It has taken us 17 months to finally finish our own office here at the Park Modern, but that gave us a little time to focus our industrious nature on the task. Through our good buddy Chris, we were able to obtain some unused perforated metal material that was going to be scrapped from a local project. Keeping this in mind, we employed the same tricks we use to keep our client’s budgets reasonable on our own space- finding reusable or discounted materials and finding a way to turn them into elegant compositions (in our humble opinion).
Here’s the material breakdown:
1. Homasote display board attached to vertical slats
2. 1½” x 2” vertical cedar slats at varying lengths
3. Track lights concealed above cedar slats: Juno T12W Trac-Master w/ T359W w/ basic mini universal heads
4. 1 1/4” x 8” cedar slats @ 6”oc (composed of laminating (2) 5/8” slats).
5. 4” deep x 1 ¼” metal flashing “champagne” to match corrugated steel soffit
6. Corrugated, perforated steel panels (off-cuts provided from nearby large project).
7. 4’ long fluorescent lights, boxed out with flashing to match soffit
8. Conference table by SPD; solid laminated Anigre top with steel base
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9. Concrete slab floor with clear sealer
10. Maple plywood cabinets with exposed edges and clear sealed
11. 4’ long fluorescent light boxed out with cedar trim
12. 6062 “Boeing” aluminum alloy, steel plate wall hanging
13. Track lights: Juno T12W Trac-Master w/ T359W w/ basic mini universal heads
14. Orange acrylic panel mounted to wall
15. Corten steel sheet panel mounted to wall
16. Cork panel wall mounted
17. 3-Form Drift Green panel wall mounted
18. Solid fir plank, clear sealed and wall mounted
19. Chalk board panel wall mounted with inset Mockett pull for chalk holder
The construction process vid
The quick cost summary looks like this (in round numbers):
free perforated metal panels (salvaged and reused)
$350 210 lineal feet of matching edge metal (fabricated)
$225 improperly milled clear cedar material (mill unable to sell conventionally)
$1150 additional lumber, cedar, hardware and materials for ceiling assembly
$1200 additional track lighting, heads and lamps
$1250 conference table base; top was salvaged anigre laid-up by our shop, SPD
$75 homasote panels
free 6062 plate (salvaged from Boeing Surplus many years ago)
$35 acrylic panel, cut to size
$95 corten steel panel
$35 cork panel on multiply base
free 3-Form panel (salvaged)
$295 fir plank (bought from reclaimed supplier)
$85 chalk board panel
$300 general consumables
$5,095 project total
Now granted, the labor was our own. If you factor the labor in at our normal billing rates, the $5,095 balloons up to $14,000. This makes our office improvements a tidy $22/ square foot, everything included. An industrious budget by an industrious group in times that call for industrious solutions.
Cheers from your friends at BUILD
There is something about physical architectural models that digital renderings will never be able to reproduce. Don’t get us wrong, we’re no luddites; we use a variety of 2D and 3D software to explore form and to present our ideas. But for each project we design, if we don’t build a physical model there is a dimension of the exploration missing from the process. So today we’ve decided to post some of the physical models that have been produced around the studio lately. While rendering techniques come and go, the basswood and cork architectural model seems to be a timeless method of representation and exploration. These are just a few from our studio – there are some amazing examples of physical models out there, let us know about your favs.
Bainbridge Guesthouse (unbuilt)
Whidbey Tractor House (unbuilt)
Recently on a trip to South America we visited Tigre, a community about an hour north of Buenos Aires by train. Also known as the archipelago of Argentina, the area is a web of inter-connecting rivers and streams. Within the labyrinth of waterways were hundreds of homes and cabins representing the full spectrum of form, size and design philosphy. There didn’t seem to be any master-plan, development or overall scheme. Aesthetic covenants seemed to be excluded from the community and, judging from some of the structures, it didn’t even seem like a permit process or building department was involved. It appeared to be a community of liberated architecture. Some projects were clearly built from an architect’s drawings; others could have been crafted on site without a single piece of documentation. Needless to say, we were fascinated.
[Photo by Andrea CB]
[Photo by Magdo-50]
[Photo by BUILD LLC]
[Photo by Gabriel Robledo]
[Photo by BUILD LLC]
[Photo by BUILD LLC]
[Photo by BUILD LLC]
[Photo by BUILD LLC]
[Photo by Hanneorla]
[Photo by Hanneorla]
[Photo by BUILD LLC]
[Photo by BUILD LLC]
[Photo by BUILD LLC]
[Photo by bdnegin]
[Photo by Bloggingsouls]
It’s easy to imagine that an environment like this is the product of a community that solves differences through communication rather than filing lawsuits. A population of individuals who maintain an open mind about appearances and design rather than trying to control and manipulate the built environment through review boards and covenants. A society that designs and builds responsibly because it’s the right thing to do, not because a building department required them to do so.
The diversity of architecture and construction in Tigre was refreshing and it seems like there are some fundamental lessons to learn here about society and behavior.
