by Allison Arieff, Sunset editor-at-large

by Allison Arieff, Sunset editor-at-large

The Sunset-AIA Western Home Awards have been celebrating great home design for over 50 years, and I'm excited to announce the call for submissions for the 2009-2010 program. We've got some exciting new categories this year including best small space and best indoor/outdoor living. Our esteemed jury includes architects from all over the West: David Baker, Barbara Bestor, Wendell Burnette, Jeff Kovel, and yours truly. We're excited to review all the amazing projects that we know will be coming our way soon.

Past winners include this wonderful wine-country residence by architect Nick Noyes:

And this dramatic home on the Big Island of Hawaii by Cutler Anderson Architects:

Architects (and friends, family and clients of architects), please visit our Home Awards page for detailed info, or write to us at Sunset-AIA Western Home Awards, 80 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025.

by Miranda Jones, Sunset style editor

Last Friday I attended an Eichler Home Tour in the San Mateo Highlands. Nine of the over 700 Eichlers in the vicinity were open for viewing. The homes ranged from untouched original owner gems (and I mean, untouched) to completely overhauled sprawling homes that kept little more than their Eichler facade.

One of the highlights was getting to go inside the Eichler X-100, a custom, all steel exhibition home built in 1956 to help attract homeowners to the Eichler development in the Highlands. When it opened it's doors, the x-100 was revolutionary (floor to ceiling windows, indoor planters, sky lights and sunken showers), incorporating many architectural details that we take for granted in modern buildings. It made the February 1957 cover story for the magazine Living for Young Home Owners.

The interior has remained largely intact, with it's red steel beams and open floor plan. Some modern conveniences showcased in the X-100 never caught on (like the stove top in the dining table) but other features like the sunken shower with multiple sky lights, have been incorporated into many buildings since. It was like taking a step back in the future!

Below are a few pictures from the X-100 as well as other homes on the tour.

by Allison Arieff Sunset editor-at-large

Fans of mid-century modernism will be familiar with Richard Neutra's iconic homes like the Kaufmann House in Palm Springs (below) and the Lovell House in Los Angeles.

But a new exhibit in Los Angeles' Central Library offers a less known aspect of the architect's output: his travel drawings and figure sketches. "Richard Neutra: Sketches and Drawings" also features building renderings and architectural drawings but it's wonderful to see things like this crayon sketch from 1938 of the then undeveloped desert of 29 Palms in Southern California:

...and Neutra's early self-portrait in charcoal, from 1917:

 

The exhibit, which opens on May 3rd, was curated by Thomas S. Hines, author of the seminal monograph, Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture.

(Not incidentally, it was Hines who showed this writer her first Neutra house when she was a student of his at UCLA!) Definitely worth a visit.

On Sunset.com: a restored Neutra duplex in San Francisco 

by Allison Arieff, Sunset editor-at-large

Ever dreamed about living in a Frank Lloyd Wright house? Well, this one's for sale near Los Banos, California, midway between Monterey and Yosemite. Interested parties (or architecture voyeurs) can tour Wright's Fawcett Ranch House (completed in 1961) at an open house this Sunday, April 5th. The catch? This gorgeous retreat will cost you a cool $2.7 million.

And for another vicarious trip to the world of Wright, check out The Women, T.C. Boyle's provocative novel on Wright's romantic entanglements.

by Miranda Jones, Sunset style editor

The pre fab pool is getting more and more crowed, making it harder for new comers to distinguish themselves from one another.  With their adorable logo and memorable name, Form and Forest is doing a pretty darn good job.

The Vancouver, British Columbia based company has a line of flat pack cabins that is at once modern and nostalgic at the same time. The Cowboy has a soaker tub (Stetson not included) at the center of the plan (view of the night sky, anyone?) and The Trapper (shown below) has a fire pit option on the sizable deck. The Ranger, with two levels, is the largest and offers a sleeping loft in addition to the two bedrooms.

All three models (a fourth is rumored to be coming this week) have large windows to capture the requisite fantastic views and plenty of open space (plus decks!) to accommodate a family or collection of guests.

The very American idea of instant gratification is behind an semi instant vacation home - why spend months (years?) building your dream second house when you can skip (almost) directly to the end game of enjoying yourself? Plus, with the edict of pre fab homes (smarter, more efficient, eco conscious building) at the heart of Form & Forest you don't even have to feel guilty for not wanting to wait.

by Allison Arieff, Sunset editor-at-large

San Francisco has been the lucky recipient of stunning and important architecture in the last few years: first, there was the new de Young Museum by Herzog + deMeuron, then the super-green San Francisco Federal Building by LA-architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis, and last September, Renzo Piano's green-roofed wonder California Academy of Sciences opened to packed crowds (and continues to do so daily--just ask my albino alligator-obsessed preschooler).

Now Oakland has its own new glittering landmark--The Cathedral of Christ the Light and it's designed by a local--architect Craig Hartman of the San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. A radical but glorious departure from traditional religious architecture, Hartman's light-filled structure embraces contemporary materials like glass, concrete, and Douglas Fir. It also incorporates sustainable materials and features like FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)-certified wood, daylighting, and passive cooling

You can check out the construction from groundbreaking to completion here but I'd highly recommend a visit. Few contemporary structures elicit the wonder and awe of Hartman's. It's a tremendous accomplishment. Guided tours of the Cathedral are available weekdays at 1pm.

by Allison Arieff, Sunset editor-at-large

There's been a lot of bad news about housing of late which is one of many reasons why the new book by Design Corps founder Bryan Bell and colleague Katie Wakeford is such a breath of fresh air. "Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism" (Metropolis Books, 2009) shows us the work of a new generation of creative design carried out in the service of the greater good.

Through case studies, this book tackles a broad range of timely topics. Architect John Peterson of Public Architecture offers a primer on getting architects involved in public service; "archepreneur" Chris Krager of KRDB Architects (one of the firm's new modern modular homes is shown below) asks 'how can we expand the availability of designed buildings?' Student projects like the market-rate modular house built by the University of Arkansas' Architecture Design/Build Workshop show that a new generation of students have the skills--and inclination--to build smarter, more efficient, and better designed homes for a broader population.

Ultimately, "Expanding Architecture" demonstrates the truth that there's no dearth of good ideas (and good intentions) out there already; it's time they get implemented!

by Allison Arieff, Sunset editor-at-large

I've long been a fan of architect Nick Noyes, who won a Sunset Western Home Award award last year for this great house in Sonoma:

So I was excited to learn about his new project, Flexahouse, a house plan created in partnership with Houseplans.com.

With a flexible system like Noyes', one can design from the outset a house that works for them. Instead of spaces that don't quite function for your family's needs, the Flexahouse lets you pick from a selection of design elements that can be organized into three basic layouts. That way Noyes' design can work for a variety of lots, in any number of settings, and for any family. Shown below is the compact "I" plan:

Inspired by the ranch houses of Cliff May (who, not incidentally, designed Sunset's gorgeous headquarters) and the farmhouses of William Wurster, and William Turnbull, Noyes' flexible and smaller-scaled Flexahouse feels like the right house for our times.