May 2004 Table of Contents

The majority of Americans live in poorly designed homes that are haphazardly sited, thoughtlessly constructed, and, in some cases, hazardous to their health. Read more

Architect Scott Guyon, AIA, thinks of his clients as heroes. Of the new homes built in central Kentucky last year, only about 10 percent were designed by architects. So, he figures, the relatively few brave souls who request his services are not ordinary people. They have a higher threshold for uncertainty than most, and they've got faith that the reward will be worth the moments of fear and loathing, which are inevitable. Even so, they are utterly human. Read more

Because one of the clients for this California project uses a wheelchair, the architects designed it with accessibility in mind. But they were careful not to make it feel institutional, an achievement the judges admired. Read more

This Block Island retreat keeps the island's architectural tradition of spare buildings intended to withstand harsh conditions. Read more

To meet their clients' slim budget for this Santa Monica, Calif., custom home, Koning Eizenberg Architecture decided to think of it as a "Crate and Barrel" house. Read more

As is so often the case on a difficult site, this narrow lot inspired a cleverly designed house that makes the most of its footprint. Read more

This is a lovely house, set low, and doesn't make a statement," a judge said. But it has plenty to say about the landscape. Bohlin Cywinski Jackson devised a long, linear platform that treads lightly on the land. Read more

The jury liked that this sensitive addition to a nearly 200-year-old cabin "grew organically around the original structure." And they felt a contemporary glass catwalk gave the design "that extra oomph." Read more

When Bohlin Cywinski Jackson renovated the house and guest cottage on Peter Bohlin's own rural Pennsylvania property, it preserved the compound's modest qualities but overlaid it with a Modernist's sense of space. Read more

The house enjoys a spectacular hilltop vista of San Francisco's skyline, but four decades of unfortunate remodels made it difficult to get past the bad taste to the great view. Read more

One programmatic move transformed the kitchen of a traditional builder house into an urbane space that works as well for intimate dinners as it does for large parties. Read more

Art and architecture intersect at the Titan, a 22-unit apartment building in San Diego. Jonathan Segal, FAIA, conceived the building's two-part facade after viewing the abstract planes of a Richard Diebenkorn painting. Read more

West Hollywood, Calif., has a legacy of courtyard housing, so the city encourages developers to build within the tradition. This project, however, is the first one to implement the standard on such a narrow lot--and to do it successfully. Read more

In a previous life, the North Beach Malt House was home to several family-owned brewing companies. Today, the renovated building is the anchor of a four-building condo project that blends both old and new aesthetics. Read more

Architect-developer Jonathan Segal, FAIA, wanted to build himself a house in San Diego's Little Italy neighborhood. But he needed to find a way to finance it. Read more

Architect Kevin DeFreitas wanted to avoid a condo project in downtown San Diego, fraught with lawsuits brought by homeowner associations, yet maximize the number of dwellings on this pricey piece of land. Read more

Our judges gave this project an award both for what it is--a modest production house model that exemplifies quality over quantity--and for what it isn't. "It's not McMansiony," said one judge. Read more

It's hard to imagine a less desirable site than the one Studio E Architects faced in designing Tesoro Grove Family Housing, south of San Diego. Read more

The judges called HomeSafe "a friendly, welcoming place"—exactly the type of reaction Studio E Architects hoped to evoke. Read more

The judges admired the way this Hollywood, Calif., affordable housing engages the street. This effect results from much wrangling by Koning Eizenberg Architecture, which won several plan exceptions from the local zoning board. Read more

Architect Todd Walker is a Modernist, but he realizes that for some people the style has an ascetic quality to it. So when he set about designing this kitchen for his small family, he wanted to achieve a space that was softer and gentler and, most important, didn't take itself too seriously. Read more

The wet spaces become a piece of sculpture ... something completely different ... it speaks to a broader view of what you can do in a bath," were some of the praises showered on the renovated bath (the only bathroom) in this 1,500-square-foot home. Read more

Lustrous materials and ruthless editing transformed this Edwardian attic into an ultra-Modern master suite. Read more

This campus infill project was designed to "seem more like a village rather than just mass housing." Read more

For years, Muse Architects concentrated nearly exclusively on custom homes and remodels. Now the firm takes on some institutional projects as well, but it hasn't forgotten the lessons that house design taught. Read more

This isn't our design awards program, it's yours. You enter your best work and your peers judge which shall rise above the rest. We editors stand back and watch, always fascinated to see what gets entered and what gets chosen. As flies on the wall, we can Read more