Light Pipes & Sconce

In addition to the cast concrete logo, the office addition of 2007 invovlved other unique architectural features.  One of them was the idea of light pipes.

The design called for a half dozen individual offices to be positioned against the 12" thick, concrete block, outer wall of the building.  The original plan involved cutting windows in each of the partitioned offices.  When examination of the wall showed that it would be inadvisable to cut such large openings along the base of a 30' high wall, I came up with the idea to "pipe" in the light from outside.

Instead of cutting 4'x5' openings, we would instead core-drill a vertical row of 6 holes, each 2" in diameter.  Solid acrylic rods with sharpened polished ends would be inserted through the openings protruding from the otherwise flat surface of the exterior, and southern-exposed wall.  The sharpened ends would catch the sunlight, and act like giant fiberoptics

On the inside, a specially designed wooden light fixture (non-electrical) would support a seventh vertical acrylic rod, notched to receive the 6 that pierce the wall.  The seventh rod was actually inserted within and through a series of 6 acrylic cubes.  The cubes are strictly decorative, and help to mask the circular aspect of the pipes.

In order to demonstrate that the effect was possible, I built a functioning, scale model.  The seventh vertical rod is missing in this case, the six hornizontal ones in the model pipe light directly into the cubes.

The goal wasn't to provide a view like a window.  It was to allow the office occupant, with no access to the outside, to be able to discern the natural cycle of daylight time and weather conditions as indicated by the continuous change in the appearance, angle, and color of the light emerging from the pipes.

Because glare was expected to be an issue, the fixtures were located behind the desks of the office occupants, and not in line with the reflective view of any computer monitors.

The images above and to the right are of the finished full scale interior light fixture. 

To the left is a photograph of the scale model on a windowsill.  The back wall of the model is correctly scaled, and the light coming through the cubes is traveling through the equivalent of 16" of solid wall.

Below is the original concept sketch for the acrylic cubes and to the right is the to-scale working drawing of the sconce as constructed.

The Playhouse

The scale is difficult to gauge in this picture.  The door is just over 5' tall.

A coworker's daughters were quickly outgrowing their commercially available backyard plastic playhouse.  He asked me to design a bigger replacement - something he'd build himself.  The only requirement was that it be less than 8' in all dimensions.

The result was a simple gabled box 6'x6', 8' tall.  Two of its adjacent sides have one foot bays, one of which extends another foot to form a "porch".

A few months after he finished building it, he sold his home.  His daughters' affection for the playhouse, and his own sweat equity motivated him enough to rent a crane and truck large enough to move it to the backyard of their new home.

The Grabowski Deck

A family friend wanted to demolish the existing backyard deck on his home and replace it with something bigger but still suitable for the size and use of the family.  I did all of the design work, including the light fixtures, which were then hand made by a school friend and me.

The Grabowski deck predates both the garage loft and the mantel clock, which share noticeable details with the lanterns on the deck.  The lites of the lantern are double-paned with shattered safety glass between the panes of glass.  This was later used all over the office renovation. 

The wood web detail across the lantern panes was meant to be a small scale version of the intended railing design.  The contractor installed his own railing design so they don't quite match.

A few years later the owner asked me to install low voltage lighting in his yard, which I did personally, including six stair-riser lights in the deck itself.

At the same time as the low voltage lighting he asked me to execute a design for a table on the deck.  The original intent was to have an eye catching pedestal table with a glass top.  He thought the glass would need constant cleaning and opted to have a mosic tile design installed on a tabletop he already owned.  He then asked me to construct the pedestal to receive that top.  The original railing design for the deck was created at full scale to serve as the web between the table legs.

Mosaic table top.

Mosaic detail.

Mosaic detail.



The Office Renovation

The loft apartment began as just doodling and dreaming in my spare time.  As the design progressed I used 3D modelling tools to refine and develop it.  My boss, the owner of the company I work forwas impressed with what he saw and offered me the chance to redesign the company offices.  To date it's the most expansive project I've been given a free hand with.

The company owns the building which consists of approximately 5000 square feet of office space on two levels and an attached enclosed but unheated warehouse space of another 10000 square feet.  Each time the company found itself in need of additional office space it expanded out into the warehouse.

The offices themselves consisted of a few dozen rooms, often arranged railroad style with one room opening into the next along its center axis.  Because of the repeated expansions, several offices contained windows that had previously looked outside, which now looked into other offices or the warehouse.  The decor was last updated in the 1960's.  While it was clean and worn, it looked dated.

When I asked what the program was, he simply said to me, "Make it better.  Cooler. Show me what you've got."

I got a hold of original floorplans and set to work.  For the most part no exterior features were changed (however, two new windows were added).  Several non-load bearing walls within were eliminated or moved.  Windows between offices were closed, and an additional buildout into the warehouse was added.

For the most part, orginal walls remained, and large rooms that served as offices to several people were cut up into smaller more work-efficient spaces.

It took the better part of a year to complete the construction work of the redesign because it was performed by company crewmembers in between projects, and occurred while the spaces were occupied.
It is difficult to accurately show or describe the entirety of what was done, because it was so site-specific and detailed.  Included in the progress shots below are some before pictures of the same areas.

Original office.

Same view.  The window on the right in the first picture has been changed into a doorway in the second.  The door on the far wall has been cut into an existing wall.  The ceiling was lowered 8", and actually had to be lowered an addition 4" in the center (hence the detail) in order to accomodated the special light fixtures over the table.

This is the same view, during the Christmas Party held in the office later that year.

An original office is being divided here.  The original panelling is being covered with sheetrock and new partitions and knee walls are being constructed between the windows.

This is a view of the same office, complete and in use.  The panels over the desk are double paned and filled with shattered safety glass, with lights behind - strictly decorative.

Reception desk.

The reception desk vase is actually two vases, one within another with shattered safety glass in the interstitial space.  The assembly is lit by an uplight concealed in the desk below.

Garage Loft

Beginning in 1999 I started to work on a design that would add an apartment level on top of the existing two car garage behind my mother's house.  This design developed slowly over several years, and as it did so I built a model of it using Autodesk's 3D Studio.

When I finally had it developed as far as I felt I could take it, I hired a local architect to draw it up for me and seal the drawings to present to the town for approval.  Four variances were required, and they seemed willing to grant three of them, but the last one, to approve two primary structures on a single lot was the sticking point they couldn't get over.

Here are some floor plans of the second floor (main apartment level), and roof deck level,  and an elevation.  It's fairly complex for a space that barely amounts to 900 square feet.

 The floor plans and elevations aren't always that easy to understand so here are some photographs of the digital model.

View from the entry door.

View through the front looking at the rear of the main house.

View from the fireplace looking west.

View from the top of the staircase looking at the sleeping area of the loft.

View from the love seat in the living room.  Note the mantel clock.



 No renderings of the kitchen or bathroom were ever completed because they're relatively tight spaces that I never fully detailed.