The hard work of installing the building systems In my earlier blog, “Your house is swiss cheese”, I wrote about how multiple small and large openings in the exterior shell of houses let air move though, crippling the heating system, and how we planned to build an ‘well-sealed’ house with … Read More
This is the first of a series of posts highlighting some of our fantastic subcontractors, some of whom we’ve worked with for years, while others are new to us as we searched for specific talents for some of our more unusual building elements. We hope to continue these relationships for … Read More
Our new house in Pacifica is intended to be “zero-net-energy”, ZNE for short. While the phase has slightly varied meanings, the basic message is that the house will produce as much energy as it uses. Why would you want this, when PG&E offers relatively low-cost electric and gas services? There … Read More
(where’s Colin Jost when you need him?) This week our dear friend Jean asked for an update on our construction. Have there really been no blogs since the one on heat pumps a couple of weeks ago??? Sadly, no; not because nothing is happening, but because so much is happening … Read More
“The rain came, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house yet it did not fall, because it had foundations on the rock.” Matthew 7:25 While we’re not technically building on rock, we will have modern day rock, concrete, in thick liquid form, like a cold … Read More
Tuesday, April 10 Christine here today, Bob actually did have to go do some paying work… The excavation and grading is starting! We stopped by yesterday to see the equipment on the site and was told by our contractor that they found oil underground. WHAAAAT? My mind raced in … Read More
No, this blog isn’t about the latest ‘green’ building material, or about Swiss Chalet style architecture. It’s about one of the newer trends in residential construction: air sealing for energy efficiency. Some years ago building scientists (yes, there is such a discipline) discovered that the greatest source of energy loss … Read More
One of our estate projects just got completed, a large main house with pool house, pool and landscaped grounds for a high-tech entrepreneur and his growing family. While the design of the exterior started with the inspiration of a particular house that the owners loved, it gradually took on a … Read More
We’ve just completed construction drawings on a new home to be built by Mansour and Kathy Moussavian in Los Altos, developers for whom we’ve worked on over half a dozen projects. Unusually for our practice and for our collaboration with the Moussavians, the home is in a ‘modern’ style. No … Read More
