Tag Archives: San Francisco

Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos

San Francisco Design: Tour Of ‘Hidden House’

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The Local Project (March 9, 2024) – Located on Telegraph Hill, a meticulously preserved locale in San Francisco, Hidden House breaks away from conventional architectural styles and emerges as a contemporary house amid the historical backdrop of the city.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Contemporary House 01:13 – The Three Basic Components and Zones 02:14 – The Collage of Materials 03:05 – Capturing Spontaneity and Dynamism 03:30 – The City of San Francisco 03:56 – Tying Spaces Together Through Light 05:25 – Proud Moments

To realise the project, OPA demonstrates contextual sensitivity with the facade, which features timber as well as a traditional bay window with extensive glazing, fitting for the streetscape. Furthermore, the facade is adorned with wooden panels transitioning from vertical to horizontal orientations, symbolising contemporary innovation over traditional craftmanship. The contemporary house is composed of three fundamental elements. The house tour unveils how the facade of the home serves as a disguise, concealing the inner workings of the residence along with its modern interior design and architecture.

Additionally, the unique house boasts two distinct zones, each with its own character and personality. One zone presents a vertical and abstract aesthetic, where the materiality is obscured by vibrant blue paint, while the other exudes a raw and refined charm. The initial zone aims to immerse visitors in a psychological experience, utilising colour as a bold element within the home’s interior design, despite its relatively low cost compared to other features. Transitioning to the second zone of the contemporary house, OPA has achieved a strikingly contrasting effect. In this area, materials are expressed in their raw and refined forms, all oriented horizontally.

#House#Abstract#TheLocalProject

Arts & Literature, Books, Newspapers, Previews, Reviews

The New York Times Book Review – January 28, 2024

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THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (January 26, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Ukraine’s Leading Man’ – In “The Showman”, Simon Shuster makes the case that Volodymyr Zelensky’s past as an entertainer helps him on the world stage…

Volodymyr Zelensky’s Greatest Performance

A photograph of reporters in a conference hall gathered around a long desk, listening to Zelensky addressing them from a flat panel TV at the end of the desk. Some of them are wielding boom mics and large cameras. Others are typing at the desk.

In “The Showman,” the journalist Simon Shuster trails the entertainer-turned-wartime president as he rallies the world for support.

By David Kortava

THE SHOWMAN: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky, by Simon Shuster

Nine months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in 2022, the Time magazine correspondent Simon Shuster caught a ride on a presidential train that few, if any, journalists had seen from the inside. In a private carriage, with the blinds drawn, Volodymyr Zelensky was fueling up on coffee during a trip to the frontline. He’d been reading about Winston Churchill, but with Shuster he’d sooner discuss another key World War II figure: Charlie Chaplin.

“He used the weapon of information during the Second World War to fight against fascism,” Zelensky said. “There were these people, these artists, who helped society. And their influence was often stronger than artillery.”

Mightier — and Meaner — Than the Sword

Emily Cockayne’s “Penning Poison,” a history of anonymous letters, reveals the ways we’ve been torturing one another, verbally, for centuries.

The Rise and Fall and Rise of San Francisco

Two books — “The Longest Minute,” by Matthew J. Davenport, and “Portal,” by John King — examine the City by the Bay’s resiliency from very different angles.

Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos

San Francisco Design: A Tour Of Redwood House

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The Local Project (January 23, 2024) – Redwood House sits on a hillside in San Francisco’s charming Noe Valley. Originally designed in the 1970s by prominent local architect Albert Lanier, the house has undergone an extensive yet sympathetic renovation by Studio Terpeluk, ushering the home into a new epoch with integrity and vigour.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Art-Filled Oasis 00:46 – The History of the Home 01:43 – A Unique Layout 03:36 – The Textured Material Palette 04:25 – Favourite Moments 05:06 – The Sustainability Practices

“When I first walked into the space several years ago, I was completely enamoured with the scale, geometry and volume of it,” says architect Brett Terpeluk in this house tour. “There was something so peaceful, calming and embracing about the space that I felt immediately connected to the architecture.” Retaining this essence was essential to Brett and the clients, and, as such, the scope focused on “leaning up” the decor and interior design, enhancing the existing volumes and increasing the square footage, as documented in this house tour. As the architect says, the home’s unusual footprint and layout provided intriguing foundations from which to work.

“This house is very unique in that instead of having a monolithic house with a street presence and large backyard, it’s broken down into a series of courtyards and volumes.” This stacked approach to architecture results in a combination of moments enlivened by views of the cityscape and landscaping at the house’s edges. As well as sightlines, texture plays an important role in animating the architecture and interior design, which was an intentional move from the architect. The redwood remains a prominent feature and the staircase, which is profiled in the house tour, is one of Brett’s favourite moments for the “haptic feedback” it provides upon touching the handrail. The clients’ love of colour can be seen in the furniture and art, as well as in the tones throughout, notably the kitchen cabinetry.

sertions but also to original architect Albert Lanier’s design.

Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos

San Francisco Bay Design: Sausalito Houseboat Tour

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The Local Project (January 2, 2024) – A house boat with rounded windows that frame the bay, Sausalito Houseboat by Craig Steely Architecture evokes a deep appreciation of the surrounds.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the World’s Best House Boat 00:40 – The House Boat Community and its History 01:02 – A Spacious Brief 02:03 – A Walkthrough of the House Boat 02:46 – The Layered Design Approach 03:23 – A Simplistic Material Palette 03:50 – Accounting for the Climate 04:23 – Satisfying and Favourite Aspects

Located just north of San Francisco, the home is situated in a small house boat community of Sausalito. In World War II, Liberty ships were once predominantly built in the area, however, after the war, it was abandoned for residential use. As such, a community was established and house boats were built, creating a truly memorable location for a home. Working closely with the client – who wanted something spacious – Craig Steely Architecture took to designing a house boat that went against the typical aesthetic and design of others.

Additionally, the house boat is clad in décor that will accommodate the weather and surrounds, using materials such as old red wood from another project that does not have any finish but remains sturdy. Thinking about the dock, the ocean, the views and the Sausalito Bay surrounds, Craig Steely Architecture created a home that was reactive and connected the interior space to the outdoors. However, when the client and architect discovered the lot, they found a sinking barge but, deeply interested with the history of the space, they took to designing a house boat that referenced the bohemian history.

Tours, Travel, Videos, Views

Travel: 50 Best Places To Visit In The United States

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touropia Films (November 22, 2023) – A video tour of the 50 best places to visit in the United States. The top 15 include:

  1. The Grand Canyon – Arizona
  2. New York City
  3. Hawaii
  4. Yellowstone National Park – Wyoming
  5. Florida Keys
  6. San Francisco – California
  7. Zion National Park – Utah
  8. Las Vegas – Nevada
  9. Los Angeles – California
  10. Glacier National Park – Montana
  11. Washington D.C.
  12. Miami – Florida
  13. Seattle – Washington
  14. Rocky Mountain National Park – Colorado
  15. New Orleans – Louisiana

Art, Arts & Literature, Exhibitions, Museums, Previews, Reviews, Videos

ART: FIVE ‘MUST-SEE MUSEUM SHOWS’ FOR NOVEMBER 2023

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Sotheby’s (November 13, 2023) – This month, we’re taking a tour of the world’s most exciting and innovative museum exhibitions with Tim Marlow, CEO and Director of the Design Museum, London.

Africa & Byzantium
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
19 November 2023 – 3 March 2024
Bringing together the art and culture of Byzantium and Africa, this ambitious New York exhibition looks in a new way at their importance to the development of the premodern world.

Africa & Byzantium comprises over 200 objects, from frescoes and mosaics to jewelry and manuscripts borrowed from many of the great collections, spanning over ten centuries of complex cultural exchange and influence.

Modigliani: Modern Gazes
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
24 November 2023 – 17 March 2024
Modigliani: Modern Gazes focuses on the 20th-century Italian artist’s portraits of modern women From bohemian Paris who stare unapologetically at the viewer, defiant and – as the director of the Staatsgalerie, Christiane Lange puts it – “emancipated”.

Works by German-speaking contemporaries Paula Modersohn-Becker, Jeanne Mammen, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and Wilhelm Lehmbruck also feature, in a show that places Modigliani in the wider cultural context of the young European avant-garde.

Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper.
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
19 November 2023 – 31 March 2024
Rothko exhibitions have always focused on his canvases but the artist drew no distinction between them and his paintings on paper – some of which were up to seven feet tall.

Forming the basis of Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper, a ground-breaking show at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, many of the watercolors, acrylics and oil paintings on paper have never been seen before.

Botticelli Drawings
19 November 2023 – 11 February 2024
Legion of Honor, San Francisco
Although his reputation dwindled until the Pre-Raphaelites rediscovered his work in the 19th century, Sandro Botticelli is now one of the most revered of the Renaissance masters.

There has, however, never been a significant exhibition of his drawings so Botticelli Drawings – an admirable and important project – will give us the chance to trace his artistic journey in a more intimate way than ever before.

An Atlas of Es Devlin
Cooper Hewitt, New York
18 November 2023 – 11 August 2024
Devlin is a polymath and then some, with a wide ranging practice that incorporates stage design from La Scala in Milan to the Super Bowl. She is utterly compelling but hard to classify, which is why it is appropriate that Devlin herself will install her 30 year archive.

An Atlas of Es Devlin – featuring over 300 sketches, paintings, cutouts, and maquettes – will also stage a replica of her London studio along with giant film installations, a library programme including collective readings and the chance to participate in a cumulative artwork.

Arts & Literature, Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – Oct 23, 2023

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Daniel Clowess “Quiet Luxury”

The New Yorker – October 23, 2023 issue: The new issue‘s cover features Daniel Clowes’s “Quiet Luxury” – The artist discusses patronage, in-home pillars, and what he’d do with a billion dollars.

Beyond the Myth of Rural America

Grant Woods sister Nan Wood Graham and his dentist Byron McKeeby stand by the painting for which they had posed...

Its inhabitants are as much creatures of state power and industrial capitalism as their city-dwelling counterparts.

By Daniel Immerwahr

Demanding that your friend pull the car over so you can examine an unusual architectural detail is not, I’m told, endearing. But some of us can’t help ourselves. For the painter Grant Wood, it was an incongruous Gothic window on an otherwise modest frame house in Eldon, Iowa, that required stopping. It looked as if a cottage were impersonating a cathedral. Wood tried to imagine who “would fit into such a home.” He recruited his sister and his dentist as models and costumed them in old-fashioned attire. The result, “American Gothic,” as he titled the painting from 1930, is probably the most famous art work ever produced in the United States.

When Foster Parents Don’t Want to Give Back the Baby

In many states, lawyers are pushing a new legal strategy that forces biological parents to compete for custody of their children.

American Chronicles – Beyond the Myth of Rural America

Its inhabitants are as much creatures of state power and industrial capitalism as their city-dwelling counterparts.

What Happened to San Francisco, Really?

It depends on which tech bro, city official, billionaire investor, grassroots activist, or Michelin-starred restaurateur you ask.By Nathan Heller

The Great Cash-for-Carbon Hustle

Offsetting has been hailed as a fix for runaway emissions and climate change—but the market’s largest firm sold millions of credits for carbon reductions that weren’t real.

Cities, History, Movies, Tours, Travel, Videos, Views

San Francisco Views: Tour Of Alfred Hitchcock 1958 Movie ‘Vertigo’ Locations

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KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA (August 27, 2023) – ‘Vertigo’, one of the enduring classics of American cinema, was Alfred Hitchcock’s love letter to the Bay Area many of the views he recorded in 1957 are little changed 65 years on.

Vertigo is a 1958 American psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. The story was based on the 1954 novel D’entre les morts (From Among the Dead) by Boileau-Narcejac. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor. The film stars James Stewart as former police detective John “Scottie” Ferguson, who has retired because an incident in the line of duty has caused him to develop acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo, a false sense of rotational movement. Scottie is hired by an acquaintance, Gavin Elster, as a private investigator to follow Gavin’s wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), who is behaving strangely.

The film was shot on location in the city of San Francisco, California, as well as in Mission San Juan Bautista, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Cypress Point on 17-Mile Drive, and Paramount Studios in Hollywood. It is the first film to use the dolly zoom, an in-camera effect that distorts perspective to create disorientation, to convey Scottie’s acrophobia. As a result of its use in this film, the effect is often referred to as “the Vertigo effect”. In 1996, the film underwent a major restoration to create a new 70 mm print and DTS soundtrack.

Home Design, Homes, Sustainability, Tours, Videos, Views

California Architecture: Twin Gables House Tour

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The Local Project (May 19, 2023) – Ryan Leidner Architecture thoughtfully renovates a bygone California house into a modern home that is intrinsically connected to its surrounding landscape by incorporating lush greenery into the interior spaces.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the California House 00:23 – Renovation of an Eichler Home 00:54 – A Walkthrough of the Home 01:11 – Magical Moments 01:32 – Light Play and Dynanism 01:53 – Feeling Enveloped in the Garden 02:37 – Leaning into the Indoor-Outdoor Connection 03:02 – Working on the Landscape 03:30 – Focusing on A Specific Level of Transparency 04:15 – Rewarding and Proud Moments

Imbued with a tangible sense of transparency, Twin Gable House proposes a more outward, open way of living. Located in Sunnyvale, a suburban neighbourhood 45 minutes south of San Francisco, Twin Gable House sits within a streetscape dominated by single-level, Eichler family homes. The renovation aspired to rejuvenate the midcentury modern-style California house by injecting high design into its somewhat simple, suburban façade.

While most Eichler homes boast flat ceilings, this house benefited from having a twin-gable shape that brings height and openness, undoubtedly setting the tone for the design and direction of the renovation. There is an immediate sense of the outdoors existing within the California house – upon entering through the front door into the atrium space, one is met with an interior garden. Rejecting the idea that homes are a place to be lived inwardly, the outdoor connection continues throughout the home.

Analysis, Reviews, Transportation, Travel, Videos

Reviews: Can California Finish Its High-Speed Rail?

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CNBC (May 16, 2023) – In 2008, California voted yes on a $9 billion bond authorization to build the nation’s first high-speed railway. The plan is to build an electric train that will connect Los Angeles with the Central Valley and then San Francisco in two hours and forty minutes.

Chapters: 1:35 Intro 1:41 The Vision 4:48 Progress 8:17 Setbacks and challenges

At the time, it was estimated the project would be complete by 2020 and cost $33 billion. But 15 years later, there is not a single mile of track laid, and there isn’t enough money to finish the project. The latest estimates show it will cost $88 billion to $128 billion to complete the entire system from LA to San Francisco. Inflation and higher construction costs have contributed to the high price tag. Despite the funding challenges, progress has been made on the project.

119 miles are under construction in California’s Central Valley. The project recently celebrated its 10,000th worker on the job. The infrastructure design work is complete, and 422 out of 500 miles have been environmentally cleared. CNBC visited California’s Central Valley, where construction is underway, to find out what it will take to complete what would be the nation’s largest infrastructure project.