We are excited to host local Seattle-based artist Mya Kerner in our space this quarter from October through January. The opening reception for her latest new collection, "Piercing the Infinite Sky," will be during October's First Thursday Art Walk on Thursday, October 5th from 5pm - 8pm.
Here at Atelier Drome, part of the regular design process involves creating a board of inspiration images which means we are always on the look out for new ways of using materials to create beautiful spaces and structures as well as solve design issues. Sometimes the difference between creating something truly unique that fits the character of the space does't involve the use of new and advanced materials but rather using an otherwise ordinary material in an extraordinary way to create an entirely new experience.
For a residential building in Tehran, the material of choice for Admun Studio is brick which is a typical material used throughout Iran. The design team was brought on after the structure itself was completed and they were left to resolve several issues through the design of the façade. They describe the need to “provide maximum privacy yet fulfilling other features such as moderating light, limiting view from outside, organizing chaotic experience of the terraces and decreasing high-traffic neighborhood noise” that lead them to the artistic design of a modulating textural surface. Using these simple materials in a new way, the surface not only solves several issues at once but creates a unique visual piece in the neighborhood
Images © Mehdi Kolahi
Repetition is often the key to creating what looks like a new material by way of using
a simple smaller piece multiple times that is then transformed into a larger surface structure. In Japan, Kengo Kuma & Associates did just that with a Starbucks location. The design sought to marry a new, modern space with the surrounding design aesthetic of traditional Japanese structures by using “a unique system of weaving thin woods diagonally.” The result is not only unique but creates kind of a vortex that feels as though it wants to suck the passerby into the café and possesses that dynamic energy that goes beyond just creating visual cues or leading lines intended to draw people inside.
images © Masao Nishikawa
In Spain, the simple material of wooden sticks is used as well but takes on an entirely different
character designed by Ideo Arquitectura. This time, the surface takes on a softer feel as the ceiling of a bakery that is in a long narrow space lined with old, exposed brick that would otherwise feel like a dark cave. Instead, the sculptural ceiling guides visitors in and creates an almost glittering surface and reinforces the overall brand of the shop while creating visual interested that works with the highly textural existing walls without clashing or completely dominating them.
images © Imagen Subliminal
For a residential building in Tehran, the material of choice for Admun Studio is brick which is a typical material used throughout Iran. The design team was brought on after the structure itself was completed and they were left to resolve several issues through the design of the façade. They describe the need to “provide maximum privacy yet fulfilling other features such as moderating light, limiting view from outside, organizing chaotic experience of the terraces and decreasing high-traffic neighborhood noise” that lead them to the artistic design of a modulating textural surface. Using these simple materials in a new way, the surface not only solves several issues at once but creates a unique visual piece in the neighborhood
Images © Mehdi Kolahi
Repetition is often the key to creating what looks like a new material by way of using
a simple smaller piece multiple times that is then transformed into a larger surface structure. In Japan, Kengo Kuma & Associates did just that with a Starbucks location. The design sought to marry a new, modern space with the surrounding design aesthetic of traditional Japanese structures by using “a unique system of weaving thin woods diagonally.” The result is not only unique but creates kind of a vortex that feels as though it wants to suck the passerby into the café and possesses that dynamic energy that goes beyond just creating visual cues or leading lines intended to draw people inside.
images © Masao Nishikawa
In Spain, the simple material of wooden sticks is used as well but takes on an entirely different
character designed by Ideo Arquitectura. This time, the surface takes on a softer feel as the ceiling of a bakery that is in a long narrow space lined with old, exposed brick that would otherwise feel like a dark cave. Instead, the sculptural ceiling guides visitors in and creates an almost glittering surface and reinforces the overall brand of the shop while creating visual interested that works with the highly textural existing walls without clashing or completely dominating them.
Each September, all corners of the globe participate in an event
called Park(ing) Day, a worldwide experiment in reclaiming public space. Rebar in San Francisco launched
the event as a statement on the use of public space. Their one pop-up park was on
display for a mere two hours – all the time the meter would allow. Unknown to
them at the time was just how much people would embrace the concept, and what
first began as an intervention has since exploded into a world-wide event, with
some cities even allowing for multi-day installations. The movement has even
spurred the implementation of permanent parks designed and maintained by
private entities in the public domain for public use. There projects have many
names: parklet, streetseat, micro park, people spots, to name a few. And here
in Seattle, a new typology has recently emerged called a Streatery. This new idea marries an outdoor eating
space with one of these parking space parks. Picture a fixed-location food
truck with seating or an extension of a nearby established restaurant that
resides where there was once a parked car.
As outdoor
space in our cities becomes more and more scarce and the desire to make our
streetscape more interactive — outdoor spaces where people can find respite
from the concrete jungles as well as enhance public safety with more eyes on
the street — people are exploring every possible angle to bring additional
public space to the urban realm. What Park(ing) Day started was a revolution
for people to look at the use of our public space more critically and consider
the needs of the surrounding community. Today, these parks, both permanent and
temporary, have taken on a wide range of looks and usage, well beyond the
simple days of a park being little more than some grass, a tree and a bench.
What
follows are a few inspiring examples of parks in the public space. First up is a micro-park project in London by WMB Studios called Parked Bench that converted two
parking stalls into a bright, sculptural seating element from simple and inexpensive off-the=shelf materials that catches the eye.
Both artful and functional, this park space offers comfortable seating for
individuals, houses an air quality monitor and acts as a buffer between the
pedestrian zone and the busy street.
In San Francisco, the birthplace of this movement, Interstice Architects designed the Sunset Parklet which looks like an undulating deck with pieces that rise up out of the ground for seating, both for small groups and community gatherings along with tables, spaces for native planting and an area that flattens out to provide bike parking. Inspired by the striations created through water and land, this parklet brings a natural feeling environment to an urban setting that provides much needed space for people.
In Boston, Interboro designed two projects to kick off the parklet pilot program with the transportation department. Both are created with a simple yet smart movable block system they've called ad-bloc made from durable rotomolded plastic that are easy to configure and low maintenance. With only two pieces - a block and a cylinder - endless configurations and designs for seating, eating and greenery are possible and easily configurable for any size space. The blocks bright colors and fun, child-like appearance akin to giant legos, this system appeals to adults and kids alike.
photographs and imagery courtesy of Interboro
This
year’s event takes place in Seattle on Friday, Sept. 15 and
we’re excited to participate. Stayed tuned for coverage of our own installation
as well as the spaces we find inspiring from 2017!
Our clients have lived on a 1,500 square foot houseboat for years. The houseboat is where they raised their children but they are now ready for an upgrade. Designing a houseboat for them presented some unique challenges since new houseboats aren't allowed. Therefore, this was designed to take the place of the existing houseboat where it matches the exact size, footprint, and height of the pre-existing home.
Space is utilized with lots of built ins to fit a living space, office, two bedrooms, and two bathrooms comfortably. Niches between the float framing act as storage for kayaks and other items. Because construction was done on a float, builders were not able to use a level and precise fabrication was done off site and installed on the boat as a unit.
Plenty of skylights and windows take advantage of the surrounding natural light and views. Cedar screens were installed at the perimeter of the float to create private outdoor spaces while radiant heated flooring keeps the inside cozy. The houseboat is being built in Ballard and will then be brought to it's final home of Lake Union this month. The previous houseboat has been donated and will sit on land in its next life.
One
of the most gratifying aspects of our job is to customize spaces for our
clients, the most intimate being those in the home. The first thing we ask a client to do when we
set out to create a home for them is to fill out a questionnaire. It is
designed to structure the get to know you process, and our goal in writing it
is to understand how our clients live in the spaces they have, and more
importantly, how they want to live in
the spaces we have been hired to create. We encourage our clients to take some
time with it, because it goes beyond the quantitative questions such as number
of bedrooms, or desired square footage frequently used to define scope, and
asks more qualitative questions to really understand how those spaces or that
square footage will be used (who cooks? Where do you eat? how frequently to do
you host overnight guests?) Because while two clients might each respond that
they need three bedrooms, or a large kitchen – the way they envision using those
spaces, and therefore the way we approach their design, is unique to them.
When
we finish the questionnaire phase we have a list of spaces that will be
important in the home, as well as a sense of the way those spaces relate to
each other for our client. The list is made up of basics: cooking space, living
space, bathing space and sleeping space, as well as “extras” such as outdoor
space, formal dining space, work space, storage space, play space, media space
etc. And most of the time these functions fit into rooms with familiar names
and descriptions – cooking space is in the kitchen, sleeping space is divided
in to a number of bedrooms, etc. But the compartmentalization of home life into
these rooms is actually very recent, and specific to our time and place. Each
of these rooms has a rich and ever evolving history –while we have always needed
a place to sleep, or eat, the way that we do those things is ever changing and
therefore the spaces dedicated to them change as well. Bill Brysons “At Home” and Lucy Worsley’s “If
Walls Could Talk” are a great introduction to the history of life in rooms.
Many room names are quite old but have completely different functions than the
space originally defined by that name, such as the kitchen or hall- others have
virtually disappeared such as the parlor, or scullery- and some, like a media
room or master bathroom are very new.
The original
room was the “hall” which we now only
include where necessary for circulation, and often don’t even consider as a
room of its own right. But until as recently as the 15th century the
hall was the most important, (and at first, the only!) room in the house. The
word “hall” is 1600 years old, when it referred to a large barn like structure
that functioned as kitchen, bedroom, dressing room, living room, (and barn!) in
one- the original open floor plan. The room
was therefore designed to afford complete flexibility- the only fixed feature
would have been a centrally located hearth for cooking, light, and warmth. Furniture
would have been kept to a minimum, with shared bedding laid out only at night
and put away during the day (a typical bed size for a family might have been
9’x7’). An early dining table would have actually been a board, hung on the
wall when not in use (also the origin of the term “room and board”). The
concept of privacy in the early home was therefore nonexistent- rather, all
life was carried out communally.
With
time other rooms were added, such as the chapel, kitchen and sleeping chambers.
The addition of new rooms was made possible by the invention of the chimney in
the 1300s which funneled smoke out of the house, for the first time allowing
the space above head height to be breathable and therefore occupiable. The
first room to move upstairs was the bedroom,
in the form of the ”great chamber” which was the first private space for the
family, separate from guests or servants. The first bedrooms would have been
shared by the nuclear family, often in one bed. They were used not just for
sleeping but also for entertaining or eating in a more intimate setting. The
bedroom didn’t become a dedicated room just for sleeping until the 1600s. Even
then, it wasn’t yet considered a private space, evidenced by the fact that most
bedrooms were accessed from each other rather than a corridor. The desire for privacy
from other household members wasn’t adopted until later- As literacy rates
increased, people began to enjoy and value time spent alone. Interestingly, the
first space designed for privacy was not the bedroom or bathroom, but the closet. The original use of the word
“closet” referred to a small room off of the bed chamber more similar to a
study than a storage space, where the occupant might pray or meditate and where
the owner might store small collectibles or art- also one of the first spaces
to feature an interior lock. And while todays closets are generally
utilitarian, the original “closets” would have had some of the most
personalized decor.
The
chimney was equally impactful in creating a separate kitchen – and whereas early censuses actually counted the number of
hearths rather than people or houses, once the hearth was no longer required to
be in the center of the home as a heat source it was quickly moved to a less
prominent part of the home and many times actually stood as a structure
separate from the home. Cooking was done over a fire, while baking was
typically done outside the home in a communal oven. The kitchen stayed a hidden
and undecorated space in middle and upper class homes until after the early 20th
century when household sizes decreased, and therefore cooking was done by the
“mistress of the house” for her own family rather than by employed staff. Different
from today’s multifunction and often quite expensively finished kitchens, a
kitchen in a 1920s home would have been for cooking only- dining, dish storage,
entertaining, would have been in separate rooms. And a mid nineteenth century
kitchen would not have even had a sink – the cleaning and cooking functions
were considered separate, and the cleaning would have been done in a separate
room called the scullery.
kitchen at mount vernon, 1860 |
1939 model kitchen |
1911 catalog kitchen |
Baths date back to the Roman
Empire, but in a very different form than we bathe today. Almost more important
than their hygienic function, Roman baths were opportunities for socializing,
carried out outside the home, and very much in public. With the rise of
Christianity people adopted a more modest approach to bathing, but the labor
involved in carrying water, let alone heating it, for a private bath was so
great that most people actually bathed very infrequently. The bathroom as a
dedicated and private space within the home is only as old as plumbing –
previously bathing would have taken place using portable pitchers and basins
carried into the bedroom. The “en suite” bathroom actually began in hotels, the
first being Cape May, New Jersey’s Mount Vernon Hotel in 1853. It was slower to
catch on in private homes because they frequently lacked the pressure to bring
the water upstairs (London’s first pipes were actually made of wood, later
replaced with iron). The first private bathrooms were utilitarian, more akin to
mechanical rooms than today’s often spa-like master bathrooms, and had to be tucked
into existing spaces wherever they could fit. As a result the sizes of
bathrooms, and their fixtures, were far from standard (Bryson cites a bathtub
so big a stepladder was needed to get into it, and a shower large enough for a
horse). Porcelain enamel tubs were the first to be considered attractive –
prior versions might have been made of zinc, copper or cast iron. By 1940
fixtures had become more or less standardized, and affordable - an entire bath
suite (sink bath and toilet) could be purchased for $70.
While
all rooms are really living rooms, “living
rooms” in the sense of the word today were the creation of leisure time,
and in America the term was only coined around the mid-19th century.
Predecessors to the living room, such as the parlor date all the way back to
1225 where it was used to describe a room where monks could go to talk (derived
from the French word “parler”) but were only seen in homes for the wealthy. A
new urban middle class emerging in the 17th century was the first
time that anyone but the wealthy had time for leisure, and need of an
impressive space to host guests. Dedicated dining
rooms only came about in the mid-18th century as a result of the
widespread adoption of upholstered furniture, as a way of preventing stains
from eating.
As
technology makes domestic life easier, and careers and school tend to keep
people away from home during the day, homes are increasingly our centers for privacy,
leisure, and relaxation. Average household
size in the west has gone from 5.8 members in 1790 to 2.6 in America today,
making it possible and desirable to create more private spaces for individual
retreat within the home, as well as social spaces geared more toward relaxation
and entertaining. But of course the floor plan will
continue to evolve, and the popularity of the tiny house movement, an
appreciation for minimalism and open plans, and renewed interest in
sustainability suggest that maybe we still have something to learn from the
original room, the “hall”.
1799 duplex |
1925 house plan |
Sources:
Bill
Bryson “At Home”
Lucy
Worsley “If Walls Could Talk”
NYPL
Digital Library
|
Esteemed judges deemed our project "Bramling Cross" the winner of the 17th annual Northwest Design Awards Hospitality category at their gala last night.
In the historic neighborhood of Ballard, evidence of the
old fishing town still shows between the new housing,
shopping, and restaurants like Bramling Cross. With a
local chef as the client, the desire was to create the
perfect gastropub to celebrate his work alongside an
extensive selection of local beer. This long and narrow
space came with a number of challenges, including a
very unique ceiling structure that spans between the
walls of the two neighboring buildings. While adding new
skylights to brighten the space, new structural posts were
added along both masonry walls to create a rhythm for a
series of two and four seat booths punctuated by display
units and brass light fixtures. The generous bar and
service counter are all Claro Walnut, the highlight of the
space, which ties into the warmth of the brick. With a
combination of traditional and modern details against the
rough texture of the masonry walls and exposed structure
above, Bramling Cross is designed to embrace the rich
character of the neighborhood.
We are so excited about this recognition and are looking forwards to future accomplishments! #ateliYAY
Owners of the Wallingford home are looking to make their current residence more usable according to their daily needs. They are attracted to wallpaper and statement pieces in what would otherwise be a very simple, traditional room. The rooms will be used as an informal private retreat with smart storage solutions to keep their space organized and functional. Happy Mood Board Monday!
With Seattle being adjacent to Puget Sound, it is no wonder that the water played an integral part of Seattle's history. Inspired by the maritime background of Seattle, owner of the soon to be Navy Strength wanted to convert a 2,422 square foot retail space into a Tiki bar. We were more than happy to help with the process. This space is located right next to No Anchor restaurant in the neighborhood of Belltown. With just a few more finishing touches to be made, Navy Strength should be open in no time!
In Phinney Ridge, we can see our Pacific Northwest contemporary home slowly coming to life. The project is currently in the construction phase and each month the house inches closer to completion with help from STS Construction. With a 9 month completion target, the Pacific Northwest contemporary home will be finished in August 2017!
December |
January |
February |