beausoleil architects

New Beausoleil designed home in Los Altos now on the market

Check out this YouTube video of our most recently completed project, a two story custom home, designed to suit the needs of the today's families.  Our client is a wonderful private developer in Los Altos, who goes to great lengths to build a quality home with sustainable features.

  

"This exquisite New England style new home combines classic East Coast exterior with an easy flowing floor plan that includes fabulous modern living amenities. Just minutes away from the village, its covered porch that wraps around the front and side, along with the beautifully landscaped yard and patio invite you to enjoy the California indoor-outdoor living. "The home features almost 3700 square feet of living area including four bedroom suites with bay windows and vaulted ceilings, a home office, family and living rooms, a formal dining room with a servery, and a hidden wine cellar nestled under the stair.

For more information, including open house dates, please contact Mansour Moussavian at Alain Pinel Realtors.

 

 

Please vote for our middle school robotics team's invention

Voting is now open for the FLL Global Innovation Award, where middle school youth post ideas for their inventions, this year related to the theme of helping seniors stay independent, connected and engaged. The team we have been coaching for the past 6 months, the Awkward Turtles, has submitted their idea for the Turtle Tablet and Beach Band. You can find out more and  VOTE  here.   More information about our team and our amazing experience follows. Please vote early and often.  Voting ends March 1. Thanks!

 

Our family decided last summer to sponsor a F.L.L. robotics team for our 12 year old son, some of his classmates at West Portal Lutheran School, his friends, and kids from AimHigh, a San Francisco program which tutors low income youth. My wife Christine and I and several other parents were the coaches. Usually these teams are sponsored by schools or for-profit enterprises, so this was quite an operation for our household, which was crowded with lego parts, computers, and a four foot by eight foot game table for ten weeks. The team has an unusual background, coming from five schools and speaking about six languages between them, and it was interesting watching them come together to form a team.

F.L.L. (First Lego League) is the middle school league of the FIRST robotics group, which was devised by Dean Kaman (the inventor of the Segway) as a way to make science, technology, engineering and mathematics and as interesting and 'cool' for students as is sports and entertainment. The high school league was featured in the best selling book, The New Cool, by Neal Bascomb. The F.L.L. competition includes three facets: building and programming an autonomous robot to perform missions on a game table, inventing and presenting a device or technology to solve a real world problem, and demonstrating the team’s core values, including teamwork, gracious professionalism and having fun. Over 200,000 kids competed in this years league, whose theme was Senior Solutions -- making seniors more independent, engaged and connected.

Amazingly enough, our team, the Awkward Turtles, was declared Champion at the local tournament held at Notre Dame des Victoires school late last year, beating out fifteen other teams from all over the Bay Area. We scored second in the robot games (just five points behind the leader) and scored high in the other robot design, core values, and project categories. We were considered the best overall team and got an automatic pass-through to the regional tournament to be held early next year.

The project our young engineers conceived involves a 'simple' computer for seniors to use, essentially an iPad type tablet with an accessory wristband, controlled by a voice recognition system and software specifically designed for a senior's skill sets.  The wristband monitors vital health signs, accommodates verbal interface including reminders, allows for emergency signaling with GPS, and syncs with the tablet.

One of the requirements of the competition is that the kids have to interact with real engineers. We've already met with and gotten feedback from an industrial designer, a software engineer from Adobe, a nurse, and a mechanical engineer who works on medical devices, and had a field trip to the Google headquarters.  

There is also a related international competition where the kid's projects are judged for real-life feasibility, called the FLL Global Innovation Award. The three top finalists travel to the DC area to the US Patent Office and are awarded prizes to further develop their design invention with engineers and patent attorneys. Last year the theme involved food safety; one of the winning teams, for instance, devised a product bar code that erased itself when subject to high temperatures for a certain period of time -- a very useful invention to stop sale of spoiled prepackaged products.

If you are interested in looking at the FIRST programs, see http://www.usfirst.org/.

Hamptons by the Bay

In post-civil war New York and Boston, the nouveau riche and soon-to-be robber barons of industrial America began a tradition of moving out of the blistering heat of summer in the city for cooler climes by the beach. Summer colonies at Newport, Rhode Island, the Hamptons on Long Island, New York, and other waterfront locals began to spring up.  Many of these vacation colonies were close enough by railroad or ferry that the head of the family could commute to them on the weekends, while the family stayed all summer.

The summer ‘cottages’ they built, more appropriately termed mansions, were in a variety of styles. Indeed, it was in this era that it became clear one could select a ‘style’, build something that evoked an era of history, a mood, rather than build what pretty much everyone else was building.  One of the styles developed on Long Island was a more informal, but still grandiose version of classical design – columns, arcades, pediments, classical moldings but clothed in more mundane shingles or lapped siding instead of brick or stone. The houses tended to be less formal than the colonial or Georgian buildings from the past century (with which they shared some elements), but were, at the same time, grander -- a three piece white linen suit with the pants legs rolled up for playing in the surf. 

At roughly the same time, the newly convenient San Francisco peninsula, reachable easily from the city via railroad after 1869, was starting to serve the same purpose for the gold and silver barons of the west coast. Although in this case, it was probably the summer fog they were escaping for the greater heat of the south bay. Country estates were built for this purpose in the new suburbs of San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, and they often mimicked the designs made fashionable on the east coast.

It is thus appropriate, in this new age of post-industrial dot.com wealth, to bring back that Long Island beach front style for a new mansion in Atherton, Beausoleil’s most recent construction start. This project for Quinta Properties, being built by George Adair, promises to be a fine family home in the country, full of light, close to the ground for ease of indoor-outdoor living, and both comfortable and luxurious.  

 

 

 

It's hard work to create a Passive House

One of the projects currently on Beausoleil’s drafting boards (i.e., on our computer screens) is a modest remodel of and addition to a typical 1950’s ranch house in San Carlos.  Besides creation of a master suite, a guest suite and a better relationship to the back yard, the owners desired to go well beyond normal practice in remodeling the building envelope. They wanted to approach, and possibly meet, the rigorous requirements of the Passive House Institute and reduce the building’s energy use by as much as 90%.

‘Passive House’ (Passiv Haus in German) is an idea that was formalized in recent years in Germany, though the basic concepts have been around at least since the 1973 energy crisis started people thinking about curbing energy use in buildings.  ‘Passive House’ is related to the broader concept of passive design in architecture, where the environmental comfort within buildings relies on local environmental forces, rather than utilizing complicated mechanical and electrical systems. In classic passive design, a building is designed to allow windows to admit solar heat in the winter, and to be shaded in the summer; occupants open windows for ventilation and cooling; heat is regulated through good insulation and air sealing; daily temperature cycling is smoothed by providing thermal mass within the building envelope. Space heating is minimized and people are expected to live with a bit of minor discomfort – putting on a sweater when the temperature swings a bit low, wearing shorts when its hot, getting up off the couch to adjust shades and windows – instead of cranking the thermostat.

The Passive House Institute standards require very heavy duty insulation (typically double to triple the insulation value most homes have), triple glazing on the windows, very tight air sealing, and (not so passive) ventilation using a heat recovery exchanger to retain the heat in air being exhausted. Very good detailing and supervision of construction is necessary to make these houses meet the standards, as it is very easy for air and heat to escape through a poorly conceived, or a poorly made, building shell. With excellent insulation and air control, most of the heat for the house can come from the building occupants and their electrical appliances. The need for air conditioning is eliminated.  With good natural lighting and photovoltaic panels on the roof generating power, very little energy input from outside is required.

Getting back to the project on our drafting board, the owners hired Allen Gilliland of OneSkyHomes, a Passive House Institute certified consultant and builder, to analyze the design of the house using the Passive House Planning Package and make recommendations. The PHPP is a software tool that comprehensively models the energy use of a building, including its skin, insulation, windows and doors, air sealing, ventilation, and mechanical systems.  Allen thought he had an easy task ahead of him, but it turns out that modifying an existing ranch house is a tougher challenge than designing a new house. 
The ranch house in question has typical 2x4 stud walls, and their thickness didn’t provide enough space even if high performance sprayed foam insulation was used.  Luckily, the owner wanted to remove the existing stucco wall finish and replace it, so amending the wall thickness was conceivable. 
Likewise the roof is framed with 2x4 rafters, and even though the attic provides a large space for insulation, the edges where the roof comes down to meet the walls are inconveniently slender. And, as it happened, the house’s roof had been replaced recently so the owners were naturally disinclined to rip the roofing off to add more insulation on top.

The other inconvenience is that the existing house is oriented to face east and west, just the opposite of ideal north-south orientation.  East and west glazing is hard to shade for summer cooling, and doesn’t face the warming sun of winter, so the project had a strike against it from the start. 

Triple glazing in our mild climate seemed silly to me (and to the window suppliers who laughed at the owner when he asked for triple glazed windows to be priced), but Allen explained that it wasn’t just energy control, it was comfort.  Triple glazing ensures that the interior surface of the glass stays within a comfortable temperature range – one doesn’t feel cold radiating out and therefore feels more comfortable.

Allen’s creative powers were challenged but he came up with several good alternative packages for balancing insulation value, cost, and constructablity.  We are looking at combinations of spray foam and densely packed cellulose insulation within framing spaces, extra layers of polystyrene foam on the outside of the shell, and taped plywood sheathing for air control. We are now awaiting pricing of these options before completing our construction drawings.  The owner is prepared for a certain amount of sticker shock (these improvements may not pay for themselves in a strictly economic sense for a long time), so we may end up with a very good but not certifiable Passive House design.

 

Up on the Roof

Much of the curb appeal of a house is up at the roof level. While we live within the space of a house, and enjoy its environmental comfort, its furnishings and its security, how we feel about the appearance of our houses depends a lot on whether the roof design appeals to us.  Terra Cotta tile, wood shingles, copper gutters; the modern appearance of a horizontal cantilever, the ancient look of a steep slate roof with gabled dormers; these elements probably do more to establish the character of our houses than anything else. It’s clear from our own experience that a stucco box with antique clay tile roof has a whole different feel than the same house with cheap composition shingles.

Roofs are where the action is.  And for the last thousand years, they have also been where the latest high tech gadgets are on display.  In 1100, the average house had a fireplace – meaning a stone or brick lined area in the middle of the floor – under a smoke hole in the roof.  Lots of smoke everywhere, and lots of drafts taking away the heat.  Then some bright mason thought of creating a shaft to guide the smoke up to the roof. Supporting that shaft required backing up the fireplace with a wall, which to their delight, was found to absorb and re-radiate the heat of the fire. 

 

 

 

 

 There followed a few hundred years of experimentation, and the result was the ‘modern’ fireplace with its three sided firebox, smoke chamber above, and tall chimney.  Smoke and drafts were controlled, heating improved. Soon every lord and knight had a fireplace or two, the fancier the chimney the better.

 

Chimney design became so important that some French Chateaus seem like exercises in chimney design, with the building thrown in as an extra.

 

 

In the 1700’s, founding father Ben Franklin got us thinking about electricity. He invented the lightning rod and thus started another fad. As before, this functional element was soon refined by the wealthy into a decorative symbol of their importance.  Any house without half a dozen many fingered rods was not only unsafe but uncool.  Weathervanes also became au courant, and were often combined with lightning rods. You could tell when the storm was coming and know that you were protected. 

 

 

By the1950’s, chimneys began to lose their appeal as central heating became common.  What was the new status symbol?  The TV antennae, soon replicated on every roof in America. 

A few decades later, and it's satellite dishes.  Meanwhile, the chimney is starting to disappear as designers specify high-performance direct vent fireplaces or choose to eliminate the anachronism entirely. Traditional fireplaces are, quite literally, like burning money from an energy efficiency point of view.

 

So what’s next?  As energy costs rise, and as environmental awareness grows, I think we will see a lot more solar panels and wind turbines on roofs; green roofs too.  We’ve already seen how celebrities, like Jay Leno, and high tech companies, like Adobe, use wind turbines as a status symbol.

So, power up, be the first on your block to spin, absorb, or grow your roof into celebrity status.  And who knows, you might just save the planet.

 

 

 

 

Now, chill out with the lyrics from Up on the Roof by Gerry Goffin and Carol King. You probably know the tune:

 

When this old world starts getting me down

And people are just too much for me to face

I climb way up to the top of the stairs

And all my cares just drift right in to space

 

On the roof it's peaceful as can be

And there the world below can't bother me

 

Let me tell you now

When I come home feelin' tired and beat

I go up where the air is fresh and sweet

I get away from the hustling crowds

And all that rat race noise down in the street

 

On the roof's the only place I know

Where you just have to wish to make it so

Oh, let's go

up on the roof….

Architectural Magic II

   

 

The video that was attached to Beausoleil Architects latest blog, titled Architectural Magic, recently received the attention of over two and a half million viewers on YouTube. The ‘inside’ story can be seen in their new video, Architectural Magic II, which shows the garage doors from the inside.

Working off of the concept design from Robert Boles of Beausoleil, Rick Dentoni, of Automatic Gate Installations designed and fabricated the steel structural space frame which supports the original wood framed bay window facade and allows it to operate as a door.  He also designed and installed the control and safety systems that operate the door safely.  Rick’s controls coordinate the timing of the two sides of the door, which have to operate in succession in order to clear each other.

Since the door’s completion earlier this year, the owner, Corey McMills of McMills Construction reports a number of curious and, in some cases angry, passersby.  A few people have been upset about not being able to park in front of what looks like a bay window, and ask why there is a curb cut and a no parking sign. Quite a few slack jawed individuals have been noticed as the facade opens up and cars exit onto the road. Since the video went viral, there have even been a few tourists who stop on busy Oak Street to take their own photos in front of the famous façade!

Thank you for all the attention and great feedback! We hope it leads leads to more opportunities for creative architectural solutions that maintain the historical fabric and resources, while allowing buildings to be modernized to the needs of the present.

Architectural Magic

How do you turn a bay window into gold?  Simple, just make it disappear.

 

Corey and Ben McMills of McMills Construction had a problem.  Their investment property on Oak Street, near Ashbury and facing the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park, needed to have a garage built to enhance his tenant’s use of the building and maximize their rent.  Parking, as is true in much of San Francisco, is hard to find in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood and is almost more valuable than living space.  They turned to Beausoleil Architects for help.

The bottom floor of the building, a historic Victorian apartment house, had a hodgepodge of storage rooms, utility spaces and an ancient studio apartment shoehorned between a dozen wood posts.  The original brick foundations were underfoot.  The project structural engineer, Don David of Double D Engineering determined that as part of upgrading the seismic strength of the structure they could get rid of the columns and the partitions, build new concrete footings, and create a clean open garage space.  The problem, as Corey found out when he asked the planning department to review the project, was how to get a car in.

The front wall of the ground floor had a three sided bay window, with windows on each face, matching the bays on the levels above, and the city planning department had recently started enforcing its mandate to limit changes to the character of historic building’s front facades – including conversion of bay windows into garage doors. Their design guidelines require that fronts of buildings, front yards, fencing, and similar relics of historic design be left largely intact, and that changes must be made in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings. Replacement of the bay window with a garage door, a common practice for many years, was no longer an option.

Corey, a mechanical engineer by education and a problem solver by nature, conceived the idea of converting the walls of the bay window into door panels that would fold into the garage space to allow cars to enter, and then fold back into place, keeping the historic appearance intact.  The planning department agreed that this concept was provisionally acceptable.  To help him realize this concept, Corey hired fellow problem solver Robert Boles of Beausoleil Architects to devise the details and keep the project in-line with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards.  One of the goals of the standards is to keep not only the historical appearance, but to keep the ‘historic fabric’ – the original wood and glass building materials – intact wherever possible.

Beausoleil carefully measured the elements of the existing façade and drew them up, then determined how the bay window sides could be split apart from the rest of the building with almost invisible seams.  They envisioned a steel framework that would be secured to the back of the walls before they were cut away from the structure – allowing the fabric of the building to remain virtually intact, studs, siding, windows all moving in concert. The front yard, which had a possibly original wrought iron fence, also had to be redesigned to incorporate a driveway and a percentage of planting areas in accordance with the zoning code. Beausoleil prepared a supplementary set of construction drawings to complement the structural set previously approved.

To make the doors work mechanically, there are two floor mounted hydraulic activators, which rotate the doors on pivot hinges. Further details, including control and security hardware, were worked out in the field by the installer, Rick Dentoni of Automatic Gate Installations.

The new garage will provide four parking spaces, while eliminating only ten feet of parking space on the street.  While not entirely pleasing to the city planners, who consider cars to be the spawn of the devil, the new parking will no doubt be very useful to the tenants, at least until we can devise our next trick – teleportation!

The project still needs a little finish carpentry and painting, but you can get the idea in the photos and video below.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garage door closed                                             Garage door open

 

 

Demolition - the sad alternative to deconstruction

In stark contrast to the house deconstruction photos and blog posted earlier this month, this photo shows two nearby homes being demolished. 

Granted the materials will need to be recycled per the laws of the local municipality, but it seems so sad to see all that wonderful framing lumber shredded, when it could have been reused by artisans creating handmade furniture or people building new homes for the needy.  Was the price difference really analyzed, or was this route chosen just because it is the "normal" and expedient way to take down a house?  We don't know, but we encourage you to take the extra step to give John Morrow of the ReUse People a call to see if you too can't actually save money as well as reduce energy consumption through reuse by selecting deconstruction instead of demolition.

Sustainable Solutions: don’t demolish, deconstruct!

Construction has begun on a Beausoleil Architects designed residential remodel with a new second story in Los Altos, California.  The project will feature sustainable design in many aspects of the construction, but what is most interesting so far at this stage has been the deconstruction.

While most remodeling projects include materials to be taken out of a home; old cabinets, sinks, flooring, wood framing, etc. , and generally a portion of these items are recycled  (Los Altos is a prime example of an ecologically conscious municipality requiring 50% of materials to be recycled), many items still end up in landfill.  Deconstruction, on the other hand, involves the literal reversal of the construction process by carefully pulling the house into its’ component parts: fixtures, lumber, masonry, etc. for direct reuse.  It is not only ecological, but economical.

In this particular case, the existing house, built in 1953 was due for some major upgrades.  The plumbing, electrical and heating systems needed replacing; there were single pane windows and little or no insulation in the walls and roof.  The floor plan was cut up with a lot of small rooms, and did not suit the needs of a modern family with children.  A few years ago, the home would have been simply demolished to its’ foundations and over 35 tons of material would have been added to the landfill.  The owner opted to look into deconstruction as an alternative and found that it made sense from a financial perspective as well.

Working with the General Contractor, Gerry Jensen of Millenium Enterprises., we obtained quotes for both options, demolition and deconstruction. The deconstruction process obviously takes longer as materials need to be carefully removed, sorted and documented.  The beauty of deconstruction though is that instead of simply paying to have unwanted materials removed, the owner obtains a tax credit for donating them for charitable purposes.  Working with the Reuse People in Oakland, who are incredibly experienced with the process, the first step involves a preliminary inventory and dollar value provided by an independent appraiser. The cost of this appraisal is borne by the Owner upfront, but their fee is also tax deductible.  In the case of this project, the cost for demolition was bid at $12,000; the cost of deconstruction at $17,000 with the additional cost of the appraisal at $3,000.  The final appraised value of the goods donated was $83,678.  Assuming a tax bracket of 30%, this will leave the owner with a donation credit of $25,103!  According to John Morrow of the ReUse People, this amount can be carried over for up to four years, which in most cases ensures a full deduction.  Deconstruction does indeed pay off!

So what does the deconstruction process look like?  Once the appraisal is done and the contract signed, the deconstruction contractor, Marcan Enterprise in our case, came to take away all the cabinetry, appliances, interior doors, plumbing and lighting fixtures.  I was really impressed with how neatly they had all the material sorted and organized on site.

   

The contractor then had to come in and do some abatement of hazardous materials that were found in old tile and sheetrock, for example.  Once the potentially hazardous materials were removed, it took approximately 1-1/2 weeks for Marcan to take apart the home, brick by brick, stud by stud.  Over 5800 lineal feet of wood framing alone was salvaged!

The only materials not salvaged were old asphalt roofing shingles, lumber under 6 feet in length (recycled instead), a small amount old rigid insulation, and single pane aluminum windows (no longer allowed for energy reasons).  Single pane wood casement and double hung windows are salvaged.

So what is done with all these donated materials?  Well, in Oakland at the ReUse People’s retail outlet at 9235 San Leandro Boulevard, anyone from the public is welcome to come by and purchase materials at an incredibly discounted price. (Check their website for additional operations and retail locations in southern California, Denver, Kansas City, Sacramento, and New Britain Connecticut.)  Who are their typical customers?  According to John Morrow, there are several categories:

• People who cannot afford to buy new
• People with income properties
• People looking to be especially environmentally conscious and reduce their carbon footprint
• People looking for authentic period pieces for their remodels
• Artists, including furniture makers, whose purchase of old lumber accounts for 25% of The ReUse People’s sales

 

When my husband and I remodeled our own 1920’s bungalow in the Westwood Park neighborhood of San Francisco some years ago, we purchased salvaged interior paneled doors, scrap marble slabs. A single pane wood window for our garage, and period glass doorknobs.  We saved a lot of money, but we also purchased items that were in keeping with the original design and craftsmanship of the home, so that the addition felt as though it had always belonged.

 

We encourage you to consider deconstruction for your remodeling project.  It is suitable for any scale project, from a small kitchen or bathroom remodel, to a large addition or tear down.  It is the right thing to do, both for the planet, and for your pocketbook!

 

A Beach House Restoration – did the Victorians drink margaritas?

Construction has started on a Beausoleil Architects designed project to rehabilitate an historic ocean side bungalow in Capitola. The property, newly purchased by a Los Altos family for weekend getaways, overlooks picturesque downtown Capitola and Monterey Bay from the bluff known as Depot Hill. The existing house, a Victorian built in the 1890’s, has long been a local landmark but had fallen on hard times, including a major fire which caused the roof to be rebuilt.

 

The purchasers’ recognized the property’s worth, including the fact that its situation will never allow its view of the ocean and the town to be blocked, and it’s large yard, crying out for landscaping, a hammock and a pitcher of margaritas. As it turns out, the family’s business is commercial landscaping, so the owner envisions a happy few years doing as a hobby what his firm does professionally. The house’s generous living spaces, three bedrooms and two bathrooms, plus the option of adding a loft in the attic, would accommodate their family as well as numerous friends for summer parties.

The house’s exterior has suffered a bit over the years but is generally very close to its original form.  As such, and as part of the Depot Hill Historic District, significant changes to its exterior have to be done in accordance with the Secretary of the Interiors Standards for Historic Renovation, a set of Federal guidelines that govern work on historic properties.  Beausoleil Architects carefully documented the existing construction, and then worked closely with the local planning department to assess the owner’s plans for a new deck, rehabilitation of the windows and restoration of the original front steps.  With the help of the Capitola Historical Museum the owner was able to track down historic photos of the house, including one showing the local gang of kids sitting on the front steps, circa 1925. As it turned out, the proposed changes were considered appropriate and minor and the project sailed through the review process.

 

The interior of the house was a different problem.  The kitchen, as was typical in Victorian times, was cut off from the living spaces and arranged with a maximum of doors and a minimum of counter space. The owners wanted a more informal, free flowing space, so Beausoleil suggested taking out the wall between the kitchen and dining room, including a large non-functioning chimney. Besides opening up the spaces, the seismic hazard that the un-reinforced chimney represented was eliminated.  Beausoleil’s design also moved one of the doors – into a bedroom of all things – which freed up one wall for a large bank of storage cabinets. 

A rear extension of the house, including a bedroom and bathroom, was apparently remodeled at some point in the distant past, probably by enclosing what had been an outdoor laundry porch. The bathroom space in particular was substandard, and the new design created extra usable space by eliminating a rear stair and hallway.  A larger bathroom with a stacking laundry was the result – no more tramping down to the basement to do laundry.

The interior design is now being worked out by the owner and Anne Munemitsu Interior Design. The owner’s intention is to keep the basic Victorian detailing while updating the finishes and colors. The kitchen and baths will get all new fixtures and finishes.  Besides this eye candy, the underlying structure and systems are also be updated.  The crawlspace is being ‘voluntarily’ upgraded for seismic strength, and a new central forced air heating system and new wiring is being installed.

The result, when construction is completed in a few months, will be a beautiful ‘old’ Victorian, complete with all the modern conveniences, ready for its next hundred years of lounging at the beach.