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At Least 45 Custom Pieces Finish This Polish Apartment Building Turned Home

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Tue, 7 Apr 2026 11:56:15 -0700

Wiercinski-Studio fashioned everything from an oak dining table to countertops and sinks made from locally sourced Strzegom granite.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Poznan, Poland

Architect: Wiercinski-Studio / @wiercinskistudio

Footprint: 3,200 square feet

Photographer: Oni Studio / @onistories

From the Architect: "Located in Poznań’s historic Grunwald district, an area renowned for its prewar villa architecture, P81 House is a meticulous restoration of a 1932 residence. What began as an interior commission evolved into a holistic transformation encompassing the building’s facade, custom landscaping, and furniture design. The defining moment of the renovation occurred when the owners stripped away layers of old plaster to reveal the original brickwork. This raw and honest aesthetic set the tone for the entire project, allowing the villa to be restored with profound respect for its historic fabric through the preservation of cornices, sills, and the installation of new windows that replicate the original classical divisions.

"The most significant architectural intervention is found at the garden entrance, where the staircase volume was reimagined using corrugated aluminum sheeting. This introduces a contemporary and reflective texture to the masonry mass, creating an unexpected skin that reacts dynamically to the weather by mirroring the changing colors of the surroundings. The garden itself was conceived as a wild sanctuary featuring native perennials and meadows. It is punctuated by custom designed galvanized steel elements including lanterns, a graphic square-patterned gate, and rainwater collection tanks.

"The interior philosophy was guided by the owners’ desire to preserve the building’s soul while integrating local craftsmanship. The ground floor was opened up by removing a central wall and replacing it with a substantial exposed steel beam. The studio designed a neon installation that stitches the gap where the wall once stood, accompanied by a custom plant island. To maintain a functional flow, a secondary kitchen was tucked into the former pantry, allowing the main open-plan area to remain a clean and social hub.

"The project features 45 custom pieces designed by Adam Wierciński, rooted in the use of raw steel, solid oak, and reinforced glass. A massive oak dining table features legs echoing the hourglass shape of the home’s restored staircase balusters, while a circular steel kitchen island is softened by a suspended linen fabric that subtly defines the zone. While the market offers countless imported stones, the studio opted for local Strzegom granite. This choice, typically not associated with domestic luxury, was used for countertops, custom washbasins, and entire bathroom surfaces to celebrate regional Polish resources.

"The traces of the home’s history remain visible throughout as original wooden floors and door frames were kept, and concrete infills in the flooring mark where old walls once stood, revealing the building’s previous life as a multi-apartment villa."

Photo by Oni Studio

See the full story on Dwell.com: At Least 45 Custom Pieces Finish This Polish Apartment Building Turned Home

For $1.6M, You Can Score a Loft in a San Diego Soap Factory

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Tue, 7 Apr 2026 09:56:35 -0700

Original brickwork, tall banks of windows, and big wooden beams can be found throughout the sunny flat.

Location: 500 West Harbor, Residence 1601, San Diego, California

Price: $1,600,000

Year Built: 1921

Architect: William Wheeler

Renovation Date: 1993

Renovation Architect: Milford Wayne Donaldson

Footprint: 1,492 square feet (2 bedrooms, 2 baths)

From the Agent: "Built in 1921, the Citrus / Pacific Soap Factory Building was designed by local San Diego architect William Wheeler. In 1993, architect Milford Wayne Donaldson completed CityFront Terrace, which integrated a contemporary brick condominium building with the historic factory, making it one of the largest brick buildings on the West Coast. Loft residence 1601 is in the original, historically designated Soap Factory building, and is part of the Mills Act. The primary bedroom offers a spacious walk-in closet and a large bathroom with a separate bath and shower. This is an extremely rare offering in Downtown San Diego: a chance to live in a historic building full of character and charm, while having direct access to modern amenities and a true urban lifestyle."

The building’s original wood beams and brick walls are exposed throughout the interior.

Photo by Ollie Paterson

See the full story on Dwell.com: For $1.6M, You Can Score a Loft in a San Diego Soap Factory
Related stories:

These Urban Planning Influencers Want to Help You Understand Cities

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Tue, 7 Apr 2026 06:56:34 -0700

They’ve grown social media followings with their "infotainment"-style posts breaking down topics related to the built environment. "To me," one creator says, "that’s inherently lifestyle content."

Welcome to #TradesTok, an interview series where design-related content creators share what goes into building their online and IRL businesses.

"This shit is dope as fuck," Vignesh Swaminathan says to his front-facing camera from a nondescript office in his work attire (gray suit jacket, tie, suspenders) in a TikTok clip that amassed more than 171,000 likes. The "dope-as-fuck shit" he’s describing is the process of pipe relining, a trenchless method used to repair damaged pipes without excavation. "Next time you need to lay down the pipe," he says, "try to make sure you line up your pipe, so you don’t tear up that asphalt."

The 35-year-old, San Jose–based urban planner at engineering, planning, and design consulting firm Kimley-Horn has been posting irreverent TikToks like this under the handle @MrBarricade since 2020, explaining everything from the creation of bike-friendly on-street trails to how the Black Panthers advocated for more crosswalks in Oakland. His unconventional approach to demystifying urban planning topics has helped him gain 1.6 million followers (at the time of writing). He frequently weaves together platform staples like choreography (while showing off a new bike lane), viral music (connecting urban drainage to Swedish hip-hop group Drain Gang), and stitching alongside explainers about "straight fire" pedestrian efforts and critiques of harmful bike infrastructure. "No one was really talking about roadway infrastructure projects online when I started," Swaminathan says. "Now people are interested in it. The newer generation is very interested in their built environment and they want to be more involved."

Swaminathan is one of many content creators from a corner of social media (sometimes called CitiesTok or Urbanism TikTok) who post "infotainment"-style videos about topics related to housing, transportation, and city planning that help people better understand how the built environments around them work. Hashtags like #urbanism (1.3 million entries on Instagram) and #urbandesign (22,900 on TikTok) are populated with posts from urban planning professionals and enthusiasts alike. The domain is as diverse as cities themselves: Some creators like psychologist and urbanist @dr.tpanova and safe-streets advocate @pedestriandignity post informational clips connecting things like crosswalks and shaded spaces with safety and autonomy, while others like @traingirlsummer dedicate their feeds to fanning out over infrastructure (in her case, mass transit). The creators’ content varies but have overlapping themes ranging from walkability to the importance of third places.

Detroit-based transportation planner Brittany Simmons thinks that Urbanism TikTok’s expanding reach is fostering a digital YIMBYism that makes people want to learn more about the discipline. Simmons is known for her "day in the life of an urban planner" videos that let viewers peek into what a career in this domain actually looks like. She’s been posting under @signedbritt on TikTok since 2021, since expanding to Instagram and Substack. "I try to make urban planning not only accessible but also interesting, to help people see the connections between a very technical field to their everyday lives," says the 29-year-old, whose Instagram bio reads "a professional city girl (literally)." Her lifestyle-esque videos breaking down what she does as an urban planner are in good company in this niche of TikTok. "Largely it’s people’s curiosity of something that feels familiar, because everyone knows what it is, they just might not know that it’s called urban planning," she says.

This is part of Urbanism TikTok’s success. "If you explain ‘third place’ to someone who lives in Italy, they might be like, ‘Yes, I know it…it’s down the street,’" says 31-year-old landscape architect Paul Stout, known to his hundreds of thousands of TikTok followers as @TalkingCities. "For Americans, it’s a bit different. They’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t have that.’ That makes it a bit more sticky on social media." Ideally for many of these creators, their urban planning content will pique viewers’ interests enough to attend local city planning or engage in material change beyond the comments section. "I believe community and coalition-building wins," says Jon Jon Wesolowski, aka "The Happy Urbanist," a content creator and public speaker with almost half a million followers across TikTok, Instagram, and Substack. (The Chattanooga-based 37-year-old, who has no formal training in urban planning, describes himself as an armchair urbanist similar to Jane Jacobs or William Holly Whyte.)

We talked to Swaminathan, Simmons, Stout, and Wesolowski about how they became urban planning influencers and what keeps them going. Our conversations have been edited and condensed for clarity.

Brittany Simmons

@signedbritt, 82.9K followers on TikTok and 67.4K followers on Instagram

On starting her TikTok account

I was living in New York, I just moved there, and I got a TikTok. My For You Page was a bunch of people exploring their city, what they like to do, where they like to go…helping me become better acquainted with where I was living. When I started creating, I was like, Clearly this is what this platform is for: sharing your favorite restaurants and coffee shops. One day, I posted about my day which, naturally, was spent at work. That did significantly better than my [post about a] little coffee shop. People asked questions like, "What is this?" and "How did you end up in that?" and it just kind of snowballed from there.

On her profession as social media content

When I describe to people what urban planning is, I describe it as the relationship people have with their environment. To me, that’s inherently lifestyle content. I mostly am doing what I do for my job and my life: I go to work…I also come home and post about what I did at work, the things that I’m learning. I post about the public meetings I’m preparing for and I’ll talk about the analyses I’m working on. But it’s rarely ever, "Here’s the problem. Let me explain and define the problem. Here’s the solution I propose."

In my nine-to-five, so much of it is about getting people interested in the problem enough to want to be a part of the solution. Historically, planning has gone wrong when it has cut the public off from decision-making processes. If I can get them to stay for this post for 10 seconds, I can probably get them to care. These are things people care about, like housing and transit. They impact our lives every day. If you make it a little interesting and put it in front of them, they’ll watch.

My clients are municipalities, like the City of Detroit. They’re not looking to hire someone based on social media presence. But a number of think tanks and nonprofits who dabble in the planning and community development space have reached out to me to make stuff for them.

On her content-creation process

Some videos I feel really excited about and will record myself talking, and 10 minutes later, there’s a video on the internet. That’s not the norm for me. There’s easy, which is what I described, and medium—which is most of my stuff: "Here’s a clip from my day and I’m going to talk to you about something related." And then there’s the other side, where it takes a lot of research and time and editing and scripting. Those are more neighborhood history–type videos. It depends on what I have the capacity for.

On her comments section

It’s such a mix of "My bus stop sucks. I didn’t know I could fix this," or "I’ve never heard of this. I didn’t know it was a career," or "I’m gonna transition from being a teacher to urban planning. How do I do that?" It’s a wide spectrum. Maybe they don’t want to do it for work but they want to volunteer—what can I do in my neighborhood that my neighbors will recognize and feel the differences of? It’s generally pretty positive.

On having an online following

I get recognized a lot. The people I’ve met in person appreciate my content, which is always nice. I’ve been recognized out of town too, in New Orleans, in L.A., in New York. In Detroit in general, there’s a lot of advocacy around public transit in particular. There’s a genuine interest around urban planning topics, inherently.

Jon Jon Wesolowski

@jonjon.jpeg, 299.4K followers on TikTok and 136K followers on Instagram

On starting his TikTok account

My neurodivergent, ADHD brain felt the TikTok algorithm right away: an aesthetic feed on Instagram wasn’t for me and the patience of longform video on YouTube wasn’t [either]. When I got introduced to TikTok, it didn’t take long before I started putting videos out there. At first, it was for the tech company I worked for. They didn’t want to do TikTok. I was like, "I’m going to show that content about your software could do well here." I gained a bit of a following, they decided to create their own TikTok. Since I wasn’t doing that anymore, I wanted to talk about cities.

Architecture and city planning are things that I’ve been obsessed with for most of my life. I thought I was going to be an architect in high school and in college I was introduced to the idea of urban design and city planning. Even though life didn’t go that way, I wanted to see if I could find other people who are interested in talking about this online.

On gaining a following

When I moved back to Tennessee [in 2020], I was looking at my city through fresh eyes and began to realize how much of the built environment is felt but not articulated. That’s my main goal: How can I explain things that I know people are feeling and see if they can relate to them? Now, a few years later, I have more than 298,000 followers on TikTok. I had no idea that would happen. I want the F-250-driving soccer mom to join the conversation and understand the value of bike lanes, even if she would never use [one]. That’s the approach I’m taking. I chose the branding "The Happy Urbanist" to keep myself from getting too negative. I still talk about negative aspects, but the overarching feeling I wanted to give is one of optimism and positivity about what the built environment can do.

On his most viral video

My most viral post is [of me] walking to a community pool in my neighborhood. It’s a walkable distance but we rarely walk there. I thought, I’m going to walk there, record all the things I encounter, and see how it goes. I filmed it as I went and posted it and it got 10 million views. It was picked up by BuzzFeed. It was the most affirming thing. I’ve had a couple of videos get one or two million views. I got one with five million views on Instagram, but this was by far the largest and a reminder that people are feeling these feelings even if they can’t put words to them.

On his content being inherently political

One hundred percent, it’s political. I live in a deeply red state and the complexities of my city are a little maroon, a little bit purple, but the language of left coast progressives isn’t going to move the needle here. When I talk about housing, I don’t use a lot of YIMBY language: I use a lot more property rights language. I think the built environment is the hardware of culture: if community is a software, you can’t get an update unless you have the right hardware. If you get this right…resistance, mutual aid, all of that is facilitated by what is happening in the built world.

On the next breakout idea in urban planning

Incremental development, the idea that we should empower people to develop on the smallest possible scale in communities. The obstacles to incremental development go across party lines. If you wanted to turn your house into a duplex, there’s this liberty, property rights argument, and then there’s this progressive, affordable housing right that can also be argued. Incremental developers exist right now as the pirates of the world of architecture: they’re building things that skirt the lines of legality, not in a safety way, but in the arbitrary, "You’re not allowed to have this (even though there’s a historical example across the street from you)" kind of way. All my favorite people are getting in a little bit of trouble and breaking stereotypes. I hope it catches on.

On how he finds ideas for content

My videos come from shower arguments, when you lose an argument and go in the shower and continue the argument until you win. Those are my posts. I’m essentially getting an idea that someone misunderstood online or in a conversation that didn’t go well and I’m working it out in my head until it goes well. I’m always looking for the perfect analogy and, once it hits me, it’s almost like giving birth to an idea. When we talk about the actual video itself, I like to have a concept I can either bring everyone on board with or that everyone understands, which I then connect to a new idea or a new way of seeing the world.

Vignesh Swaminathan

@MrBarricade, 1.6M followers on TikTok and 30.2K on Instagram

On starting his TikTok

I never really used social media before. I downloaded TikTok out of interest in what was on the app. I was experimenting with how the algorithm worked, using different sounds and following trends. About three months in, in maybe February 2021, I grew a following a little bit, which I didn’t really realize was real. I thought, Let me start posting about my work and what I’m doing. I was running a business, doing roadway projects that I felt were important for people to learn about. A lot of my work is teaching the community. I host community outreach meetings. We get a very small turnout compared to the amount of people who were viewing my videos online. I felt that I could combine both and share what I’m doing as a great way to access people where they’re at.

On his handle

It was a name given to me at my first engineer job out of school. I was hired by the City of San Jose to manage downtown street events and festivals. If there’s a big concert at the convention center, how do we shut down the streets to get more left turns in or out? If there’s a marathon, how do we shut down the streets? I worked a lot of traffic control and grew that position to where I ran that whole operation. People started calling me Mr. Barricade because, not only do I have a kind of a complicated name, but I was the guy that you needed for a block party or when the president came to town. I was the person who did that coordination. When I got into social media, it kind of made sense. It was a name that stuck.

On balancing content creation and his full-time work

I work for a large company now, so my approach is a little different. When I was on my own, I could talk maybe a bit more ill about a certain city’s projects or another consultant’s projects, that that’s not the way I would do it and I would do it this way. I’d have council members and city staff reach out to me and say, "You made a video about this thing. How can we get you to take it down and work with us to make a better project?" I was able to get a lot of traction and make a lot of change. Now, I have to be a bit more cautious. At a larger firm, I focus on larger projects that I can talk about and want to put out there…about toll roads and how congestion pricing works. I want to talk about transit in the Bay Area. I think there’s a lot more I can talk about, but it’s definitely going to be a little more focused on transportation and the roadway.

On reactions to his content

One time I spoke on a panel and this lady called me out for using profanity. It was a bit of a shock, but the way I answered was that I’m reaching out to a larger audience who don’t typically come to these meetings. The people that typically come are retired or are able to take time to come. We’re trying to reach a younger, different type of audience, bringing these people into this conversation. I’ve interviewed rappers about their neighborhoods where they have lyrics about how horrible their road is and how it’s flooded. These are perspectives that you wouldn’t hear if you have the regular community outreach we typically do. I see a lot of value in how I communicate things and I think that’s where we’re headed as a society: Going to people where they’re at versus saying, "Hey, the meeting was over there. You didn’t see it."

Paul Stout

@TalkingCities on TikTok and @paulwillstout on Instagram (322.5K and 174K followers respectively)

On starting his TikTok

It was the pandemic. I had just finished my undergrad and I was applying to grad school for a master's degree in urban planning. When you apply to programs like that, they have a whole list of books you need to read at first. I was basically locked in my room, reading books all day, and I thought, "This is just the most fascinating stuff I’ve ever read." I decided to try to put some online and it basically spiraled from there.

Learning a lot of this stuff gave words to things I had experienced. My undergrad degree was actually in history, but I got super interested in urban planning when I did a study abroad program in Salzburg, Austria. It was my first time living in a city where I could bike and walk everywhere. Growing up in Los Angeles, I was in a relatively walkable part, but you’re still functionally driving. The ability to ride my bike places, to go see friends, I was just enthralled. Reading those books put language to the experience I’d had. I figured this was an experience many other people have probably had as well.

On gaining a following

I have two followings: One began from a critique of suburbanization in 2021. Then I think I gained 80,000 [followers] in the past three weeks because I started making content again after a hiatus while I was in grad school. I also made an Instagram page which went from zero to 93,000 in 10 days. It speaks to the desire for this information.

On his most viral post

In my early era, I had one about Lancaster Boulevard and a revitalization project in California where they took what people in the industry would call a "stroad"—a mash-up between a street and a road—and turned it into something almost rambla-style. It’s actually spectacular. It speaks to the thing that there are a lot of young people out there broadly dissatisfied with the status quo of American cities and seeing transformations is super refreshing. Recently, the biggest one was [about the] prospect-refuge theory, which I didn’t expect to blow up how it did.

On balancing content creation with his landscape architecture work

It’s difficult to balance the two. Content creators who can pump it out are doing it full-time, like the urbanist creator Not Just Bikes on YouTube. It’s why my older TikTok content has low production value. Fortunately, right now, I’m job hunting so I have a lot of time to make content, which works as a portfolio in and of itself. I can manage one quality video a week with full-time work, but that’s about it.

Top images courtesy of subjects

The New Design Critics Next Door

The Forest Is the Living Room at This Concrete Paraguay Retreat

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Mon, 6 Apr 2026 12:56:40 -0700

A sprawling roof extending over indoor/outdoor spaces has cutouts that make space for mature trees.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: San Bernardino, Paraguay

Architect: Equipo de Arquitectura / @equipodearquitectura

Footprint: 2,800 square feet

Landscape Design: Viviana Pozzoli

Structural Engineer: Felipe Ramírez

Photographer: Federico Cairoli / @federicocairoli

From the Architect: "A Forest in the House proposes an alternative approach to harmonizing the built form with its natural surroundings. Rather than treating existing trees as obstacles, the project embraces them as fundamental guides that shape the spatial program. The trees delineate the relationship between occupied spaces and voids, freeing the structure from conventional grid systems and establishing a dynamic rhythm that reflects the patterns of nature. This nonorthogonal disposition of the pillars contributes to the structure’s lateral stability. The solid volumes are constructed using compressed earth blocks, reinforcing the project’s commitment to a material dialogue with the landscape.

"Vertical structural elements are carefully arranged among the trees. By aligning themselves so as not to interfere with the roots, they recede visually and integrate into the background, blending with the natural logic of the surrounding trunks. This conscious integration generates a dialogue in which artifice and nature speak the same language.

"The spatial composition unfolds across two distinct horizontal planes. The primary plane, the floor, rises subtly, allowing tree roots to evolve freely over time. In parallel, the secondary plane, the ceiling, replicates this geometry to form a terrace that invites occupants to enjoy panoramic views of the treetops.

"Ultimately, the project imagines a future in which the boundaries between architecture and nature dissolve: a future in which the built environment is as organic as its natural context. This vision not only proposes a different spatial solution, but also offers a reminder of the potential for coexistence and balance. Thus, in unison, all the elements of the house compose a big band that, depending on the season or time of day, plays the music that best accompanies the experience."

Photo: Federico Cairoli

See the full story on Dwell.com: The Forest Is the Living Room at This Concrete Paraguay Retreat

Asking $4.3M, This Century-Old Manhattan Loft Spans an Entire Floor

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Mon, 6 Apr 2026 10:56:13 -0700

The recently renovated NoHo flat comes with an overhauled kitchen, a communal roof deck, and a collection of vintage doors.

Location: 21 Bond Street, Unit 3, New York, New York

Price: $4,250,000

Year Built: 1900

Footprint: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths

From the Agent: "Situated on one of NoHo’s most storied cobblestone blocks, this full-floor loft at 21 Bond Street offers an authentic downtown living experience within a landmarked Renaissance Revival building. Occupying the entire third floor, the home spans a long and gracious footprint. It has a curated collection of vintage doors, each with its own storied provenance. The layout flows naturally from generous entertaining spaces to more private bedroom wings, offering both openness and separation. The primary bedroom is quietly positioned and comfortably proportioned, offering excellent wall space and natural light. Two additional rooms function seamlessly as bedrooms, guest rooms, or home offices, making the layout highly adaptable to a variety of living needs."

The loft is located in a co-op, and the sale includes ownership of one-fifth of the ground-floor storefront, and access to a communal rooftop terrace.

Photo by Alejandro Leon of DDReps

Since purchasing the home in 2009, the current owner has gradually renovated the space.

Photo by Alejandro Leon of DDReps

The living room is located a step down from the rest of the loft.

Photo by Alejandro Leon of DDReps

See the full story on Dwell.com: Asking $4.3M, This Century-Old Manhattan Loft Spans an Entire Floor
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Other Cities Could Learn a Thing or Two from Charleston’s Affordable Housing Plan

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Fri, 3 Apr 2026 10:56:09 -0700

In an intensive week-long session, architects, contractors, and community groups convened to develop plans that will allow the city to bump up the number of living spaces while retaining its historical character.

Charleston, South Carolina is the quintessential historic village, a place where brightly colored rowhomes foreground church steeples; where building ornaments are at ease in the low-rise, treelined environs. Here, the built environment reflects the city’s character, and mayor William Cogswell doesn’t want to mess with that. As a lifelong Charlestonian who worked in the private sector in property redevelopment prior to entering public office, Cogswell knows what makes his city special—but he’s also acutely aware of the challenges it faces. Charleston, like many other American cities, has underbuilt even as the population has exploded over the past 15 years. They need more homes, and fast.

To meet housing demands, the city launched Project 3500, an initiative that will build 6,000 new homes by 2032, more than half of which will be reserved as affordable housing. But this strategy isn’t following the typical housing motivators like Requests for Proposals, design competitions, or policy changes. Instead, Project 3500 has taken care of the early-stages legwork, namely locating sites and acquiring entitlements, and strategically securing financing partners. Crucially, they held a design charrette—a design and planning workshop open to stakeholders and the public—this month. The week-long event assembled a team of local and international architects, including Christian Sottile (Sottile & Sottile) from Savannah, GA, Ben Pentreath (Ben Pentreath Ltd) and Hugh Petter (ADAM Architecture) from the United Kingdom, Vince Graham (LOCI Design) from South Carolina, and architects at Historical Concepts from Atlanta, to create a design scheme that will not only be pre-approved but deeply conscious of Charleston’s historic fabric. It’s a major undertaking, but perhaps emblematic of how deep the housing crisis goes: A city located in a deep-red state led by a Republican mayor is devoting public resources to develop homes affordable to working people.

Project 3500 is the result of a year-long collaboration with pro-bono consulting firm Bloomberg Associates, which generated a report on the state of the city’s housing. The findings, per the study summary, show a population growing in numbers and wealth: Not only has the area median income doubled in the past 12 years, but the city’s population has increased at a rate about twice the national average. Building hasn’t kept up, as the report states: over the past seven years, the city has only constructed 399 new units. It has created significant pressures on working households: Home prices in the city have increased significantly—nearly 20 percent since 2021—and while rental prices cooled somewhat last year, on the whole they’ve increased since 2020 and are now more than seven percent higher than the national average.

Groups toured Charleston to observe the city’s residential architecture (left). Ben Pentreath gave a lecture on relevant learnings from his work in the U.K. (right).

Courtesy City of Charleston

The problem isn’t unique to Charleston, and many cities have opted to change their regulations and requirements to address it, using legislative tools like upzoning to encourage new multifamily construction; others have loosened regulations around accessory dwelling units and parking requirements, or have pursued broader "cut the tape" initiatives to remove lengthy review processes. All of these require some degree of negotiation—and compromise—and often leave it up to the private sector to take advantage of those reforms to meet housing needs. Cogswell notes that they’ve tried the policy angle, but it hasn’t made it easier to remedy a dire situation. "Charleston is one of the world renowned built environments, and it’s also an extremely difficult place to build in," he says. Multiple review boards that are "very strict" and climate-related flooding make development especially arduous.

Cogswell had traveled to the U.K., Denmark, and the Netherlands to tour social housing projects, and along the way met with Pentreath and Petter to see their work, which is known for its adherence to historic precedents. Visiting Pentreath’s work in the town of Poundbury, Cogswell saw echoes of Charleston’s character; he aspired to the area’s mixed-use buildings and scattered-site affordable dwellings that, while constructed over the past 20 years, look and feel like historic buildings.

Back in Charleston, the city decided to devote its resources to constructing new units. Officials examined parcels of underused land they already owned (or were owned by a city-related entity like the school district or housing authority) and vetted them for feasibility based on access to transit, jobs, and services. They settled on four sites, all located in the city’s peninsula. They then brought Pentreath and Petter over to participate in the design charrette, opting to do a one-week, ultra-focused series of meetings with residents, city officials, and community groups to develop plans for these sites.

The William Blacklock House at 18 Bull Street (left) was one precent home the group used as a reference. The Colonel John Ashe House at 32 South Battery Street (right) was another.

Photos from Library of Congress

The charrette, architect Sottile explains, condenses a process that can drag on for years into one week. They aren’t uncommon practices in redevelopment, especially when designers are seeking engaged public input, yet can be another step in the already-extensive building process. But when combined with builders, regulators, and potential financers, a charrette can actually expedite a project through tough hurdles. Important to the Charleston process were the technical meetings, says Sottile, where they met with contractors and prefabricators to strategize around building elements that can be assembled quickly without sacrificing quality, as well as developers who came in from across the country to participate. The ultimate goal was to generate plans for thousands of new affordable units that would be essentially indistinguishable from the city’s market rate, classically-designed homes.

"We can reframe the way a development team approaches a project where they might spend years working through design, approvals and all the bureaucracy or the technical requirements, the neighborhood meetings," says Sottile. "The city’s taking all of that and saying, why don’t we cast our own vision and work with the development community to shorten that process so that we have projects that can be ready to develop."

Shortening the timeline dramatically changes the way capital can be brought in to do the work, he adds. The city has been working closely with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to secure tax credits, Sottile explains, while also using city, state, and local dollars. It might seem counterintuitive to create housing that matches the city’s historic charm—one built incrementally over generations—through a rapid-fire design process, but this is where the architects’ expertise in classical design shined.

Architects actively worked on plans for the city during the charette.

Courtesy City of Charleston

See the full story on Dwell.com: Other Cities Could Learn a Thing or Two from Charleston’s Affordable Housing Plan
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There’s a Massive Stone Arch That Welcomes You Into This $6M San Francisco Mansion

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Fri, 3 Apr 2026 09:56:11 -0700

Set in Pacific Heights, the 1902 brick residence underwent a recent renovation that preserved its historic character.

Location: 2196 Jackson Street, San Francisco, California

Price: $5,995,000

Year Built: 1902

Renovation Date: 2024

Renovation Designer: Katie Monkhouse

Footprint: 5,010 square feet (4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths)

From the Agent: "This fabulous Pacific Heights residence, exquisitely renovated with designer finishes, has just under 5,000 square feet of interior space, a lovely garden, and an exceptionally walkable location. Built in 1902 on a 50-foot-wide lot, this stately home is introduced by a grand stone archway, brick facade, mature trees and hedges, and a black-and-white marble entry vestibule. Inside, contemporary interior design is thoughtfully layered with bold color drenching and respectful nods to the home’s curved lines and classic architectural details, preserving the striking entry column, stained glass windows, and original wainscoting. Ascending the curved main staircase past stained glass windows and wood paneling, the second level houses four bedrooms and three bathrooms on one level, an ideal arrangement for families."

Photo by Lunghi Studio

The living room is warmed by woodburning fireplace with a Calacatta marble heath.

Photo by Lunghi Studio

See the full story on Dwell.com: There’s a Massive Stone Arch That Welcomes You Into This $6M San Francisco Mansion
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Budget Breakdown: A Family Looks to Sea Ranch for Their $273K Sag Harbor Renovation

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Fri, 3 Apr 2026 09:56:10 -0700

Shingles, vertical planks, and a generous window arrangement bring a touch of the famous Northern California community to the Long Island home.

When it’s summer in the Hamptons, an unpopulated beach is a rare luxury. For Kelly and Rob, even if a run-down house they were looking to buy wasn’t itself love at first sight, its proximity to a quiet stretch of sand and sweeping sunset views were convincing. But the 2,000-square-foot, two-bed, two-bath Sag Harbor home also had enough room for hosting, and offered a way for the family to escape a hectic schedule in Manhattan, where Kelly, an an art curator, and Rob, an artist, both work. "The house was not in great shape," says Kelly. "But it had great bones, as they say."

Wanting a weekend retreat for their family, New York couple Kelly and Rob bought a home in Sag Harbor that architecture firm New Affiliates renovated for $272,250.

Photo by Hanna Grankvist

After purchasing the home in 2021, Kelly and Rob tackled an interior renovation first, keeping costs down thanks to Rob’s contracting skills. Rob tore out old carpet, squared off rounded wall edges, built bookshelves, and refinished popcorn-textured walls. He also patched and cleaned out holes in the walls, covered by curtains, where the previous owners stored a surprising cache of relics: dishes, roller skates, shoes. "It was really bonkers—a really strange situation," says Kelly. After that initial renovation, the couple spent time simply living in the house, seeing how they would use it, and brainstorming what other changes they might want to make.

In 2024, the couple were ready to refine the exterior, hoping to create something closer to the clean modernism and nature-oriented architecture of Sea Ranch. Through her career as a curator, Kelly had previously collaborated with architects Ivi Diamantopoulou and Jaffer Kolb, the cofounders of New York firm New Affiliates, on several exhibition designs. They had remained friendly over the years, making the studio an easy choice for a renovation.

$6,200 Site Protection & Preparation	$64,000 Structural	$7,000 Wall Finishes
$13,000 Electrical	$16,400 Plumbing	$20,600 Landscaping
$1,000 Kitchen & Bath Fixtures	$2,500 Lighting Fixtures	$14,000 Windows & Glazing Installation
$30,000 Windows & Glazing Procurement	$25,000 Exterior Decking & Railing	$5,500 Permitting
$10,000 Project Supervisor	$40,000 Architect/Design Fee	$15,500 Demolition
$1,550 Final Cleaning
Grand Total: $272,250

The firm added larger doors and windows to bring more natural light into the 2,000-square-foot, two-bed, two-bath plan, and to bring its aesthetic out of the 1970s.

Photo by Hanna Grankvist

It cost $20,000 to replace the fence and add blue stone pavers.

Photo by Hanna Grankvist

See the full story on Dwell.com: Budget Breakdown: A Family Looks to Sea Ranch for Their $273K Sag Harbor Renovation

Mexico City Landlords Are Evicting En Masse—and Everything Else You Need to Know About This Week

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Fri, 3 Apr 2026 09:56:09 -0700

Trump’s ballroom plan gets the green light, Fannie Mae launches crypto mortgages, and more.

In Mexico City, entire buildings are being cleared out, sometimes overnight, as landlords illegally oust tenants to make way for luxury housing and short-term rentals. With rents soaring and the FIFA World Cup approaching, heated protests in response to evictions are only becoming more commonplace. (Bloomberg)

Fannie Mae is now offering crypto-backed mortgages, allowing buyers to leverage Bitcoin and other digital assets for a down payment. Here’s how the company is planning to turn an untapped wealth of cryptocurrency into home sales—and how it could benefit the buyer. (The Wall Street Journal)

In Los Angeles, a boom in backyard homes is colliding with a stubborn obstacle: overhead power lines that limit the height and placement of units. Because burying lines is expensive, designers are instead embracing constraints by shifting layouts, contouring roofs, and cantilevering spaces in what one architect calls "the electric slide." (Dwell)

Mayor Zohran Mamdani just introduced a new program to fast track affordable housing in NYC.

Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, just launched a program to speed up affordable housing construction on city-owned land, starting with three sites expected to deliver 300 units. Here’s how the city aims to build up to 1,000 homes in the next two years. (The Architect’s Newspaper)
So far, the White House ballroom project has amounted to one big game of red light, green light. This week, a federal judge ordered construction on the White House ballroom to stop, ruling that Donald Trump likely lacks authority to overhaul entire sections of the historic building without congressional approval. But now, it’s back on. (Bloomberg)

Top photo by lan Robles/Alamy

In Massachusetts, a Rare Midcentury Home Just Listed for $1.9M

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Thu, 2 Apr 2026 11:56:09 -0700

Architect Ira Rakatansky designed just six houses in the state, and this one comes with a butterfly roof, a bright-red front door, and a monolithic fireplace.

Location: 58 Hill Street, Lexington, Massachusetts

Price: $1,850,000

Year Built: 1955

Architect: Ira Rakatansky

Footprint: 3,100 square feet (5 bedrooms, 3 baths)

Lot Size: 0.53 acres

From the Agent: "The house was commissioned by the Dunn family. Friends of theirs, the Starrs, also commissioned architect Ira Rakatansky, to build the house next door. These two are among only about a half dozen homes built in Massachusetts from Rakatansky designs. The Dunn House’s siting, orientation, and carefully placed windows provide privacy and a connection to nature. The formal living spaces on the upper main floor are organized around a sun-filled living room with a sculptural fireplace and two walls of glass. The adjacent dining room opens through a glass door to the screened porch. The primary bedroom suite includes a large bedroom and an en suite bathroom. As drawn in the original plans, the large space is currently divided with open shelves into a sitting/dressing area with a wall of closets and a sleeping area with a tall, east-facing window. Three lower-level bedrooms from the original Ira Rakatansky design are currently used as an office, a guest bedroom, and an extra room for music lessons."

The butterfly roof is a defining feature of the home.

Photo by Megan Booth

See the full story on Dwell.com: In Massachusetts, a Rare Midcentury Home Just Listed for $1.9M
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This Tiny Cabin in Spain Is Pretty Impressive for a Student Project

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Thu, 2 Apr 2026 09:56:30 -0700

The 215-square-foot structure’s shou sugi ban cladding gives it a shaggy look, and a CLT construction system makes it relatively easy to break down and move.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Lleida, Spain

Architect: Institut d’Arquitectura Avançada de Catalunya (IACC) / @iaacbcn

Footprint: 215 square feet

Builder: IAAC Valldaura Labs

Structural Engineer: Fustes Sebastia

Photographer: Adriá Goula / @adriagoulaphoto

From the Architect: "Forestone Cabin is an experimental wooden dwelling designed and built by the 2025 cohort of IAAC’s Master in Ecological Architecture and Advanced Construction, as part of the Bio for Piri initiative. Led by the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera and funded by the Biodiversity Foundation with European Next Generation funds, this initiative promotes regenerative forestry and the sustainable use of local timber from Pyrenean forests, specifically in Alinyà (Lleida). Located at MónNatura Sort, in the Pyrenees, the cabin sits on a sloping site just a few steps from the existing hostel, offering temporary accommodation for two people, with a sleeping area, workspace, and bathroom.

"The cabin’s sculptural form is inspired by the rocky terrain of the Pyrenees. Conceived as a block of stone that appears to have rolled down the mountain and come to rest naturally on the site, its faceted geometry is composed of inclined walls and a sloping roof that respond to programmatic needs, climatic conditions, and solar exposure. The geometry subtly adjusts ceiling heights and spatial proportions to accommodate different uses within a compact footprint, while openings frame views of the surrounding mountains and enable cross-ventilation. Operable wooden shutters ensure complete darkness at night, preventing light pollution and supporting the site’s astronomical activities.

"The exterior facade is made of pine boards with natural edges that have been charred following the yakisugi technique. These boards, cut to size and charred by the students themselves, not only increase the durability of the material but also symbolically evoke fire management and prevention—an essential aspect of regenerative forestry in the Pyrenees, the mountain range that separates Spain and France and whose name, Pyros, comes from Greek and means fire.

"Inside, the cabin becomes a fully integrated wooden space. Custom-made CLT elements—including the bed, built-in furniture, washbasin counter, and seating—were designed and fabricated by the students at Valldaura Labs, reinforcing a hands-on approach in which architecture, structure, and furniture form a single material system.

"The cycles of local materials extend beyond wood. During a nearby annual wool festival, students collaborated with local farmers to collect sheep’s wool, which was later washed, dried, and transformed into felt at Valldaura, with the support of Dutch artist Rian van Dijk. The resulting blankets, rugs, and pillowcases furnish the cabin, integrating local craftsmanship and agricultural by-products into the project. On the same visit, students brought back a stone from the surrounding landscape, which they manually carved using power tools to create a unique washbasin, further consolidating the project’s connection to its geographical and cultural context.

"From the outset, the project was conceived with an emphasis on replicability. Forestone was designed as a prototype demonstrating how small-scale architecture can be built using local timber, regional knowledge, and low-impact construction methods, while inhabiting forest landscapes without altering existing ecosystems. The use of modular CLT elements, dry-assembly techniques, and locally available materials allows the cabin to be adapted, replicated, or dismantled as needed, offering a model of sustainable forest habitation that aligns architectural production with long-term environmental stewardship."

Photo by Adriá Goula

See the full story on Dwell.com: This Tiny Cabin in Spain Is Pretty Impressive for a Student Project
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From the Archive: The 1960s Government Project That Helped Revive French Furniture Design

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Thu, 2 Apr 2026 09:56:29 -0700

The Atelier de Recherche et de Création (ARC) fostered a virtual Who’s Who of France’s postwar style by giving designers like Pierre Paulin and Olivier Mourgue financial support paired with complete creative freedom.

Welcome to From the Archive, a look back at stories from Dwell’s past. This story previously appeared in the July/August 2006 issue.

It was 1964, and André Malraux, the French minister of culture, had an idea.

Jean Coural, director of the Mobilier National—the institution that conserves and commissions furniture for some 6o0 public buildings in France and abroad—had just led the nation to a grand prize at the Milan Triennale, where he’d presented strikingly modern design work. In that heady moment, Malraux proposed that Coural create a special workshop that would infuse the Mobilier National’s historic mission with new vitality by bringing in France’s most innovative designers and encouraging them to experiment freely. He also suggested that these creations be made available to furniture companies, which could market them commercially.

Such a workshop, Malraux believed, would reinvigorate both French style and the country’s design industry, which, according to Paris furniture dealer Stephane Danant, had been in the doldrums since the end of World War II. "Mostly, we were importing a lot of Scandinavian and American furniture," he says. "We didn’t have big companies like Herman Miller or Knoll, and there was no policy for export."

So Malraux’s proposal was smart—and not a little audacious. The Mobilier National was begun by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV’s finance minister, and in many ways is about preserving the past. It holds roughly 200,000 furnishings, all meticulously maintained in seven restoration studios and, although available for use by government officials, the exclusive property of the state. The notion of placing this august institution at the service of the avant-garde—and mass-producing the results—was, at the least, counterintuitive.

Yet Malraux was simply updating what Colbert had done, which was to bestow royal patronage on the state’s design houses, thereby increasing their business and establishing France at the center of international style. Coural embraced the idea, and the Atelier de Recherche et de Création (ARC)—the workshop of research and creation—was born.

Photos courtesy Sipa Press / Art Resource, NY / Bernard Annebicque / Corbis Sygma / Collection du Mobilier National

The result, in the words of designer Mattia Bonetti, "is an incredible legacy—not only for France, but for the world." The ARC has completed some 550 commissions across 42 years, furnishing presidential residences, embassies, and ministries, producing projects for lesser official settings, and using design for social benefit. It has encouraged the application of new forms, techniques, and materials—including polyurethane foam, carbon fiber, and industrial glass—to the art of furniture-making. And the atelier has given incomparable creative opportunities to over 1oo designers, architects, and artists—a virtual Who’s Who of postwar French style.

What’s more, the ARC does it the old-fashioned way, producing approximately 12 pieces a year, with a staff of nine craftspeople, in a workshop within the Mobilier National’s Paris compound. "It’s quite traditional," says Erwan Bouroullec, who with his brother Ronan designed furnishings for use at international summits. "Except that you don’t have to think about selling it."

That, of course, is a big exception—especially as it’s combined with unlimited financial support and complete creative carte blanche. "I know it sounds shocking, but the Mobilier National, the only thing they have to do is to spend money," Bonetti says. "You can do all the fantasies and research you want." Even institutional vanity plays its part. "These craftsmen are the best in France," Bouroullec observes. "They have the ego, if they make something new, to find the right way to do it, to spend a long time if they need to." This unique mix of unrestrained innovation and la belle ouvrage—old-fashioned excellence—has been deeply beneficial. "It’s morally and artistically rewarding," Bonetti says. "We are very lucky."

The designers have repaid the favor by shaping the look and life of France. A very partial project list includes the furnishing of embassies in Moscow, Washington, and Berlin and expositions in Osaka and Montreal; designs for the SNCF Corail train; a hospital bed, modular apartments for low-income housing, a prototype prison cell, vitrines for the Louvre, and, most famously, Pierre Paulin’s 1971 Élysée Palace apartment for Georges Pompidou, a trippy fantasia of rooms within rooms furnished with Paulin’s high-style take on the beanbag chair, which the president commissioned by saying, "There is no reason to allow the Italians a monopoly on innovation."

To be sure, the insouciant, revolutionary ARC of the ’6os—wherein designers like Paulin and Olivier Mourgue investigated new materials, production techniques, and modes of living—has passed. "That was the most creative period," Danant says. "It was about creating models for people and industry, not furnishing an embassy’s living room." Later, he believes, "the utopian goal of the atelier was lost"—a point reinforced by Bonetti when he says, of the elegant pieces he designed with Elizabeth Garouste in the ’8os, "Our furniture was meant to represent power." Nor did the industry connection really take hold. Some ARC designs, notably by Paulin, Mourgue, Étienne Fermigier, and Joseph-André Motte, were issued commercially, but—no surprise—they were too costly to produce in quantity. And, says Danant, "The group of people who wanted modern, expensive design was very limited."

But popular taste caught up—and that is due, in some measure, to the influence of the ARC oeuvre. "You can’t go directly from the Mobilier National to Ikea," observes New York furniture dealer Charles Fuller. "It takes two generations before these concepts become viable. But the seed is there, and ultimately new ideas and forms get incorporated into life." Indeed they do: Forty-two years after Milan, French design is once again preeminent, and its influence is comprehensive. Malraux—and Colbert—would be pleased.

Could an ARC happen here? It’s unlikely, given that the arts in the U.S. are largely supported by private money. As for official taste, well, Frank Gehry won’t be lining the Oval Office with titanium anytime soon. Still, one dreams of what an alliance between a home-grown atelier and American industry might produce. After all, observes Danant, "the Mobilier National helped two generations of designers move forward, to do things they wouldn’t have been able to do. And," he adds reasonably, "these are not utopian projects—you can sit on them!"

Photos courtesy Demisch Danant (by Mark Heitoff) / Collection du Mobilier National

See more from the Dwell archive on US Modernist.

From the Archive: Inside London’s Pioneering Prefab Housing Complex

The Clay Domes Anchoring This Japanese Home Are Basically a Life-Size Ceramics Project

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Wed, 1 Apr 2026 12:56:18 -0700

The owner architects and their parents kiln-fired clay sourced on-site to form the domes, which they use as bedrooms and workspaces.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Kanagawa, Japan

Architect: AATISMO / @aatismo

Footprint: 1,420 square feet

Builder: Yukari Kensetsu

Structural Engineer: Tectonica

Lighting Design: Daisuki Light

Table Production: Sasaki Research Institute

Plastering: Imajo Sakan

Photographer: Shinya Sato / @shinyasato_hello

From the Architect: "Haniyasu House is a two-family residence designed for our parents, who are ceramic artists, and for ourselves as architects. About 15 years ago, our parents moved to Kamakura in search of an environment where they could fully devote themselves to working with clay. The house is located at the edge of a valley called Yato, surrounded by steep cliffs into which horizontal cave tombs known as yagura are carved—an environment where the presence of the earth is strongly felt. In order to confront and respond to the way this land exists, we took earth, humanity ’s most ancient material, as our central theme and brought the architecture into being.

"As a place suited to all of us, whose lives revolve around making, we envisioned a primordial dwelling—one from a time when living and creating were not yet separated. We stripped away the walls and ceiling of the existing house to form a single large space connected to its surroundings, and added new rooms at its four corners, their forms evoking masses of earth emerging from the ground. Within the added volumes, each person works and sleeps in a cave-like, enclosed space, while gathering in a central, plaza-like area to converse and share meals. We imagined a way of life akin to that of a small settlement.

"The name Haniyasu House derives from a deity in Japanese mythology who governs earth, soil, and pottery; hani is an archaic Japanese word meaning clay. As if offered to this deity, the house seeks to unite with the land through earth as a medium, while transcending the frameworks of land, architecture, and pottery—becoming a vessel in which living and creating can remain inseparable.

"We crushed clay-rich soil from the land, fired it in my father’s kiln, applied glazes, and scorched it with burners—repeating numerous experiments in an attempt to use the colors of the earth itself as a material. In the final process, we bisque-fired discarded clay generated through my father’s making process, layered it over the soil from the site, and then poured a plaster mixed with iron and copper powder—byproducts from a metal workshop—over the exterior walls of the extensions in multiple layers, like glaze, allowing oxidation to produce color through rust."

Photo: Shinya Sato

See the full story on Dwell.com: The Clay Domes Anchoring This Japanese Home Are Basically a Life-Size Ceramics Project
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In Los Angeles, ADU Designers Are Doing "The Electric Slide"

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Wed, 1 Apr 2026 09:56:25 -0700

Overhead power lines coursing through the city’s backyards are forcing some to shift plans around, sometimes with out-of-the-box solutions.

Like true love, the practice of architecture doesn’t always run smoothly. But Ben Warwas faced a sizable hitch when designing a backyard house, or ADU, in L.A.’s Mar Vista neighborhood: the power lines overhanging the rear lot line. Since the architectural designer’s clients were committed to converting their garage into a two-story ADU, placing it in proximity to the L.A. Department of Water & Power’s height restrictions, Warwas now had to find a way to work around the lines.

Though overhead power lines pose a challenge to architects and designers around the U.S., they’re especially problematic in L.A., where more ADUs are being built than anyplace else. Since grounding power lines can be prohibitively expensive, and require a coordinated effort between utility providers and neighbors, designers and builders of ADUs across the Southern California city are instead coming up with novel workarounds for lines coursing through backyard airspace.

Often it requires clever positioning of a unit or adjusting the massing in some way—something architect Melissa Shin calls "the electric slide." She encountered her own utility issue on an ADU currently under construction on L.A.’s West Side, a standalone, two-story unit designed to take advantage of California’s reduced rear and side yard setback requirements for new detached ADUs.

Shin Shin designed a 715-square-foot ADU in Westwood that responds architecturally to the overhead power lines. The roof is contoured by the lines, and a stair frames them. The blue fascia color was chosen to match the sky, creating an illusion of greater distance between the lines and the roof.

Photo: Ye Rin Mok

Since there was a power pole at the rear of the property, Shin, the principal at Shin Shin, had to apply for an encroachment permit with the DWP’s Real Estate Services division. After four months she received notice the application had been rejected. "Our first submission was for an ADU set as far back as we could go, but they came back and told us we either had to move it or reduce the height," she says. "At that point, the building was already approved through plan check, so to go back and shave off five feet, you’re basically starting over."

Instead, she just moved it. Since the pole sat on the property itself, Shin ended up with a nine foot, six inch overall setback. "So even though the minimum allowable ADU setback is four feet, which is significantly less than any other type of construction, we couldn’t take advantage of it."

Architect Hunter Knight, founder and principal of Weather Projects, remembers a far simpler process before the current ADU building boom. "Four or five years ago, a DWP clearance for building near electrical lines wasn’t required. But with ADUs being so close to lot lines, people would start construction, and they’d call DWP and say they needed a meter spot [where the utility company verifies where you can install your new or upgraded electric service panel]. And DWP might come out and say, ‘Your building’s too close to the power lines. It’s a safety issue.’ And you’d say, ‘Whoops, we didn’t know.’ And they’d say, ‘You were supposed to contact us.’ And we’d say, ‘We were? We went through the whole Building & Safety plan check—we thought we were good.’ So they made it a clearance in Building & Safety."

Though there are only two ways to bring power from utility infrastructure to an ADU—overhead or underground—homeowners connecting power to an ADU via an electric service drop from the pole still have to underground the line between the unit and the primary residence. But Knight warns that if the overhead connection for the drop is too far from the transformer, the solution is costly, in terms of both money and time. "And if the overhead line is routed over a habitable area, you have to pay for DWP to engineer that, and you pay for the underground routing from the pole," he says. "That’s where things get really expensive. That almost got triggered for an ADU I designed in Cypress Park, but in the end, the DWP decided they didn’t need to underground the line after all."

An ADU by architect Hunter Knight sits adjacent to high-voltage lines in L.A.’s Cypress Park neighborhood. The L.A. Department of Water & Power nearly required him to pay to bury the line from the pole, but in the end he was able to get a secure electrical drop to the unit. "They’ll tell you to keep construction away from power poles, but they don’t talk about soft walls or retaining walls," he says. "And if you already have these things planned and they’re an integral part of your design, you either have to modify your design or move their elements. Moving a power pole is a lot of money."

Photo: Emanuel Hahn

To avoid having to reduce his clients’ ADU in Mar Vista to one story to avoid its proximity to the power lines behind the property, architectural designer Ben Warwas reworked the plan by creating a large deck at the rear and a deep overhang above the front door. "In the end, all these potential problems are opportunities for more interesting design," he says.

Photo: Taiyo Watanabe

See the full story on Dwell.com: In Los Angeles, ADU Designers Are Doing "The Electric Slide"
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It Took a Major Tune-Up to Turn Two Garages Into a £2.3M London Home

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Wed, 1 Apr 2026 08:56:23 -0700

Arya Douge overhauled the Notting Hill property with a sculptural staircase, crisp interiors, and a pair of bedroom suites.

Location: Colville Mews, Notting Hill, London, United Kingdom

Price: £2,250,000 (approximately $2,978,831 USD)

Year Built: Mid-1800s

Renovation Date: 2026

Renovation Architect: Arya Douge

Footprint: 1,327 square feet (2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths)

From the Agent: "A pair of garages have been entirely reimagined by architects Arya Douge, who opened up the footprint to create an extraordinary sense of volume. Inside, the house is organized around a dramatic double-height living volume, with a sculptural central staircase rising through the space and linking the two levels. Bedrooms sit more quietly to the rear, with fluted internal glazing allowing borrowed light from the main living volume while maintaining privacy. The palette is calm and considered: earthy Paint & Paper Library tones paired with darker joinery and antique bronze metalwork for depth. Functionality is also seamlessly integrated. Custom storage, a plant room, and a downstairs cloakroom ensure the aesthetic remains uncluttered."

The street-facing multipaned windows are oriented south, drawing in ample natural light.

Photo courtesy of Domus Nova

The site originally held a coachhouse and stables for the properties at Colville Terrace to the north.

Photo courtesy of Domus Nova

See the full story on Dwell.com: It Took a Major Tune-Up to Turn Two Garages Into a £2.3M London Home
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You Enter This Brazil Retreat Through Its Mountain Bike Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:56:18 -0700

An empty nester couple cared less about having space to host than a home that would support their hobbies.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: São Paulo, Brazil

Architect: Estúdio HAA! / @estudiohaarquitetura

Footprint: 11,636 square feet

Structural Engineer: Miqueletto Engenharia

Landscape Design: Jair Pinheiro Paisagismo

Lighting Design: LabLuz

Photographer: Pedro Kok / @kokpedro

From the Architect: "This project began with long conversations with the clients: a middle-aged couple whose children have grown and left home. They weren’t looking for a typical countryside house designed to host groups of guests. Instead, they asked for a true refuge—a place designed around their own habits, rituals, and pleasures. Not a house built for special occasions, but a home that supports the everyday moments that matter most to them.

"Weekends at Refúgio Mirzé start early with mountain bike rides through the mountainous region, one of the reasons the couple chose this particular plot of land. Afternoons are spent opening a cold beer, cooking a late lunch, and simply being present: watching the sunset from the porch, listening to the sounds of the forest, reading a book, or falling asleep to the sounds of the Atlantic rainforest.

"The first space one encounters in the house is not a traditional living room, but a fully equipped bike workshop. Every square foot of this home was intentionally designed for daily use, with no excess and no underutilized rooms. We carefully studied the psychological scale of comfort for the couple, ensuring the home would never feel empty, nor cramped, but always intimate and just right.

"The landscape itself—lush, vibrant, and ever-changing—is the home’s most powerful element. On one side, tall Atlantic forest trees filter dappled light into the interior; on the other, a dense and humid forest envelops the house in its natural sounds.

"The facade features a ventilated system made of black slate panels and ebonized reforested wood, which, combined with double-insulated glazing, provides thermal stability and ensures indoor comfort throughout the seasons."

Photo: Pedro Kok

See the full story on Dwell.com: You Enter This Brazil Retreat Through Its Mountain Bike Workshop

For $1.3M, You Can Scoop Up a Mint-Condition Bay Area Eichler

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 11:56:47 -0700

The 1965 post-and-beam home has blue-green accents, refreshed interior finishes, and a sunny central courtyard.

Location: 4024 Salem St, Concord, California

Price: $1,275,000

Year Built: 1965

Architects: Claude Oakland and Kinji Imada

Developer: Joseph Eichler

Renovation Date: 2026

Footprint: 1,811 square feet (4 bedrooms, 2 baths)

Lot Size: 0.17 Acres

From the Agent: "This is a beautiful Eichler located in charming Rancho de los Santos, thoughtfully refreshed with authentic midcentury details and modern upgrades. Inside, enjoy seamless indoor/outdoor living and classic post-and-beam architecture that Eichlers are renowned for. This midcentury gem offers versatility with four bedrooms plus a bonus laundry/office space. Ideally located near BART, major freeways, and all of life’s necessities, this move-in-ready Eichler is ready to welcome its next owners."

Photo courtesy of Theresa Lee Real Estate

The home has been held by the same family for 47 years.

Photo courtesy of Theresa Lee Real Estate

See the full story on Dwell.com: For $1.3M, You Can Scoop Up a Mint-Condition Bay Area Eichler
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Live Like Royalty in This Palatial Montevideo Mansion Seeking $2.9M

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 12:56:23 -0700

Built in 1898, the sprawling Palacio Delucchi combines belle époque details with opulent Italianate decor.

Location: Montevideo, Uruguay

Price: $2,900,000 USD

Year Built: 1898

Architect:

Footprint: 26,490 square feet (8 bedrooms, 4.5 baths)

From the Agent: "Erected in 1898, Palacio Delucchi embodies the fusion of Italianate decorative splendor and the opulence of Uruguay’s belle époque. Nestled in the heart of Montevideo, steps from Plaza Cagancha, this urban mansion has impeccably preserved original interiors. Shielded behind a neoclassical facade, the property remained in the hands of one family for over a century and lay dormant in recent decades. Venetian stucco walls, a monumental Carrara marble staircase, hand-carved boiseries, and cedarwood joinery bear witness to an untouched legacy of exquisite craftsmanship. On the piano nobile, highlights include a grand reception salon with original moldings, a library clad in fine wood paneling, and a stately formal dining room—all orbiting a central winter garden bathed in light from an expansive skylight. Four bedrooms, including a principal suite with a bath adorned by French Sarreguemines tiles, are complemented by a sprawling rooftop terrace of immense potential. The ground floor houses three commercial spaces, generating permanent rental income and ensuring the entire complex is financially self-sufficient."

Built in 1898, the sprawling Palacio Delucchi combines belle époque details with opulent Italianate decor.

Photo courtesy of Sotheby's International Realty

One of the most striking features is a grand staircase carved in Carrara marble.

Photo courtesy of Sotheby's International Realty

See the full story on Dwell.com: Live Like Royalty in This Palatial Montevideo Mansion Seeking $2.9M
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Before & After: How Two Brothers Turned a Cavernous Candy Factory Loft Into a Sweet Pad

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:56:28 -0700

"We loved the place because it was big and open, but it’s not very livable to have complete open space," says Sean. "There was no door to the bathroom; it was just open, too."

When Scott and Sean Meyer, two brothers who are both software engineers, set out to buy a Denver condo together in early 2020, they had clear criteria in mind. For starters, they wanted to be able to walk to work and other amenities in minutes, due to the local climate. "We set a boundary based on how long a comfortable walk is in snowy weather," says Scott. (Under 20 minutes was ideal.)

They also wanted three bedrooms—one for each of them, and an extra for visiting friends or family. "Since we’re two brothers living together, we didn’t want one person to have a significantly nicer bedroom than the other," adds Sean. They were relocating from the outskirts of the city to a downtown building, and there were things from the suburbs that they didn’t want to give up: "Like being able to bring a muddy bike inside without having to go through a super nice lobby," says Sean.

They ended up finding a 2,150-square-foot one-bedroom loft in a converted candy factory in the LoDo (Lower Downtown) neighborhood. Built in 1909, it was once home to the Brecht Chocolate and Candies company, before it was converted into lofts into the 1990s. Their commute by foot would be about five minutes, and it even had its own street entrance and interior access to a parking garage for bike storage.

The only problem? It was open—very open. There was a single lofted bedroom in the mezzanine overlooking the living space below, and there was no door to the bathroom. "It was just open, too," says Sean.

Before: Entrance

Before: The front door of this Denver loft opened to the kitchen, which was set on an elevated platform. The clients and the team at Helios Design Group wanted to make the kitchen the same level as the rest of the living areas.

Courtesy of Helios Design Group

After: Entrance

Interior designer Ariel Roth kept the entry elevated and added a coat closet and half wall, which caps the kitchen on the other side.

Dane Cronin

After: Kitchen

In the kitchen, Unfold pendants by Muuto hang above a Silestone countertop and Svelti stools by Article.

Dane Cronin

See the full story on Dwell.com: Before & After: How Two Brothers Turned a Cavernous Candy Factory Loft Into a Sweet Pad
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Pink Slime Drips Around Windows at This Renovated Chicago Bungalow. And It Only Gets Weirder

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 09:56:13 -0700

Inspired by Chicago Imagist painters, the updated home holds surreal surprises at every turn.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Architect: Orders Architecture and Design / @ordersarchitecture

Footprint: 1,455 square feet

Photographer: Sarah Crowley / @sarahecrowley

Photographer: Michael Vallera

From the Architect: "Ten Portals is the transformation of a Chicago bungalow into a bright contemporary live/work space full of unexpected details. Throughout, a series of openings, or portals, create new lines of sight, afford useful new spaces, and bring natural light deeper into the home. The renovation also smuggles art historical reference into an iconic Chicago housing type. In dialogue with works by Chicago Imagist painters, window millwork drips, color palettes veer from the norm, pattern enlivens all portals into a different sensibility for an old house.

"Upon entering the house, visitors sit below an arched opening and remove shoes at a custom stool; Dots was designed by Orders and fabricated by bnf studio. The opening, which looks into the living room, was part of the house’s original 1928 design, but was covered up in the intervening decades. Orders brings it back for a bright and open entry experience. The stair risers are clad in mirror, bouncing more light into the space.

"The kitchen layout is reorganized for modern convenience. The original design had a large pantry, but no space for a refrigerator. The renovation opens the pantry and neatly tucks the fridge around the corner. New custom window surrounds, designed by Orders and fabricated by Navillus Woodworks, add a surreal character. A new circular portal, inspired by the work of Philip Hanson, connects the kitchen and office/guest room. When open, this brings natural light into the room. When closed, it serves as a clock on one side, mirror on the other. The room also features a Murphy bed that doubles as shelving when stowed.

"The guest bath is updated for functionality: new fixtures, mechanical ventilation, and all new finishes. Simultaneously, it was an opportunity for play of color and pattern, taking cues from paintings by Barbara Rossi. The drop ceiling glows with unique fluted panels and custom painted T-bar.

"The primary bathroom required a complete overhaul. A new rounded sink eases tight corners. Matte black plumbing fixtures, teal tile, and beige and yellow accents all pick up on a palette from the paintings of Roger Brown. Despite the room’s tight footprint, a deep tub and clever storage solutions make it comfortable and functional.

"One bedroom has been converted into the writer’s studio. The walls and furniture (including a custom desk designed and built by Orders) are all painted a rich blue, simultaneously calming and stimulating."

Photo by Michael Vallera

Photo by Sarah Crowley

See the full story on Dwell.com: Pink Slime Drips Around Windows at This Renovated Chicago Bungalow. And It Only Gets Weirder
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Anyone Can Now Buy an Eames House—Sort Of

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 09:56:12 -0700

A new kit of officially produced parts lets you build structures in the style of Ray and Charles Eames starting at $325 a square foot.

Case Study Home No. 8, the 1949 Pacific Palisades home of designers Ray and Charles Eames, emerged from brainstorms around adaptability and industrial design, with a name as bland as the term "manufactured parts" suggests. The couple’s first vision for the hilly lot, purchased from Arts & Architecture magazine owner John Entenza, was a dramatic, cantilevering glass-and-steel, Eero Saarinen design. But it would get shelved in part due to postwar material shortages. Its replacement, erected via a series of grid-like, deceptively simple steel-framed panels, has since become a world-renowned museum and midcentury mecca.

But this singularity, a physical shrine to the couple’s vision, is better considered a system, a model that the couple would famously revisit and rework throughout their lifetime. (The couple did design a modular home for production, though one was never built.) "For them, architecture was not limited to the buildings you make," says Eames Demetrios, grandson of the couple and current director of the Eames Office. "It includes the systems you make to make things happen."

Now, Ray and Charles’s prefab visions can be the basis for your own project. In partnership with Barcelona-based manufacturer Kettal, the Eames Office has developed the Eames Pavilion System, a modular building kit of parts with a wide range of proposed uses, including a recording studio, backyard office, your own Case Study cabana, or, with some retrofitting, a "fully equipped two-story house." Made of aluminum structural modules, the system, which starts at around $325 a square foot, includes interchangeable roof types, windows, textiles, and other accessories that reference those of the iconic Pacific Palisades property and other Eames residential projects.

Announcement of the plans for Case Study Houses Nos. 8 and 9 in Arts & Architecture, December 1945 (left); An early 1950s photograph of the Eames House, initially intended for the film House: After Five Years of Living (right).

Charles and Ray in the Eames House living room, 1958.

Ray’s paper collages explore compositions of materials, colors, and graphic patterns of the Eames House, 1948 (left); Concept study of possible pavilion sizes and typologies, 2024 (right).

See the full story on Dwell.com: Anyone Can Now Buy an Eames House—Sort Of

Breuer’s Cape Cod House Gets a Second Wind—and Everything Else You Need to Know About This Week

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 10:56:31 -0700

Samsung customers bristle at fridge ads, the AIA sues Trump over J.F.K. Center renovation plans, and more.

For a time, the future of Marcel Breuer’s experimental Cape Cod retreat—a lean, timber-frame Long House he built for under $5,000 in 1949—was uncertain. But now it’s been carefully restored by the Cape Cod Modern House Trust after years of decay, and has opened to the public for short rentals and tours and will be home to an artist residency program in the fall. (Architectural Digest)
A San Francisco firefighter just launched a petition to rename Cesar Chavez Street in Los Angeles after Chuck Norris, the actor and public figure, as sexual abuse allegations against Chavez prompt broader efforts to reconsider the labor activist’s legacy. (San Francisco Chronicle)
A sweeping federal housing bill aiming to boost housing supply passed this month but now has a provision aimed at institutional investors. It would force large landlords to sell newly built single-family rentals after a period, ultimately impacting what kinds homes get built, and who does or does not get to live in them. (The New York Times)

A new bill could reshape the future of access to single-family homes.

Photo by Kevin Carter / Getty Images

Samsung is testing ads on its Family Hub smart fridges, and many owners—who say they did not consent to their fridges displaying ads—aren’t happy about it. The pilot program turns once private kitchen screens, often used for recipes or playing music, into marketing spaces, raising questions about whether advertising should follow us home. (The Wall Street Journal)
A coalition of major preservation groups, including the American Institute of Architects, is suing Donald Trump to halt proposed renovations to the John F. Kennedy Center, arguing the plans bypass required federal review. Here’s how national design and preservation bodies are coming together to defend the modernist landmark from change. (Dezeen)

Top photo courtesy Peter McMahon

The Knott’s Berry Farm Family’s Oregon Ranch Is on the Market for $4.5M

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 10:56:30 -0700

Over four decades ago, Ken and Jeanette Knott left Southern California (and the famed amusement park) to build a rustic home on nearly 37 acres in the Blue Mountains.

Location: 59926 Comstock Road, Cove, Oregon

Price: $4,500,000

Year Built: 1980

Footprint: 4,400 square feet (4 bedrooms, 3 baths)

Lot Size: 36.95 Acres

From the Agent: "This picturesque 36.95-acre ranch is nestled at the base of Oregon’s majestic Blue Mountains. Meticulously maintained, the property features expansive open pastures, gently rolling terrain, and natural attributes ideal for grazing and cattle ranching. Whether you’re continuing a proud tradition or building your own, this ranch offers the core elements of long-term success: reliable water, productive land, a respected legacy, and a track record of proven performance. The scenic Millard Branch Stream adds to the charm and natural resources of the land."

Photo by Evan Buzzell

The custom-built home features wood-clad interiors.

Photo by Evan Buzzell

A wall of windows stretches from floor to ceiling in the double-height living room.

Photo by Evan Buzzell

See the full story on Dwell.com: The Knott’s Berry Farm Family’s Oregon Ranch Is on the Market for $4.5M
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How to Put Together a Freaky Little Dining Tablescape

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 09:56:43 -0700

If your dinner parties could use a jolt of the absurd, pull up a chair.

Welcome to Someone Buy This!, a monthly shopping column featuring the fun, the frivolous, and the practical from a very discerning shopper.

After dinner at my place recently, a friend asked me to help her make her dining table "more freaky." This request was preceded by another question that I decided to take as a compliment: "Where do you find all this weird stuff?" She meant my zoo-inspired glassware, a dip bowl with a little island at the center and other strange little things that make sitting at my dining table feel like you’re at a Julio Torres special. My friend was working with the basics: matching plates, neutral linens, sensible glassware, etc. It was all fine, she said, but it felt a little blah.

If you too are taking a look at your tablewares and thinking that they read a little too flat, here are my picks for a freaky dining table setup that will make your guests do a little double take when they sit down. The goal here isn’t perfection or even cohesion, just to sprinkle in a little personality and, ideally, have at least one object that makes someone say, "Wait…what is that?"

La Maison Inondée Bowl

These whimsical dishes turn eating into an adventure. The smaller bowl is perfectly sized for children and can also serve as a nut dish. The larger size makes a striking centerpiece for fruit. Smaller size is stackable. Dishwasher safe.

Starting small, this bird-shaped citrus squeezer from Gohar World is a nice way to dip your toe into dining table freakdom. It has a job, yes, but it’s also the kind of thing guests will instinctively pick up and inspect mid-conversation. And if dessert is involved (it should be), serve it with the Maison Balzac’s equally strange hand-shaped cake server. This manicured hand is ready for cake, pie or a high five.

Maison Balzac Hand Cake Server

There is nothing more generous than a hand offering a piece of gâteau, so we created a ceramic cake server in the shape of an elegant hand — with red painted nails, of course!

Gohar World Lemon Squeezer, Bird

Fit for a single wedge of lemon, this bird squeezer makes a fine tabletop accompaniment for seafood, salads – and beyond.

Ichendorf Milano is a great brand to look at for fun tabletop accessories. They partner with tons of designers to make incredibly beautiful glassware. It’s whimsical without tipping into kitsch, which is a hard line to walk. In their best collection, called Animal Farm, each piece has a handmade animal baked into it, whether it’s a flamingo pitcher or, my favorite, a poodle glass. I love these for dinner parties. No one ever loses track of their cup! There are lots of Ichendorf Milano imitators out there, and this is one of those times where the dupe doesn’t come close to the charm of the real thing.

Ichendorf Milano Jug Flamingo

Color Clear Pink Material Glass Manufacture Hand-made and flame-worked Dimensions H. 27 ⌀ 23/13

Sophie Lou Jacobsen Petal Plate

The Petal Plates are a colorful collection of hand-made plates, entirely made in NYC. Available in two sizes, they can be used on their own as serving dishes, combined into a set of dinner plates, or paired with the smaller size to create striking color combinations or color blocked pairings. They also work beautifully as decorative catch all bowls.

Plates are another easy place to introduce a little chaos. The petal plates from Sophie Lou Jacobsen ripple outward like a flower in mid-bloom. They look especially good layered over embroidered linen tablecloths from Oeuvres Sensibles, which can be custom made for your number of place settings, your favorite foods or even a custom message. Vintage napkin rings add another unexpected note. You can find tons of these on Etsy and eBay. Mine, a set of painted wooden shrimp, are always a big hit at holidays and dinner parties.

Oeuvres Sensibles Dalí's Dinner Tablecloth

This hand-embroidered tablecloth draws its surrealist spirit from the dreamlike world of Salvador Dalí, whose work has inspired Sarah since childhood.The lobster pays homage to him, as do his famous mustache, while the lips — inspired by his iconic Boca sofa — appear here as decorative elements on refined tableware. Antique doilies and a napkin embroidered with Dalí’s name are sewn directly onto the tablecloth, making it a unique and singular piece that playfully works on multiple levels of trompe-l’œil.

Vintage Hand-Painted Wooden Shrimp Napkin Rings Set w/ Caddy & Candle Holder Coastal

The product is a set of hand-painted wooden shrimp napkin rings, featuring a coastal charm theme with a beachy, whimsical, and nautical vibe. The vibrant orange and red colors add a touch of kitschy vintage flair, perfect for all occasions, including seafood boils and beach parties. Made of wood and hand-painted in the Philippines, this set includes a caddy and candle holder, adding a quaint and festive touch to your dining table or kitchen decor. Ideal for those who appreciate folk art and rustic craftsmanship.

This set comes with eight napkin holders. A napkin holder caddy that holds four. And one candle stick holder. All in great shape. Barely used.

Shop

Finally, every freaky table deserves a centerpiece with a sense of humor. The egg chandelier from Gohar World is the most absurd thing I’ve seen in a long time. This one is not for entry-level freaks! Imagine serving upright deviled eggs in this.

Gohar World Egg Chandelier

A wrought-iron egg chandelier. Put all your eggs in one basket with this one-of-a-kind centerpiece, inspired by the wrought ironwork seen throughout Laila and Nadia's neighborhood in Cairo. Iconic.

Ultimately, the trick to a freaky table isn’t buying the strangest thing you can find—it’s choosing a few pieces that feel a little mischievous. Start small, build up over time, and eventually you become everyone’s favorite stop for dinner and a really fun person to gift shop for.

We love the products we feature and hope you do, too. If you buy something through a link on the site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

You Won’t Want to Look at Your Phone With These Well-Designed Tabletop Games Around

Budget Breakdown: They Turned Their Sad Garage in Queens Into an Airy "Living Annex" for $100K

noreply@blogger.com (GRAPHĒ) — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 08:56:27 -0700

The renovation, completed in anticipation of NYC’s new ADU laws, shows that the borough’s many disused backyard units are full of potential.

According to John Patrick Cunningham, building in New York is a lot like filing your taxes. "It's like, ‘What can you write off as an expense?’" says the Brooklyn architect. "There's a lot of gray area about what you can do and if people will give you a fuss about it." Combing through complicated codes, sleuthing for loopholes, and maximizing your returns are par for the course. "It’s always a negotiation," he adds. This approach was particularly relevant for a recent project of his, the conversion of a dilapidated backyard shed in Queens into a serene indoor/outdoor "living annex."

Small garages that have fallen into disrepair stand behind many single-family homes in Queens because it’s challenging to renovate them. Many are no longer in compliance with setbacks, which presents a problem: they’re crumbling, but if you tear them down, you can’t build something new to replace them. Meanwhile, the driveways leading to them are too narrow to drive down. So many become storage sheds.

In 2024, New York City legalized the construction of ADUs across the five boroughs, allowing homeowners of single- and two-family homes to convert attics, cellars, basements, and free-standing or adjacent buildings into an ADU. While the law hadn’t yet passed when Cunningham began working with a family in Queens, they were aware of the potential policy change. They came to him in early 2024 with a 350-square-foot backyard shed with a caved-in roof and a $100,000 budget to renovate it. The Forest Hills residents sought a space that could flex between home office and a craft/playroom for their two children, and make their backyard more livable.

Editor’s Note: General contractor fees are included in costs.

$5,000 Interior Framing & Insulation	$10,000 Roof Framing & Insulation	$9,000 Structural Reinforcement of Existing CMU Wall
$6,000 CMU Storage Addition in Rear	$5,000 Exterior Siding and Soffits	$5,500 Wall Finishes
$6,500 Flooring	$4,000 Roofing - Architectural Asphalt Shingles	$4,000 Roofing- Gutters
$13,200 Electrical and Lighting	$6,000 Landscaping - Sod	$20,000 Landscaping - Paving
$15,500 Windows & Exterior Doors	$3,500 Interior Doors	$1,964 Permitting
$11,757.50 Architect/Design Fee	$11,000 Demolition & Waste / Debris Removal
Grand Total: $137,921.50

See the full story on Dwell.com: Budget Breakdown: They Turned Their Sad Garage in Queens Into an Airy "Living Annex" for $100K
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