South Cayucos Coast

These might be my favorite condos in town. Clean white parapets create an almost cartoon effect and the blue tile roof actually works in this case.

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This modern beach house is actually a remodel and it's right up my alley: green glass, grey stucco and metal finishes. Love the shape and style. Quite the refreshment for this sleepy coastal town.

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Another clean new modern refreshment down the street. I love the idea of no windows on the front elevation save for the frosted glass gate. Who wants to hear the highway traffic anyway? Sadly, the stucco cracked on the pergola because wood breathes and flexes. A better solution would be to paint the wood white or stucco a different material like steel or expanded polystyrene.

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South Morro Bay Coast

 

 

James Maul (MaulArchitects.com) designed this back in the eighties around a eucalyptus tree but one of the owners cut it down. Again, I'm not a huge fan of wooden shingle siding but to each his own. I'm sure it's endured the harsh weather for years. I would like to see it stuccoed but that's just me. Cool commercial building none the less.

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These are interesting condos. Clean and simple with some interesting features going on.

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More interesting condos. I love the shifting of angles to create new shapes. I do a lot of that in my work. In fact, this chimney looks exactly like a roof design I use commonly.

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North Morro Bay Hills

This is shaping up to be my favorite house in town. Hidden inside the box are some interesting plan angles. The small grey shingles work for me in this case. Not a huge fan of vinyl windows either but the green glass and interesting grid patterns definitely help matters. The orange and purple paint are a nice touch. Palm trees don't hurt either. Finally, parking under the house with no garage doors creates an open feel.

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This is an interesting little house that reminds me of an Ewok. In a sea of predictable gables, homes like these stick out as a pleasant surprise.

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I'm not a huge fan of this one architecturally but the dark and light olive colors with mitered glass help it stand out.

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I really like this one. It's hard to pull off soft curves but this works for me because it is unusual. Some landscaping would definitely help matters though.

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This is a cute little apartment complex that still holds up architecturally. I'll take a shed roof over a gable any day of the week. This is a perfect example of how much landscaping can help create a pleasant environment.

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North Morro Bay Coast

This is a very simple home in North Morro Bay. I like the double gables, metal roof and the block chimney. Very straightforward and clean design.

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This beach front home was designed by one of my favorite local architects, James Maul. MaulArchitects.com I'm not a huge fan of shingle siding but functionally, they are a very efficient, low-maintenance finish. I do like the "Lawn Rake" posts at the entry.

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One of my friends, John Pryor designed this ocean front property. I like his use of curves and the grass blending into the stone walkway at the gate is especially interesting.

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Music Rooms (Ojai, California)

Editor's Note: I actually played a large role in building these. See the Vitruvian Gallery for construction images. See also: Architect Gallery.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA PREFAB portable Music Practice Rooms win design award 

Four prefabricated portable music practice rooms for a private high school in Ojai – 

changing the problem of how schools can expand into a simple solution-– have won a 

leading architecture award. 

Laura Joines, AIA of DOMU architects is the winner of the 2010 AIA Merit Design Award given by the Central Coast California American Institute of Architects. The award commends the  design of prefabricated music practice rooms for Besant Hill School in Ojai, California. 

The judges commended the pre-fab music rooms as great inspirations for the future in  classroom design given the upcoming new laws requiring the use of portables in California  schools. 

Besant Hill School commissioned the four 100 square foot music practice rooms as a way to add valuable classroom space for a very affordable cost. The room design was inspired by the sound of an instrument: flute, cello, piano and guitar. Each room expresses the ‘frozen music’ of that particular instrument. For example, the cello room has the largest window. The flute room is horizontal and placed higher in the wall. 

For sound proofing reasons there is only one window, carefully placed for passive solar heat gain in winter, summer ventilation, and day lighting to reduce the need for lighting. The extreme recessed angles of the window façade were needed to naturally block the summer sun from overheating the rooms. The nature of the materials themselves allowed this to occur. The Vitruvian® EPS foam could be carved to virtually any shape easily and for no additional cost. 

Re-locatable Structures 

The rooms extend the usable individual classroom space for the school by being positioned around the theater and music complex. Looking out into nature, they give a student the needed space to focus on their instrument and creating music. Typically the foundation and permitting costs are 30-40% of a construction budget. Eliminating the need for either of these saved a great deal of money. The rooms are portable and under the 150 square feet minimum required to obtain a permit. The self-leveling base allows the rooms to free stand anywhere. 

Hyper-efficient building methods 

An innovative hyper-efficient’ 8” EPA foam wall system by Vitruvian® is used for the entire room: floors, walls and ceilings. Expanded polystyrene and light gauge HSS steel provides a clean, green, and healthy environment for the students to practice music, and for the crew that constructed them. Panels are completely recyclable and last twice as long as traditional wood framing. Plus, no CFC’s, out gassing and no construction waster. Considered ‘hyperefficient’ building materials, the foam insulates the rooms so no added heat or cooling is required. Each room is positioned on the site to harvest winter sun and provide a view into nature.

Natural Cork interior 

The entire interior, floors, walls and ceilings, is covered in pre-finished cork flooring for noise reduction, health and durability. The architect adds that ‘the same cellular structure that makes the floor comfortable also reduces noise and vibration. Cork has natural properties that make it anti-allergenic and resistant to insects and naturally fire-resistant. This provides the air space for acoustic absorption, and a clean, soothing interior. Nothing about the rooms should take away from the musician to fully focus on their music”. 

Extension of Design 

The school was designed in the 1950’s according to modernist principles to look like a ‘Greek village’ on the hills on Ojai. These rooms extend that vision by their white cement-based waterproof plaster exterior finish and clean lines. The cement materials were harvested from local sources. The Galvanized metal roofing wraps 90 degrees to form into a wall on the fourth side. 

The award winning designer is Laura Joines, AIA, an architect committed to a sustainable and simple world. This is her 5th AIA design award since 2004. In 2008 she won the AIA design award for the Teixeira House in San Luis Obispo. Her office, DOMU, meaning ‘house’ in Latin, is a design and architecture firm specializing in products and buildings that give regenerative beauty + practicality back to the world. They extend design into the details via their furnishings and organizational systems.

Best Of (Shell Beach, California) Part 1

This is just one neighborhood. I'll cover more later. The lighting wasn't great due to the fog but these are some of my favorite local pads. If you have any info on who designed these or you wanna submit more, email me!

This mini mansion is awesome because it looks so much bigger than it really is. I love the clean crispness and the it really glows in this neighborhood.

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This one's right up the street and super cool. I love the simplicity, massing and the curvature of the front facade.

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Actually talked to the owner of this one. She was very nice but a little concerned about the scruffy lookin dude taking pictures of her house. I told her how awesome it was and all was forgiven, on the condition that I wouldn't give out the street address. She said it was designed and built in the 70's but didn't know by whom. They just recently remodeled it and it looks great. Love the louvered privacy porch and natural color scheme.

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This isn't my favorite house in the world but it's in the same neighborhood. I can tell it's a remodel by the gross 70's stone but they definitely brought it back to life. Plus, I just like this picture.

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The lighting's not great in this pic but a cool house none the less. Very horizontal and Frank Lloyd Wright-esque.

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I'm a sucker for upside-down roofs and just any rebellion against convention in general. I'd love to give it a brighter paint job but I'd probably get arrested.

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This is another fresh remodel that I really dig. Not a huge fan of board and batten siding but it's probably the original stuff and they pulled it off.

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I was "window shopping" literally with John Pryor the other day and we came across this beautiful Copper rig from Loewen at Ventana in SLO. I don't even want to know what these bad boys cost but they are definitely luxurious.

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Local Interiors by Sterios (San Luis Obispo, California)

PeterSterios.com

Tridosha

Seagate Software Headquarters

PeterSterios.com