One of my few surviving drawings of trees from first and second grade My fascination with trees and wood dates from early childhood, when I would spend hours staring at trees in different seasons and trying to draw them as accurately as I was able, carefully mapping every branch, leaf or blossom. I remember getting […]
Category Archives: notes and doodles
A Walking Song
sometimes I make up songs during a long walk There is no better design tool than a good long walk. It may not always lead to creative breakthroughs, but does reliably clear the noggin and put things in perspective. ivexterm in usa Before I begin to think about a particular project during a walk, I […]
Treehouse Report
sketch of my original concept for a stair tower within a mock, old growth redwood trunk I still think of the new cabin I’m designing as a treehouse, even though it will be more of a house on stilts nestled in a fairly dense, second growth redwood grove, making no attachment to any tree. My […]
Fish Sculpture Progress
1/4 scale, schematic model of the Vermillion Rockfish, carved from pine and redwood Between meetings for new wowhaus projects over the past week, I’ve completed two 1/4 scale models of our mosaic fish sculptures for the Ortega Branch of the San Francisco Public Library, commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission. I’ve borrowed a few […]
Giant Fish Sculptures Commence
‘feeder fish’, like these anchovies abound this time of year (public domain image) I’ve begun making the scale models for our giant, mosaic fish sculptures that will live permanently outside the new building for the Ocean View branch of the San Francisco Public Library. Funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission, the project is the […]
Furniture for Becoming Independent
concept sketch of the Space Chair for Becoming Independent I’ve been commissioned to design tables and chairs for the youth of Becoming Independent, most of whom have developmental disabilities of varying degree. The seating structures will be used in a new playroom that doubles as a space for observation and evaluation, so the tables and […]
The Quiet Mechanics of Country Life
Here the soils of daily washing stay on the land, conveyed by gravity through pipes to the leach fields to join the earth of the tree duff, filtering fresh rainfall to replenish the dwelling well. Meanwhile the ferrous field well spews rustily over the garden, adding a mineral edge to the lusty bite of a […]