light that brought a warm glow deep into the interior. We gutted the house and designed a new structure to eliminate many walls. Existing walls were filled with spray foam insulation to make the envelope as energy efficient as possible. We expanded the footprint with a sympathetic addition to create a new living/dining/kitchen space focused on the patio and the ravine garden. The wood siding and the horizontal rails of the new windows bring a freshness and timelessness that will serve the new home owners well into the future. #remodelista #dwell
“How do you want to live?“
Victorian House Refresh
“I want to cook in my kitchen while being able to see and speak with my dinner party guests.”
The thirty-seven-and-half foot-wide lot hung loosely on the elderly, dilapidated skinny wood frame house like a suit meant for a much younger man. Drafts blew easily through the blue asbestos shingles and the ill-fitting vinyl windows. The front porch hung precariously off the the house. So we went to work...
“The addition has to look like it was always there,” said the client. Thus, the addition had to be seamless. “I want to be able to cook and talk to my dinner guests and cook.” We needed to create a visual and link bewteen the kitchen and dining rooms that did not exist before. “I would like a fireplace and a wrap-around porch.” We designed a new fireplace with a sawtooth brick detail similar to the new detail outside. Bookcases sport a surround-reveal detail that is one of our favorites. The color above the fireplace fades into a deep indigo as the light recedes. Many house guests look at elevation and ask, “What work did you have done?” Everything you see is new except for the trim which was salvaged. Little do they know that there is a steel post hidden in the left column and that the new space is far larger and richer in materials, layers and color. The dining room table now runs perpendicular to the kitchen.
Bon appétit!
Published: Archipendium
Photographer: Gregory Scott
The thirty-seven-and-half foot-wide lot hung loosely on the elderly, dilapidated skinny wood frame house like a suit meant for a much younger man. Drafts blew easily through the blue asbestos shingles and the ill-fitting vinyl windows. The front porch hung precariously off the the house. So we went to work...
“The addition has to look like it was always there,” said the client. Thus, the addition had to be seamless. “I want to be able to cook and talk to my dinner guests and cook.” We needed to create a visual and link bewteen the kitchen and dining rooms that did not exist before. “I would like a fireplace and a wrap-around porch.” We designed a new fireplace with a sawtooth brick detail similar to the new detail outside. Bookcases sport a surround-reveal detail that is one of our favorites. The color above the fireplace fades into a deep indigo as the light recedes. Many house guests look at elevation and ask, “What work did you have done?” Everything you see is new except for the trim which was salvaged. Little do they know that there is a steel post hidden in the left column and that the new space is far larger and richer in materials, layers and color. The dining room table now runs perpendicular to the kitchen.
Bon appétit!
Published: Archipendium
Photographer: Gregory Scott