Views from Above
I just toured the restoration-in-progress of San Francisco’s landmark Palace of Fine Arts, designed by architect Bernard Maybeck for the Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915. Here I am on the dome, twelve stories above the Marina District with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.
(Note to self: Enough with the green sweater! And how many odes does it take to fill that Olympic-sized Grecian urn?) Funding for the meticulous preservation work and earthquake retrofit has been — and is being — raised by the Maybeck Foundation: an important project that deserves community support.
Seeing the lively streetscape from the dome made me realize that Houseplans.com is a parallel universe that exhibits the same diversity of styles, periods, and cultures. And it’s always evolving, just like a healthy urban environment. Here are some of the newest exclusive plans adding interest and excitement to our Houseplans.com cybercity.
Greg La Vardera’s contemporary Cube House, 431-8 is designed for a narrow, deep, infill lot in an older neighborhood.
It makes the most of a compact footprint with a plan that’s efficient and adaptable. Good circulation: no dead-end rooms!
See how the living room occupies about a third of the ground floor. French doors or a folding wall connect it easily to the side yard. Or rotate the plan, depending on lot characteristics and the desired sun orientation, and put the living room at the rear where it can open to the backyard. Consider adding a paved terrace or deck off the living room and perhaps a trellis for shade.
The living room is one and a half stories high, for a greater sense of spaciousness without adding square footage. This view is from the dining area toward the front.
The top floor contains a roof deck within the frame of the cube.
This plan shows how flexible and open a simple box can be. The great Northern California architect Joe Esherick, whose firm designed the Monterey Bay Aquarium and who was, incidentally, a huge admirer of Maybeck, often talked about how designing a house was all about “packing the box.” Greg’s plan illustrates this principle very well.
Dan Tyree’s mid-century modern-inspired Azalea, 64-170 is for a suburban lot.
The L-shaped house wraps around a courtyard; one wing is more public, containing the kitchen and living/dining area; the other more private, with bedrooms and family room.
In balmy weather the living moves outdoors to the backyard terrace.
The extended gable creates a shaded terrace off the living-dining room.
News from the Blogosphere
Some of our latest home plans appeared on two popular websites this week. The comprehensive green resource site Treehugger.com quotes our very own Greg La Vardera in a discussion about the cost of good design and his and Houseplans.com’s desire to make high quality design more affordable. And on Lottalving.com, which is an engaging cyber cocktail party and information exchange about mid-century modern design, you’ll see our exclusive Azalea and Proximity plans from Dan Tyree. Exciting times!
