For Green's Sake, Part 1

Grass isn't Green; as in it's not environmentally friendly. It requires constant irrigation, maintenance and as a landscape material, it does not help retain rain water, which can be used for purposes where potable water is typically employed.

I haven't heard anyone dispute the above statement, but as the discussion on Sustainability rages on, the solutions to undo the damage we've inflicted on the earth become increasingly complex and debated.

It's interesting that the USGBC, United States Green Building Council, one of the top entities to set guidelines for sustainability has set standards for just about everything except residential interiors. Yes, there is a lot of guidelines that cross over from other areas, but you can build a home that achieves and even surpasses the criteria and achieve certification according to the LEED rating system, but fill it with toxic items that may affect the health and wellbeing of the occupants.

In 2009, this issue was addressed by a group of interior designers and one architect, yours truly. It took the form of a designer showhouse within the context of the first Carbon Neutral, single family home built on the East Coast, known as the Greenhouse in McLean, Virginia. At the helm of the project were Mark Lowham of WestGroup as Developer, Mark Turner of Green Spur as General Contractor, Michael Day of Cunningham-Quill Architects as Project Architect and Deanna Belli and Victoria Sabo of CharityWorks. The former Spaces magazine was the media partner.

Studio Santalla designed the Spa/Retreat. We were one of 17 firms selected to participate from over 80 entries. As the house was still in construction, we were able to have our hand in shaping the architecture of the space. Here's a sketch of our final design.

The space serves as a pool house, office and outdoor covered patio and has a separate entrance.

The Spa/Retreat is organized around the shower, a two-story shaft at the center of the space, clad in cedar. Water is the source of life, and wood represents growth and renewable resources. The perimeter of the space is occupied by a relaxation area with and a soaking tub. A wood stair wraps around the wood shaft to the office space on the upper level, designed by Skip Sroka of Sroka Design. To allow natural light to the upstairs, we added a balcony outside the office and by reducing the overall amount of wall originally planned for the space, a larger skylight could be installed. At the backside of the Retreat is the    covered patio, designed by Dee Thornton of Houseworks Interiors.

The space under construction:

 The entry from the main house

Framing for the soaking tub

The shower. The back wall is river rock.

A month or so later

Paint, finishes, plumbing. The "window" is to the powder room behind the wall

The shower is complete.

The pendant lights are installed, the ceramic floors are uncovered and the furnishings start arriving.

Up next: the results.

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Classical, Modern, Deconstruction and Toasted

While the ongoing debate on what constitutes good design will ensue until the day humans no longer play a part of it, I'd like to state a premise: taste and good design are not mutually exclusive. There is some really good design I don't care for, but that doesn't take away from it's merit. I'll use architect Michael Graves' household artifacts for Target as an example. They are well designed; just not for me. He's also an excellent architect, whose work I admire, but mostly don't like.

Michael Graves Toaster for Target

Ancient roman architect, engineer and writer Vitruvius, in his treatise  "The Ten Books of Architecture" explains a structure must exhibit the three qualities of firmitas, utilitas, venustas-meaning it must be solid, useful, beautiful.  According to Vitruvius, architecture imitates nature. Humans create their shelter using natural materials. The Greeks perfected the art of building and in doing so invented the architectural orders: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, upon which all buildings are proportioned. The Vitruvian Man, as later drawn by Leonardo da Vinci, embodies the fundamental geometric patterns of the universe, the square within the circle. Currently, the Design Quality Indicator, a system started in England used to rate buildings, is rooted in Vitruvian principles.

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci

Fast forward to the Industrial Revolution and the accompanying breakthroughs in manufacturing, transportation and building technology, resulting in an apparent break with tradition in the form of what is commonly referred to as the Modern Movement in Architecture. Twentieth century architect, Le Corbusier, in his manifesto, "Towards An Architecture," defined a fundamental shift in how we would interact with buildings, arising from a new architecture based on function and an aesthetic based on pure form. Over a hundred years later, part of our daily bread, these ideas aren't radical anymore. In fact, there is a lot of in common between Le Corbusier and Vitruvius.

Villa Savoie by Le Corbusier

The digital age has made the unthinkable constructible. Enter Frank Gehry, whose work defies modernism, structure, our notions of space and redefine what is good, to say the least of what we like. At first, I thought of his work as junkyards, but am now a convert to his deconstructed buildings.

Gehry and Partners' Disney Concert Hall

Vitruvius substantiated and inspired architects during the Renaissance. Le Corbusier said he applied the same principles to everything he designed as does Michael Graves. Frank Gehry's work has redefined the profession. These are masters of Design. Their work sets the bar for good design.

I don't think Target will be asking Gehry to design a titanium toaster, but maybe Lady Gaga needs some new wardrobe ideas.

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Studio Santalla And The Academy Awards

I am very close to an Academy Award–as in one degree of separation. It's through author and screen writer  Larry McMurtry. Studio Santalla's office occupies the space his bookstore, BookedUp, previously occupied in Washington, DC. Over the years I've found a number of documents left behind including an Emmy nomination certificate and a handwritten note penned by E. M. Forster.

Delusions of grandeur aside, I'm fortunate to have a great space, which is home to our office. Located on one of the busiest and also loudest intersections in Georgetown, it is an oasis of calm and comfort.

It was empty of books at the time of my first visit, but I immediately identified it as the place for our new office. Rather dark, dingy and musty, it needed to be revamped as an office space for an architectural and interior design studio.

Entry

Main Space

View towards front windows facing M Street with a symmetrical arrangement of bookcases

The light is coming from windows facing 31 Street

Open joist ceiling detail

Here's what we did with this space

We removed half of the bookcases to make way for desk space on the rights. We also removed the bookcases in the entry. We kept the rest of the bookcases, which are now our resource library. We reused furniture from our former office and created an entry space. The table in the foreground, made using planters from the former Smith and Hawkens, are used as "project tables" for samples and literature pulled from the library. The carpet pattern, which looks very custom, is made from the manufacturer's standard line.

A vignette of the entry. The bench was designed by Studio Santalla

Another detail of the entry. The credenza in the background was also designed by Studio Santalla

What a difference the right color makes! The ceiling, painted a shade of white brightens up the space. Only the monitor in the background gives away the age of this space. We put doors on the end bookcase and are now used for storage. The material is back-painted plexiglass, held in place with velcro, making it a big bang for small bucks effect.

The office at night. We used items found at IKEA, Home Depot, very reasonably priced carpet and combined them with good quality office chairs, filing cabinets, repurposed planters and a few custom items, like the desks. Of the many things I enjoy about it is the balance between traditional elements and contemporary;  commercial and residential and how the space is filled with light even on dingy days.

The office has so far served us very well for over ten years and to this day, first time visitors comment on how great a space it is. No Academy Awards yet, but we did win an Award for Excellence in Interior Architecture from the Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Subsequently, Washington Spaces did a feature article in the magazine.

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Unfrozen In Time

In 1998 I went to Spain, the birthplace of my grandfather Manuel Santalla. The first city I visited was Barcelona. I immediately fell in love with this city of grand boulevards nestled between the ocean and the mountains.

Through my architectural history courses I was well acquainted with the work of Antoni Gaudí, the city's architect poster child. Initially his work made me and my classmates giggle and considered the buildings bizarre, unattractive and quite frankly, ugly. Soon, however, we understood that in reality Gaudí was a genius, whose mastery of space, form, structure, surface and light rightfully earned him a rightful place in the architectural Pantheon.

The Casa Batlló and the Casa Milà were located within steps of my hotel on the Passeig de Gràcia. They are exquisitely preserved. Casa Battló is a private building, so I snuck in to the courtyard and got to see the courtyard, adorned with ceramic tiles creating a gradation from white to the deepest of blues as it rises to meet the sky. Parts of the Casa Milà are open to the public, including a roof terrace where all the flues and otherwise visual nuisances are architecturally integrated to become a magical landscape.

Here are some images, courtesy of Wikipedia and various other internet sources, of the Casa Milà.

Exterior

Atrium

Roof Terrace

And the Casa Battló, which makes me swoon.

Façade

Courtyard

Then there is the subject of Gaudí's masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia (Basilica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia,) which remained unfinished at the time of his death in 1926. The image I saw over and over again in the textbooks of the time was engraved in my memory. I was unaware that construction had resumed and upon arrival, I was taken aback to find there had been more building of this building.

My text book photos showed the facade; the center section of the photo. None of the naves had been built. This photo was taken in 2009, which shows even more than what I saw.

Shock soon became elation. This building had been unfrozen in time and it would not remain a relic, but someday it will be completed. Maybe even in my lifetime, which is another reason to live to 105.

Tourists were allowed access to parts of the basilica, including one of the towers. As I ascended to architectural heaven, I captured these images. 

Barcelona is still one of my favorite cities. I will go back some day and be awed again by this magnificent work of Art and Architecture. I'll take my camera and see what happens.

You know the drill.

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