Karl Schmidt Architecture, pllc established in 2008, is a architectural design firm located in Seattle, WA. Focusing on custom single-family residential and light commercial projects in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
This is proof that you can live in a small space if it is designed well. An architectural firm in France took advantage of every inch or this case millimeter. People are complaining in Seattle about Micro-housing in Seattle being too small. Well, with those units being 180-300 sf they are palatial in comparison to this place.
This home was remodeled and expanded back in 2005. The end result was a project that missed the mark in terms of some of the design proportions, detail and color choices. In addition, the project suffered from poor execution on the part of the builder. There was water intrusion which required significant re-siding, flashing and repair. Keever and Associates was hired to fix the problems and KSA was brought on to help the owner make some good design decisions on the exterior. Design Approach - Our process involved studying the proportions of the house to try to re-proportion some of the details to give them some weight. In addition, provide more variety in terms of siding that would give an otherwise flat facade some depth and interest. The end result is a fine tuned craftsman.
Existing house - Leaking decks, windows and siding
This project started as a repair of a fire damaged second floor. The client wanted to do some additional work to update the look and the energy performance of the house. Through the course of the design process we began to explore design changes to the interior as well. The result was a complete transformation of the interior and exterior of the house and hardly recognizable to the old one.
Design Approach - Given the visual clutter on the exterior our approach was to "reduce and define" the exterior to bring more clarity to the form. The first being the primary triangular sweeping roof and the secondary volume being a cube the intersects and wraps.
Existing East elevation -shingled, angled, faux mansard roof???
Existing East elevation - more of the same
Existing West elevation- good light but some awkward transitions.
Existing West elevation - dark upstairs with a shed roof.
Progress Photos - Moore Residence 8.19.14
The siding is a rainscreen with 5/4 x 4 old growth clear western red cedar. The owner was a builder and had access to some old growth cedar from an old friend. The stuff is beautiful.
In architecture we talk about projects being "site specific", meaning that the design reflects the uniqueness of the site and location. We look at things like views, sun orientation, neighborhood context among other things to inform our design decisions. Can this idea be translated to product design? Well, some designers in Seattle recently won a competition to design a bike specially designed for Seattle streets. It has an electric assist to help with the steep Seattle hills, turn signals, a handlebar that doubles as a bike lock, phone charger. Pretty cool. Take a look.
Here is the article from the Seattle Times.Seattle Bike
Several people I used to work with now are at Teague the design firm that was responsible for this innovative product. Way to go!
Basic door technology has remained relatively the same for centuries—barring honorable mentions for stained glass doors, beaded curtain doors, and those door plungers that prevent slamming—but Austrian designer Klemens Torggler may be the missing link for the evolution of the entrance.
Torggler has designed a door that, according to his website, "opens up new applications for the door." It uses rotating squares to move the door sideways without tracks, completely eliminating the two to four square feet generally occupied by the swinging path of a conventional door. And it looks fabulous to boot:
As a follow up to a previous post on the MP residence I wanted to provide an additional like to explain the reasons behind using a rainscreen siding installation. This link is to the GreenBuilding Advisor and is also a great site for green building in general.
