Sometimes, working with a dream team means that what architect Gregory Ehrman calls the “daydream phase” of a project actually comes true. That’s what happened on a piece of land overlooking the Magothy River near its confluence with the Chesapeake Bay; even before his clients drew up a wish list for their Gibson Island, Maryland, retreat, Ehrman says there was a fantastic team in place.
“We were all in lockstep from the beginning,” agrees landscape architect Bob Hruby.
“A dream team is what it was,” echoes interior designer Lauren Liess.
When designing a second home for a young family, “practical doesn’t always win the day,” says Ehrman, adding that the final design might be “more fun and experiential.” In this case, the challenge was to conjure a retreat that would be both a comfortable getaway for the parents, who live and work in Washington, DC, and a functional space for a family with young kids. “We spent a lot of time in their DC house listening to them talk about how they live with their children,” the architect recalls.
The solution turned out to be four linked volumes on the one-and-a-half-acre lot. “It’s one house,” notes Ehrman of the design that weaves the landscape in around it, “but each part has its own special character. We were enamored by the idea of moving between sections of the building.”
The idea was sparked, in part, by the former house on the lot, which occupied the same spot on a cliff 30 feet above the water but was hampered by architecture that blocked the views. Ehrman envisioned the opposite for his clients. No matter the arrival—whether by bike, car or sailboat—and no matter if one is indoors or out, unique and ever-changing views of the water, land and home itself should be visible.
The completed, 6,500-square-foot abode is anchored by a central, flat-roofed glass pavilion. “Located between the gabled and shingled volumes, it accommodates all the circulation into and out of the home,” Ehrman explains. In addition to the pavilion which contains the dining room, other structures house a great room with a cathedral ceiling; a kitchen with a primary suite above and basement space below; a family room with three bedrooms above; and a barn-style garage and bunk room. Three staircases also connect the disparate zones.
Ehrman’s clean-lined architecture is reflected in airy interior spaces. Exterior shingles clad the dining room walls and exposed structural steel is present where there are large expanses of glass. “By using exterior materials and details in the interior, we blur the line between the inside and the outside,” the architect notes.
In her plan, Lauren Liess worked off the minimalist architecture to create tension between “simplicity and a happy, bohemian vibe,” the designer says. She selected a color palette that evokes the greens and tans of grasses and the blues of the water to connect with the scenery, then sprinkled in “unexpected patterns in unexpected places,” such as vintage tile in the powder room that adds a playful element. The concrete floor in the dining room became a link to surrounding structures such as the kitchen’s concrete island.
The kitchen also illustrates Liess’ approach in other ways. The cabinets and refrigerator are recessed unobtrusively into one wall, while the range occupies a niche with the vent hood concealed above it. “I wanted the kitchen design to feel really understated so that when you walk in, you’re focused on the views,” she explains. A single open shelf in the island for storage represents “a relaxed, more European way of doing things,” which reflects the owners’ carefree, down-to-earth vibe, she adds.
The large great room is “both a family hangout and an entertaining space when there are guests,” Liess says, referencing salon-style seating that can host multiple conversation groups. “I love doing rooms like that when the floor plan isn’t typical.” She furnished this room and the other social spaces with a mix of playful, colorful fabrics; natural textures like rattan and raw wood; and layered woven and patterned rugs. “Materials like wood, jute and rattan ground the brighter colors and keep colorful spaces from feeling too sweet,” the designer notes.
The project’s vision is reflected in a landscape that “both supports and softens the house, like walking through a sculpture with plantings that reinforce that experience,” observes landscape architect Bob Hruby. He de-emphasized the 30-foot cliff with grasses typically found on a shoreline to convey “a feeling that the landscape goes on forever.” Avoiding the ordered geometry of a typical garden, he created what he calls a “wild, Chesapeake-style garden,” with adaptive native and non-invasive plants that will evolve over time without requiring much maintenance.
A large oak tree became central to the project, even forcing the team to survey the root system and push the front of the house back. In fact, the tree inspired the primary bedroom’s décor. “We pulled that tree into the palette with greens and beiges and tans and browns,” recounts Liess. “When you’re standing in the bedroom, it feels like you’re up in that oak tree.”
Architecture: Gregory Ehrman, AIA, Hutker Architects, Falmouth, Massachusetts. Interior & Kitchen Design: Lauren Liess, Lauren Liess Interiors, Great Falls, Virginia. Builder: Michael Banks, The Banks Development Co., Washington, DC. Landscape Architecture: Bob Hruby, Campion Hruby Landscape Architects, Annapolis, Maryland.
MARCH/APRIL 2010
According to one of the homeowners, it all started in 1989 when her husband wanted a work shed. What ensued was a 20-year-long project during which architect Mark McInturff, FAIA, transformed their dark 1961 Georgian-style home into an open, light-filled modern masterpiece. While it did take two decades, in the fourth and final phase the client and his wife finally got their work shed—plus a few extras including a meditation room, greenhouse, poolhouse, media room and massage room.
During the 20-year span, the owners’ children grew from toddlers to young adults while their house deviated very little from the original, 3-D model McInturff created in the late ’80s. “What we got was shockingly similar in layout to what we actually planned,” McInturff says, reflecting on the project, which doubled the size of the 5,000-square-foot home set on two wooded acres in Potomac.
First, he and his team designed a new garage with a study space above it on the east side of the home; the former garage became a family room while a patio was enclosed to create a sunroom. Then they designed the pool house. “In 2006, we leapt to the other end of the building and did the master suite pavilion, almost a separate building,” says McInturff. “We left the center untouched—until 2008.”
Throughout the project, McInturff honed in on a “spareness in detailing” to reflect his client’s fascination with Asian design. Natural wood, limestone floors and slatted screens handcrafted from Douglas fir subtly delineate transitions from one room to another. “The screens give a layered effect where you see through them but they also define space, creating the ability to have a big space and a little space at the same time,” McInturff explains. “We were trying to get the whole house to speak in one voice. The wife has a strong interest, intellectual and otherwise, in Asia. So there’s a feeling that goes with that. A sense of mystery. Calmness. Serenity.”
For McInturff, the master suite, which encompasses three levels and took nearly two years to build, was the most challenging part of the four-phase project. From the home’s main foyer, a greenhouse leads to this pavilion housing a massage room, steam room and gym on the lower level; a bedroom and bathroom on the main level; and a serene meditation room on the top level. A centerpiece in the pavilion is the two-ton solid limestone bathtub that the homeowners found in London.
The design’s minimalist approach is expressed beautifully in the master bedroom, which has “a Swiss watch quality,” McInturff says. “Everything is visible. There is nowhere to hide mistakes. Every board had to be to the highest par.” The bed, side tables and backboard were designed to offset the 16-foot ceiling, and “bring the room down,” says McInturff, “creating a cozy, defined space in a room with quite a high ceiling.”
By 2008, the homeowners were ready to tackle the untouched middle section of the house. They wanted to blend the formal and informal spaces—including the living room, dining room, library, family room and kitchen—into a seamless and cohesive whole. McInturff and his team created a new foyer topped by a soaring skylight and removed the walls dividing the living spaces to create a sense of openness. Transitions between rooms are gracefully defined by wooden screens, which echo the motif established in the bedroom pavilion.
The homeowners turned to designer Guillaume de Decker of Roche Bobois to help them furnish the living room, library, family room and sunroom. de Decker proposed a comfortable yet elegant combination of low, unimposing pieces that would complement the modern architecture and create comfortable environments for entertaining.
In the family room, de Decker divided the space into “a TV zone and a zone turned to the outside where one could enjoy nature while having a cup of tea,” he says. “The harmony of colors ties the two sections together and makes them look like they belong with each other. The space is not overcrowded and still very inviting for larger crowds.”
It’s hard for McInturff to step away from this two-decade-long project and he leaves a part of himself in the home. “All the projects I do are modern or contemporary in spirit, but they are all very different because I work for different people and I feed off of what their lives are about,” he says. “A number of times I have worked with a client over many years and then the last thing you do is the final brush stroke.”
Freelance writer Cari Shane Parven, a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, is author of Finding Friendship at Forty.
ARCHITECTURE: Mark McInturff, FAIA, McInturff Architects, Bethesda, Maryland. INTERIOR DESIGN: Guillaume de Decker, Roche Bobois, Washington, DC. RENOVATION CONTRACTOR: Ron Isinghood, Timber Ridge Builders. BEDROOM PAVILION, PROJECT ARCHITECT: David Mogensen, McInturff Architects.
**Out of the array of interior design magazines, Home and Design magazine stands out as a primary idea source for luxury home design and building/remodeling features. Wonderful visuals of custom homes and eco-friendly resources are combined with expert advice to provide a fundamental reference point for bringing amazing home interior design and remodeling projects to life.
MARCH/APRIL 2010
According to one of the homeowners, it all started in 1989 when her husband wanted a work shed. What ensued was a 20-year-long project during which architect Mark McInturff, FAIA, transformed their dark 1961 Georgian-style home into an open, light-filled modern masterpiece. While it did take two decades, in the fourth and final phase the client and his wife finally got their work shed—plus a few extras including a meditation room, greenhouse, poolhouse, media room and massage room.
During the 20-year span, the owners’ children grew from toddlers to young adults while their house deviated very little from the original, 3-D model McInturff created in the late ’80s. “What we got was shockingly similar in layout to what we actually planned,” McInturff says, reflecting on the project, which doubled the size of the 5,000-square-foot home set on two wooded acres in Potomac.
First, he and his team designed a new garage with a study space above it on the east side of the home; the former garage became a family room while a patio was enclosed to create a sunroom. Then they designed the pool house. “In 2006, we leapt to the other end of the building and did the master suite pavilion, almost a separate building,” says McInturff. “We left the center untouched—until 2008.”
Throughout the project, McInturff honed in on a “spareness in detailing” to reflect his client’s fascination with Asian design. Natural wood, limestone floors and slatted screens handcrafted from Douglas fir subtly delineate transitions from one room to another. “The screens give a layered effect where you see through them but they also define space, creating the ability to have a big space and a little space at the same time,” McInturff explains. “We were trying to get the whole house to speak in one voice. The wife has a strong interest, intellectual and otherwise, in Asia. So there’s a feeling that goes with that. A sense of mystery. Calmness. Serenity.”
For McInturff, the master suite, which encompasses three levels and took nearly two years to build, was the most challenging part of the four-phase project. From the home’s main foyer, a greenhouse leads to this pavilion housing a massage room, steam room and gym on the lower level; a bedroom and bathroom on the main level; and a serene meditation room on the top level. A centerpiece in the pavilion is the two-ton solid limestone bathtub that the homeowners found in London.
The design’s minimalist approach is expressed beautifully in the master bedroom, which has “a Swiss watch quality,” McInturff says. “Everything is visible. There is nowhere to hide mistakes. Every board had to be to the highest par.” The bed, side tables and backboard were designed to offset the 16-foot ceiling, and “bring the room down,” says McInturff, “creating a cozy, defined space in a room with quite a high ceiling.”
By 2008, the homeowners were ready to tackle the untouched middle section of the house. They wanted to blend the formal and informal spaces—including the living room, dining room, library, family room and kitchen—into a seamless and cohesive whole. McInturff and his team created a new foyer topped by a soaring skylight and removed the walls dividing the living spaces to create a sense of openness. Transitions between rooms are gracefully defined by wooden screens, which echo the motif established in the bedroom pavilion.
The homeowners turned to designer Guillaume de Decker of Roche Bobois to help them furnish the living room, library, family room and sunroom. de Decker proposed a comfortable yet elegant combination of low, unimposing pieces that would complement the modern architecture and create comfortable environments for entertaining.
In the family room, de Decker divided the space into “a TV zone and a zone turned to the outside where one could enjoy nature while having a cup of tea,” he says. “The harmony of colors ties the two sections together and makes them look like they belong with each other. The space is not overcrowded and still very inviting for larger crowds.”
It’s hard for McInturff to step away from this two-decade-long project and he leaves a part of himself in the home. “All the projects I do are modern or contemporary in spirit, but they are all very different because I work for different people and I feed off of what their lives are about,” he says. “A number of times I have worked with a client over many years and then the last thing you do is the final brush stroke.”
Freelance writer Cari Shane Parven, a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, is author of Finding Friendship at Forty.
ARCHITECTURE: Mark McInturff, FAIA, McInturff Architects, Bethesda, Maryland. INTERIOR DESIGN: Guillaume de Decker, Roche Bobois, Washington, DC. RENOVATION CONTRACTOR: Ron Isinghood, Timber Ridge Builders. BEDROOM PAVILION, PROJECT ARCHITECT: David Mogensen, McInturff Architects.
**Out of the array of interior design magazines, Home and Design magazine stands out as a primary idea source for luxury home design and building/remodeling features. Wonderful visuals of custom homes and eco-friendly resources are combined with expert advice to provide a fundamental reference point for bringing amazing home interior design and remodeling projects to life.
"Illumination is the difference between night and day," says McLean, Virginia-based interior designer Barbara Hawthorn of Barbara Hawthorn Interiors. Hawthorn has placed an emphasis on lighting in her residential and commercial designs for years. While many designers realize the importance of lighting, their ideas are often brought in too late. Hawthorn says that illumination should come up for discussion earlier in the process when contractors and architects are still talking about which wall to tear down, which stone to use and which faucet to select.
"Illumination should never be an afterthought," says Quinn Murph of illuminations, a showroom in Georgetown's Cady's Alley that specializes in lighting design and fixtures. "Think of lighting as a building material. I approach light as a support for architecture or space rather than seeing architecture as a support for the fixture."
To position illumination in its rightful place in the design timeline, the difference between "lighting" and "illumination" must first be understood. As Murph explains, lighting is the fixture; illumination is where the light is thrown by the fixture.
Illumination is all about giving definition to architecture and interior design. While people take into consideration lighting fixtures, 95 percent don't take illumination as a design into consideration," says Murph. He points out that often homeowners invest in fancy tile, stone or other materials but then fail to show them off with the proper lighting. All too often, the intricate details of the design a homeowner has labored over disappear after the sun goes down because the lighting wasn't an early priority or even considered as a design concept.
For example, if you've spent thousands of dollars on a polished nickel faucet, make sure the lighting highlights the piece. "If the lighting fixture is put right in the middle of the shower stall, it highlights only the floor of the stall. But if you've spent $5,000 on the shower system, the trims, the valves and the expensive rain shower head, it's so you can see it," says Murph. The same goes for lighting something such as marble, which can look like concrete if not properly lit.
"Too many times contractors put lighting in, in a generic way," says Murph. "They don't take into consideration illumination that is both practical as well as beautiful, calming and relaxing. Try and re-create the way the showroom highlighted a fixture or tile," he suggests.
Take, for example, the installation of recessed lighting in a typical room. A contractor will install four recessed lights, one in each corner. By placing two of those lights together in one corner and two in another corner, the homeowner will get a more dynamic look.
"We need to instill a better appreciation for lighting," says Bill Shott, CEO of Hammerton, a Utah-based lighting manufacturer that designs a unique collection of high-end light fixtures. "Lighting can enhance the decorative style of a home." Though frustrated that it's taken so long to get the word out, Shott sees the industry moving in a positive direction. "Architectural firms are hiring interior design groups and bringing the process of lighting much more forward in the process. It's a fantastic trend that's taking place…we want the lighting to complement the architect's overall vision of the house. A lot of architects aren't even aware of what lighting is available."
One look to avoid is what designers have dubbed "the cave effect." If a fixture is placed too far from the wall, the illumination (the lighting effect) will show on the lower third of the wall, creating a design that looks like a cave. This is not a good plan. In a typical home with nine-foot ceilings, lights should be placed no more than 18 or 24 inches from the wall. Most of the time, contractors install lights four to five feet from the wall or right in the middle of the ceiling.
Additionally, suggests Murph, lighting should be installed to avoid glare. "That's the big problem with recessed lighting. When it's right to overtop it makes many people uncomfortable because they feel the light on their head," he says, suggesting that a good lighting design take its cue from nature. "A good lighting plan can't imitate daylight, but we can learn from natural light" and find a way to mimic the level of light movement on the walls.
With the help of a lighting-savvy designer or architect, consumers can create a well-lit environment that shows off their home's best assets.
• General: ambient light for seeing.
• Accent/Art Lighting: lighting that contributes a sense of drama to a room, accentuating a wall or painting.
• Task Lighting: Pinpoint lighting for doing work or functional tasks.
• Atmospheric Lighting: Lighting that creates the excitement in a space and lends a particular mood to a room. This lighting can be LED lighting, colored lighting, lighting that comes from a ceiling or crown molding.
• Focal Point Lighting: Lighting from a chandelier, where the light itself is what draws the spectator in.
While some of the pieces displayed may already be integral to our lives, such as Apple's iPod, Nike's Free running shoe or even iRobot's Roomba, the robotic vacuum, many more are unfamiliar.Alison Berger's old photo negatives-on-glass chandelier was chosen because of its complex, even emotional, romantic message; other pieces were selected for just the opposite reason. A quick look at Ransmeier and Floyd's all-white rubber dish-rack and you might question the validity of the selection; but according to Bloemink, this design's brilliance is based on its simplicity: "It is everyday generic, clever and easy."
Alison Berger assembled 96 slides to create her Glass Side Chandelier
Curators were also intrigued by Greg Lynn's nod to the individual in his utensil set design. Lynn used a computer program to alter the "genetics" of each fork, knife and spoon in the set. Each piece is unique, but like siblings in a family each has qualities that make it part of the family or set.
The National Design Triennial 2006 runs from December 8 through July 29, 2007. The Cooper-Hewitt is located at 2 East 91st Street in New York. For more information, phone (212) 849-8300 or visit www.cooperhewitt.org.
She didn’t know it at the time, but it was a career change waiting to happen. “I dropped the figure and went with pattern, texture and color. It was an evolution, pulling me back to love of these three things,” she says. The oil paint doodles she made on the wooden block thrilled her and, for a year now, have consumed her artistically.
The patterns, textures and colors she paints on the twice-sanded and stained tiles (compressed wood blocks up to two feet square) are inspired by a variety of designs that Deans stumbles upon in her everyday life. “Vintage textiles, the way the sun plays off the wall, I love the color of the blue on the blue.” From geometrics to flowers to Asian motifs, Deans plays with color and shape on each unique tile.
The Wooden Tiles have become so popular that Deans has launched a line of stationery based on their designs. Sold in attractive Chinese red and chartreuse green silk boxes, the cards come in sampler packs of 10 for $30 or personalized for $35. She also recently introduced limited-edition prints mounted on wooden tiles and will be showing her artwork at the Philadelphia Buyers Market of American Craft July 22 to 24.
Original, six-by-six-inch hand-painted tiles are $125 each, while the limited editions range from $48 to $68 each. Deans’s work can be found at Red Orchard and Vivi in Bethesda and at Eight Hands Round in Alexandria.
For more information, visit Deans’s Web site at www.woodentile.com.
