Designing a home that truly works for both the art collector and their collection, we must address some specific needs that have a direct impact on the art. Light, climate control, storage, and security are the four concerns that rise to the top of this list to protect the art and its value. Understanding the science and technology of these challenges and potential solutions is part of the expertise an architect can bring to your home design.

In recent years, municipalities throughout California have been mandating all-electric cooking in new commercial facilities and all-electric heating in new homes. A number of now-mature technologies have made the all-electric home not only more feasible, but also more convenient, comfortable, and attractive than ever.

If you’re designing a new build, one meant to hold a collection, then you can employ these same strategies during the design and planning stages of your home and wind up with outstanding results. Regardless of whether you’re renovating or starting from scratch, exceptional works of art can have just as great an influence on the design of your home as the family who will occupy it.

The design of a custom home and the kitchen/s within it comes down to creating more delight and joy. Whether it’s dappled light streaming in a well-placed skylight or the ease and flow of a beautifully-designed kitchen, we orchestrate space to uplift our clients and create the human connections that bring happiness, and who couldn’t use more of that?

“Can we build our dream home on this lot?” As with most new builds, there was no an easy answer to this question. To find out, we took on a period of intense research in which to do our due diligence. During this process we uncovered a whole host of issues, any one of which could have been deal breakers.

The cost of construction can add up very quickly. Being disciplined about your decision making can mean the difference between having an on-budget project or an over-budget project. Throughout the design and construction process, you need a trusted advisor whose goals are aligned with yours. This person should be your architect.

Properly situating your dream home is a delicate process. Once it’s done, it’s done. Get it right or regret it for generations. When planning a new home, figuring out where to site it on your property, and how to orient it, may be the most important decision you can make. Part art, part science, there’s more to this than one might think.

There are a number of things one can do to mitigate wildfire risk when building a new home. Some even apply to your existing home. It takes a multi-layered approach — we think of it as a Four-part Strategy: Proximity, Combustibility, Infiltration, and Protection. Follow all four and you’re on your way to protecting yourself, your family, your home, and even your neighbors from the risk of wildfires.

Painful as it is to admit, construction projects have a way of going sideways. Too often they go over budget and over schedule. As the saying goes, “time is money.” You can see how important it is to keep your home design project on schedule. Doing so necessitates a rigorous process. Follow these simple guidelines and you’ll be well on your way to meeting or exceeding your expectations while avoiding the pitfalls of cost and schedule overruns.

When it comes to a high-value, physical object, one that requires time, attention, and natural resources to create; one that, if maintained properly, could remain functional for an entire lifetime, I’d say perfection is paramount. Perfection, after all, is the opposite of disposable.