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The current issue of Utah Style and Design features one of our latest remodeling projects on the cover. The homeowners wanted a contemporary, open kitchen and living area that could accommodate family and friend gatherings.  Visit our portfolio section to see photos of the completed project and editor Brad Mee’s blog to see some before/after pictures and learn a bit more about the project.

A writer from Houzz.com recently contacted Warren about a story featuring treehouses. Perfect topic for a springtime article, though unlike the other treehouses featured, the one Warren designed was for an interior space in the Smithfield Canyon Home in Northern Utah.  Warren noted that this treehouse “belongs to a great family with a special-needs daughter. It occupies the loft level of the house, and the trunk conceals a residential lift that ensures the daughter has access to all parts of the house.” Be sure to check out the full slideshow for inspiration on the possibilities of treehouses. The final slide featuring a treehouse covered in wisteria looks especially inviting this time of year….

We tried to resist this contest, but the pull of Legos AND modern home design were too great.  So, we recently gathered some architects and designer-type friends and their families here in Salt Lake, ordered a few pizzas and hosted a design build event just hours before the contest deadline. Warren prefaced the invitation with this:  ”If springtime brings back fond memories of project deadlines and close to all nighters, this may seem like deja-vu….”

The challenge was to create “an original design of a home in the California mid-century modern style and construct a model of it using Lego bricks and elements.”  The contest was sponsored by Dwell and Pacific Standard Time.  After a decade of buying Legos for our kids, we had a fair number to contribute to the evening (though we did learn of a guy on Craig’s List who lives in Provo and sells Legos by the pound out of his apartment).  One adventure later we had upped our supply a bit and were ready to start building.

A couple of the projects made the final cut and are now part of the official contest (here and here).  You can see all of the projects and vote on your favorites here.  All in all, it was a fun visual feast if you love Legos and admire mid-century modern architecture.

(PS–Check out this mid-century modern exhibit featured on Pacific Standard Time and this inventive use of Legos.)

Here’s a sampling from the evening:

Setting: This single-story Victorian cottage is located in the Avenues Historic District, the oldest residential neighborhood in Salt Lake City. It’s a short walk to the Cathedral of the Madeline and downtown area from the home.

Clients: A married professional couple, Adam & Lee, who lived in the house for several years prior to starting their remodeling project.

Background: Because of the home’s location within a local historic district and a previous owner’s detailed listing of modifications over the years, Adam and Lee were able to find out many details about their property.   (more…)

Tokyo Forum Plaza, Tokyo, Japan

Stone is the most solid and enduring material we build with. It appears to be embedded in the psyche of humankind. We love to see it, climb on it, mark boundaries and build with it. Precious, more delicate stones we use for adornment. It can be beautiful, tactile, and infinitely cut, sculpted and shaped. (more…)

There is a current counter trend to shop, grow, dine, and support local enterprise. When prompted, Google Images instantly renders hundreds of “Buy Local” logos from “Buy Local Portland” (Maine) to “Local First Portland” (Oregon) and every place between.  This includes a fine campaign by Local First Utah, a non-profit organization that “seeks to strengthen communities and local economies by promoting, preserving, and protecting local, independently owned businesses throughout Utah.”

Buy Local Collage: Google Images

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Setting:  A residential neighborhood in the Richmond Beach area of Seattle.

Clients:  If you read the previous post on this house, you may remember this renovated beach bungalow.  At the time of the remodel a decade ago, the clients had two children; they’ve since welcomed two more children to their family. (more…)

We had a little fun this holiday season with a residential design challenge on a smaller scale than most of our projects.  How hard would it be to make a bunch of gingerbread houses and get a few families together for an evening of decorating? (more…)

We just returned from Phoenix where we attended Reinvention 2011, an architectural symposium organized by publisher Hanley Wood.  We try to go at least once a year to a conference for the chance to see our practice with fresh eyes and be inspired as we visit with architects from all over the country; this was our first Reinvention that we’ve attended and it won’t be our last.  Reinvention caters specifically to architects who design residential work.  As Warren has several interesting residential projects on the boards, the timing couldn’t have been better.  We spent the first day on a tour of 5 homes designed by local Phoenix architects. (more…)

One recurring theme in recent years at conferences sponsored by the American Institute of Architects is the adaptive reuse of historic buildings, a smart approach to construction both for its green elements and the preservation of history.  Warren has worked on a number of these preservation projects in Salt Lake City.  The first such project, The Westgate Lofts, was completed a few years ago, and involved converting an old warehouse building to mixed-use housing and retail spaces. (more…)

Drop by our office on Tuesday, November 15 between 4 and 6 PM as we participate in Salt Lake Design Week Studio Crawl. Tuesday’s Open Studio Crawl features design and architecture firms in the East District. Come by and see our renovated office space and check out what we’ve got on the boards.  See you Tuesday!

Taylor Woolley was a native Salt Lake  architect who worked in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park studio and and later at Taliesin in Wisconsin. Woolley travelled with Wright in Europe and contributed to the drawing and production of the Wasmuth Portfolio, a two-volume folio of Wright’s early work,  published in Berlin in 1910.

The Yale Avenue Ray House, built in 1915 was one of Utah’s earliest examples of Prairie Style homes with its extended hipped eaves, horizontal belt course,  and ganged windows. The influence of Wright is unmistakable. The current owners, Mike & Jenny Pulsipher, gave us the challenge and opportunity to design an addition that would respect the original house while providing needed space for their family. The solution included south-facing covered balconies and a new master bedroom over a new family room space, all oriented toward a contained backyard. (more…)

For ages, I’ve been meaning to post about houzz.com as a valuable resource for those gearing up for a remodel or planning a new home.  It’s a well-organized resource that allows the user to create idea books right on their website.  Users can browse the site by filtering for individual rooms and spaces (“home office,” “patio,” “kitchen”)  and style (“contemporary,” “eclectic,” etc.) and then save any images to individual idea books. We’ve created idea books on their site and have enjoyed searching the reservoir of images that are readily available (most are uploaded to the site by architects and interior designers). Beats tearing apart magazines, though I still have plenty of those kind of images in my files, too.  And clients have sent us links to their own idea books to help us better understand their tastes and preferences.

So, we were excited when Houzz.com contacted us about featuring the Logan Canyon House for their most recent Houzz Tour:

In 2008 Warren launched one of our most ambitious remodeling projects ever, that of our own office building. As his wife, to say I was a little concerned would be a bit of an understatement, but happily his vision won over my worries (be sure to scroll down to see the “after” photo). The most recent issue of Utah Style and Design features the story of our office remodel (see pages 44-46). Utah Style has also posted a “behind-the-scenes”  narrative of the photo shoot on their blog.   To see photos of the finished interior,  visit the portfolio section of our website.  Better yet, if you are in the area, give us a call to schedule a tour of the building.

Salt Lake Modern and the Utah Heritage Foundation are featuring Taylor Woolley and the Yale Ave House, a home that we remodeled in 2008.  We’ll be there to share some sustainable aspects of this remodel and would love to see you there!

In Salt Lake many of our neighborhoods are full of beautiful homes built several decades ago.  While they are loaded with charm, they are often impractical for today’s lifestyle and technology, leaving homeowners wondering whether they should renovate their property or move. The November 2011 issue of Fine Homebuilding has an article every one thinking about renovating should read.  “12 Restoration Blunders” identifies pitfalls to avoid  when planning for a remodel.  One in particular caught my eye: Mistake #9: Ignoring Historic Tax Credits.  In Salt Lake, there are 10 national historic districts (the city website only lists 8; the Yalecrest and Liberty Wells neighborhoods should also be listed on the registry).  The author of the article writes, “Historic-rehabilitation tax credits are the largest incentive available to residential homeowners in the United States, even larger than the sacred mortgage-interest deduction.” We couldn’t agree more.  In the past 2 years, five of our projects have qualified for this tax credit, including our own office space.

Another helpful resource  to those considering a remodel is a publication put out by the Utah Heritage Foundation. Celebrating Compatible Design: Creating New Spaces in Historic Homes features beautiful photos and drawings of homes throughout the Salt Lake City area that have utilized good design to create functional, contemporary homes that are compatible with their surroundings and retain the historic character of the home.  The book explains the hows & whys of good design and looks particularly at compatible additions, dormers, and garages. If you’re considering a remodel in Salt Lake, you will want to get a copy of this book.

Note: Our summer intern, Nate Russell, is heading east to attend Syracuse U for graduate work in architecture.  While at our offices, he worked on the schematic design for an interactive web design firm that is relocating to a renovated historic building in the downtown area of Salt Lake.  Here are Nate’s thoughts on the area:

I walk down Floral Street (roughly 50 E and 250 S) and look at all the historical remnants  that have the feeling of a back alleyway. Ornate lion heads now blackened and worn look down on me from several stories above. An old water tower watches over the area from the top a building. It makes me feel like I have stepped back to the turn of the 19^th century. New graffiti battles for room with old advertisements painted on the sides of the aged brick exterior walls and I wonder what the future is for such an interesting place. (more…)

Another book worth reading is The Face of Home: A New Way to Look at the Outside of Your House, by Boston architect Jeremiah Eck.   He writes,  ”When people describe houses they tend to think in absolute terms, using labels that don’t always completely fit…. Well designed houses are often a mix of styles because following one style to the exclusion of all other possibilities can lead to a sterile, predetermined look–a house in a particular style, yes, but one with no real style of its own” (80).

Eck shares 5 principles, or hallmarks, of good design for home exteriors. There’s a progression to the order of the principles that build on each other.  He shares several case studies of homes–lots of beautiful, detailed photos–that illustrate the principles from across the nation, from urban neighborhoods to seaside vistas. (more…)

When I moved to the Salt Lake Valley four years ago I noticed, as many visitors do from the East Coast, that Salt Lake is an exceptionally well manicured place.  This, of course, makes the area an attractive, comfortable place to live.  However, being accustomed to seeing factories, trains, and various modes of infrastructure intersecting, sometimes presumptuously, with homes and businesses, I wondered where all that stuff was kept in Utah.  I discovered a path through the infrastructure I was seeking and an invigorating architectural experience by commuting on Trax. (more…)

On week one of the Clear The Air Challenge we at Lloyd Architects are re-connecting with our bike-friendly streets.  I am glad to have 600 East on my morning and evening commute path.  Perhaps one of the greenest streets in Salt Lake City, the 9-block stretch of 600 East from South Temple to Liberty Park is a great place to see from a bicycle or on foot. (more…)

Today begins one of the most relevant and enlightening annual activities in Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front that I am personally aware of: the Clear The Air Challenge. For the next four weeks those of us that normally fill Utah’s roads and freeways in single occupant vehicles–generally for good and productive purposes–have an opportunity to evaluate how we get from point A to point B and back. I believe this will be the third year that my office has participated in the challenge. Last year, Lloyd Architects was awarded the Clear The Air Challenge Small Business Award, largely on the backs (or legs) of two of our intrepid team members, Aaron Day & Liz Yonashiro.  They spent much of the month commuting north and south from Davis & Weber Counties via Frontrunner and bicycle. At 37 miles each way, that is a considerable reduction of carbon emissions.

My morning commute is much more modest at about 2.3 miles, basically from Sunnyside Park to Trolley Square. I do find, however, that once at the office with a bike, I can still generally handle my daily trips to my typical destinations: the City/County Building, the AIA Utah office, and our local project sites in the Lower Avenues and over to the Granary District. As we start this year’s challenge, the office crew and I will be tracking miles, but we will also be opening our eyes to see parts of the City that we miss from our windshields. Re-connecting with our city from on foot or on bike may well be a bonus reward, on top of clearer air, stronger legs, and dollars saved at the pump.

Here’s to a healthy challenge!

Advocating sustainability in historic neighborhoods is often like preaching to the choir: the people who live in these neighborhoods have made housing and lifestyle choices that include living on smaller lots and in a smaller building footprint, and the streetscapes favor pedestrians over cars. For much of the last decade, my architectural practice and community service have been focused in the older neighborhoods of Salt Lake that greatly contribute to the vitality and sustainability of the city. Three of these neighborhoods provide an interesting backdrop for a discussion about liveability, adaptability and sustainability.

University

The University District is a group of neighborhoods that, depending on who you ask, would include Douglas, Reservoir Park, East Bryant, part of South Temple and Federal Heights areas. Sharing a common border with the University of Utah, these neighborhoods are blessed by the the richness and diversity of academic circles– as well as the challenges of parking and the transiency of student rental housing. The University and South Temple Historic District provide regulatory review over development and renovations, but community councils have been pushing the City to expand this local historic designation to include several blocks of East Bryant,  an area targeted for multi-family and commercial development expansion in recent years. Bike lanes in the grass median along 200 South are another sure flashpoint in this neighborhood. (more…)

In our first entry of the “Every Building Tells a Story” series, we’re featuring a project Warren completed a few years ago in Seattle.

Setting: A quiet neighborhood set on a hillside in North Seattle with endless views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains beyond. The neighborhood is home to an eclectic mix of beach shacks and luxury homes.

Clients: A newly married couple with 2 kids, ages 9 and 12. The husband is a filmmaker and the wife is a sales rep for a sweater and sustainable clothing line.

Background: Shortly after their marriage, Rick and Julie began searching for a suitable home for their family of 4. After an unproductive afternoon of visiting open houses, they asked Warren to meet them at a little cottage that Rick owned in Richmond Beach to explore the possibility of remodeling. Would it be worth pursuing? The house, originally built in 1935, was located on a high-bank waterfront piece of property. Rick had owned the house for several years and stayed there when he was in town–a place suitable for a single man, but needing some serious attention to accommodate a family.

Above: A few before photos of the house under consideration

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In April, Warren was invited to speak at a local gathering that was part of a global event, PechaKucha Day: Inspire Japan.  The Japanese word “pechukucha” means something like “chit chat” in English.  PechaKucha nights have been happening around the world since the first event took place in Tokyo back in 2003.  It’s a pretty clever format: architects and other creative people are invited to show 20 images of their choosing on any topic for 20 seconds each; the images forward automatically on a large screen while the speaker tries to keep pace.  At the Salt Lake event, Warren was one of a half dozen or so presenters that included a professor from the U, an environmental artist, a furniture designer and others.

The global event served as a fundraiser for reconstruction efforts following the recent devastating earthquake and tsunami  in the Sendai region, with proceeds going to Architecture for Humanity and ArchiAid.  Warren was happy to participate in Salt Lake City’s event because of the 5+ years he spent in Japan as a volunteer, a student and an architect.  He has a genuine love for and interest in all things Japanese.  In the mid-90s, we lived about an hour outside of Sendai where Warren worked for the Shelter company, a design-build firm specializing in large-scale timber structures.  Warren has long been inspired by Japanese architecture, as he explains in his 20 x 20 presentation:

Global PechaKucha Day – SLC – Warren Lloyd from PechaKucha Night Salt Lake City on Vimeo.

For people thinking about remodeling or building a home, there’s an abundance of great resources available.  One such book caught my eye recently.  The title alone was enough to lure me in:  The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough, by Sarah Nettleton.  I knew when I read the description on the inside flap that I would be reading the entire book:

“A simple home puts us in touch with the simple pleasures of life:  the warmth of winter sunlight, the scent of flowers through an open window, a family meal at a communal table.  By learning to appreciate the ‘luxury of enough,’ we can delight in the simple abundance of our homes’ most basic pleasures.  Finding your own simple home reflects the wisdom of good choices, the elimination of non-essentials, and the celebration of restraint.. . . Along the way, you’ll realize that it isn’t so much the things you put in your house that bring you joy as it is the way the house allow you to revel in the simple pleasures of life.” (more…)

Here are excerpts featuring the Military Drive House from Sarah Susanka and Mark Vassallo’s Not So Big Remodeling: Tailoring Your Home for the Way Your Really Live