Boulder, Colorado - M. Gerwing Architects blog posts for M. Gerwing Architects
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As I mentioned in a previous post, I have broken the houses down into three gross categories - Usonian, Organic, and Regional Modernist. These are of course just broad labels and no architect’s work can be so easily organized. These categories are certainly not meant to be reductionist but rather my way of thinking about Haertling’s intentions as much as his completed works.
We are getting ready to start construction on the Palisade Farmhouse. The old house will be demolished in the next week or so and the excavation for the new project will follow immediately afterward.
After a number of interviews, the Owners selected McPherson Custom Builders as the General contractor. They have extensive experience in the area and their quality of construction is excellent.
The costs of construction in the Grand Junction area are considerable less than along Colorado's Front Range. However, like all projects, the budget is stressed as we try to optimize all the materials selections, balancing long- and short-term costs.
Palisade is a magical place and we are really excited to move to the construction phase. The lush green valley floor is dramatically surrounded by dry, rugged mesas. This multi-generational farmhouse will be the anchor for the family peach farm and hopefully contribute a small instance of human scale to this starkly beautiful landscape.
As the summer comes to a close, we have a number of great project under construction in Boulder.
We are well under way with the tricky excavation below a 100-year old house on West Arapahoe. We will be placing the old brick house on a new concrete foundation and then constructing a new addition to the recently Landmarked property.
Framing is just starting on two projects in South Boulder. Above, a new second-story addition and two tower-like smaller additions are going to be added to a classic, 1960s ranch house, maintaining its mid-century form and subtle brick coursing.
Also in early framing is this house, below, alongside Martin Park in South Boulder. A large, traditional gable-front addition will more than double the size of the existing house and compliment its prominent corner location.
Finally, our carefully crafted large addition on Vassar Drive is coming to a close. The rails and stairs are being installed and final painting and details are being executed in anticipation of our client's move-in. This project has been a great collaboration between ourselves and the clients and we are really looking forward to seeing the house occupied and used as we have been dreaming of and working toward for many months.
An all weather construction time-lapse camera is our newest office toy! We have grand plans to capture some outstanding construction progress videos in the future. But to get our feet wet with this new tech, we chose to record the peaceful progression of sunlight through the loft at our Upper Vassar Residence.
As Spring approaches with its usual companions of high winds and tantalizing warm days, we are busy ushering a number of projects to the building permit process. Land prices are so expensive here in Boulder, that the majority of our projects are renovations and additions, not new construction.
One of the major challenges of many of these projects is to integrate the new addition with the existing building. This is particularly complicated when the existing building is a smaller, simple ranch house that does not easily accommodate additional volume.
For older houses, a simple addition can be added to the rear or side of the existing structure and a small linking structure can knit the two together. This sets up a nice dialogue between new and old, street and yard, public and private spaces.
Some projects add such large additions, more than doubling the size of the existing building, that establishing a new-old dialogue is almost impossible and we try to find a new language for the entire property.
Hidden beneath, and within, these new designs are the vestiges of the typical 1960s builders suburban models - ranches, bi-levels and the dreaded tri-level. Refining and enlarging these structures for use for another 50 years usually means fine-tuning them for specific views and being significantly more precise regading the use of spaces within the house.
Carrying those ideas of refinement and craft through the construction makes each building unique for its site and owners. Construction details are smaller manifestations of the initial big design moves.
