Archinect - News

New 'Zillow Gone Wild' HGTV show to launch inspired by popular Instagram account

2024-05-02T12:00:00-04:00

Friday, May 3rd, will see the launch of a new show on HGTV inspired by the popular Instagram account Zillow Gone Wild. The show, which bears the same name as the social media account, will offer insights into “exceptionally weird, wacky, and wild properties that sellers put on the market every day.”

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Hosted by actor and comedian Jack McBrayer, the series will feature characters from non-traditional homes with distinctive decor and imaginative architecture. The history of each will be explored, alongside backstories from buyers and sellers. Among the homes set to be featured are a house in Berkeley, California, designed by a jazz musician, and a home in New Orleans with an eclectic parlor lounge.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Zillow Gone Wild (@zillowgonewild)

The run of nine weekly episodes will conclude with HGTV awarding one home the accolade of “wild...

Five idyllic Hawaiian homes by Walker Warner: Your Next Employer?

2024-04-29T11:13:00-04:00

Following our previous visit to New York-based Oza Sabbeth Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to California this week to explore the work of Walker Warner.

Founded in 1989, and based in San Francisco, the firm has built an extensive portfolio of bespoke homes and hospitality venues across the United States. “Enduring architecture gains beauty as it passes from one generation to the next. It is timeless,” the firm says about its ethos. “Thoughtful design heightens your way of life. It invites you to feel at ease, at peace, at home.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for several positions to join their San Francisco office. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning more about the firm’s output, we have rounded up five Hawaiian residential retreats by Walker Warner that exemplify the firm’s ethos.

Makena. Image credit: Matthew Millman

Makena, Maui, Hawaii

The Makena residence on Maui was designed ...

Plans for world’s tallest residential tower unveiled in Dubai

2024-04-27T08:00:00-04:00

Hospitality brand Six Senses has unveiled plans for a new residential tower in Dubai Marina, set to be the world’s tallest. Sprouting up in Dubai Marina, the Six Senses Residences will be the second Dubai location to come from Six Senses, joining the nearly-opened Six Senses The Palm Jumeirah hotel. The tower is said to boast an impressive 122 floors, when it is eventually completed in 2028.

The height of the new Six Senses Residences Dubai Marina tower is equal to the under-construction Burj Azizi tower nearby, a $1.5 billion commercial project that was announced to have broken ground in January and will be completed the same year.

Image credit: Select Group

They will become two of the world’s six 120+ story structures. Reported amenities include a 109th-floor lap pool and cryotherapy chambers, crystal sound healing room, movie theater, and spa.

Image credit: Select Group

Despite the size, only 251 high-end residences are included. The current record-holder for tallest residential building, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture's Central Park Tower in New York City, has 179 units over 131 floors.

Image credit: Select Group

WSP Middle East and Woods Bagot are reportedly in charge of the architectural design.

Eric Owen Moss’ first LA home relists for $10.95 million

2024-04-25T18:39:00-04:00

Eric Owen Moss’ first residential design in Los Angeles, the 1991 Constellation 167 home in Brentwood, has hit the market courtesy of Sotheby’s International Realty for a listed price of $10.95 million. The home had previously been listed by Compass and Sotheby’s for $12 million last fall before being put up again for the lower price, held exclusively by the latter.

Photo: Wayne Ford, image courtesy Sotheby's International Realty

The 5,476-square-foot design includes four bedrooms and 5 full baths and sits on just a quarter-acre parcel. It has appeared several times in various television shows (R.I.P. Curb Your Enthusiasm) and is distinctive of Moss’ warped style, which was later repeated in 2022’s A+M House. A “comprehensive” series of upgrades and restorations has been performed since it was commissioned, according to Robb Report.

Photo: Wayne Ford, image courtesy Sotheby's International Realty

Moss, who turns 81 this year, recently completed his (W)RAPPER office tower in Culver Ci...

Five high-end Long Island homes by Oza Sabbeth Architects: Your Next Employer?

2024-04-22T13:30:00-04:00

Following our previous visit to Connecticut-based Newman Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Bridgehampton, NY this week to explore the work of Oza Sabbeth Architects.

Established in 2014 by architect Nilay Oza and artist Peter Sabbeth, the firm specializes in high-end residential projects in the Long Island area. “We think of the home as an instrument of shelter,” the studio told us in 2020. “It is an ambient environment that infuses our lives with the essential elements for balancing and recharging. We believe that the simple act of walking through a well-designed home, as it responds to the passing day and perennial seasons, should be a worthy experience in and of itself.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Project Architect to join their Bridgehampton office. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up five residential projects by Oza Sabbet...

A rustic ‘entertainment barn’ in California’s wine country is completed by Malcolm Davis Architecture

2024-04-19T11:31:00-04:00

San Francisco-based Malcolm Davis Architecture (MDa) has completed a rural timber home addition in Northern California Wine Country. Titled Wine Country Barn, the scheme is described by its designers as “a testament to modern architecture’s ability to blend harmoniously with nature.”

Image credit: Joe Fletcher

The project client sought a communal living space for weekends with family and friends. Originally imagined as a large addition to the original house, the projects evolved into an “entertainment barn and guest house addition.” For the scheme’s design, MDa drew inspiration from the region’s rustic barns, while incorporating modern detailing, including locally harvested redwood siding to reflect the area’s history as a mill town.

Image credit: Joe Fletcher

The resulting building features a guest suite, covered parking, and an outdoor kitchen and living space, with interiors by Grant Gibson Interior Design. The design unites the e...

ODA plans new residential development in East Williamsburg

2024-04-16T14:14:00-04:00

ODA has revealed plans for a new residential project under construction in Brooklyn that will deliver 336 units of studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments. Their design for the Lorimer House and Copper Lofts in East Williamsburg calls for a triangular block-scale development connected by a bridge, surrounding three small interior courtyards and defined by curved corners that soften its form in response to the site's unique dimensions.

Rendering courtesy of Secchi Smith

Other aspects of the project include a third-floor pocket park space that combines with an upper-level amenity lounge and a circular roof deck with landscaping to give residents a total of 26,000 square feet of outdoor areas. The building's facade is composed of brick with horizontal metal panels, vertical metallic piers, and a slab edge to create an appealing visual character completed by integrated planters, balconies, and recessed terraces.

Rendering courtesy of Secchi Smith

Durukan Design has been tasked with comp...

A perfect cube chalet occupies a rural Canadian forest

2024-04-07T08:00:00-04:00

Montreal-based practice Maurice Martel architecte has completed a rural rustic home in Mandeville, Canada.

Set within a forest and bordered by a river, the Rustic Grade chalet is described as “the ideal mini-home to escape the hustle and bustle of daily life in the outside world.”

Image credit: Adrien Williams

The architecture of the chalet strikes a minimalist tone, taking a simplistic cube form.

The home is clad in a “meticulous choice of durable and maintenance-free materials,” with the form and lines of the cube contrasting with the organic nature of the forest.

Image credit: Adrien Williams

The number of openings is limited to improve energy efficiency, with the orientation of each window carefully chosen to maximize natural light while taking advantage of river views.

Image credit: Adrien Williams

The footprint of the home itself was also deliberately restricted, “embodying the quintessence of an economical dwelling wit...

Ray Kappe's Keeler House lists for $12 million in Los Angeles

2024-04-05T18:23:00-04:00

Late SCI-Arc founder Ray Kappe’s Keeler House design has hit the market in Pacific Palisades, California, for $12 million.

The split-level, 4,142-square-foot Post and Beam design was built over four and a half years using Kappe’s nearby personal residence as its model. A rich palette of redwood, teak, Douglas fir, concrete, and glass feature carefully throughout the home, which sits on a 7-acre hillside lot and is replete with a two-car garage, four bedrooms, three baths, a storeroom, and separate guest quarters.

Kappe designed the home in 1991 for a local jazz musician. Its interior layout is centered around its open-plan living/entertainment area that is cantilevered to extend over the hillside. A pleasing layered effect composes the interior, with glass inlay floor and ceiling blocks included to further incorporate the presence of natural light deeper into the structure via a vaulted skylight. Six concrete towers work to elevate the home above the tree line, allowing for a floati...

Frida Escobedo reveals first American residential design in Brooklyn

2024-04-04T15:16:00-04:00

Frida Escobedo’s first American residential commission has been revealed as a block-scale condominium project in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The designer of the new Modern and Contemporary Art Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (in which she has set up a working studio) will deliver the new Bergen development at 209,000 square feet for client Avdoo & Partners by 2025.

It will stand as the second building project in the New York market for Escobedo following her collaboration with Handel on the new National Black Theatre mixed-use development in Harlem.

Image credit: DARCSTUDIO

Escobedo had gained notoriety in Mexico for residential projects, including Mar Tirreno 86, which will now inform her latest design, calling for 105 units configurable in 53 different types and ranging from studios to five bedrooms. The facade of the building is angled such that it maximizes natural light from an east-west direction, with porous openings made along the street level to produc...

Foster + Partners unveils design for Dubai luxury residential towers

2024-03-26T11:45:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has unveiled plans for two luxury residential towers in Dubai. Named VELA and VELA VIENTO, derived from the Latin words for ‘sails’ and ‘wind’ respectively, the design of the towers echoes the architectural language of the firm’s previous waterfront tower The Lana, which sits nearby.

Image credit: Binyan Studios

“VELA, VELA VIENTO, and The Lana share a horizontal rhythm, an expressed structure, and voids in the massing, which makes them instantly recognizable,” Foster + Partners Head of Studio Gerard Evenden explains. “Together, they provide a range of generous outdoor spaces and play an integral role in the transformation of Dubai’s Marasi Bay.”

Image credit: Binyan Studios

VELA rises 492 feet in height encompassing over 30 floors. Inside, 38 residential typologies range from 4,253 square feet to 11,727 square feet. The units encompass penthouses and three-and-four-bedroom plans, with double-height living spaces, private terraces, and L-shaped corner pools. The towe...

Four rural California residences by Richard Beard Architects: Your Next Employer?

2024-03-25T15:02:00-04:00

Following our previous visit to Philadelphia-based KieranTimberlake, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to California this week to explore the work of Richard Beard Architects.

Led by Richard Beard, and based in San Francisco, Richard Beard Architects focuses on the design of private residences and special commissions, specializing in distinctive custom homes, luxury multi-family communities, and specialty commercial and hospitality environments. The studio describes its work as “significantly informed by how architecture can integrate with interior and landscape design to achieve a unified design that is more than the sum of its constituent parts.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for several positions to join their San Francisco office. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up four rural California residences by Richard Beard Architects that exemplify the st...

Olson Kundig completes West Hollywood homes designed for ‘craft and material expression’

2024-03-05T11:09:00-05:00

Olson Kundig has completed a series of custom single-family homes in West Hollywood. Collectively named ‘The Houses at 8899 Beverly’ the eight homes seek to be “harmoniously linked yet individual” with architectural forms “combining natural materials such as wood, steel, glass, concrete, and stone.”

Concrete House. Image credit: Nils Timm

“These eight distinct contemporary homes are woven into the fabric of their vibrant West Hollywood neighborhood at the base of the Hollywood Hills,” said Kevin M. Kudo-King, co-Design Principal at Olson Kundig. “While each one has its own identity – just as the eclectic neighboring houses do – collectively, they are about craft and material expression.”

Bronze House. Image credit: Nils Timm

The homes form the final part of the wider 8899 Beverly developement which opened in 2022. The project centers on the Los Angeles International Design Center, a mid-century modernist build...

Four contemporary East Coast homes by Bates Masi + Architects: Your Next Employer?

2024-02-26T10:50:00-05:00

Following last week’s visit to Santa Monica-based KoningEizenberg, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York this week to explore the work of Bates Masi + Architects.

From their studios across New York City and East Hampton, the five-decades-old firm operates along a principle that each project regardless of type or scale offers “the opportunity to enrich lives and enhance the environment.” The studio has built a varied portfolio of urban and suburban residences, schools, offices, hotels, restaurants, retail, and furniture, adding that “the attention to all elements of design has been a constant in the firm’s philosophy.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for an Architectural Designer to join their East Hampton office. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up four contemporary residential projects on the East Coast by Bates Masi + Architects that exemplify...

Coastal Nova Scotia home ‘emerges from rocky terrain,’ designed by Omar Gandhi Architects

2024-02-23T12:26:00-05:00

Omar Gandhi Architects has completed a house on Canada’s Atlantic coastline that “emerges from rocky terrain.” Named Rockbound, and located in Musquodoboit Harbour, Nova Scotia, the home was commissioned as a place of refuge for a busy client.

Image credit: Ema Peter Photography

Situated atop a rocky shoreline, the building was shaped to capture views of the ocean while sheltering the interior from winds and storms. A steel and wood frame was shaped to resist hurricane-force winds, while a material palette with naturally weathering characteristics is intended to “age gracefully” and “tell the story of its place in the landscape.”

Image credit: Ema Peter Photography

“The structure emerges from the rocky terrain, mirroring the coastline's contours, and its primary living spaces run parallel to the water, offering breathtaking panoramic views along the coast and across the bay to the iconic Peggy's Cove Lighthouse,” th...

KoningEizenberg shares photos of 249-unit The Park housing project in Santa Monica

2024-02-14T15:32:00-05:00

KoningEizenberg has shared images of a new multifamily project at 500 Broadway in Santa Monica called The Park following its completion in April of 2022.

The development was realized at 299,000 square feet and includes a total of 249 market-rate units.

Photo: Eric Staudenmaier

KoningEizenberg says its design broke with several norms endemic to the local typology by creating a series of open public spaces at the street level that work to activate a connection to public transit using cross-grained massing.

Photo: Eric Staudenmaier

A one-acre rooftop garden completes the program with additional space for tenants while reducing urban heat island effects on the development. Retail spaces are included at the street level as well.

Photo: Eric Staudenmaier

Sarah Sze, an artist whose work is heavily influenced by architecture, provided a fitting final touch to the project with the addition of her sculpture Split Stone from 2019.

Photo: Eric Staudenmaier

The Park complim...

Montreal home becomes a ‘playhouse for kids and adults’ by Indee Design

2024-02-14T11:47:00-05:00

Montreal-based interior designers Indee Design have completed what the studio describes as “a playhouse for kids (and adults!)” in the city. Named Atelier Chabot, the scheme saw the transformation of an existing duplex into a single-family home featuring curated furnishings themed around play.

Image credit: Caroline Thibault

“On a mission looking to change the lives of their family, the owners were trying to decide whether to take a trip around the world by sea or to purchase a home,” the team explains. “This project combines both of those dreams, which seemed to oppose one another. For these great travelers, the notion of travel became the common thread of this project, which inspired the idea of creating a space where the inner child can awaken within.”

Image credit: Caroline Thibault

While the beams and brick walls of the original duplex were preserved, the unit was otherwise overhauled to remove overly-confining partiti...

Four tranquil New York residences by Murdock Solon Architects: Your Next Employer?

2024-02-12T11:39:00-05:00

Following last week’s visit to Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York City this week to explore the work of Murdock Solon Architects.

From their studio in Chelsea, the firm has built a portfolio spanning retail, restaurants, schools, institutional, and residential buildings. “We feel that a successful architectural solution is the result of an efficiency of design that translates to all aspects of a project including space planning, specified materials, mechanical systems, and structural strategies,” the firm says about its philosophy. “Our approach is holistic in that all components are thoughtfully combined into a coherent whole that solves design problems the project sets out to address.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for an intermediate interior architect to join their New York studio. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning about th...

Five modern San Francisco residences by Edmonds + Lee Architects: Your Next Employer?

2024-01-22T12:12:00-05:00

Following our previous visit to New York City-based JG Neukomm Architecture, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to San Francisco this week to explore the work of Edmonds + Lee Architects.

Founded by Robert Edmonds and Vivan Lee, the architecture and interior design firm has built an acclaimed portfolio across private, commercial, and institutional sectors. From their studio in the city’s Mission District, the studio operates along “a profoundly philosophical approach with a deep well of on-the-ground building experience to produce work that both sensitively integrates itself into the existing context, and that offers new opportunities for reflection, work, pause, restoration, and play.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Project Architect/Designer to join their San Francisco office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up five residential projects by Ed...

StudioAC plays with gabled forms for an ‘unapologetically contemporary’ Toronto home

2024-01-05T13:20:00-05:00

Toronto-based Studio AC has offered a look inside their “unapologetically” residential scheme in the Canadian city. The three-story home reads as a series of stacked boxes from the outside with echoes of traditional residential forms.

Image credit: Doublespace Photography

At the base of the scheme, an otherwise contemporary rectilinear massing holds a gable-shaped opening while, above, the scheme is crowned by a gabled roof form. Inside, the emphasis on gabled forms continued with ceiling levels on the first and third floors that follow a peaked, sloping form.

Image credit: Doublespace Photography

“While a gabled roof is one of the quintessential icons of “house”, the Studio was interested in elevating this phenomenon beyond motif to a spatial experience that defined a narrative throughout the project,” the design team explains. “This approach was integral to working with the client's budget strategy and thesis:...

Minimalist concrete apartments fill a narrow site in Tokyo, designed by Ryuichi Sasaki Architecture

2024-01-05T12:30:00-05:00

Tokyo-based Ryuichi Sasaki Architecture has completed a residential scheme in the western part of the Japanese capital defined by an exposed concrete structure on a constrained site. According to the designers, the three-unit scheme “emphasizes maximal utilization of natural energy and pursues comfortable livability.”

Image credit: BAUHAUS NEO

Designed in collaboration with Kiz Architects and Hidetaka Gonai/Escenario, and completed in the winter of 2022, the project measures only 15 feet wide and 46 feet deep. Responding to the site’s narrow constraints, the scheme sees a single staircase linking four levels, “utilizing the space efficiently to ensure ample living areas.”

Image credit: BAUHAUS NEO

Image credit: Sherpa

The staircase is visually integrated into the living spaces, serving as both functional steps and display storage. In addition, the top floor incorporates a workspace counter atop the staircase to facilitate remote working for residents. Elsewhere...

Ronald Lu & Partners completes Hong Kong tower offering ‘nature on every doorstep’

2023-12-28T12:34:00-05:00

Hong Kong-based Ronald Lu & Partners has completed a residential development in Kowloon described as a “real forest building.” Named Garden Crescent, the scheme was designed with the philosophy of “nature on every doorstep.”

Image credit: Ronald Lu & Partners

Externally, the building features slanted structural supports to create solid and void spaces that are designed to create multiple avenues for natural ventilation and passive cooling. On the podium level, the scheme’s biophilic elements include a landscape of trees, shrubs, and plants aimed at improving air quality, reducing the urban heat island effect, and enhancing the local microclimate.

Image credit: Ronald Lu & Partners

As the tower rises, voids in the form create six multi-layered green courtyards. Designed to be fully accessible to birds and insects in an effort to repopulate the area’s biodiversity, the courtyards are also intended to give residents imme...

Pierre Koenig’s last completed project, the Schwartz House, listed for over $4 million

2023-12-21T11:48:00-05:00

Pierre Koenig’s Schwartz House has been listed for sale in Rustic Canyon, Los Angeles. Built in 1994, the home is the last project Koenig completed, uniquely built on four structural steel beams.

Image credit: Cameron Carothers

Externally, the home takes the form of a steel cube held aloft by four 40-foot-tall structural steel columns. The cube is rotated 30 degrees on an axis to face the canyon and ocean and clad in bright steel with a blend of full-length and half-length windows. By contrast, the four columns and external staircase are finished in black paint.

Image credit: Cameron Carothers

Inside, the four-bedroom home features two main levels floating above a garage and sheltered courtyard. The upper and lower levels are connected by a yellow spiral staircase wrapping around one of the structural steel columns, offering a colorful departure from a pure material palette of hardwood and glass.

Image credit: Cameron Carot...

French 2D completes Boston co-housing complex grounded in community connections

2023-12-19T12:02:00-05:00

Boston-based French 2D has completed a 45,000-square-foot collective housing complex in Malden, on the outskirts of Boston. Named Bay State Commons Cohousing, the thirty-unit scheme was conceived as a collaboration with residents “through a participatory design process emphasized mutual support and the central values of consolidating and sharing resources from land and energy to cars and material goods.”

Image credit: nkubota

The scheme’s form is defined by a series of stacked, interlocking units, ranging from micro-studios to three-bedroom homes. Half of the units and common spaces overlook an interior courtyard and lawn, with exterior spaces at every level encouraging spontaneous interactions among residents.

Image credit: nkubota

“Rather than being about surveillance, these connections create reciprocity across multiple places for gardening, chatting, playing, reading, or lounging,” the team explains. “Many of the community’s older resident...

Four bespoke interiors by Jean-Gabriel Neukomm: Your Next Employer?

2023-12-18T11:16:00-05:00

Following last week’s visit to Richmond-based 3North, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York City this week to explore the work of JG Neukomm Architecture.

Founded in 2017 by Jean-Gabriel Neukomm, the firm operates on the premise that “great architecture requires a bold vision for collaboration, a commitment to honor the histories of site and community, and an embrace of intelligent, lasting design.” This ethos has led the firm to build a portfolio ranging from luxury residential and hospitality to large-scale urban projects.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Project Manager to join their New York office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up four interior projects by Jean-Gabriel Neukomm that exemplify the studio’s ethos.

Hayden. Image credit: Scott Frances

Hayden, Long Island City, NY

A 51-story tower comprising studio, one-bedroom, and two-...

Your next job could help transform residential design and production with Zuru Tech

2023-12-13T12:38:00-05:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Landscape Designer at the Better Block Foundation, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Senior Architect at Zuru Group.

The role, based in El Segundo, CA, calls for an individual to sit at the forefront of Zuru Tech’s “ambitious project to craft 20-30 exceptional homes within the next 18-24 months.” Among the responsibilities will be leading residential design concepts, collaborating with a wider design team, and mentoring junior architects. Among the skills and qualifications desired for the role are a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture alongside 8-10 years of residential design experience.

Zuru Tech's workspace. Image credit: Zuru Tech

Why the role interests us

The open role at Zuru Tech offers us the opportunity to explore a company seeking to disrupt the traditional process of residential design and construction. The company’s approach centers on a client-facing...

IOAN’s Joshua Tree residence sets natural materials against a desert backdrop

2023-12-12T18:42:00-05:00

Los Angeles-based Industry of All Nations (IOAN) has completed a timber residence set against the backdrop of California’s Joshua Tree National Park. According to the team, the building named The Landing House “masterfully blends into the layout, textures, and color palette of its desert canvas.”

Photo credit: Ye Rin Mok

“The landscape is harsh, and it can take decades for a plant or tree to recover if displaced from its delicate ecosystem,” says Fernando Gerscovich of IAON about the project. “We were determined to minimize disruptions of the natural landscape, so our design focused on integration that wouldn’t disturb the surrounding plants and natural geography of the land.”

Photo credit: Ye Rin Mok

Responding to the many natural features across the five-acre site, which includes Joshua trees and natural boulder formations, the team adopted an approach grounded in “eco-humility,” resulting in a nine-foot-tall structure whose low profil...

Residential business conditions weaken while remodeling remains popular, says AIA Home Design Trends Survey

2023-12-06T11:54:00-05:00

The American Institute of Architects has published its latest quarterly report on residential design in the United States. The AIA Home Design Trends Survey for Q4 2023 focused on the theme ‘neighborhood and community design,’ and revealed a desire among clients for simpler detailing on home exteriors and more windows.

Home exterior trends from the latest AIA survey. Image credit: American Institute of Architects

According to data from architects on client expectations, ‘contemporary home styles’ remain the most popular feature, mentioned by 51% of clients. ‘Simpler detailing on exteriors’ was requested by 29% of clients, and ‘front/side porches’ by 27% of clients.

On home exteriors, ‘low maintenance/durable exteriors’ was the most popular request, mentioned by 59% of clients. A focus on ‘windows (number and size) was cited by 48% of clients and ‘metal finishes’ by 35%.

Neighborhood/community trends from the latest AIA survey. Image credit: American Institute of Architects

On a neighb...

SCI-Arc founder Ray Kappe's final residential design hits the market for $4.2M in Los Angeles

2023-11-29T18:24:00-05:00

Late SCI-Arc founding director Ray Kappe’s final residential design has hit the market in Venice Beach, California, for a listed price of $4.2 million.

The 2,482-square-foot home has three bedrooms and was originally built in 1947. Kappe began the commission in 2019 (the same year he passed away), designing for the owner a two-story addition that added a garage and small recreation room to the property at 938 Amoroso Place. The renovation was completed earlier this year at an undisclosed cost. Tracey Becker of COMPASS is the listing’s agent.

Image courtesy Realtor.com

“When he came to look at the property, he was impressed with the concept of the tree fern garden and how to incorporate the house within that context,” the anonymous seller told Realtor.com. “Ray was also interested in designing a home that went beyond the normal postage-stamp-sized lot home, by continuing his signature style of getting lost in a space — where everywhere you looked, an importan...

Four unique residential projects by I-Kanda Architects: Your Next Employer?

2023-11-28T11:26:00-05:00

Following our previous visit to Seattle-based Wittman Estes, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Massachussets this week to explore the work of I-Kanda Architects.

The Charlestown-based firm specializes in high-end residential projects, ranging from “mountainside cabins to penthouses, barns to unique homes.” Regardless of typology, the firm describes each project as “a new array of needs and desires out of which to craft uniquely enhanced environments that enrich the lives and experiences of individuals.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Mid-level Architect to join their Charlestown office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up four bespoke homes by I-Kanda that exemplify the studio’s ethos.

Cabin on a Rock. Image credit: Matt Delphenich

Cabin on a Rock, Thronton, NH

Located on a granite outcropping in the White Mountains, the Cabin on a Rock was p...