Ephemera Interview

Ephemera collector and expert, Marty Weil, recently interviewed me for his blog (see the link below). I was able to explain how I use my collection as a design resource. I also told him about my awful experience in Santa Cruz. ...It was surprising to learn that I was, at the time, the only collector of architectural ephemera that he knew of, and had in his file. .. His blog is filled with information and resources for collectors.
http://ephemera.typepad.com/ephemera/2007/04/interview_with__1.html

Shack

The most basic housing with an attached two car garage, this shack is perfect for a writer's cottage or other creative activity space. This was built north of Calistoga, in the Napa Valley as part of a larger project. It is shown here with a wool Hudson's Bay blanket as a backdrop..... Shacks are liberating places that can put the inhabitant in touch with his or her inner child..... Everything architectural needed to build this shack is enclosed in this two page portfolio. The prints are rough and notated, 24" by 36"blue lines. in an edition of 50

Villa for Two Figure Skaters

Originally designed for a pair of figure skaters, this house near Vancouver, B.C. is nearly 10,000 square feet of luxurious residential design. The dining room seats sixteen easily, there is a wok kitchen ( an enclosed and well-vented secondary kitchen) to keep cooking odours away from the silk upholstery, and an enormous media room. The design concept refers to the south coastal British Columbia nautical experience with a swirl of art deco to add elegance.

The folio has four hand drawn sheets; the rendering, shown here, and three freehand floor plan sheets, that are not shown. All sheets are 24" by 36" brown line prints.

Live/Work in Canada

There is only one approximately 57 sheet set of prints for this sixteen thousand square foot live/ work/ mixed use project. The project was built in Canada in a downtown bohemian neighbourhood. The set of prints that is available was designed in metric and was used to obtain building permits. Much of the engineering, and other work is included with the architectural.

California Building Permit Secrets

After many years and several thousand small renovation projects ( and a few larger projects), I have distilled the essential building details that are needed to obtain building permits for ninety percent of wood frame residential construction projects down to five sheets. California municipalities have very rigorous guidelines for seismic design, and are generally concerned with energy conservation.

This five sheet folio is both useful and entertaining. 24" by 36" Whiteprint, in a signed edition of 50.

Drawing of Silicon Valley House

This drawing shows the initial concept for the new entrance to a residence in Saratoga, California. The project took place in 1999, during the dot com boom. Construction costs for the stairway shown here were in the $250,000 range. The drawing is on sketch paper, about 11" by 17". Offered in a limited edition of twenty-five signed and numbered prints.

A Post World War Two Home

This set of plans for a small post WWII house that was built in Vancouver shows that it was possible for families with children to live well in much smaller houses than the suburban mini-mansion style houses that are sought after today. These prints are in an unusual format size. I have one extra set of prints that could be available to another collector.

Suburban. Feng Shui. Bliss.

The plan is everything. Everything about an architectural experience can be visualized by studying the plan.

This project was for a second generation builder who was, at this time, building for the expatriate Asians who wanted to own a large house in suburban Vancouver, British Columbia. Many of these houses are unoccupied much of the time and were built as Canadian safe havens in the event of dangerous political developments back home.

This builder sent me a note asking me to "do a Wayne Scott treatment" in the living room. After about an unfruitful day of research into who Wayne Scott was, I discovered that he meant wainscotting. The plan creates a comfortable experience with good feng shui. An opportunity for the collector to study a unique demographic from an architectural perspective. This is a 24" by 36" print, from a completely manually drawn original.