The owner asked for a seating arrangement at the NE corner of the terrace and she said to Jim “Don’t give me any hints! I want to be completely surprised when it’s finished! Design anything you like, and we’ll call it Jim’s Corner!” What a wonderful, but challenging offer! a complete freedom, yet you still want it to be a great surprise!

Here in the office, we put our heads together, sorted through several concepts, forms, materials, furniture… Built little models and tried to present our ideas to the owner, but no! she really wanted a surprise.

We decided on a fire-table that is shaped so the chairs around it will be arranged to capture the views of the lake. We designed the base with folding sheets of stainless steel. We picked a stone that is naturally dense with metals, so that when parties spill to the top of the fire-table it will endure people dancing on it! And to contrast it all, we used delicate chairs with white mesh.

The stone was delivered last week. Considering it’s not such a large piece, I was amazed that it actually took 7 men to lift it to it’s place. It was a beautiful sunny day, with long shadows and bright reflections over the stone.

Here are some photos of the stone installation

Subframe:

Stone Install:

and… it was great surprise!

Note: More photos coming as the installation progresses..

You can see some pictures of our ‘re-greened’ park here, and here!

-Mike

Joe Fugere, the owner, was on Fox Business News just a few days ago:

Follow the link for the video:

Taking a Slice of the Pizza Market

You can also see photos of the restaurants we designed for Tutta Bella:

Stoneway

Westlake

Alev

We are now focusing on one of the key elements of the house - The Staircase

The Staircase is designed with continuous tube steel stringers that float like a ribbon between 2nd and 3rd Floors. There is a 2-story tall window at the South wall, to catch the views of the hill to the west and to bring light through the stairs into the foyer.

The large landing at the bottom of the stairs was initially dedicated as the (family dog) Cody’s Place. However, as the house came together, we all agreed that this area deserved to be so much more!!

The landing is at the center of the staircase, so the tube steel stringers wrap around it at different elevations. Because the landing is approx three feet higher than the Main Entry Level, the building code requires a min. 34″ continues guardrail for safety.

We decided to play with geometric volumes, rather than placing a simple handrail. We began playing with steel plates, cubes and cylinders, keeping both visual and code requirements in perspective.

After a few sketches, we realized the best way to study and present our ideas to the Owners was to build a model! we built many forms of different sizes and height that fit in a 1/2″ scale model of the staircase, and had lots of fun discussing what made the most sense where, and how each element shall be used in the space.

Working with the owners, we decided to have two stainless steel planters to hold large trunks of Madrona trees, and 2 pedestals one with glass lit surface, and the other out of wood that can both be used as art display or seating during parties!

Here are a few quick shots of the study model and the beautiful madronas:

Alev

Our friends we met during the 1910 Residence remodel will be joining us for the run!!! Jim and his family will also be there for moral support!

We will have a big party in Leavenworth, Saturday evening to celebrate our well deserved victory!

Check back for the results!

And here is a few photos Amber took of the 1910 Residence.

Recreation Room:

Sunken Garden:

Green Roof at Garage:

Kitchen:

Alev

15,000 Seattleites used to going through 4 seasons in one day were not discouraged by the snow! It was really like a carnival, everyone in crazy costumes (I guess we didn’t get the memo on the costume contest), and their kegs on their shoulders, gathered behind the start line.

As we crossed the Start line, everyone screaming and the bagpipes cheering us on, I felt so inspired. The energy created by all of us running in unison was such a strong feeling! With this encouragement we first ran up the hill on Hwy 99 to the bridge and back down toward EMP! Talk about hard on the knees!… But when we saw the Finish Line, we forgot about the pain and the rain and the cold, and celebrated our achievement!

See you next year… snow, rain or shine!

Last night Castanes Architects [Jim, Alev, Michael, and myself], Sidney [the original lighting designer of Lighting Designs, Inc.], and Gray [neighbor and friend], made a visit to “The Atrium House” to enjoy an evening of friends, light, and Sazeracs! David and Paul were gracious hosts and took very good care of us!

Jim designed the house in the early 90’s and then it was completed in 1998, so we were celebrating the remodels 10 year anniversary! It was great to catch up with David and Paul to hear how they have been enjoying the space since its completion. To them, since home was designed to emphasize light and space, the house always feels new; the weather and changing seasons constantly bring new life and dimension to the spaces, rather than having the architecture dictate a certain style objective.

My favorite part of the evening was when we all settled into living room and were surrounded by the extended view of the city, the glass fireplace, and the atrium with it’s newly installed blue lights [thanks to Sydney]. Really a great collaboration by all! -Amber

Last week we paid a visit to the Steel Shop where Curtis showed us the wonderful work he’s been doing.

Here is the metal templates used instead of shop drawings. These were brought out to the project site to confirm that dimensions are accurate:

These spikey things that look like shark fins, are the supports to hold the stair treads:

Here is the “Z” Shape stringer. Waiting to be wrapped up to go to finishing…

Alev

-MS

I love sketching; no matter how bad they look at the time, when you look at them years down the road, they can really bring up memories and feeling from that time that a photograph just can’t capture. The images i am including are from the Tate Modern, the British Museum, and the Roman baths in Bath.

-Amber