Blog

Barnyard Bliss

May 04, 2011 - I was scrolling through the fantastic www.DigsDigs.com site and came across this stellar barn conversion in the Cotswalds of England. if you've been reading my blogs for awhile, you know I love the marriage of stone, wood and glass, especially when it's in a sensational character adaptive reuse space like this! Nothing delights me…
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Canadian Vernacular

April 20, 2011 - My fab associate Trish Bonguard brought this fantastic Atlantic Canada property to my attention, which was recently posted in ArchDaily.com. This house represents the east coast Canadian vernacular to a tea. Located in Prospect, Nova Scotia, the timber post and beam construction is favoured in isolated locations for its ease of installation,…
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Laneway Housing

April 13, 2011 - In my March Home Of The Month Feature (click HERE) I briefly wrote about the city of Toronto's reluctance to allow laneway houses. Whaa! Vancouver offers a lesson to Toronto. In 2009, the City of Vancouver made an effort to increase density in its single-family neighbourhoods by allowing home owners…
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Hello Hansel, Meet Gretel

April 01, 2011 - As a man of duality, while you'll often hear me celebrate the crisp clean lines of contemporary architecture, I'm also a huge fan of thoughtfully-crafted well-executed traditional dwellings. Especially when they're so small they could fit in your pocket! Here's a terrific example from Southern California, owned by a religious hermit with…
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Today, I Love…

March 16, 2011 - Wow, it's mid-March and I'm yearning for Spring to bloom. The snow is pretty much gone, and we've had a couple of days where clear skies and sunbeams have been warming our hearts, but we still haven't had that first day of the year where you can smell the new…
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Crisp, Clean & Delicious

March 03, 2011 - Face it, nothing screams architectural purity like an unadorned white pavilion set in nature. This Garrison, New York property designed by Spanish architect Alberto Campo Baeza, is most everything I covet. Simple, elegant and compositionally refined as the perfect balance to the contrasting organic landscape. It's huge - 54 feet wide, 122 feet…
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Must See Mr. Beam

February 19, 2011 - Diamond Sapphire Starbursts are my favourites! I write of the Fireworks variety (Click Musical Accompaniment HERE) And while I'll never be your girlfriend, make mental note to self that if yours ever says "Diamond Sapphire Starbursts are my favourite!", unless she's obsessed with pyrotechnics like me she probably means this: Which is what bride to be Kate…
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Architecture To Admire

February 08, 2011 - My friend Mark has excellent taste in vacation houses, often spotting exactly the kind of place I would want to reside in all year round! Here's another stellar pick of his currently featured in www.ArchDaily.com. This house in Melides, on the southern Alentejo Coast of Portugal, is by architect Pedro…
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Understated Innovative Architecture

January 28, 2011 - While there is no denying that an amazing site can elevate any building, I still believe an essential key to successful residential architecture is to keep the form simple. the materials natural and the design humble...and by this I mean creating a structure that doesn't scream "Look at Me!". This 2400 square foot three bedroom…
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The Green House Is No Longer A Solarium

January 17, 2011 - One of the next dreams I'm going to manifest is a Green House, but I don't mean a place to grow tomatoes. I mean a residence which has a heck of a lot more sustainability than the majority of urban architecture. Having spent almost two decades engaged in the design, redevelopment, and sales of adaptive…
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