Garden Inspiration

Happy Mothers Day to all you moms out there.  My favorite thing to do on Mothers Day is to visit the New York Botanical Gardens or White Flower Farm in Litchfield, CT.  But this year I won't be able to make it to either place.  So a couple of gorgeous photographs from Barbara Israel Antiques are going to serve as my inspiration as I putter in my garden.

Cinderella Story 2.0

After...

Before...

This was a particularly satisfying renovation.  How many of these awful, 1960's tract houses have you seen?  It was great to be able to transform this one into a more authentic looking farmhouse colonial.  There are thousands of these houses out there.  Wouldn't it be great to transform all of them?  One down...

 

The critical changes which helped to transform this house were: a new, steeper roof; replacing the existing wide exposure siding, which is so dated,  with 4" cedar shingle siding; adding roof overhangs with crown mouldings;  replacing all of the existing windows with more veritical ones; and adding the front porch to give a friendlier front to the house.

A Feminine Architecture

Is there such thing as a Feminine Architecture?  I remember an achitectural critic posing this question, while I was a student.  Unfortunatley I can't remember who it was.  But seeing this new Chicago building, called  Aqua by Jeanne Gang,  made me think that yes, absolutely there is such a thing.

This tower is unique because it is not focused on the verticality or monumentality of a typical skyscraper.  Ms. Gang uses thin concrete balconies almost as countour lines in a map, to create undulating waves which become the surface of the building.  The soft, accommodating form of this tower differs  fundimentally from the more, hard edged, phallic like, archetype of a skyscraper.  Thus argueably creating the first feminie skyskraper.  As Paul Golberger points out in his article in the New Yorker Magazine, Ms Gang's use of curved forms has more to do with function, and less to do with whim, or a fascination with using unique shapes generated by

high tech computer programs.  The undulating surface actually acts to break up and difuse the notoriously  high winds of Chicago, eliminating the need for a device which stabilizes most tall builings against the sway and vibrations caused by winds.  The difusion of the wind also allows for balconies on all floors of the builing.  A typical skyscraper doesn't have balconies above 60 or 70 stories because the winds are usually too strong at that height.

I am totally enamored of this building. It has gotten my attention by not being an attention grabber.

photos from Studio Gang

As soon as I saw Aqua, I immediately thought of the fashon designs by Leanne from Season 5 of Project Runway. Her designs are so architectural, yet they are flowing and not stiff or linear.  Leanne's fashions and Aqua have a similar understated and feminine beauty.

I love the shapes and the colors of these creations.  Obviously they have less to do with functionality than Jeanne Gang's Aqua Tower, but I think they share an optimistic, architectural outlook.

Beach Glow

This article in Veranda magazine really caught my eye.  I love the soft blues and greens of the interiors by Susan Ferrier against the austere, almost graphic background of the architecture by Mcalpine and Tankersley. It's like a beautiful soft peice of sea glass set against the back drop of a sandy beach.

You can just barely make out the Buccellati silver seashell on the books of the coffe table.  Definitely one of my favorite accessories.

I love how this painting by Michael Marlowe echoes the various shades of the fabrics.  I wonder which came first, the painting or the fabrics.

I love the use of long, full wall sheers in a beach house.

I love the playful use of glass tile and the arched ceiling in this kitchen. It's casual yet spunky, and not at all boring.

 All photos by Tria Giovan for Veranda Magazine

Go Green

My latest issue of at home magazine  arrived at exactly the right time. I was just starting to get anxious to start working outside in my garden. We have finally had a few warm days here in Connecticut, but everything is still brown. These inspiring verdant gardens were exactly what I wanted to see. If only my garden looked as fabulous as these do.

All photos by Stacy Bass for at home

Cinderella Story

 After...

Much of what we do as architects

involves transforming sow's ears into silk purses.  We always try to make these transformations in the most cost effective way.  This is the first of what I hope will be a regular monthly feature of my blog.

Before ...

photos by Huestis Tucker Architects

This is what the house looked like just a few short months before.  Yikes, huh? This project was almost entirely a face lift.  We removed the front porch, installed new windows and lots of nice trim.  Now the house looks as though it might have always been in this lovely New England town.

Sable Island

I was totally taken with this image on the cover of “The Modern Estate” magazine in the winter of 08. I was completely captivated by the dramatic effect of this enormous photo as the focal point of a NYC apartment.

Every body knows about the wild horses of Chincoteague thanks to the children’s book “Misty of Chincoteague”, but until I saw this article, I had never heard of the wild horses of Sable Island. Robert Dutesco’s hauntingly beautiful photographs of the wild horses made me want to know more about the horses and about the island itself.

The background and history of the island as described by Richard Friswell in the article is fascinating. Sable Island is a crescent shaped spit of sand 125 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia. It is essentially uninhabited except for the 300 to 400 wild horses. Access to the island is restricted and very limited. It must be a sublime place to visit, so remote, and wild and beautiful. Sable Island is definitely going on my bucket list.

The wildness of horses mirrors that of the wild and stormy landscape.

photos by Robert Dutesco

These are satelite views of the island.  It's hard to imagine why this sandbar/island exists 125 miles off the coast of rocky Nova Scotia, seemingly out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

As seen from above.  It looks so beautiful.

Being a map lover, I had to include this.

For more information see the article in The Modern Estate