Jackie Treehorn

Lautner's Sheats-Goldstein Residence. A successful blurring of the boundary between indoor and outdoor space. I am especially in love with the entry sequence into this house - walking beneath the cantilevered edge of the roof through what feels like indoor space, but then again, feels like a jungle. You walk through a stainless steel gate that feels like the door to a safe, then over the koi pond and through a glass slider into the house. All of the exterior glass walls open in some way, as do the skylights overhead. Only in Southern California. Ah...the architectural possibilities... 

out of the fire

We're working on a bar/music venue that was completely destroyed in a fire last year. The place is an empty shell right now, with shoring holding up the masonry walls. There is no roof on the building, except some of these 49' long steel girders. The girders pictured here had to be demo'd because they were damaged in the heat of the fire. Each one weighs around 3000 lbs. We had the guys save them for us so we can re-use them in the design of the actual bar (moving them around to bend them into the bar shape is going to be an exercise in logistics..).

I like the idea of the history of the place recorded in its new interior..more to follow!

Watts Towers

First, I cannot believe I neglected to post for over a month. New Years resolution...at least one post per week..

That being said, today I took an adventure with some friends to Watts where you can find these towers hiding out amidst one story houses and old workers' bungalows. The story of Simon Rodia is intriguing to say the least. After divorcing his wife and setting out to "do something big", he spent the next 34 years building this elaborate world of towers (which are remarkably structural...) and adorned with hundreds of thousands of tiles and found pieces of glass and ceramic. After 34 years he moved to Oakland and gave the property to his neighbor. Eventually two men bought it for $20 and worked to restore and protect it. Insane.

So, seeing this brings forth the question of whether the need for creative expression in some people leads to isolation and self indulgence....or can you have it all? But then maybe it takes people like Simon to sacrifice their life to the making of gems like this one.