Test your Design IQ
MANILA, Philippines - What is the renowned American architectural firm known for designing and building numerous prefabrication systems — like the Chameleon House and Orchard House — and creatively explores new construction technologies and affordable building methods?
The firm was started in 1984 as a design-build construction company and has since built extensively in the Pacific Northwest, the US and Japan.
It is best known for original, finely crafted modern homes and buildings developed for clients ranging from corporate headquarters to churches and university buildings. It has built and designed prefabrication system projects that seek to maximize the quality of life and construction in the affordable housing range, as well as custom and expensive projects. These include the iconic Chameleon House overlooking Lake Michigan, a modern prefab house clad in galvanized metal and wrapped in a skirting wall of recycled translucent polyethelene slats. A simple structure with a strong vertical presence rising amid the rolling hills and agricultural landscapes, this contemporary house blends with the surroundings and changing seasons, hence its name.
It is also known for the Orchard House, another prefab house built within an apple orchard in Sonoma Country. True to the character of the orchard, the house is laid out as long sequences of interior and exterior courtyards defined by adjacent trees, affording long metered views along the rectilinear and diagonal axes of the field. The massive concrete walls align with the rows of tree trunks, while the open volumes of the rooms and exterior courts align with the open space between trees, affording a direct spatial continuity between house and landscape, figure and void. Both houses have won numerous awards from the American Institute of Architects and Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.
The architectural firm has also designed and built dozens of homes for individual clients. One is the Shinohara Residence overlooking the city of Tsuruga, surrounded by mountains and the sea of Japan. This courtyard house focuses on the integration of interior and exterior spaces to make optimal use of the entire site. Spaces and windows are arranged to provide maximum benefit from sunlight to shade as well as to open the house to the best views while providing space for privacy, separation, and seclusion.
This house was a recipient of the Southwest Washington AIA Award along with the Rue, Sullivan, Kennedy, Anderson, and Marontate residences.
The firm also has a long history of involvement in community-based design projects like renovations of the state capital building in Hawaii; designs for the science education facility at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington; and a new school for art and architecture and central library for the Judson College near Chicago.
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Last week’s question: Who is the French industrial designer and goldsmith best known for his lighting fixtures that combine the concepts of fluorescence and incandescence?
Answer: Serge Mouille
Winner: Mary Anne Suavi of Pasig City
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Text your answer to 0905-3142614 with your name and address. One winner will be chosen through a raffle of texts with the correct answer. The winner will receive P2,000 worth of SM gift certificates for use at Our Home, SM Department Store, or SM Supermarket. They can claim their prize at Our Home in SM Megamall. Call the store manager at 634-1950, 634-1943. Bring photocopies of two valid IDs and a clipping of the Design Quiz issue in which you appear as winner.
