Air cleaning plants (see last post) incorporated in a cool wall design at clubfizz.biz:
Here is the new incarnation of the loft wall with lots of integrated toxin-eating plants. eventually they will form a plant curtain and look really cool.
I read the San Francisco Chronicle, via SFGate.com, a lot. I like reading John King’s architecture column, and I like reading the articles about building design, but somehow hadn’t quite put together in my head that those design articles are a column called “Design Spotting” written by Zahid Sardar, the Chronicle’s Design Editor. I noticed “Design Spotting” in a prior post about a remodel project and went back and started reading some of the older articles this evening.
One of the prior articles by Zahid is about ground level separate structure additions to homes, as opposed to jacking up a home and adding a new first story underneath the exiting structure. He cites two examples by the same architectural firm, one in Berkeley and one in Mill Valley.
The Berkeley addition is a two story “tower” built in the backyard of an existing one story home, attached to that home. It’s a completely different architectural style in order to not look like they just tried to make the addition match the existing structure. Unfortunately I find the styles to be so different as to just look incongruous (consider that a nice way of putting it).
The Mill Valley addition, on the other hand, is a second structure alongside the original home. The addition is two stories, but built on a slope below the exiting home, so the roof line heights are similar. The architectural styles are similar and the whole thing ends up looking like two appropriately sized buildings that belong together. The architects designed an interesting “covered slatted-wood bridge” to connect the two structures, which adds an interesting design feature without being obnoxious.
Excellent (from the Chronicle):
A bustling section of Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District could soon become more welcoming to pedestrians, cyclists and people looking to chill out and watch the world go by.
Design schemes for the $6 million makeover of four blocks running between 15th and 19th streets are expected to be complete by the end of December and work to widen sidewalks, plant trees, add bike racks and pedestrian-level street lighting could be done by summer 2010.
Zahid Sardar of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Design Spotting column writes about converting a failed dot-com space into an innovative live-work space near Potrero Hill.
Live-work lofts were too small for sculptor Agelio Batle to raise a family, but residential neighborhoods weren’t right for a substantial studio. After a long search, he found the perfect spot between two Potrero neighborhoods – the work space of a failed dot-com
The remodel includes interesting design, art, room for their staff of eight on the lower floor, living space upstairs, green building materials such as cork flooring, passive solar heating and water-based (non-toxic) paints.
Batles’ Potrero Hill home echoes the past
Design Spotting column
Apartment Therapy recently posted photos of painted accent walls, which can really bring out a room:
Painted Accent Walls And Why We Love Them
I have a small wall in my entryway that I covered with “chalkboard paint.” I found the black jarring at first, but as soon as I started using it as a chalkboard, drawing and erasing and drawing some more, it faded into a really nice muted gray color. The chalk dust is a bit of an issue, though, so I’ve only done this one wall away from electronics and linens.
I’m a huge fan of car sharing. You join the car share service and that gives you access to cars all over the city. You just book one of the cars on the web site — even just a few minutes before you need it — and then you can pick it up, using a card key to unlock it. You pay by the hour (or by the day) and gas and insurance are both included.
For city dwellers like me car sharing saves a ton of money and aggravation (it’s awesome not owning a car!), we have access to a car when we need one and using a car becomes a fixed and predictable expense.
The large commercial car sharing company in cities across the US is Zipcar; an architecture company has created a design for what they call a “Zipcar dispenser.” It’s basically a giant Pez dispenser-like rack system that allows car share cars to be stored vertically in dense urban areas and popped out like pieces of candy when they’re needed.
Check out the picture here, and the Moskow Linn Architects site for more pictures and information.
Image: Moskow Linns Architects
