MADE IN AMERICA

Homegrown Furniture,
Lighting, and More

LOCAL LEGEND
A California Home on a
Site Steeped in Mystery
At Home in the Modern World

Bright
Optimistic American
Architecture

dwell.com
November / December 2024
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 November/December 2024
“The reason the architecture feels good is that it looks like what it is,
which is adapted from living things.”
Maddie Hoagland-Hanson, resident

DW E LL I NGS 70 78 84
Brown Is the Occult Classic A Big Tent
COVER
Missy Wilkinson walks her New Green In coastal California, A local reporter takes
bike out of the gate in front A Washington, D.C., obelisks and arcane us inside her lively New
of her New Orleans home. house makes symbols make for Orleans home.
PHOTO Cedric Angeles strange neighbors.
“farm-to-shelter” TEXT

ABOVE
architecture chic. TEXT Missy Wilkinson
Maddie Hoagland-Hanson and TEXT
Kelly Vencill Sanchez
PHOTOS
Jack Becker with their mastiff, David Sokol PHOTOS Cedric Angeles
Franklin, in front of their place Nicholas Albrecht
PHOTOS
in Washington, D.C.
PHOTO Jennifer Hughes
Jennifer Hughes

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dwell.com/subscribe

8
 52

29

56

D EPAR T M E NT S

11 Editor’s Letter 29 Modern World 52 Guides 94 Where We Live Now

Trek across the United States A California family’s young son The Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of
to explore under-recognized leads the charge in turning their Michigan is turning a traumatic
24 Origin Story local scenes that make the backyard into a graywater-fed site into something hopeful.
A roadside staple gets a star turn. country’s design so rich. garden. TEXT Anjulie Rao
TEXT Angela Serratore TEXT Jesse Doris TEXTGregory Han
CURATION Julia Stevens PHOTOS Peyton Fulford 98 Affordability
110 Sourcing ILLUSTRATIONS Salini Perera
Four architects show that
See it? Want it? Need it? Buy it! 56 Budget Breakdown high design—and the right
42 Conversation An A-frame by the beach gets a incentives—can create better
112 One Last Thing Los Angeles artist Lauren Halsey
PRODUCT: COURTESY AARON GLASSON

refresh for about $550,000. low-income housing.

A utilitarian object befuddles and tells us about the community TEXT Kelly Dawson TEXT Ian Volner
inspires a designer couple. space she’s creating for the PHOTOS Ye Rin Mok
TEXT Lauren Gallow neighborhood that raised her.
PHOTO Kaleb Marshall TEXT Evan Nicole Brown 60 Essay
Wyoming is changing, and an
48 Townhouses author returns to her hometown
Stained-glass windows inspire a of Cheyenne to take stock.
Brooklyn brownstone renovation. TEXT Julianne Escobedo Shepherd
TEXTElizabeth Sweet PHOTOS Arnaud Montagard
PHOTOS Caroline Tompkins
Superior Design.
Superior Heat.
 editor’s letter

Generally, around here, we tend to look toward

the future. We’re always asking: What can a home
be? What should it be? What are the ideas, structures,
forms, and flourishes that open up possibilities for
better ways to live?
This year, the planning for our annual American
design issue coincided with a federal election, miring
us in an exhausting present. The atmosphere as we
finalized the issue saw the nation choking on cultural
strife, political and social violence, and a normaliza-
tion of suffocating hate—particularly against people
of color, queer people, and women. It’s all set against
a background of horrifying wars and large-scale
weather disasters fueled by climate change.
Staring at the glow of my various feeds, I’ve started
to feel a little like burnt toast. The exhausting wash of
notifications also threatens to drown out the stories
of people doing something thoughtful, beautiful,
affirming, and full of possibilities. So we decided to
highlight some of them here.
For example, an architect’s Washington, D.C.,
house (p. 70) might as well be a billboard advertising
the future of cork as a renewable building material.
(Seriously, it’s everywhere.) In Santa Cruz, a builder
created a home (p. 78) that ensures future neighbors
will get to see an important local mystery. (I’m not
giving anything away here.) In New Orleans, a writer
documents the experience of building a vivid new
home (p. 84) perfect for her chosen family, which
more American households are starting to resemble.
Next, we challenge the homogenizing effect that
social media has had on design, with trendy decor
threatening to make everything everywhere look the
same—remember the moment we hit peak bouclé?

The Case for Our Modern World section (p. 29) celebrates furniture,
lighting, and other objects that show how designers
are drawing from the contexts they live and work in.

Optimism The designers we feature in North Carolina have a

pride in craft—sometimes deployed to playful ends—
that will endure, even after a devastating hurricane.
Meanwhile, Amy Dantzler and her wife, Julie Ander-
son, decided to renovate a classic 1960s A-frame (p. 56)
in Manhattan Beach, California, likely saving a piece
of neighborhood history from being demolished to
build a mansion. And elsewhere, four architects have
proved that attention to design and some creative use
of endangered public incentives can make low-income
housing (p. 98) both possible and exciting.
Overall, the issue renews my faith that architecture
can help solve crises and that it gets better when it
serves all kinds of households and all kinds of com-
munities. I’m not going to pretend that these houses
will unite us all, but let’s take a beat to recognize that
PHOTO: BRIAN W. FERRY

forward-looking, fun, and truly good design is still

happening in America.

William Hanley, Editor-in-Chief

[email protected]

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 11

 P R O M OT I O N

Shining Examples
These exceptionally luminous dwellings
are the winners and honorees of our
2024 Andersen Bright Ideas Awards.
Dwell’s annual Bright Ideas Awards—in partnership with Andersen
Windows & Doors—celebrate the ways in which daylighting can enhance
our built environments. Whether funneling natural light into high-use living
spaces or visually connecting us to our surroundings, carefully curated
openings have the power to impact the way we live. This year’s awarded
residential projects—both single- and multifamily—all exhibit creative
approaches to fenestration, as well as a clear focus on architectural, structural,
and environmental innovation.

Learn more about the winners at dwell.com/andersen.

The Pavilion House by La Dallman—the 2024

single-family award recipient—is a striking
retreat for a multigenerational family in Door
County, Wisconsin. Taking cues from the
structures that dominate the agrarian land-
scape—barns, schoolhouses, sheds, and
granaries—three distinct volumes with asym-
metrical hipped roofs are spaces for the family
to live, play, and rest in. Deep roof eaves shel-
ter continuous bands of windows at the
home’s south and east elevations, while a de-
centered oculus—acting as a “light scoop”—is
placed at the pinnacle of each volume’s roof.
“One of the most important geometric moves
was to bring the apex of each pavilion volume
in toward the center of the composition so
that one always feels that the parts of the
house are intrinsically interrelated, leaning in
toward each other,” says La Dallman principal
James T. Dallman.
 In Portland, Maine, a creative infill project
transformed an underutilized parking lot into
affordable housing—earning Parris Terraces,
the 23-unit development designed by Kaplan
Thompson Architects, this year’s top multi-
family honor. The compact one-bedroom,
one-bathroom apartments—ranging from 364
to 540 square feet—were designed to be
bright, functional, and efficient. “The secret to
making small living spaces feel large is high
ceilings and windows that are as large as pos-
sible,” says Kaplan Thompson architect Adam
Wallace. Navigating a limited floor area while
considering privacy and ventilation, the design
team strategically placed windows to create
the most luminous possible interior given the
small footprint. “In order to maximize natural
light, we installed tall window units near the
ceiling, allowing light to travel deeper into the
spaces,” says Wallace.
PHOTOS: KEVIN MIYAZAKI (OPPOSITE); TRENT BELL PHOTOGRAPHY (TOP); BRIAN PHELPS; ERIC RORER;

In Minnesota’s West Lakeland Township, PKA A San Leandro, California, resident planning to For an Australian transplant in New York, an
Architecture delivered a midcentury-inspired downsize looked no farther than his own garage A-frame was the clear, albeit unexpected,
home for transplants relocating from Tennessee. to spark inspiration for his next chapter. “He choice for her family’s Hamptons getaway.
On prairie land with views of heritage oak trees, noted one day that his garage was really not of Forgoing white shutters and cedar shingles,
ponds, and wildlife, the homeowners were ada- much use and that an ADU would make more homeowner Georgina Hofmann opted instead
mant that the house be set into the hillside—not sense,” says architect Irving Gonzales of his for an architecturally striking A-frame with
SPACECRAFTING (BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT)

on it. Turning to Andersen, the design team client and friend Steven Glaser. Gonzales— charred wood siding. “We wanted something
selected E-series sliding and hinged doors principal at San Francisco–based Gonzales that sat in the middle—cozy, distinctive in
and 400 Series and 100 Series windows for the Architects—designed a 508-square-foot ADU form, [but] with relevance to the local archi-
project. “Whether it was a specifically placed for Glaser that prioritizes light and acoustics. tecture,” says Hofmann. The A-frame’s dra-
window to capture an amazing oak tree or a Andersen 400 Series casement windows and matic gable includes more than 20 skylights
bank of windows to capture the landscape of hinged patio doors were selected for their and more than 12 custom Andersen windows,
the savanna, the windows’ flexibility allowed us energy efficiency and aesthetic compatibility all flooding the home with light. Despite the
to highlight the surroundings in a meaningful with the ranch-style main house—helping expansive glazing, the home boasts a net-
and purposeful way,” says PKA Architecture Gonzales and Glaser achieve net-zero status neutral energy status. “Not easy with so many
managing principal Kristine Anderson. for the simple and sustainable ADU. windows, but we pulled it off!” Hofmann says.
 Dwell Editorial

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William Hanley
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Contributing Editor
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 P R O M OT I O N

Elevated Style

A floating staircase seems to gently fall out of the ceiling,

creating a dramatic entryway in this Hamptons home.

When the Studio 3H team took on the “We framed it conceptually as Tulum and though it looks as if it’s suspended in midair,
renovation of a traditional Gambrel-style Ibiza meets the Hamptons,” explains Hill. the entire construction is solidly anchored.
Hamptons home, the design brief was both The clients ultimately wanted the renovation While the illusion might seem like a com-
clear and complex: to completely transform the to have a modern, awe-inspiring touch, while plex installation, Hill says Viewrail made the
existing house into something contemporary. still maintaining the calm feel of a beach- entire process virtually seamless—completely
What began as an open-ended endeavor adjacent residence. taking out the guesswork from start to finish.
with the clients quickly turned into “one of the Hill opted for Viewrail’s FLIGHT Stack sys- The stairs, delivered as prefabricated ele-
projects that we are most proud of,” accord- tem, which features two fully hidden zigzag ments, were installed on-site by Viewrail’s
ing to Studio 3H founder and lead architect steel stringers that follow the profile of the expert team in a few days.
Mike Hill. stairs. “What I like most about this particular “As the staircase is the first thing you see
PHOTO: COURTESY VIEWRAIL

This was in large part due to the team’s system is the simple magic it seems to upon entering the home, this was a great
collaboration with Viewrail, a one-stop shop express,” says Hill. “There is no visible struc- opportunity to set the tone for the entire prop-
for floating stairs. Because the tone for a ture or hardware, just elemental blocks erty,” Hill says. The carefully considered
home is set the minute you walk through the stacked on top of one another.” This creates design does just that, creating a functional
door, special emphasis was placed on the the optical illusion that the staircase is falling work of art that ties the entire home together.
entryway—and, more specifically, a sleek out of the ceiling. There’s also the mandatory
statement staircase. blocking of the walls and base, so even Read more at dwell.com/viewrail.

DWELL VIEWRAIL
Elevate Your Space.
Unleash Your Creativity.

viewrail.com
 contributors

Gregory Han
Writer
“Extra Credit,” p. 52
Gregory Han is a former designer
who now writes about the field,
but his deepest passion lies out-
side human-made objects. “You
can’t be a great designer without Kelly Dawson
looking at the ultimate design, Writer
which is nature,” he says. Han “From A to Sea,” p. 56
and his wife, Emily, recently In 2015, a Dwell article was Kelly Dawson’s first
published a mushroom-foraging major design journalism assignment. Before
guide (Mushroom Hunting: that, she wrote regularly for a local paper in Los
Forage for Fungi and Connect Angeles’s South Bay, where she grew up. For
With the Earth) and have a similar a story in this issue, she returned to her roots,

PHOTOS: COURTESY GREGORY HAN; VICTOR JEFFREYS (ESCOBEDO SHEPHERD); MIA ANGELES (ANGELES); LAURA BERTOCCI (DAWSON); KEVIN CUDAHY (TOMPKINS)
book about trees in the works. profiling a vintage A-frame in the area. “It was
For this issue, Dwell sent Han really nice to talk to the owners because they
to the home of a fellow nature have lived in the South Bay for thirty years and
aficionado: 11-year-old Surya I’m in my thirties, so we’ve lived here for the
Sharma. The two (and Surya’s same amount of time,” Dawson explains. “They
parents) chatted about native really understand the local feeling of the com-
plants and how the family created munity. It is very much about the outdoors and
a backyard ecological hot spot. taking care of your neighbors.”

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd Cedric Angeles

Writer Photographer
“You Can’t Go Home Again,” p. 60 “A Big Tent,” p. 84
While Julianne Escobedo Shepherd researched Cedric Angeles began his photography journey
and wrote her upcoming book—Vaquera, about working in a lighting and grip rental warehouse.
her upbringing in Cheyenne, Wyoming—she Although he had no prior experience behind a
noticed how much her hometown had changed camera, when he was surrounded by film equip-
since her teenage years. For Dwell, the journalist ment he fell in love with it and enrolled in film
and cofounder of music publication Hearing school. Now, decades later, the Philippines-
Things looked deeper into the gentrification raised, Louisiana-based photographer has
affecting the city, examining the cultural and “figured out work that pays to travel the world,”
economic impacts that rising prices and housing he says. But his current home base holds a spe-
scarcity can have in the country’s least populous cial place in his heart. “The South, in general,
state. “It’s hard to go back to your hometown reminds me of home,” Angeles says. For this
and look at it with fresh eyes,” she says. issue, he captures a vibrant modern home that
pays homage to classic New Orleans style.

Caroline Tompkins
Photographer
“Pops of Color,” p. 48
New York photographer Caroline Tompkins
says people think of her mostly as a portraitist,
but her scope is much broader. In her book
Bedfellow, for example, she looks not only at
people but at nature, objects, and landscapes
to explore the relationship between fear and
desire. She also relishes the chance to docu-
ment buildings like the Brooklyn townhouse
she shot for this issue. “It taps into an interest
of mine that I don’t work in as much,” she
says. “It brings a fresh perspective.”

N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

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 comments

In “Rock and Roll,”

from our September/
October issue, the
Mast family teamed up
to create a Colorado
art studio on wheels.

“What an exquisite use of reclaimed materials. Not at all surprised

that such a space has lent further inspiration to the artist!”
Nicole Langlois on Dwell.com

Re: “Rock and Roll: Mom, dad, and a lip on the front to prevent items from
daughter design and build a mobile sliding off, but heavy and extremely

PHOTOS: BENJAMIN RASMUSSEN (“ROCK AND ROLL”); MARK MAHANEY (FEATURED COLLECTION)
mosaic studio in a Colorado breakable items are removed for
backyard.” September/October transport. We’ve moved it (slowly) on
How mobile is it? The large panes of some stretches of pretty bumpy roads, Featured Collection
glass would rattle around quite a bit and it has done great! If longer trips
(and maybe break?) using a normal become a frequent occurrence, we’ve
12 Porches Across
flatbed-trailer suspension. What discussed adding removable straps or America by Diana Budds
sort of support is used to prevent webbing across the front of the
breakage of materials during shelving system.
transportation on a bumpy road? Since the roof material continues
Second, it is used in Colorado, down the walls and also becomes the
a place with considerable weather siding, water and melting snow can
extremes. What is being done for flow freely to the ground, which is
rainwater and snow? I don’t see any not a huge concern for a trailer, as it
overhangs or water-egress systems. would be for a permanent foundation.
CHRYS KOMODIKIS, PAROS DESIGNS This eliminates the need for gutters
and downspouts in this instance.
Reply: The design criteria were that ANDREA OSTMAN, ARCHITECT
it would need to be moved around
town a couple times per year, and Correction: Whether they’re
occasionally to a different town or city On page 85 of the September/ Southern-style
wraparounds or NYC
for an arts festival. Tolerances were October issue, the wrong text
stoops, porches are
left in the site-built frames for the introducing the “With a Flourish”
something people
glazed-in-place semicircle windows to story was printed. It should have love, like the water-
allow some movement without putting read, “A couple escape the bustle front one attached
pressure on the glass. As for securing of Paris and build an easygoing to this upstate New
art materials, we’re still honing the home with a swooping roof in a York home renovated
technique. Currently, the shelves have Normandy garden.” by Tom Givone.

20 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 P R O M OT I O N

Designing This resort-style family

Wellness home celebrates indoor/

outdoor living.

When designing a new home for a family The abundant glazing used throughout— house,” says Jeremy Thompson, senior project
of five in Orono, Minnesota, Everson Architect from soaring floor-to-ceiling windows and manager with Gordon James Construction &
took inspiration from the clients’ love of spas sliding glass doors to picture windows that Development. “Kolbe met the balance
and health clubs. The result is a strikingly con- artfully frame views—necessitated use of a of the design that was needed to make the
temporary hillside home—complete with a product that would complement the ambi- project work.”
wellness zone, a resort-style pool, and an tious design vision. “You are surrounded by glass and hardly
indoor sports court—settled into the land- Everson was particularly attracted to the notice anything other than the views because
scape, with vast expanses of glass that clean lines of the Kolbe VistaLuxe Collection of the minimal window framing,” agrees
dissolve the boundaries between inside and WD LINE, which features large expanses of Everson. “Kolbe’s windows are a huge part of
out and frame views of the surrounding glass framed by a durable aluminum exterior achieving that experience.”
wetlands. and warm timber interior. “The large glass
“I’ve heard people say the home looks like openings with narrow framing give the home Read more at dwell.com/kolbe.
something you would find in California, a museum quality,” explains Everson. “The
Arizona, or Florida,” says architect Tommy windows become the artwork and draw you
Everson. “The way we configured it—tucked into the dynamic views.”
into the hillside—it’s nestled within nature. Nearly every room in the home features
It’s all about the expansive use of space operable windows and exterior doors crafted
and views.” by Kolbe, flooding the interior with natural
From the front, the home appears to be a light and adding to the tranquil, spa-like
modest, single-level dwelling with a low profile atmosphere. Everson also worked with Kolbe
PHOTOS: COURTESY SPACECRAFTING

and an elegantly minimal design language. and builders Gordon James Construction &
From the rear, however, the true scale and Development to include a number of custom
dramatic design are revealed—two stories set features for the property, such as the walnut
into the hillside with a facade constructed timber front door. This understated entrance
almost entirely of Kolbe windows and glass is flanked by a nine-foot-tall window that
doors. “The homeowners didn’t want to draw offers a glimpse of the interior when one is
a lot of attention with a grand entry,” says outside, and embraces views over the land-
Everson. “Instead, they reserved the grandi- scape from the interior.
ose gesture for the back of the house.” “The windows are a huge part of this

DWELL KOLBE
 love it or hate it

Plywood Kitchens
The so-simple-it’s-chic material shows up on the walls of
many contemporary kitchens. We asked our readers if they
think it’s a mark of good taste or just a dated mess.

Floor-to-ceiling is
overwhelming to
me, but going the
plywood direction is
way better than sad
gray/white every-
thing. @goodstink

Better than all-white

kitchens. @banaph

Love it, condition-

ally. Using big-box
ACX is just never a
good look. Birch,
maple, walnut from
a local hardwood
retailer all look
great, raw or
finished.
@littleowlcabin

Love it. I’m just

worried about stain- As architects, we Love! Grew up with This style is like Not sure this is a Depends on the
ing with spills. love the simplic- a plywood kitchen in bluegrass: timeless, trend, more of an grade/quality. If it
@patriciaarquette ity and purity of a the 1970s. and you can’t tell if economic reality at comes from a big-
functional material @harrietwilliamson it’s new or from 60 the moment. box store, absolutely
If a jar of tomato like plywood. It’s architecture years ago. Yet it’s @lhooqdesign not. If it’s from a
sauce accidentally been used for more only enjoyable for millwork shop with
gets flung across decades than I’ve Going back to the about 10 minutes, Can be economical, quality material and
the room by a been alive. @archi ’70s is NEVER a and then it’s time to warms up the space, design chops, then
disgruntled spouse, tect_adventures good thing. move on. some can be refin- yes. DIYers need to
what then? @mister @easternann @tsteingard ished, and it’s not avoid. @john__ox
fredomontes Plywood has a very plastic. Awesome on
strong and distinc- I liked it five to six We lived in a rental walls too, because Love it. In a shed.
I’m curious how this tive smell when it years ago (in cabins that had this years drywalling isn’t fun! @wheel_house
wears over time, ages. It also oxidizes or more casual ago. We tired of it @jmancarpentry
especially with water to a darker yellow country homes) but very quickly and then Plywood is so
in the kitchen. color over time, feel it’s overdone just felt like we were Just did a 12-foot- tactile and practical.
@audiovisualg even when clear now for homes that living in something ceiling house in Brings earthiness
coated. Love it don’t really make undone and cheap. all birch plywood and warmth to any
All ply changes when it’s fresh and sense. Our friends called it interiors. Looks kitchen.
color. It’s warm and new, but then starts @jennybostic the tool shack. gorgeous and was @r_e_n_o_v_8_e_2
the grains add inter- to feel like old ski @jendetrempe comparable to dry
est. But seriously it cabin. wall until we needed Chipotle chic.
ILLUSTRATION: PETER OUMANSKI

works if the quality @beaschalk_art to seal them prop- @craig.rushing

READER POLL
of craft is present. erly. But worth it! I’d
@j3ffday My parents have rather look at a tree
had this look for 30 than paint any day.
%
I like it, but it
doesn’t wear well,
so I wouldn’t advise
my clients to do it.
@acdesignstudio
years, and tile coun-
tertops. Still looks
good! @maggie
stephensinteriors
54 46% @greatbluearin

Love Hate

22 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 origin story

The American Gas Station:

An Architectural Joyride
Since the early 20th century, gas stations in the United
States have gone from novel to ubiquitous roadside
icons. Emblems of Americana, they reflect the country’s
ever-evolving terrain, reminding us of the increased
mobility brought on by car culture and the ensuing
influence on the zeitgeist and transformed landscape of
suburban sprawl. Over the years, service station archi-
tecture has mirrored the ebb and flow of design trends
and provided a canvas for technological innovations.
Here, we map major landmarks in the history of U.S.
gas stations and ponder their journey’s next leg.
An Emblem Emerges
The first “filling stations” of
the early 1900s had just the TEXT BY

basics: curbside gasoline Angela Serratore

pumps installed outside local
businesses. This led to shed-
type “drive-in” structures with
wood or metal canopies and a
Roadside Attractions
sheltered area for the service
If drivers had to stop for fuel, companies
attendant. (The Texaco service
began to posit, shouldn’t we make the expe-
station, above, in a photograph
rience memorable? While some service sta-
from 1929, in Mount Horeb,
tions sought to blend into their settings,
Wisconsin, followed this form.)
others were built to turn heads. During the
As cars became more inte-
1920s and ’30s and continuing onward,
grated into American culture,
mimetic (also called programmatic or nov-
they carved out more space in
elty) architecture became an increasingly
American neighborhoods too.
popular marketing tactic for oil companies.
To better blend into residential
Gas stations assumed the shapes of animals,
environments, gas stations of
airplanes, teapots, windmills, and igloos, as
the early 1920s adopted popular
well as Western wear. (See Texaco’s 1954
period styles like colonial and
Hat n’ Boots station in Seattle, below, which
Mission Revival or Tudor Revival
was so beloved that after it stopped operat-
and English cottage designs. In
ing in the ’80s, locals fought to have the
the 1930s, streamline moderne
sculptures relocated to a nearby park.) Shell
and International Style influ-
built a number of stations in the shape of
ences ushered in a new form:
its scallop-shell logo; the sole remaining
the box station. These utilitarian,
one in North Carolina is now listed on the
easily standardized structures
National Register of Historic Places.
featured flat roofs, unadorned
exteriors, large windows, and
glazed service doors to show-
case products and offerings.

Curious about
the story behind
a classic design?
Ask us to look into it.
No idea is too big
or detail too small.

24
 Going Googie
Few cities are as synonymous
with the gas station as Los
Angeles. It’s also the birth-
place of Googie, the space-
age style of design that mixed
curvilinear streamline mod-
erne forms of the ’30s with
the vernacular kitsch of the
’50s, representing societal
fascinations of the time like
car culture and futurism.
Googie architecture was par-
ticularly popular with road-
side attractions like diners,
motels, and, of course, gas
stations. The 1960s Union 76
station, designed by Gin
Wong of William Pereira and
Associates, is Googie at its
finest: A huge, swooping
canopy levitates like a UFO
over the pumps, illuminated
by a row of fluorescent bulbs
that work like a Hollywood
spotlight on the structure’s
curves (below).

Modernist Masters
As gas stations became an integral part of the modern built
HEDRICH BLESSING COLLECTION/CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM/GETTY IMAGES (“GOING GOOGIE”); MARIO TAMA/GETTY
JOHN MARGOLIES ROADSIDE AMERICA PHOTOGRAPH ARCHIVE/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (“ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS”);

environment, many of the 20th century’s most distinguished archi-

tects tried their hand at designing them. Between the ’30s and
’60s, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Jean Prouvé, Arne Jacobsen,
PHOTOS: ANGUS B. MCVICAR/WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY/GETTY IMAGES (“AN EMBLEM EMERGES”);

Albert Frey, and Eliot Noyes all fashioned forward-looking fueling

stations across North America and Europe, some of which, like
IMAGES (“MODERNIST MASTERS”); COURTESY ELECTRIC AUTONOMY CANADA (“ELECTRIC FUTURE”)

Frey’s Palm Springs station and Mies van der Rohe’s Montreal Esso
outpost (above), have since been repurposed into civic buildings.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed a gas station as part of his 1930s
utopian vision for Broadacre City. Although his plan for the
American exurban development was never realized, he was com-
missioned to bring a version of his gas station design to fruition in
the 1950s. The R. W. Lindholm Service Station in Minnesota, made
of Wright’s signature cement blocks, is still in operation.

Electric Future
As car ownership patterns change and more consumers
opt for hybrid and all-electric vehicles, the new frontier
for futurist gas station architecture involves a major shift
in both infrastructure and aesthetic. A 2021 global design
competition for EV charging stations of the future, for
example, resulted in plans for modular stations with solar-
paneled canopies or green roofs instead of metal pumps.
(Berlin architect Pavel Babienko’s Plug and Play EV charging
station design, left, placed third in the contest.) The most
revolutionary thing about the electric charging station,
though, might be that it dispenses with the traditional
notion of a gas station altogether: There are, to date, nearly
200,000 vehicle charging ports in the U.S., and many of
them are installed, discreetly, in existing parking lots.

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 25

EXPERIENCE MODERN FIRE | FOLD 48

888-823-8883 | [email protected] | paloform.com

 MAD E IN
AM ERIC A

We’re happy to report that

the state of American
design is strong—particu-
larly when it’s viewed less
as a monumental national
style and more as a sum-
mation of unique, local
movements. While social
media has expanded access
to independent makers, it
has also had a homogeniz-
ing effect, creating a sense
that the same aesthetics
hold sway everywhere. In
actuality, design all over
the country still retains a
connection to the traditions
and innovations of its par-
ticular region. We asked
experts from San Diego to
San Juan to tell us what
gives objects created
around them a unique fla-
vor. The result is a country’s
worth of design, all with a
PHOTO: COURTESY QUINAZ STUDIO

distinct sense of place.

Bay Chair,
Quinaz Studio,
Miami

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 29

 Fireweed Stool,
Stephen Hartzog

Jagged Stack Sculpture,

Josh Herman

Nicholas Bijan Pourfard

FURNITURE AND LIGHTING DESIGNER

San Diego
With its postcard-perfect beaches and oldest Mexican American neighborhood,
bustling military bases, San Diego is often and its 100-plus murals by Chicano artists.

PHOTOS THROUGHOUT: COURTESY ARTISTS, BRANDS, AND DESIGNERS

dismissed as a conservative oasis and sleepy “Architecture and design consciousness is
surfer town. In fact, it’s among the largest becoming more apparent in both cities.” In
cities in the country, with major architec- practice, this means fine woodworking in
tural landmarks including Louis Kahn’s Salk white oak, walnut, and, recently, fir, along
Institute and, more controversially, Selldorf with lots of brass. “In some cases,” Pourfard
Architects’ redo of Venturi Scott Brown and says, “the forms themselves are also more
Associate’s postmodern addition to the identifiable as coming from Mexican culture.”
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Nearby vacation destinations like Valle
Designer Nicholas Bijan Pourfard grew de Guadalupe and Ensenada in Mexico are
up there and got his start as a guitar luthier very design-forward, he points out. And the
before venturing into furniture and lighting interior design in San Diego is starting to
Stacked Moots design with his eponymous brand. Pour- reflect a focus on high-end craft: “Lately, I’ve
Sculpture, fard is well versed in the local history of noticed an increased importance in people
India Thompson 20th-century modernism, as he’s currently owning statement pieces of furniture that are
renovating a house by Walter S. White for less mass-produced and more bespoke.”
himself. But he’s also interested in another Although San Diego’s beaches “are amaz-
aspect of the region: San Diego and Tijuana ing,” Pourfard says, that doesn’t mean its
have a symbiotic design relationship, he cultural scene should be known only for its
notes, as evident in Barrio Logan, the city’s sunset art.

30 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 Cumbia Stool,
Studio
Ocho Cuartos
Curtain Tea Table,
Sugihara Fine Furniture

Gotha Bookcase,
Deceres Studio

Loop Table,
Nicholas Bijan Pourfard

Corte Wall Hook,

Upton

Ma Chair,
Aaron Glasson

Sugi Table,
Brian Grasela

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 31

 Pool Party Mirror,
We Are Nice’n Easy

Toadstool,
Gabriela Noelle
Studio

Flower Block Chairs,

Emmett Moore

Haiii-Liiife
Chandelier,
Haiiileen

32 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 Glassy Privacy
Screen 001,
Jillian Mayer

La Agua Me
Dio Luz, Y Me
Puede Destruir
Fácilmente,
Joel Gaitan

Elizabeth Jaime
Helicoide Rug,
F LO R A L D E S I G N E R , C A L M A F LO R A L
Studio Boheme

Miami
“Miami is fairly young,” says floral designer spaces are a necessary evil.” They’re also a
Elizabeth Jaime, who left New York City and reminder that Miami is young in terms of the
returned to her hometown in 2019 to plant hedonist crowds you’ll find downing Spicy
the seeds for Calma, and her studio has Jaja Margaritas at the Goodtime Hotel.
become the city’s go-to for adventurous Jaime prefers a new generation of design-
arrangements. “There isn’t a long history of ers who, she says, find inspiration in the city
design to build off or even act in opposition as experienced by its full-time residents.
to,” she says. “So I think Miami is still trying “There are makers borrowing from the
to determine what its style is.” landscape and using local materials as well
Of course, there’s the city’s unparal- as found objects.” She’s particularly fond
leled (at least in the United States) Art Deco of Emmett Moore’s breeze-block chairs.
legacy, though it is no longer as influential “Breeze blocks are a hallmark of Miami
as it once was, Jaime says. As for 21st- design,” she says. “They protect interiors
century perspectives, she points to arriviste from the harsh Florida elements like sun and
designers mining ersatz looks, like those storms while still allowing for air to blow
she calls “Tropicália overload” and “ ’80s through.” She points out that it’s fitting
Miami cocaine den,” particularly in hospi- that a city so vulnerable to climate change
tality spaces. “Tourism is a major part of should demonstrate how local conditions
the Miami economy,” she notes, “and these make local culture. Echoes Stool,
Vivian Carbonell

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 33

 Mike Newins
CRAFTSPERSON AND DESIGNER

Limestone Lamp No.03,

Mike Newins
North Carolina’s
Triangles
Although it might not always get the flow- happening around him is rooted in craft,
ers it deserves, North Carolina is one of he says. At the Pocosin Arts school, the
America’s great hubs of design. There’s Penland School of Craft, and in their own
the ongoing legacy of the Black Mountain studios, designers make playful work
College, of course, where everyone from with traditional methods: “furniture that
Walter Gropius to Buckminster Fuller helped is often unserious but made by someone
generations of students push the midcen- with blindingly high skills.”
tury avant-garde. More recently, a pair of But these designers and artisans have
triads—the Research Triangle, composed of also had a difficult time getting support from
universities around Raleigh, Durham, and the institutions driving the regions’ econo-
Chapel Hill, and the more commercial trio of mies. For example, Generator at Congdon
Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point, Yards, a space that gives designers access
home to the namesake semiannual fair—are to industrial-grade woodworking tools, is, in
fueling growth in tech and business sectors. Newins’s estimation, a half-hearted attempt
And, to a degree, design. to lure talent to High Point. “I think High
Craftsperson and designer Mike Newins Point [Market] is willing to play with us but
moved to the state in his mid-20s, and in hasn’t quite figured out what the playground
both his personal practice and his fabrica- is.” Nevertheless, “the craft community is
tion studio, Make Nice, he finds inspiration happily building a positive and experimental
Shadow Box in Sycamore in everything from Light and Space art to culture,” Newins adds. “I hope to see this
and Maple, Jason Pak cyberpunk to local forests. Much new work trickle into the market.”
Swienckowski

34 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 Lamp 10,
Gracie Diver

Curvy Rug,
Cicil

Wellborn Chair,
Evan Berding

Stuck Sculpture,
Matt Byrd

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 35

 Indigo Misaki
Pendant,
La Loupe

Roslin Dresser,
Crump & Kwash

Bongo Stool,
Asé Design Studio

Odd Fellow No. 1

Table,
Luke Works

Untitled Painting,
Emma Childs

36
 Sorrel Telephone Chair
for Otras Formas,
Malcolm Majer

Shawn Chopra
O W N E R A N D C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R ,
GOOD NEIGHBOR

The Abbey Desk,

Area Fabrication

Baltimore
Decades ago, John Waters and his merry fell in love with the city and its people,”
band of Dreamlanders put Charm City on he says. They delved into the city’s design
the map with their trash-into-treasure brand traditions, beginning with Maryland’s history
of DIY filmmaking, but Baltimore’s contri- of forestry, woodworking, and carpentry.
butions to visual and material culture also They also studied local modernist land-
include some of today’s most influential marks, including a pair of Mies van der Rohe
and accomplished painters, sculptors, and buildings. They opened their shop in 2019
designers. “Baltimore sees art in everything and then a Guesthouse hotel three years
and understands its value in enriching our later, which they filled with locally made
day-to-day lives. It’s a city of artists,” says furnishings. “The beauty of Baltimore’s
Shawn Chopra, cofounder and creative design scene is that it is connected and
director of the city’s beloved design retail collaborative,” Chopra says. And he’s wowed
resource Good Neighbor. by the “immense amount of woodworkers,
Chopra and his wife moved to Baltimore filmmakers, painters, ceramicists, upholster-
Model 02 Side Table,
in 2011. “We built a beautiful and diverse ers, vintage collectors, chefs, gardeners, and
Koba
community of friends and connections and architects the city has.”

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 37

 Side Ways Chair,
Esteban Gabriel Eïeri

Estudio De Caso 56.3

Painting,
Natalia Sanchez

Monica Oquendo
OWNER, ELECTROSHOCK

San Juan
For the last 13 years, Monica Oquendo ing traditional pieces,” she says. Take, for
has owned a vintage boutique in San Juan example, losas criollas. The eye-popping,
that aims to cultivate local appreciation for patterned tiles made of compressed cement
Puerto Rican design and art in addition to and pigment have been popular for many
fostering new generations of jewelry, appar- moons. But in the hands of contemporary
el, and ceramic designers. Born and raised designers, they look fresh and undeniably
in the city, she graduated from the Univer- Puerto Rican.
sity of Puerto Rico and worked in advertis- There are also numerous artisans offering
ing before opening her shop, Electroshock, contemporary takes on Isla Del Sol pottery,
in the Santurce neighborhood. which emerged in the middle of the 20th
Lámpara Oquendo believes the past is inextricable century, full of joyful and jaunty embraces
Relicario, from the future of Puerto Rican design. of geometry and repetition. “From knit
Conloque
“Our colony status influences our aesthetic,” work like mundillo to the ironwork that was
she says, “from the Spanish Revival themes very famous in patio furniture,” Oquendo
to the actual uses of resources and the says, “we’re always celebrating our roots.”
availability of material.” She points to the That doesn’t mean living in the past, though.
prevalence of wicker and wood furniture. “It’s a new take, but the island factor is
“Many artists and workers are also redefin- always present.”

38 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

2B from Serie Boquete
Mirror,
Estudio Santos

Sin Amor No Hay Revolución

Embroidery
Lulu Varona

Abuela’s Veranda Table,

Bena Creativa

Colored Porcelain
Vessel,
Zule Alejandro

1990, Santurce,
Puerto Rico Painting,
Rogelio Báez Vega

39
 Ribbed Breakfast
Mugs,
Omo Studio

Steven Young Lee

ARTIST AN D FORM ER DIRECTOR OF
T H E A R C H I E B R AY F O U N DAT I O N
FOR THE CERAMIC ARTS
Round Vase,
Perry Haas

Helena X + BC Chair,
Kelsie Rudolph
In 1951, entrepreneur and brickmaker Archie
Bray established the Archie Bray Foundation
for the Ceramic Arts on the site of a former
brickyard in Helena, Montana. Since then,
the Bray has established world-class artist
residencies and, in the process, nurtured a
vibrant ceramics ecosystem in the Western
town. “Many artists settled in Montana as
a result of their experience at the Bray,”
says Steven Young Lee, who did a summer
residency there in 1998 and came back eight
years later to serve as resident artistic direc-
tor of the program for some 16 years.
That includes names like Deborah But-
terfield and John Buck, who both put down Stoneware Vases,
roots there. They added their own aesthetic Giselle Hicks
to already-established communities of
Native American artists like Jaune Quick-
to-See Smith (Salish-Kootenai) and Wendy
Red Star (Apsáalooke/Crow) and furniture
makers like A. L. Swanson. Together the
ceramists are pushing local artistry far
beyond the kitsch and romance of “Western”
style—all those mounted antlers and leather
couches with brass tacks—using an experi-
Bosh Lounge Chair, mental approach.
Casey Zablocki

40 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

JANUARY 23-26, 2025
FORT MASON CENTER
fogfair.com

January 22, 2025

Preview Gala Benefiting
the San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art
C O N V E R S AT I O N

Halsey
TEXT BY

Evan Nicole Brown

Lauren

For her latest project,

PHOTO: EDDIE SALINAS, COURTESY LAUREN HALSEY STUDIO

Lauren Halsey returns to
her hometown of L.A. to
design a public sculpture
park (shown in a render-
ing, opposite) that will
act as a community space
for Summaeverythang,
her nonprofit organiza-
tion. “It’s supposed to
be a space that holds
you,” Halsey says. “It’s
more than just a cube
and columns.”

42 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 The renowned artist is
building a public sculpture
park for the Los Angeles
community that raised her.

Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, pool and a chamber with an oculus. The South Central is more complex than the
Lauren Halsey built sets for church plays, park will also offer public programming— stereotypes some cinema and literature
an early passion that has evolved into a including jazz nights, yoga classes, film have assigned to its communities. What I
celebrated art practice. “I had an apprecia- screenings, and art conversations— haven’t seen on display, or on the level of
tion for sculpture,” says Halsey. “I remem- organized by the Summaeverythang Hollywood, is the brilliant activist context
ber pretty profoundly that carving things Community Center, Halsey’s nonprofit. and spirit that have been present here my
was moving for me.” Her large-scale, site- Founded in 2020, the organization gives whole life, which I think I’ve inherited.
specific installations mix ancient Egyptian out boxes of produce to families across Like, regular service work growing up in
forms and other architectural motifs with South Central. The installation will close the Black church, going to a park and see-
contemporary Black iconography to evoke in fall 2026, but Summaeverythang will ing matriarchs in the community care for
striking spatial narratives. The work move nearby to a permanent home people. I couldn’t imagine, whether I was a
explores the potential of sculpture and designed by Barbara Bestor. teacher or sculptor, not wanting to provide
architecture, blending fantasy with reality, Though it builds on Halsey’s previous resources that are for us. I hope
the mundane with the spiritual, and archi- work, sister dreamer is “completely differ- Summaeverythang—which is in its infant
val images with visions of the future. The ent,” she says. “It’s ours. It’s not tethered to stages—can be an all-encompassing, maxi-
result is often a funky Afrofuturist an institution or something larger than malist resource for use in the neighbor-
approach to monument making. itself.” She goes on: “We create what we hood. We’re going to beta test the
Halsey’s work has appeared at the want. It’s a pathway to freedom.” As she programming that we’ll be doing at the
RENDERING: COURTESY LAUREN HALSEY STUDIO

Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, was about to open her first solo exhibition permanent Summaeverythang Community
the Venice Biennale, and, currently, the in the U.K., Dwell spoke with Halsey about Center; it’s living architecture.
Serpentine Gallery in London, but next the importance of having Black spaces in
spring, she returns to her neighborhood America, whom she creates her art for, What will be at sister dreamer?
for the opening of a very personal project: and how community is the foundation of It’s not only sculpture. It’s a park that’s
a public sculpture park titled “sister her practice. botanically rich. There will be water fea-
dreamer, lauren halsey’s architectural ode tures, really tall palm trees, and landscape
to tha surge n splurge of south central los How has South Central inspired you, designer Phil Davis got into the nitty-
angeles.” Sister dreamer will feature eight and what do you hope the gritty of seedlings found around the
sphinxes and Hathoric columns carved Summaeverythang Community Center neighborhood. We will see the wildflowers
with portraits of community organizers will bring to the neighborhood where local to the zip code 90047, as well as citrus,
and Halsey’s heroes, as well as a reflecting your family has lived for generations? guava, and pomegranate.

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 43

C O N V E R S AT I O N

Since 2020, Halsey’s

Summaeverythang has
organized donations
and deliveries of organic
“ We’ll offer some of everything, from produce out of its exist-
ing community center in
discourse to resources to joy to being South Central L.A.

a safe zone. And shape-shifting to

whatever the needs of youth are.”
LAUREN HALSEY

But it has the same themes as my earlier once held an ice cream shop that I visited my work will see it in their own context.
work: local heroes, landmarks, our aes- with friends as a kid. It had burned down That’s who I’m thinking about. The art
thetic styles, and signage, but just articu- around 2016, and the lot was totally world will come because they’ll hear about
lated differently. When the sun moves and vacant except for people selling it, but I’m not even talking to them in the
the oculus creates light and shade, the Christmas trees every year. I thought it ways I might have to in another context.
exterior will be lit differently and way was a perfect corner parcel because of its
more dramatic because it will have the proximity to a school. And as far as a How does that ambition relate to being
shadows of the walls. social space goes, there’s a lot of sitting a Black American more broadly?
and watching: It’s across the street from It would be irresponsible of me to think
PHOTO: COURTESY LAUREN HALSEY STUDIO

How did you find space to build? a gas station and a car mechanic, and that an institution or another context out-
I haven’t driven much in my life. I’ve there used to be a mini-market where side of my own will care about the nuances
always been the passenger. I would take people sold CDs and incense next door. of the project at the level I do. I’m using
the 207 bus down Western Avenue, and So I thought, What better place to have a the art to hopefully build something in my
there were a lot of vacant lots. There were park or plaza? neighborhood that will not only contribute
a few opportunities for this project to to a creative and aesthetic landscape, but
happen about five years ago. First, it was Does this represent a different approach also contribute to economics, service, and
going to be on Crenshaw Boulevard, then than when you’re creating work for an self-esteem. It would just be dumb as a
Slauson Avenue, then farther south on art fair or a museum? Black person in America to ever think that
Western. And then, when I started It’s the first time ever in my practice someone else would do that for me or my
actively looking, I landed on a lot that where the people who are the subjects of community.

44 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

Designed for Moments I Built for Lifetimes

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Lindal Homes is North America’s largest manufacturer of spacious post-

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TO W N H O U S ES

TEXT BY
Elizabeth Sweet

PHOTOS BY | @CAHLINETOMPKINS

Caroline Tompkins

The dining room and kitchen

swapped places when architect
Sarah Jacoby renovated a 1905

Pops of Color Brooklyn townhouse for attorney

Katie Fallow (above, with her hus-
band, Bruce) and her family. Now
at the center of the home, the
For a Brooklyn brownstone renovation, kitchen blends Victorian moldings
and a parquet floor with soap-
an architect crafts a palette drawn from hues stone countertops and stream-
lined custom cabinetry painted in
in the original stained-glass windows. Clunch from Farrow & Ball.

Katie Fallow and her husband, Bruce, “There was a lot of chipped paint,” went to the same college and had a close
had rented their home in Brooklyn’s Katie says, and the kitchen was seques- mutual friend, so there was “a level of
Park Slope neighborhood for three years tered in the dimly lit back of the parlor familiarity,” Katie says. When the couple
when a nearby brownstone went up for level. “You could see down through the met with Jacoby, they particularly liked
sale. Mere steps from Prospect Park on damaged floorboards into the basement.” that she seemed on board to renovate the
a quiet, tree-lined street, the 1905 four- But some of the home’s original features— home without stripping its history.
story building had historic charm and its crown moldings, fireplaces, and Their first order of business was the
sky-high ceilings—plus “we loved the stained-glass windows (most salvageable, kitchen. “We wanted to have as much
layout,” says Katie, senior counsel at the albeit neglected)—lured them. counter space as possible…a real cooking
Knight First Amendment Institute. They Katie and Bruce, a health-tech executive, kitchen, which was hard with the narrow
decided to buy the brownstone because were keen to preserve what they could, dimensions of the room,” Katie says.
it could accommodate the couple and but agreed the home shouldn’t feel old- Jacoby had the idea to relocate the kitchen
their now 13- and 17-year-old daughters, fashioned. They were referred to architect to what had been the dining area at the
but it needed work. Sarah Jacoby, learning that she and Bruce center of the main level and create a new

48 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 TO W N H O U S ES

Stained Glass Townhouse N dining room at the rear. “I was worried,”

ARCHITECT Sarah Jacoby Architect Katie admits. “If we had people over,
LOCATION Brooklyn, New York would having the dining room in the back
be odd?” Now, though, she’s pleased: “I
Parlor Floor
really like having the kitchen be the center
of the house.”
During the kitchen design process,
Jacoby preserved the room’s original
Basement parquet floor, moldings, and central fire-
place. The existing glass-fronted dishware
K cabinets flanking the fireplace were care-
F
fully removed and repositioned in the
A Entrance nearby parlor, where they now hold a por-
L J Second Floor Third Floor
B Bedroom
C Bathroom tion of Bruce’s extensive book collection.
D Mechanical
E In their place, Jacoby inserted custom cab-
I B B
Room inetry concealing a refrigerator, a pullout
E Family Room
D freezer, and a pantry. The goal, Jacoby
F Office N N
G Living Room C says, was to “make it look like furniture.”
H Sitting Room H C
Upstairs, a palette drawn from the
I Kitchen
C N refinished stained-glass windows kicks
J Pantry
K Dining Room up a playful energy. “We like pops of
L Powder Room G M B color,” Katie says. Splashes of blue and
B
M Den
N Walk-in Closet
green swathe cabinetry in the bedrooms.
A A Multicolored tiles in the primary bath-
room were selected to reflect the colors in
the stained-glass skylight. “It should be
fun to be in your house,” Jacoby says.

“ There are some houses on this block where they just stripped
all the historical details, and it’s purely modern inside. That wasn’t
what we wanted.” KATIE FALLOW, RESIDENT

Katie and Bruce love color, which

they injected into almost every
room. Built-in furniture in the
primary bedroom (near right)
is painted in Benjamin Moore’s
Enchanted Forest, and cabi-
netry in the closet is covered in
greenish-yellow Dark Linen, also
from Benjamin Moore. Colors in
the home’s original stained-glass
windows, which were restored
by Brooklyn-based Sunburst
Studios, provided palette inspi-
ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES+WRIGHT

ration. The primary bathroom

(far right) features two-by-nine-
inch tiles from Heath Ceramics
in an array of hues picked up
from the stained-glass panel
above. “Katie and Bruce were
very open to being playful,”
says Jacoby. “It makes the
home feel contemporary and
approachable and less serious.”

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 49

 P R O M OT I O N

Light is one of the most powerful tools for lamp is crafted from natural alabaster, with
defining our spaces. All too often, however, it two carved elements—a solid pillar base and
remains static, tethered to outlets and con- a translucent cylindrical shade—that are
strained by cords. Rechargeable, cordless stacked to create a modern monument.
lamps offer a new way forward, allowing light The hand-carved alabaster stone used in
to come with us wherever it’s needed. The both Melange and Una features exquisite nat-
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G U I D ES

Extra Credit
An 11-year-old Angeleno is a passionate student
of botany, designing his family’s graywater garden
with native California plants.

Mere minutes after setting foot in the Parker Davis of Hardy Californians, a Corps. Before a single hummingbird sage
sloped backyard of Poonam Sharma and landscape design studio that specializes or California fuchsia was ever planted,
Ali Jeevanjee in Mount Washington, a hill- in sustainable native plant gardens. Jerrard drew up plans to integrate a gravity-
side Los Angeles neighborhood, the cou- Impressed by Surya’s enthusiasm and fed, laundry-to-landscape system with a
ple’s 11-year-old son, Surya, starts listing knowledge, the pair quickly recognized a network of shallow depressions to allow
Southern California plant and bird species kindred spirit they could collaborate with. water to infiltrate the soil directly.
with the alacrity of a Pokémon enthusiast. Central to their plan was removing the Graywater building codes vary across
He’s eager to show off the family’s cascad- lawn. Recognizing the unpredictable nature the nation, but because the family lives in
ing garden, which vibrates with blooms of Southern California’s rain seasons and California, their system could be installed
and the hum of pollinators. the ever-looming reality of drought, they without permits or inspections. The cost
But the garden wasn’t always so diverse concluded that the yard would need one of professional installation ranges from
and engaging. Poonam and Ali, principals of more feature to keep Surya’s plants healthy $2,000 to $3,000 for a system like the one
LOC Architects in L.A., bought the home in and happy throughout the year: a gray- feeding Surya’s garden—larger whole
2013, and until 2021 a lawn was the defin- water system. house systems can cost up to $10,000—
ing landscape feature. The family would So they called in the help of an essential and there’s little upkeep needed. “The low-
eventually find help in Keely Luna and specialist, Leigh Jerrard of Greywater tech systems that we install generally will

TEXT BY PHOTOS BY | @PEYTONFULFORD

Gregory Han Peyton Fulford

Surya Jeevanjee and

his sister, Noor (left),
inspect plants in the
sloping garden (oppo-
site) that Surya designed
outside their home
in L.A. Working with
landscape studio Hardy
Californians, the young
birder and naturalist
filled it with his favorite
native California plants
and flowers, like the
showy Matilija poppy
(above), which grows up
to seven inches across.

52 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 53
G U I D ES

“ Surya was the driver behind the whole project—

we just helped facilitate it.”
POONAM SHARMA, RESIDENT

Featuring more than 100

species, the garden is
brimming with bird and
insect attractants. “Surya’s
first word was the Hindi
word for bird,” says
Surya’s father, Ali (left),
“and it’s amazing to see
all the birds that are com-
ing through here now that
are attracted to certain
plants.” The garden is fed
by a laundry-to-landscape
graywater system that
gently releases water into
the soil through wood-
chip mulch basins. “They
operate as a sort of liv-
ing filter, soaking up the
graywater and slowing its
flow into the landscape,”
says installer Leigh Jerrard
of Greywater Corps, who
holds workshops to teach
homeowners how to set
up the low-tech system
themselves. Impurities
are broken down through
microbial action, and even-
tually the mulch becomes
a rich compost.

last for decades, requiring only minimal water. “A California live oak is not going evening primroses, a morning glory, and a
maintenance done once a year,” says to want much water in the summer, and California grape that popped up on its own.
Jerrard, noting the need to replenish the graywater is year-round,” says Jerrard, A nice plus: A pair of skippers flutter near a
wood-chip mulch. before listing a cornucopia of fruit trees blooming penstemon he helped plant.
Most plants will thrive with graywater, that thrive with this system. “We’re trying to get max diversity in the
though some have difficulty surviving Guiding me through his garden, Surya plants so that there will be max diversity in
overwatering or sodium compounds in the points to what’s flourishing, like the all the animals that will visit,” he says.

54 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

Pitu Chaise Balanço with Ottoman by Aristeu Pires
www.sossegodesign.com
BUDGET BREAKDOWN
Bucking the trend to 1960s A-frame in
tear such buildings Manhattan Beach. The
down, Julie Anderson home, with its original
(on balcony) and stained-glass panels
Amy Dantzler worked and balcony design, is
with architect Bryan now listed as a historic
Libit to preserve a landmark in the city.

TEXT BY

Kelly Dawson

PHOTOS BY | @YERINMOK

Ye Rin Mok

56
 From A to Sea
Manhattan Beach, California, has
many modern mansions by the shore,
but a couple saw bigger payoffs in
a 1,675-square-foot A-frame.

The house is just a ceiling complements

couple of blocks from new Douglas fir slats
the ocean, where Amy, (right). A cozy din-
a realtor and competi- ing banquette with a
tive swimmer (above), custom walnut table by
works out almost daily. Susan Swingle saves
Inside, the original some space.

In the early days of the Covid pandemic,

when most public places were strictly off-
limits, Amy Dantzler, an accomplished
open-water swimmer, and her wife, Julie
Anderson, got in the habit of taking early-
morning trips from their home in the
Hollywood Hills to L.A.’s South Bay. “Amy
would get up at 4:00 a.m. and drive to
Manhattan Beach because all the pools
were closed,” Julie says. “Sometimes I’d
join her to run on the sand. One morning I
turned to her and said, ‘Why don’t we buy
a house down here?’ ”
Amy, a real estate agent, liked the idea a
lot—so much that she floated it by Bryan
Libit, an architect and interior designer
who frequently joins her for a swim.
“We were walking back to the car from
the beach one day and saw a For Sale sign
from the street,” he remembers.
The property had stood there since 1964,
its clean-lined, A-frame structure the epit-
ome of midcentury cool. But sometime in
the intervening decades, it had been
turned into an unpermitted rental duplex
with a studio on the lower level and a two-
bedroom apartment with a loft on top.
Nevertheless, Amy knew that other
A-frames in the area were being demol-
ished for larger homes, and she and Julie
liked the idea of preserving the past. They
bought the 1,675-square-foot home at the
end of 2020.

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 57

BUDGET BREAKDOWN

Manhattan Beach A-Frame N

ARCHITECT Studio MacDonald Libit
LOCATION Manhattan Beach, California

Loft Level
A Entrance
B Kitchenette
R Q C Rumpus Room
D Guest Room
E E Bathroom
F Garage
Second Floor G Laundry Room
H Deck
O J
I Outdoor
E Shower
J Kitchen
K P K Living Area
L Dining Area
N L M Powder Room
M
N Primary
Bedroom
O Walk-in Closet
Ground Floor P Balcony
I Q Loft
R Study/
D BUDGET
E Bedroom
F
H DEMOLITION $ 9,400
B FOU N DATIONS & FRA M I NG $ 64,330
C
D O O RS, WI N D OWS &
G G L AZI NG $ 27,730
A
P LU M B I N G $ 33,000
F IX TURES, FURN ITURE &
D ECO R $ 37,400
FIRE SPRINKLERS $ 7,700
L I G H T I N G & E L E CT R I CA L $ 40,900
H VAC $ 20,000
D RY WA L L & I N S U L AT I O N $ 14,400
RO O F RE PAI RS & GUTTE RS $ 6,250
SIDING & DECKING $ 24,300
C O U N T E R TO P S & T I L E $ 40,033
CABI N ETRY, M I LLWORK &
CLOSETS $ 69,160
APPLIANCES $ 18,055
PA I N T I N G $ 20,900
F LO O R I N G $ 18,500
SITE WORK & BLOCK WALLS $ 9,800
G E N E R A L C O N T R AC TO R $ 51,460
PERMITTING, ENGINEERING
& DESIGN FEES $ 44,942

$558,260

In the living area features a graphite-

(left), a teal sofa from colored resin coun-
Crate & Barrel picks tertop and millwork
up on a color in the painted with Turbulent
stained-glass panels. Sea by Dunn-Edwards.
ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES+WRIGHT

The coffee table is Vegan leather counter

from Salty Home. The stools sit on new cork
loft level includes a flooring. A rear deck
sitting area (above) includes a gated out-
and a bedroom/office door shower (opposite,
that serves as a quiet bottom), perfect for
space for Julie, a psy- coming off the beach.
chologist, who often “We’re thrilled that this
works from home. The house will never be
kitchen (opposite, top) torn down,” says Julie.

58 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 “We didn’t care that it was small,” Amy
says. “We wanted to live in a place that
was fun and made us happy. Who needs
more space when the beach is our
backyard?”
The internal stairs had been closed in,
and the external flight was no longer nec-
essary. In the new layout, devised by Libit
and executed by Recal Construction, the
ground floor kept its kitchenette and liv-
ing area—the couple refer to this as the
rumpus room—and a bedroom and bath-
room. (The kitchen and bath were remod-
eled.) The relocated entryway separates
this self-contained suite from an oversize
laundry room, where Amy throws off her
sea-salted gear, and the reopened stairs
lead to the A-frame above. The couple and
Libit didn’t want to disrupt the impres-
sive effect of the home’s wall of glass and
strips of original colored panes, although
all the clear windows were replaced.

“When you restore something, you have to do some funky things

to make it work. You have to allow for that and kind of enjoy it.”
JULIE ANDERSON, RESIDENT

“We installed twelve skylights in the

roof, which added even more light,” Julie
says. They joined the two former bed-
rooms into a primary suite and made the
kitchen larger, although Amy jokes that
it’s still so compact it can feel like cooking
on a boat. Libit installed custom cabinets
on one side of the A and built-in end tables
on the other to conserve space and
anchor the furnishings. A banquette and
an oval table make up the dining area.
Behind the banquette is a powder room
and a set of stairs leading to a small bed-
room suite and a loft with the best ocean
views in the house. It’s where Julie, a psy-
chologist, takes her client calls. “It’s very
calming up there,” she notes.
By the time the 17-month project came
to a close, Amy and Julie had registered
their home as a historic landmark and
essentially moved in full-time. “I love that
we were able to keep this A-frame in the
community,” says Julie. “I love watching
kids ride their bikes to the beach. And, of
course, I love being close to the ocean.”

59
E S S AY

A statue of the late Chris LeDoux (top)—an iconic rodeo cowboy and building boom. Local developers have been criticized for pricing out
country musician—stands outside the home of the Cheyenne Frontier residents. “How do you make your money? You increase the footprint
Days rodeo, which began in 1897. Cheyenne’s self-proclaimed “new- of the home and raise the price,” says Brenda Birkle, executive director
est residential development,” Whitney Ranch (bottom), is part of a of a nonprofit that helps Wyoming residents become homeowners.

60 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 TEXT BY

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd

PHOTOS BY | @ARNAUDMONTAGARD

Arnaud Montagard

You Can’t Go Home Again

Writer Julianne Escobedo Shepherd
contemplates the complicated impact
of gentrification in her hometown of
Cheyenne, Wyoming.

I grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in the in July during Cheyenne Frontier Days, the Housing Task Force (AHTF) found that
1990s, when there was a lack of activities largest outdoor rodeo in the world, during monthly costs increased 32 percent from
to entertain a teen, aside from playing which an arena full of bucking bronco rid- 2010 to 2020, rising from $621 to $906 for
sports and drinking Boone’s Farm—one of ers and cattle ropers abuts a small carnival an apartment and $630 to $928 for a
which I may have enjoyed. Wyoming is the with a Ferris wheel and Western expo. mobile home, with a median individual
least populated state in the United States, Despite annual excitement for the smell of income of $41,908 a year. The city has
but the 10th largest in landmass; we had a fresh leather, no one wanted to move become so unaffordable that, for instance,
lot of room but not a whole lot to do. there, and a lot of young people—myself my cousin, her husband, and their infant
Returning to Cheyenne now is a trip: A included—wanted to get out. son currently live in a two-room cottage in
town often described (by myself and my Now, though, twenty- and thirty-some- her parents’ backyard.
cousins) as “Podunk” has seen an influx of things are flocking to my former home, as Curtis Holcomb, a 32-year-old artist
new, cool businesses. The Lincoln theater, the mid-19th-century dream of the who’s lived in Cheyenne most of his life,
a 1928 movie house where I used to make American West finds itself colliding with has moved six times in the last two years.
out with boys during $3 films, has become server farms across Cheyenne’s sagebrush “It’s been quite a wild ride,” he says. “Right
a 1,250-capacity concert venue. The gas plains. The sleepy city of my birth is, now, you can’t find a one-bedroom apart-
station that sold me cigarettes underage shockingly to me, in the crosshairs of the ment for anything less than $1,000 a
is gone, but now there’s a rock and roll– affordable housing crisis and, with that, month.” Holcomb has wanted to purchase
themed convenience store opened by new raises thorny questions about whether the a single-family home for a few years, but
transplant Ivan Moody, of the metal band gentrification causing it can also, some- an influx of new residents—“based on the
Five Finger Death Punch. The rowdy times, help revitalize a community. license plates, a lot of Texas and California
Cowboy Bar is toast, but in its absence In 2021, Microsoft began building two people”—has driven up home prices.
four microbreweries have popped up. data centers on the outskirts of the city, Outdated city ordinances, too, make build-
Cheyenne is the state’s biggest city, at beckoning workers from California and ing affordable housing a bureaucratic
around 65,000 people, but I always sensed elsewhere; earlier this year, Meta struggle: Advocates are hoping to relax a
static, as if ghosts of old territorial cow- announced it would build its own $800 regulation, for example, that says a third
boys were refusing to ascend. The tallest million data center in the city. Meanwhile, of the facade for a multifamily dwelling
building—a poo-brown office boasting 11 urban sprawl from Denver and Fort must be built of expensive brick or stone,
floors plopped amid beautiful 19th-cen- Collins, Colorado, sees denizens moving an insistence on Old West aesthetics that
tury and Art Deco landmarks in the his- an hour or two up the highway to reflect much of the city’s 150-year-old
toric downtown—and the Frontier Mall, Cheyenne to take advantage of its com- downtown.
an exceedingly taupe structure built in paratively low cost of living and wildly low Holcomb, disillusioned about his pros-
1981 between a housing development and a tax rate. (Denver, as it stands, is one of the pects in a town where his $19.50-per-hour
field of acrid prairie grass, were once its most rapidly gentrifying cities in the U.S.) art-supply-shop pay—Wyoming’s mini-
crown jewels. The city’s population swells A 2022 report by Cheyenne’s Affordable mum wage of $5.15 is superseded by the

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 61

E S S AY

The Sands Motel (top) and Lincoln theater (bottom) are close to each
other in downtown Cheyenne. The area has seen economic and cul-
tural revitalization in recent years, with The Lincoln hosting acts such
as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Animal Collective.

62 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 Gambling is a $2 billion industry in Wyoming. The Horse Palace Gaming
& Off-Track Betting location opened downtown in 2022.

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 63

E S S AY

A power line stands in front of the Roundhouse Wind Project (top). Museum & Emporium (bottom) opened in 1995 to celebrate and
Although Wyoming is the country’s largest producer of coal, the memorialize women—such as Annie Oakley—who figure in the pop-
wind farm provided a lifeline during the Covid pandemic’s economic ular mythology of the West, a narrative closely tied to Cheyenne’s
downturn, spiking tax revenue. Cheyenne’s Cowgirls of the West civic identity.

64 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 We Make Cheer Happen.
FREEPORT, MAINE BOSTON WASHINGTON D.C. SAN FRANCISCO | 800.862.1973 THOSMOSER.COM
E S S AY

Escobedo Shepherd
at the 1983 and 1977
Frontier Days Grand
Parade (left and below)
in “Little House on the
Prairie cosplay,” she
says. The event has run
alongside the world’s
largest outdoor rodeo
for nearly 130 years.

Writer Julianne Escobedo in 1992 (above). She

Shepherd went to a “attended to meet boys
Catholic church camp and appease my mother,”
in Sheridan, Wyoming, she says.

“ I think a lot of people are moving to Cheyenne

because of everything that’s happening in the world.
Cheyenne—Wyoming in general—has always been
thought of as an ‘untouched oasis.’ ”
CURTIS HOLCOMB, ARTIST AND LONGTIME CHEYENNE RESIDENT

federal $7.25 —and 790 credit score would of color with more-moneyed, white resi- eighteen hundred or more on the waiting
have been, in the years before the pan- dents. In Cheyenne, however, which is list at the Cheyenne Housing Authority,
demic, sufficient to purchase a starter around 83.9 percent non-Hispanic white, affordable homes might be a little bit of a
home, recently moved in with his brother. according to 2023 U.S. Census Bureau esti- broader need. Just sayin’.”
The atmosphere is also complicated by mates, some citizens are cautiously enthu- When I return to Cheyenne to visit, it’s
the rugged individualism that has defined siastic about what these new residents still the dusty town I know and complicat-
Cheyenne since its founding. “In mean. “I definitely see the benefit, espe- edly love, but the glimmer of newness
Wyoming, we very much have a self- cially with diversity,” says Holcomb, who is always startles me. My mom, who’s
reliance mentality, and I get that,” says biracial and gay. “Cheyenne is not a very worked for 35 years at what used to be the
Brenda Birkle, the city’s AHTF chair and diverse place, so that’s a silver lining.” city’s sole Off-Track Betting establish- PHOTOS: COURTESY JULIANNE ESCOBEDO SHEPHERD
executive director of My Front Door, a But as Cheyenne evolves with its grow- ment, now grouses about the eight com-
nonprofit helping low-income families ing populace, the question is whether peting horse palaces that have emerged.
find pathways to homeownership. “I also governing bodies can solve its housing Concert flyers that once advertised local
understand that 150 years ago, when we problems quickly enough to preserve its bands playing at the Lions Park
had barn raisings, every neighbor came core, conservative, cowboy values—or if Community House now brag about Animal
and helped, right? So when you think they even want to. “I come from a long- Collective performing at The Lincoln. And
about bootstrapping, the policymakers time homesteading family, so this issue is some of the fields where my friends and I
don’t want to compete with the market. close to my heart,” says Birkle, who in our used to party are now built over with
But the market isn’t serving the families conversation gave me a brief history of upper-middle-class housing developments
that we serve.” the housing crisis dating back to the named for ranches and meadows. In some
The gentrification question, though, is Louisiana Purchase. “In Cheyenne, we ways, I wish my boring hometown would
another matter. In big cities, gentrifica- need maybe two houses that are two mil- have stayed just a little bit boring, for all
tion often means replacing communities lion dollars? But my guess is, with the people who stayed.

66 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 The Wrangler store (top) has been open since 1943 and offers
more than 13,000 square feet of Western clothing. The surround-
ing Downtown Cheyenne Historic District (bottom) has expanded
three times since its initial designation in 1978.

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 67

 Sometimes a
cover says a lot
about a book.
A front yard can
explain what’s
special about
a neighborhood.
A facade can be a
billboard for
a better way of
building. A house
can be as color-
ful as the people
who live there.
Across the coun-
try, these homes
bring brilliant
TYPEFACE DESIGN: VJ TYPE

ideas to their
blocks. DWE L L I N GS
November/December 2024

69
 TEXT BY PHOTOS BY | @JENNIFERHUGHESPHOTO

David Sokol Jennifer Hughes

Brown Is the

White oak slats and Maddie Hoagland-

cork cladding give Hanson, in an alley in
texture to the facade of the Capitol Hill area of
a house that architect Washington, D.C. High
Jack Becker designed awning windows let
for himself and his wife, daylight in while pre-
landscape architect serving privacy.

70 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 DWELLINGS

A house in a Washington, D.C., alley embraces

earth tones and “farm-to-shelter” materials.

New Green

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 71

 Inside, Jack used covered in a toxin-free
sustainable, plant- whey-based finish.
based materials like Clove-colored 2-by-
cork flooring and 10-inch backsplash
bamboo structural tiles mimic the alley’s
panel walls (left). They brick street, and the
exemplify the “farm- wall is covered in spray
to-shelter” approach cork, a paint substitute
that he and his partner, made primarily of cork
Andrew Linn, foster at granules. The door
their D.C. architecture pulls are closet knobs
studio, Bldus. Both the that Jack retrieved
walls and the maple from his grandfather’s
cabinet facings in the house in D.C. before it
kitchen (below) are was torn down.

Tudum. For Jack Becker and Andrew architects erected a freestanding office in
Linn, Netflix’s audio logo is the sound of a its yard using minimally processed prod-
career-making idea. Since launching their ucts like structural bamboo panels, wool
architecture studio, Bldus, in 2013, the insulation, and black locust lumber, favor-
former classmates had been intent on ing the local supply chain when possible.
finding healthy building materials origini- The projects that followed from that
ating largely within striking distance of accessory structure, including an alley
their Washington, D.C., base. Their initia- house featured in Dwell (January/February
tive came into sharper focus with Netflix’s 2023), confirmed demand for the method.
2015 release of the culinary documentary Among the fans of the Anacostia experi-
Chef’s Table, whose interviewees often ment was landscape architect Maddie
insisted that meals were only as good as Hoagland-Hanson, whom Jack started dat-
the ingredients procured from nearby ing in 2019. Maddie recalls thinking of the
growers. Why couldn’t Bldus devise build- accessory structure, “The reason the
ings just as farm-to-table chefs were architecture feels good is that it looks like
approaching food? what it is, which is adapted from living
“D.C.’s regulations favor traditional city things.” She moved into the Victorian the
forms, which puts some constraints on a following year and shared the office with
specific aesthetic agenda. A materials- Jack while Covid paused D.C.’s usual
driven architecture allows us to pursue rhythms. The experience solidified Jack
our intellectual ambitions within this and Maddie’s feelings for each other, too,
more conservative framework,” Jack says and they decided to create a new residence
of what he and Linn call “farm-to-shelter” for themselves.
architecture’s appeal. So began a search for a fixer-upper or
Of course, the pair had to learn whether other quirky property that would be
farm-to-shelter architecture was even affordable despite the frenzied pandemic
possible. They first did so in the capital marketplace, in which Jack would fre-
city’s Anacostia neighborhood, where they quently cross-reference vacant lands
had purchased a Queen Anne–style house against public tax records to identify their
for Jack to occupy. In 2018, after complet- owners. His sleuthing bore incredible for-
ing that building’s rehabilitation, the tune: two parcels facing each other

72
 DWELLINGS

“ People have asked what the house was like

before we renovated it. They thought it was
an old alley house, because in many ways it
feels like a vintage piece of architecture.”
JACK BECKE R, ARCH ITECT AN D RESI DE NT

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 73

 A skylit staircase (left), cork.” The primary
wrapped in a more bathroom (below
refined version of the right) repeats the tiles
exterior slats, rises used in the kitchen,
through the center of another example of
the 1,600-square-foot the couple’s restrained
house. A guest room choice of materials.
on the second floor The home’s rooftop
(below left) doubles garden (opposite)
as Jack’s home office includes sunflowers,
and Maddie’s exercise eggplant, cucumbers,
room and features and a variety of herbs.
bamboo walls and a “The plants up there
spray cork wall and are all annuals, so it’s
ceiling. “There’s cork kind of experimental,”
everywhere, from cork says Maddie. “In my
flooring to spray cork job I’m always thinking
walls to acoustic cork about native plants and
panels to the exterior ecology, while up on
cladding,” says Jack. the roof I can do what-
“It’s a celebration of ever I want. It’s freer.”

“A building isn’t something that comes

out of the mind—it’s something that
comes out of the earth.”
MADDI E HOAGL AN D-HANSON, RESI DE NT

74 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 DWELLINGS
Brown House N

ARCHITECT Bldus
LOCATION Washington, D.C.

First Floor
A Entrance
B Bedroom
C
B C Bathroom
D Mechanical
Room
E Pantry
A F Living Area
G Dining Area
D H Kitchen
I Garden Terrace
J Balcony
E K Laundry Room
L Roof Garden
F
H

Second Floor

J B

across a Capitol Hill alley that, because Maddie grow their own produce. The vesti-
C
they once sported brick row houses, still bule doors feature crisscrossing rails and
K had immediate access to water and sewer stiles, while the balconies and rooftop are
utilities. The owner agreed to sell one lot edged in a continuation of the white oak
for a discounted price in exchange for vertical slats that cover the cork cladding,
Jack’s architectural services for the other. to hide the facade’s spatial complexities.
C Measuring approximately 68 feet along “The historical D.C. row house has layers
a north-south axis and abutting a ware- of negotiation from the street—you cross
house immediately to its east, Jack and a sidewalk, a fence, and a small garden to
Maddie’s 18-foot-wide alley lot seemed to enter the house—whereas with an alley
J B necessitate a rectilinear two-story build- house you’re building on the road itself,”
ing that would maximize livable square Jack explains. The zigzagging envelope
footage. Jack roughly heeded that call, con- “reintroduces the buffers you find in a
ceiving a narrow volume with a south- conventional situation.”
Roof facing oriel in the primary bedroom to Jack’s origami-like design is part of his
overlook a fenced-in terrace garden filled and Maddie’s wider goal to enjoy both
with perennials. (The cork that covers the landscape and privacy in a crowded city.
exterior is an instance, Linn points out, The terrace and roof gardens underscore
when he and Jack occasionally “leave local- connection to nature, while the house’s
ism opportunities on the table” for budget high awning and slat-shielded windows
or performance reasons. In this case, the prevent the couple and their anxious
Portuguese-harvested cladding was cho- Neapolitan mastiff, Franklin, from broad-
sen for its impressive durability.) casting day-to-day activities to neighbors.
L
ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES+WRIGHT

Along the building’s long west side, Jack “Some decisions that were made for dis-
folded the perimeter wall away from the cretion also make the daylight gentler,”
alley to make room for a semi-enclosed says Maddie, who now works as a horticul-
ground-floor vestibule. Upstairs, the turist for a D.C. nonprofit. Jack notes that
structural bamboo panels alternate in and the fenestration gives the interior an
out to yield a balcony for the primary bed- almost “ecclesiastical” atmosphere.
room, as well as an outdoor stair that The space also is a continuation of the
accesses a roof garden where Jack and Bldus vision of healthy architecture. The

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76
 DWELLINGS

In the living area the house is located

(opposite), furniture (left) dates to the 19th
purchased on Craigslist century and still had
sits on a reddish jute cast-iron infrastructure
rug. Like all the interior beneath it. “We had
doors, the TV cabinet is to pinch ourselves,”
made of bamboo pan- says Jack. “The cost of
els coated with hemp running utilities from
oil. On the floor is a the perimeter streets
midcentury brass lion is often a deal-breaker
sculpture, another arti- in alley development.”
fact handed down from The second-floor land-
Jack’s grandfather, ing (below) leads down
who was also an archi- a hall to the south-
tect. The alley where facing primary suite.

“Someone posted on Instagram that this was

‘definitely the brownest house I’ve ever
seen.’ I took that as a compliment. It is an
exceptionally brown house.”
JACK BECKE R

cavities of the structural panels, for exam-

ple, are filled with dense-pack cellulose
and hemp insulation, and their interior
faces are stained with a Vermont-made
cheese by-product that eliminates the tox-
ins of water-based polyurethane finishes.
Jack also used prefabricated bamboo for
interior millwork, and some plywood pan-
els that were additionally bought for the
interior are finished with spray cork in
lieu of paint.
In another example of double-duty
design, the limited material palette helped
keep the construction schedule to a mere
nine months, with Linn calling Jack and
Maddie’s home “a test case for healthy
urban infill development in D.C. that any-
one buying a ground-up house could
afford.” Meanwhile, “there’s something
about cork that makes a more comfortable
environment for people to share experi-
ences,” Jack says, adding that cork’s
acoustic properties have benefited a cer-
tain jittery canine in his and Maddie’s
lives: “Right now Franklin is lazing on the
floor in the kitchen,” he notes, “whereas in
Anacostia he would be on his feet every
fifteen minutes to suss out what’s going
on outside.”

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DWELLINGS

A local builder writes a

new chapter for Santa
Cruz’s weird and wonderful
Court of Mysteries.

TEXT BY PHOTOS BY

Kelly Vencill Sanchez Nicholas Albrecht

78 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

On the site of the storied Court
of Mysteries, in Santa Cruz,
California, Brian Friel and
Meghan Dorrian designed a
home for builder Taylor Darling
and his wife, Claire. The cou-
ple’s parcel was bare except for
a 30-foot-tall obelisk (opposite)
crafted by the property’s first
owner, Kenneth Kitchen. “The
lore was that during World War
II he hooked it up with radar to
intercept signals from Japanese
submarines in Monterey Bay,”
says Taylor. The new home’s
redwood siding, plaster, and
brick nod to the mixed materials
of the site’s original structures.

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DWELLINGS

If you strolled down Santa Cruz’s Fair submarines, and the obelisks were Local Legend
Avenue toward the ocean a decade ago, rumored to conceal antennae.
you would pass rows of single-family According to architect and preservation-
homes, a church, and a sight that would ist Nancy Goldenberg, who conducted c a 19 35
stop you in your tracks. On an overgrown a historical survey of the site in 2016, Kenneth Kitchen purchases four
field spanning four contiguous lots stood Kenneth bought the property around 1935 contiguous lots on Fair Avenue,
a collection of cryptic brick structures and began constructing the central build- constructs a one-story dwelling
for himself, and establishes a
ornamented with abalone shells and ing, while keeping goats on the northern
goat farm.
arcane symbols. More or less abandoned part of the lot. The well house followed,
since the mid-1960s, it was a strange sight, along with the obelisks, the mysterious c a 19 36 –19 46
even for a town celebrated for being gate, and a concrete fence with brick-and- With his brother Raymond,
unconventional. abalone posts that ran along the street. Kenneth constructs a temple-
Known informally as the Yogi Temple, Goldenberg says it’s impossible to know like main structure, a well, a
well house, two obelisks, and
the Watts Towers of Santa Cruz, and what inspired the Kitchens. “The property
an entrance gate, plus a fence
the Court of Mysteries, it was created by speaks to the history of Santa Cruz and around the property.
an eccentric Pennsylvania brick mason says something about a time when there
named Kenneth Kitchen and his stone- was an interest in the occult and theoso- c a 19 52
mason brother, Raymond. Over the years, phy,” she explains. Kenneth left Santa Cruz The one-story dwelling is
the oddball property—which included in 1953, and the property sat vacant until it demolished.
a dwelling, a well house, a gate, and two was purchased in 1962 by a Greek Orthodox
1 95 3
obelisks—changed hands and fell into priest. His tenure was brief, and the site
Kenneth leaves Santa Cruz, and
neglect, but that only seemed to amplify deteriorated. Graffiti marred the main the property sits vacant.
the lore surrounding it. Legend has it that structure, and the well house was nearly
the triangular plaque adorned with a sun, destroyed by vandals. Relief arrived in 1 96 2
moon, and stars atop the entry gate could 2016, when a San Francisco couple bought Elias G. Karim, pastor of St.
prophesy an impending apocalypse and the place for $1.58 million and undertook a Nicholas Orthodox Church in
that the siblings built the structures major restoration of the ruins while build- San Francisco, purchases the
property, converts it into the
under the cloak of night in a nod to the ing a new Spanish-style home and ADU St. Elias Orthodox Chapel &
occult—though it may have been because on the southern side of the property. Shrine, landscapes the grounds,
they both had day jobs. Reflecting fears Taylor Darling, cofounder of Santa Cruz and plants palm trees.
stoked by World War II, the well was Green Builders, served as contractor—a
1 96 4- 1 988
said to contain a device designed to inter- bit of serendipity, as he remembers riding
fere with transmissions from enemy his bike past the site when he was a The property is vacated, and
the city gives it historical land-
mark status in 1976. It’s listed
in 1988, but it goes unsold.

2 01 6
Douglas Harr and Artina Morton
purchase the property for $1.58
million and begin restoring it
two years later with Taylor
Darling and Santa Cruz Green
Builders as contractor. They add
a 3,300-square-foot Spanish-
style house, an ADU, and a pool.

2 01 8
The well house, which had been
severely damaged by vandals
and intruders, is demolished
due to liability concerns.

2 021
Taylor and Claire Darling pur-
chase the vacant northernmost
parcel and begin planning a
home with Young America
Creative. The adjacent property
is sold for $3.9 million.

2 023
The Darlings complete their
home while preserving an exist-
ing obelisk in the front yard.

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 DWELLINGS

“The house needed to embrace the obelisk

and not fight or ignore it, so it was
fun to have that as a design constraint.”
BRIAN FRI E L, DESIGN E R

An arched entrance leads to the

neighboring property, which
was originally connected to the
Darlings’ parcel. Ornamented
with brick and abalone shells,
the gate is topped with a
triangular plaque that was
duplicated on the chimney of
Kitchen’s temple-like main
structure (opposite). Taylor,
cofounder of Santa Cruz Green
Builders, first began working
on the site’s restoration in
2018, before it was subdivided.

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82 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL
 DWELLINGS

“The thing I’m happiest about

is that we struck a balance
between creating a home that’s
cozy and expansive,” says
Taylor, who integrated eco-
friendly features throughout,
like the living room’s low-
emissions fireplace from RSF
(opposite, top). A hand-carved
bird from Slow Roads hangs in
the primary bedroom (oppo-
site, below left). The dining
nook in the kitchen is a favorite
hangout spot (opposite, below
right), as is the nearby patio
(right), which has teak furni-
ture from Neighbor and opens
onto a garden designed by Aly
Rae Hanson.

Court of Mysteries N

DESIGNER Young America Creative

LOCATION Santa Cruz, California

ADU J

H F K

Lower Level
student at UC Santa Cruz. “It was a remarkably, withstood the 1989 Loma
decrepit, strange, eerie place then, but I Prieta earthquake, which devastated
G thought it would be amazing if someone downtown Santa Cruz. “We always say
F
could buy it and make it new again.” that site parameters create an interesting
He and his wife, Claire, got the chance project, but we don’t typically have a
to complete the process when the owners thirty-foot obelisk as a site parameter,”
put the entire property on the market and says Friel. “It has abalone shells, mixed
E asked the couple if they were interested materials, and very intricate detailing,”
in buying the northernmost parcel, vacant adds Dorrian. “We wanted it to shine.”
B except for the taller of the two obelisks. With help from Goldenberg and a few
“There are no empty lots in Santa Cruz tweaks to the design, their plan was
D anymore, and being a green builder, we approved by the City of Santa Cruz Historic
weren’t going to tear down a home that Preservation Commission. The resulting
needed to be remodeled,” says Claire. home includes several details that Taylor,
B C “This was too good to pass up.” as the builder, is especially proud of,
A
Seeking a contemporary family home such as an energy-recovery ventilator that
for themselves and their two children that reduces energy consumption and keeps
A Garage
B Patio would complement both the idiosyncratic the interior air fresh and the fact that it’s
C Entrance Upper Level historic structures and the new house next all-electric with radiant-heated floors. “In
D Kitchen door, the couple reached out to designers winter, the heat kicks on for two hours in
E Living/Dining
Area H Brian Friel and Meghan Dorrian of Santa the morning and never again for the whole
F Bathroom Cruz–based Young America Creative. day,” he says. “It was fun to have my own
G Guest Room Taking into account the site and the loca- home to experiment on.”
F
H Bedroom
I Walk-in Closet tion, they started assembling what Friel Reminders of Kenneth Kitchen’s own
J Laundry Room J calls a “coastal California vernacular of passion for experimentation are still vis-
K Kitchen/ natural materials” for a two-story home ible to the Darlings every day—whether
ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES+WRIGHT

Living Area H built around a garden. “Rather than clean, it’s the view of the obelisk from their bed-
smooth stucco, we introduced brick, and room windows or seeing the entrance gate
since Taylor and Claire wanted wood sid- and “temple” from their kitchen. “The
H ing, we picked redwood board and batten amount of inspiration and motivation
I that felt appropriate for California and this guy had to build everything by hand is
F true to the local vernacular,” Friel says. just incredible,” Taylor says. “You could
During planning, the designers also never rebuild something like that. It’s too
had to integrate the obelisk, which, weird—and yet it somehow works.”

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 A
Big
TEXT BY

Missy Wilkinson

PHOTOS BY | @CEDRICANGELES

Cedric Angeles

84
 DWELLINGS

Neighbors call it the circus house,

but this polychrome New
Orleans home does more

Tent than just put on a show—

it expands what it
means to be a family.

Missy Wilkinson and friends. A non–cookie- have a modern house

Philip Stalcup share cutter family called alongside traditional
their home with a for non–cookie-cutter neighbors, but when
rotating cast of char- designs, but they were you look at the street,
acters, including Elise mindful of maintaining it sits well together,”
(Philip’s longtime a local New Orleans explains Aya Maceda
partner), Elise’s boy- influence on their of Alao, the firm that
friend, and various vibrant home. “You designed the building.

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 85

86
 DWELLINGS

“This interplay of light, color, and movement

aligns to the clients. They are plural in who
they are as people and the things they engage in.”
JAM ES CARSE, ARCH ITECT

On a sticky summer night in New

Orleans, in our candy-apple-red dining
room, my husband, his life partner, and I
ate red beans and rice and scribbled light-
ing cues on a script for an adaptation of
the 1980s cult horror/comedy flick Evil
Dead II. That fall we would stage it in a
motel pool roiling with synchronized
swimmers, puppets, and trapeze perform-
ers. The mezzanine above us brimmed
with costumes. A fog machine, PA system,
and strobe—among many other lights—
awaited deployment. Soon, in the double-
height living room crowned with an
aerial-rig-ready vaulted ceiling, we’d teach
cast members how to set them up and take
them down for each of our eight shows.
This labor of love had nothing to do
with our day jobs. My husband, Philip
Stalcup, is an ER physician; his longtime
partner, Elise (her name has been changed
at her request), is an environmental attor-
ney; and I’m a news reporter on the local
crime beat. But we all share a passion for
theater. And we also share a house that
both suits our individual lifestyles and
allows us to pursue our passion.
I began dating Phil in January 2020 after
meeting him at the Canal Street location
of NOLA Pole & Aerials, the studio where
we train. We’d both been active in parades
and with local theatrical troupes for years.
He and Elise, an aerialist and a water bal-
let enthusiast, had recently bought a dou- The living room, din- activities. Missy and a set of stools from
ing area, and kitchen Phil practice music Schoolhouse. Pink
ble lot in the St. Roch neighborhood for open into one another in the living area chairs line an antique
$56,798 from the New Orleans Redevelop- and accommodate (opposite), near the Cuban mahogany din-
ment Authority. They did so with the goal an eclectic variety of kitchen island and ing table (above).

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 87

 Phil’s room (left) fea- and opposite), where and thrifted seating.
tures a locally made Missy meets with With plenty of space
custom bed frame other members of her to move around, the
and record shelves water ballet troupe, all-red room is primed
found on Etsy. The features a vintage for quick changes and
costume room (below Indian wedding table performances.

of creating two autonomous yet connected

residences that could house friends, lovers,
and collaborators, accommodating their
30-year partnership as it shifted from
romantic to primarily artistic.
“Phil and Elise were looking for a space
to create a home compound—a place for
them to bring together a lot of friends to
celebrate in an event city,” says James
Carse, an architect whom they knew
through a mutual friend who cofounded
the firm Alao, which designed the house.
“There was the dream, at one point, to have
a bunch of tiny homes around a central
gathering space.”
That dream proved out of reach for a
duo with a $450,000 budget. But its con-
ceptual through line—side-by-side, mir-
ror-image dwellings—is well known in
New Orleans via its many double shotgun
houses. Carse and his business partner,
Aya Maceda, riffed on that vernacular
when they designed the 2,360-square-foot
Pop! House during the height of the pan-
demic in 2020.
The exterior’s bold, polychromatic pal-
ette draws from New Orleans’s colorful
Caribbean influences and the four-color
paint patterns that are a signature of the
city. The array of hues, a lurid shift from
bruise purple to petrochemical pink,
reminds me of the nearly neon incandes-
cence in a Louisiana sunset. I wasn’t sur-
prised when Elise revealed that a
burlesque performer named Vivacious
Miss Audacious had weighed in on the
selection. “People stop to say they refer to
it as the circus house,” Elise says.

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 DWELLINGS

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 89

90 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL
 DWELLINGS
Pop! House N

ARCHITECT Alao
LOCATION New Orleans, Louisiana
Spread across two lots, the
A Entrance house has two wings: One acts as
B Deck a more private, residential area,
C C J J C Bathroom and the other is a communal liv-
D Dining Area ing space. The designers sought
H I E Kitchen
to create “small, private, com-
G G F Living Area
fortable homes that were then
G Bedroom
tied back to a space for gather-
H Office
I Study/Bedroom ing, performance, creation, and
J Walk-in Closet events,” says architect James
B A B Carse, cofounder of Alao. Missy
K Costume Room
L Attic stands in the hallway (below)
that connects the two sides and
C opens onto an outdoor seating
D F L K area and a garden designed by
E Garden Gnome Plantscapes.

First Floor Second Floor

Completed in August 2021, the Pop!

House can feel like a circus, depending on
how many people are living there. At one
point, Phil, Elise, her boyfriend, Sam—a
firefighter turned actor who stars in Evil
Dead II and set himself ablaze for last
year’s water ballet adaptation of Carrie—
and I were all under its shingled roof.
Though we had our conflicts (I didn’t
appreciate it when Sam ate my leftover
pizza, and Elise didn’t relish my two a.m.
renditions of Broadway tunes), the house’s
use of square footage never caused one.
That’s because its triptych of spaces
comprises a west wing for communal
activity (cooking, dining, watching mov-
ies, working on our theatrical events), an
east wing for solitary pursuits (sleeping,
studying, bathing), and a glass breezeway
connecting the two with a deck on either
side. In the east wing, which is designed
essentially as a pair of duplex apartments,
a second-story office tops Elise’s bedroom
and bath, while Phil’s ground-level bed-
room, soundproofed and painted black to
support his night-shift schedule, connects
via spiral staircase to his personal area
above, a river-facing room that’s perfect
for watching storms (a penchant of his).
Split by a central staircase, each two-story
ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES+WRIGHT

space has its own entrances on each floor.

“We didn’t deliver one house—we deliv-
ered a little village,” Maceda says. “It’s the
type of house that allows for other types
of living situations to exist. That’s why I
love this project. We’re going away from
the traditional notion of a dream house
for a traditional nuclear family.”

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 91

 Missy and Phil took credits the local com- assisted greatly in the
pains to ensure the munity for pulling planning and execu-
house would inte- together much of the tion of the garden. We
grate into the existing home’s lush outdoor couldn’t have done it
neighborhood. Phil space: “The neighbors without them at all.”

The home’s skylights offer an escape

route to the roof during a worst-case hur-
ricane scenario. I didn’t ask Carse and
Maceda whether they had considered that
function, but as a Katrina survivor, I have.
I’ve also considered how beautifully the
space, now outfitted with solar panels to
withstand New Orleans’s frequent power
outages, could serve as a refuge for neigh-
bors and loved ones during hurricanes.
Elise’s bedroom and Phil’s room each hold
an extra bed, and the costume room has
one as well.
Brand-new light stands clutter the glass
hallway as both the water ballet and
Tropical Storm Francine—predicted to be
a hurricane when it makes landfall on the
Louisiana coast—loom. Elise and Sam,
who now live in another house, will shel-
ter here if things get bad for New Orleans.
And if the storm turns out to be a miss,
we’ll stick to our regular tech rehearsals,
which recently included a lighting work-
shop in the living room. No matter what
happens, the show will go on—and this
house will help facilitate that.

92 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 DWELLINGS

“At one point, a friend—someone most people would

see as a guest—was starting to have design
input. But that reflected the idea that it was a
communal place.”
JAM ES CARSE

93
 Is Every Building
Worth Preserving?
TEXT BY

Anjulie Rao

The red brick buildings of the Mount his book Education for Extinction. For 118 1930s. The 2022 “Department of the
Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding years, the U.S. federal government Interior Federal Indian Boarding School
School (MIIBS), in the heart of Michigan, removed Native American children from Initiative Investigative Report” stated
appear sturdy and assertive, almost age- their families in order to “save” them, that at least 500 children died in boarding
less, but time’s passing peeks through in housing the children within specialized schools, but it notes that the count is
crumbling brick, weathered roofs, and boarding schools to assimilate them into likely incomplete because many
dots of graffiti. Set against fields of wild- Anglo-American ways of life. unmarked grave sites have yet to be iden-
flowers and grasses, the historic site But practices within the schools tified. (In a 2024 update, the report
straddles a cruel past and a future that is amounted to a form of cultural genocide. revised that figure to 973.)
beginning to blossom. Anglo-American dress codes and haircuts For more than two decades, the
MIIBS was one of more than 400 federal were strictly enforced; students were com- Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan
boarding schools built across the United pelled to speak only English and practice (part of the Great Lakes Anishinaabe
States, enabled by the 1819 Civilization Christianity by religious groups that peoples) has been healing the wounds
Fund Act: legislation enacted to prevent carried out many schools’ operations. inflicted at MIIBS. With architect
“the further decline and final extinction” According to the National Native Christian Nakarado, the tribe is turning
of Indigenous peoples—a decline pro- American Boarding School Healing the abandoned boarding school buildings
duced by the U.S. in decades of bloody Coalition, an organization that addresses into a multifaceted memorial to help peo-
wars and broken treaties that dispos- boarding schools’ practices through public ple remember what happened and the
sessed Native tribes and continued long education and healing, 20,000 children lives that were lost or profoundly altered
after the act was passed. Boarding schools, attended boarding schools in 1900; the there. They’re also turning it into a place
built and operated beginning in 1860 and number of attendees more than tripled by for cultural reconnection to ensure that
mostly closed by the 1980s, would take a 1926. Documented stories of forced labor, the Anishinaabe language and the tribe’s
different approach: “The next Indian war abuse (physical, sexual, and emotional), crafts, stories, and ancestral bonds
would be ideological and psychological, severe punishment, disease, unsanitary remain unbroken despite a decades-long
and it would be waged against children,” conditions, and malnutrition have sur- attempt at decimation.
wrote historian David Wallace Adams in faced publicly since closures began in the —

94 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 WHERE WE LIVE NOW

The U.S. government

forced thousands of The United States is dotted with abandoned
Native American
children to attend boarding schools that tried to erase Native
boarding schools
like the one in central
American culture. Instead of destroying the
Michigan shown above
in a 1910 photograph.
one on its land, the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe
of Michigan is turning it into a resource.

Nakarado first learned about the Saginaw possible,” Johnson explains. “It’s some- “We contacted the State of Michigan, and
Chippewa Tribe’s endeavors in 2020 after thing that triggers your understanding of we told them, ‘Our tribal chief is buried
reading an article about them in Epicenter who you are and where you come from.” there, and former boarding school stu-
Mt. Pleasant, a local digital magazine. He MIIBS primarily boarded children from dents are buried there, and tribal family
reached out and met with tribal leaders across the Midwest. It opened in 1893, and members are buried there. If you don’t
and agreed to work on the project pro children were brought to the facility from clean that cemetery up, then we’re going
bono. When he first visited MIIBS, some- across the U.S., but primarily from Odawa/ to clean it up ourselves.’ ” That prompted
thing stirred in him. He grew up in Ottawa, Ojibwe/Chippewa, and the state to divest from the property, and
Colorado but is a member of the Sault Ste. Bodéwadmi/Potawatomi Great Lakes through a land conveyance, the Saginaw
Marie Tribe, whose lands are in the Great Tribes. Though official counts document Chippewa Tribe took ownership of the
Lakes region. When Nakarado looked at only five student deaths at MIIBS, the tribe nearly 15 acres that include the cemetery,
the landscape enveloping the buildings, he uncovered additional records and found six original boarding school buildings, and
felt connected to the place. Marcella that more than 200 children are known to another building added after MIIBS closed.
Hadden, the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe’s have perished on the grounds, some of In 2018, the National Register of Historic
historic preservation officer, interjects as them buried in the nearby Mission Creek Places designated a 320-acre historic dis-
Nakarado attempts to explain. cemetery. MIIBS closed in 1933, when it trict surrounding the school.
“I think it’s your blood memory,” she became a state home for the developmen- Hadden chaired a boarding school com-
says. William Johnson, curator at the tally disabled; those Indigenous children mittee consisting of community mem-
Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture, a who could not return home remained bers and tribal leaders. Its task: to decide
museum and cultural center dedicated to there as orphans, says Hadden. After the the campus’s future. But the members
Saginaw Chippewa history, agrees. state home closed in 2009, several of the wanted to learn from the past before
“ ‘Blood memory’ is a term that’s not buildings were demolished, and the site tackling the work ahead.
specific just to Anishinaabe people.… It’s sat dormant until 2011. Then the tribe —
the way that people respond to their cul- began to notice the campus’s decay.
ture, letting the culture affect themselves “The Mission Creek cemetery was over- Sarah Surface-Evans, now the senior
in ways that you don’t even realize are run with grass and weeds,” says Johnson. archaeologist at Michigan’s historic

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 95

WHERE WE LIVE NOW

preservation office, was a professor at

Central Michigan University when the
tribe acquired the 15 acres. She began
attending boarding school committee
meetings after being introduced to the
group through her department. From 2012
to 2019, she conducted fieldwork and
research in collaboration with the tribe,
community members, and her students to
put together a clearer story about daily life
at the boarding school.
Like many other boarding schools,
MIIBS was segregated by sex: Girls’ build-
ings included dorms, plus the home
economics building, laundry, and hospital
(the latter two were demolished); the
boys’ areas included a dorm, workshop,
and barn. A gym and auditorium sat in Students’ classes at the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School were
mostly vocational. Girls took cooking classes in a kitchen (above). They also
between.
worked as servants for little or no money. The campus was segregated by sex—the
“Boarding schools were very structured boys’ dorm is shown below.
spaces that were run almost militaristi-
cally,” says Surface-Evans. Though they
were called schools, they didn’t focus on
education, and what instruction they did
provide was mostly vocational. “[Students] complete picture of these objects. Her her co-researcher Sarah Jones was able to
only had a few hours of classes per day, team found beads that students had match 816 student names with their mark-
and then spent most of their time doing smuggled in to continue Indigenous prac- ings. It’s the little things, Surface-Evans
physical labor,” she says. On campus, they tices. From the daughter of a survivor, she says, that allowed the children to create
worked in fields, cared for livestock, learned that older female students would some agency. “Those initials and carvings
washed laundry, are one of the most
mended clothes, powerful memorials
and did much more. you could ever have in
Surface-Evans this space.”
found that many of Nakarado has taken
the girls also a similarly commu-
worked for low or nity-based architec-
no pay as domestic tural approach to the
servants in local MIIBS site. “The way
households. She that I’ve been think-
wrote in a 2016 ing about design is
paper that “girls based on buildings as
were often treated processes,” he says,
poorly and physi- “and therefore what I

PHOTOS: CLARKE HISTORICAL LIBRARY, CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

cally or sexually focus on is thinking
abused in these about a building as
contexts,” and their fundamentally an
labor was exploited. impermanent struc-
“In the 1922–23 aca- ture.” This has trans-
demic year, a total lated into an
of $2,684 worth of approach that
goods were pro- required ongoing
duced by female consensus from the
students working in MIIBS community
the Laundry.” and committee to
But her commu- understand their pri-
nity archaeological orities and concerns.
team discovered objects that demon- “lose” beads for younger girls to “find” and They were mixed, Nakarado says.
strated students’ resistance. Surface- start their own practices in secret. On the “Even within the community, there’s
Evans recorded oral histories told by wall of the boys’ workshop they found not a singular vision of what these build-
boarding school survivors and descen- words, names, initials, and dates carved ings should be,” he explains. “It’s a highly
dants of survivors to paint a more into the brickwork. Referencing records, charged space, and thinking about the

96 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 WHERE WE LIVE NOW

future of it and changing it in any way is traditional healer, the tribe built a small told the crowd at this year’s Honoring,
really a sensitive subject.” Some people, he domed lodge in front of the auditorium Healing, and Remembering event that he
continues, have advocated for demolition building using traditional sapling con- and the committee explored many
of the buildings. “The counterpoint to that struction. These acts, while seemingly options, including bringing the campus’s
is that these buildings are irrefutably minor, are revolutionary in their context. reflection pond—now drained and grown
physical, tangible evidence that the fed- The existing buildings are in varying in with grass—back to life. But it just
eral program existed.” conditions, some safer to be in than oth- didn’t sit right. “What most people think
The discussion is part of the larger con- ers, and because they are listed on the of when they think of a memorial, they
versation about what should be done with national register, the tribe has been able think about permanence—stone, con-
spaces where contemporary Americans to obtain grants to begin remediating crete. They think about reflecting pools.
must confront past atrocities and reckon them for lead and asbestos. The tribe has And what we’d like to do is create a living
with their long, resonant aftermaths. narrowed its design focus to the work- memorial,” he says. A living memorial, he
Though some cities might choose to shop building, which will host events and explains, could manifest as a community
demolish sites where violent injustices will possibly be a space where the healing garden, where visitors can read
took place, others have chosen to preserve
them. In Fort Worth, Texas, a former Ku
Klux Klan headquarters is being trans-
formed into an arts and community center
named after Fred Rouse, a Black man who
was lynched by a white mob in 1921; the Old
Slave Mart in Charleston, South Carolina,
which was built for the purpose of selling
enslaved people, became a museum.
Boarding schools were “the U.S. federal
government’s way to acculturate us into
the larger society, but [they were] also
removing all aspects of our culture,” says
Johnson. “We lost our language, a lot of
our spirituality, our traditional ways of
life, and our identity.... That enforces all
the intergenerational trauma and the
healing that we’re dealing with today.”
Preservation can become a tool to
reclaim agency over traumatic sites and
events and to help victims and their
descendants heal. More than 200 students died at the school, whose hospital is shown above.
The strategy that Nakarado presented
at this year’s annual Saginaw Chippewa
Honoring, Healing, and Remembering
ceremony—a daylong event that brings
tribal members and friends to MIIBS to
remember the site’s history and honor the Anishinaabe language can be taught. The the names of the 200-plus lost children
students buried there—grapples with the other two priority buildings—the gymna- and take seeds home to grow their own
past while creating space for cultural sium and auditorium—will be remedi- spaces for healing.
reconnection. ated only for lead and asbestos and be The crowd nodded while Nakarado
“The original idea that the committee structurally stabilized. The tribe is spoke. “The Anishinaabe people and the
had envisioned was to transform this exploring methods to “dissolve the Saginaw Chippewa have an innate sense
place from a place of forced assimilation boundaries” of each building, Nakarado of spirituality and a connectedness to our
and cultural genocide to a place that is says, “letting maybe the memories or the land. And those are leading and guiding
meant for the perpetuation of traditional spirits out of these buildings and the land principles on how we do our work,” says
art, culture, language immersion,” back into these buildings.” While there’s Johnson. And the land always returns:
Nakarado says. The tribe has already much planning to be done, this could Nakarado later learned that the vibrant,
begun this process. It held a youth pow- mean allowing vegetation to flourish in buzzing landscape he was drawn to on his
wow last year, where children dressed “in and around structures; for other build- first visit was once occupied by a barn and
our regalia,” says Hadden, celebrated on ings, like the smaller girls’ dorm, various buildings raised for the state
the campus grounds; Nakarado, who Nakarado says, ideally they will be stable home. After they were torn down in the
speaks openly about growing up discon- enough to occupy after being preserved late 20th century, nature took over again.
nected from his Indigenous language and with a light touch. “Our guiding saying is “The land quickly returns because the
culture, has begun to find his roots that we want the silence inside those land never went anywhere,” he says. “The
through this process. Working with Joe buildings to speak for itself.” culture that the land carries—it was here
Syrette, an Anishinaabe Ojibwe As for creating a memorial, Nakarado the whole time.”

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 97

A F F O R DA B I L I T Y TEXT BY

Ian Volner

Living Proof
Architects demonstrate that well-designed
low-income housing is possible—even
as a tax credit that makes it easier to build
faces legislative resistance.

In Bedford-Stuyvesant, housing complex. For the firm’s in the Bronx. “I always associate
Brooklyn, Studio Libeskind’s founder, this project was a social and public housing with
Atrium at Sumner project personal one: Architect Daniel something fantastic,” he says.
(above) sits on formerly vacant Libeskind grew up in a historic A large atrium (opposite) brings
land at the edge of a public affordable housing development light deep into the interior.

98 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 This summer, while most Americans
were focused on the big-picture politics
of the election, a small but consequential
political event transpired in Washington.
On the Senate floor, the Tax Relief for
American Families and Workers Act—
which had passed the House of
Representatives with an overwhelming
bipartisan majority—was blocked during
an August 1 procedural vote. As reported
by Politico, Senator Ron Wyden, a
Democrat from Oregon, blamed the failure
on “Senate Republicans [who] decided
they’d rather wait around and hope Trump
wins” than take action now.
The bill’s death, like so many others’,
was a quiet one, barely noted in the media.
But its repercussions may be very audible.
Across the nation, cities and counties
struggle to build adequate housing for
working people. The now-defunct tax bill
contained provisions that would have
supercharged the low-income housing tax
credit (LIHTC), the federal subsidy that
since 1986 has constituted the primary
mechanism for privately built, low-cost
development in America. The success of
that program—always a contentious one
and limited in impact—now hangs in the
balance, along with a path forward for do more with less. “You can work within courtyard that allows the building’s inte-
the housing movement. the budget and all the limitations and still rior to “glow with radiance and joy,” as
In the meantime, designers and build- produce something that has dignity,” says Libeskind describes it, marking a more
ers are intent on showing how much can the architect. definitive break with the low-cost housing
be done with the means now available and Atrium manages to do just that, break- of yesteryear.
what might be possible with more and ing the mold for affordable housing in In a very different city and context,
better tools in the future. Architects are more ways than one. While 50 percent of another design firm has been able to make
expanding the visual language of LIHTC- its $132 million budget was covered the most of the awkward tax-incentive
sponsored housing. Case in point: the through the federal LIHTC reimburse- system. Boston’s Brighton neighborhood
Atrium at Sumner, a new 190-unit senior ment, the team behind the project was is unusual in multiple respects: Only a
and supportive project in Brooklyn’s able to realize huge upfront savings by stone’s throw from rapidly gentrifying
Bed-Stuy neighborhood. “These building building on the vacant green space sur- Allston, the quaint trolley-car suburb is
PHOTOS: HUFTON & CROW, COURTESY STUDIO LIBESKIND

typologies are often very limited,” says rounding an existing public housing proj- home to an economically and culturally
architect Daniel Libeskind. “But you can ect, the 1958 Sumner Houses. Usually diverse community, including a high per-
turn them around.” Renowned for his stymied by bureaucratic and political con- centage of lower-income retirees. Catering
Jewish Museum in Berlin and the master siderations, this economical maneuver to them has been the work of nonprofit
plan for Manhattan’s rebuilt World Trade has the added advantage of highlighting senior-residence operator 2Life, whose
Center, Libeskind is a relative newcomer just how much Studio Libeskind’s design multibuilding compound has just
to the affordability field, having only solution differs from the outdated 20th- expanded to include a new addition: the
recently completed his first such project, century housing type next door: In con- 142-unit J. J. Carroll redevelopment,
on Long Island. The LIHTC development trast with the blocky brick towers of designed with rare sensitivity and atten-
process—which requires builders to Sumner, Atrium is a sharp, irregularly tion to detail by Beantown’s own MASS
meet special benchmarks to qualify for shaped meteorite of a building, with exte- Design Group. “From a design perspective,
partial reimbursement at tax time—was rior planes that jut and recede at odd we wanted to see how we could create
daunting, though the team at Studio angles. Even more striking is its epony- density while still fostering community,”
Libeskind viewed it as an opportunity to mous central feature, a mezzanine says MASS’s Jonathan Evans.

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 99

A F F O R DA B I L I T Y

PHOTOS: COURTESY LORCAN O’HERLIHY ARCHITECTS (THIS PAGE); COURTESY MASS DESIGN GROUP (OPPOSITE)
The outdoor circulation areas at
LOHA’s Sun King development
in Los Angeles—combined with
terra-cotta tiles—mediates between the office’s founder. “As an architect, you
operable windows and a blazing
paint job—prevent the project institutional character of 2Life and the have to ask yourself, How can I use my
from being “a generic box,” its fabric of the residential neighborhood. abilities to solve important crises?”
architect says, while ensuring the Natural finishes and fixtures, like wooden says O’Herlihy. “Homelessness is one
project lives up to its name. handrailings and seating niches, as well of those.” With some 75,000 people cur-
as large outdoor terraces, make for an rently living on the streets of greater
unusual balance of domesticity and dyna- L.A., the metropolis has been especially
mism, perfect for keeping aging residents hard hit by homelessness, the crisis com-
active while helping them feel at home. pounded by a lack of transitional housing
The lobby even features a wall of weath- for those trying to get out of the shelter
As in Brooklyn, Evans and his colleagues ered brick, reclaimed from the old housing system and into permanent accommoda-
benefited from a happy historical acci- project that used to stand on the site. “We tions. That’s where Sun King comes in,
dent: After nearly 60 years, the Boston wanted to honor that a little bit, to bring offering units at just 30 percent of the
Housing Authority elected to demolish the that history into the project,” says Evans. area’s median income, one of the lowest
aging J. J. Carroll Apartments, a collection The strictures of LIHTC can easily tiers available under the current tax-
of three-story structures that just hap- throw a monkey wrench into the best-laid incentive structure.
pened to be bordered on two sides by architectural plans—as Lorcan O’Herlihy, A bold, bright-red exterior sets the tone
2Life’s campus. The elder-care specialists of Los Angeles–based Lorcan O’Herlihy for LOHA’s design, a decidedly fresh and
were a natural pick for the redevelopment, Architects (LOHA), discovered with Sun forward-looking statement in the context
and the wisdom of their selection was con- King Supportive Housing, the firm’s of conventional, suburban Sun Valley.
firmed by MASS’s remarkably subtle latest affordable housing development “We wanted to ensure there was light for
design. Comprising five interconnected in the Sun Valley section of the San all the units,” O’Herlihy says, an ambition
volumes, the homey yet contemporary Fernando Valley. The project is hardly made real by breaking up the mass with
mid-rise—the dwelling spaces are clad in LOHA’s first foray into the field, which patios and exterior stairwells. But the
colored panels, the public areas in has become a particular focus for the firm’s original scheme took this in a

100 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 A F F O R DA B I L I T Y

slightly different direction: At the outset, the 440 W Kelly apartments shows how hospitality projects,” choosing white oak
the shared courtyards would have occu- much the architect has embraced the ethos floors, high-end fixtures, and wide-open
pied a larger portion of the footprint; part- of the famed mountain resort town and windows. These advantages do come at
way through the development process, how serious he is about addressing its a price, though: Now capped by a deed cov-
O’Herlihy and company learned that in most pressing problem. In the last four enant with the county, prices at the com-
order to make the tax-subsidized financ- years alone, the median cost for a home in plex can go as high as $850,000 for a
ing pencil out, the client required that Jackson has nearly doubled; it now stands two-bedroom apartment.
more space be reserved for dwellings. Out at a staggering $2.4 million, well beyond If they don’t get the dramatic expan-
went some of the outdoor areas, and in the reach of essential workers like nurses sion in credits promised by the now-
went more living areas—a move the and firefighters. deferred Senate bill, more municipalities
designer doesn’t appear to lament, view- On a site near the Teton County may have to settle for similar compro-
ing the change-up as a natural part of Fairgrounds, 440 is a 12-unit complex mises, building less of the truly afford-
working in the low-cost sector and one aimed at exactly the kind of people the able variety of housing and more of the
that left his vision largely intact. “We were community’s skyrocketing housing costs quasi-affordable workforce type. The
able to listen and reformulate the build- have been driving away. The Jackson/ good news—and certainly a strong argu-
ing,” he says. Teton County Affordable Housing depart- ment in favor of expanding the reach of
Even under the best of circumstances, ment acquired the parcel in 2019 at a cost the LIHTC apparatus—is the relative par-
the limited number of LIHTC credits avail- of $1.7 million; with a group of nearby ity in sophistication, livability, and over-
able to local housing authorities represents residents staunchly opposed to the devel- all design quality between tax-subsidized
a major challenge. What if builders can’t opment, the team had to trim four units buildings and their nonsubsidized coun-
get any? “All we had was the land subsidy,” off its initial proposal, which was already terparts. As O’Herlihy observes, in the
says Ruben Caldwell, speaking of the latest ineligible for LIHTC, owing to the struc- affordability space, architects must
workforce-housing project built by his ture of the development deal. Yet Post’s regard themselves as both problem
firm, Post Company. Though still main- design—simple, rustic, infused with an solvers and ombudsmen, their buildings
taining an office in Brooklyn, the architect identifiably regional feel, a varied mass- serving as de facto advertisements for
himself moved to Jackson, Wyoming, in ing, and wooden cladding—seems per- low-cost housing itself. “If people see
2016. “People don’t consider you a local fectly attuned to the neighborhood. For that the best building on the block is
unless you’ve lived here for three genera- the apartments, Caldwell says, he “took supportive housing, that’s good,” he says.
tions,” he says—yet Caldwell’s design for the same tactic as with our budget “Design can make that difference.”

“ You can work within the budget and all the limitations
and still produce something that has dignity.”
DANIEL LIBESKIND, ARCHITECT

In Boston, MASS Design Group’s W Kelly (above) was built with-

J. J. Carroll Apartments (left) used out credits, using a complex
a low-income housing tax credit deed-covenant mechanism. Both
to transform an outdated senior- manage to make strong design
housing complex. In Jackson, statements while filling gaps in
Wyoming, Post Company’s 440 their respective markets.

DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 101

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vipp.com/en-us williamhenry.com
Anthropic Hive
anthropic.com hivemodern.com
Andersen Windows & Doors Viewrail
andersenwindows.com viewrail.com
Paloform Kolbe Windows & Doors
paloform.com kolbewindows.com/
Stillwater Dwellings FOG Design + Art
stillwaterdwellings.com fogfair.com
Lumacast Suzanne Felsen Jewelry
lumacast.com suzannefelsen.com
Visual Comfort & Co.
visualcomfort.com
 sourcing

The products, furniture, architects, designers,

and builders featured in this issue.

48 Pops of Color .com; kitchen tile from

Ann Sacks annsacks
Sarah Jacoby .kohler.com; Durock
sarahjacobyarchitect countertops usg.com;
.com exterior decking from
48 Linear pendant from TimberTech timbertech
Stickbulb stickbulb .com
.com; 36-inch electric
range from Ilve ilve.com; 70 Brown Is the
Wood Finger cabinet New Green
pull from Manzoni
manzoni.us; Tara Ultra Bldus
sink faucet from bld.us
Dornbracht dornbracht 70 Black locust and
.com; soapstone white oak lumber from
countertop Martin’s Native Lumber
abcworldwidestone.com martinslumber.com;
49 Isaac sconce from windows from Pella
Schoolhouse pella.com
schoolhouse.com; 72 Rice-paper pendants
showerhead and knobs from Design Within
from Newport Brass Reach dwr.com; Adorne
newportbrass.com; Collection switches and
Dimple sconce from outlets from Legrand
RBW rbw.com; Classic legrand.us; cooktop,
Field wall tile from wall ovens, refrigerator,
Heath Ceramics and dishwasher from
heathceramics.com Bosch bosch.us;
countertop from
52 Extra Credit Suberra suberra.co;
cork flooring, textured
Hardy Californians wall, and ceiling cork
hardycalifornians.com spray from Jelinek
Greywater Corps jelinek.com; tile from
greywatercorps.com Ann Sacks annsacks
.kohler.com
56 From A to Sea 73 Bamboo wall system
from Bamcore bamcore
Studio MacDonald Libit .com
gosml.com
56 Windows and patio 78 Occult Classic
doors from Andersen
andersenwindows.com Brian Friel and
57 Dining table by Meghan Dorrian at
Susan Swingle Young America Creative
susanaswingle@gmail thisisya.com
.com; flooring from Santa Cruz Green
Amorim Cork Flooring Builders
amorimcorkflooring.com santacruzgreenbuilders
58 Surfboard coffee .com
table from Salty Home Historic Architecture
salty-home.com Consulting by Nancy
59 La Jolla door Goldenberg at Treanor
hardware from Baldwin treanor.design
Occult Classic Hardware Direct Structural engineering
baldwinhardwaredirect by Andrew Radovan
PHOTO: NICHOLAS ALBRECHT

110 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

 A Big Tent

Civil Engineers luluandgeorgia.com; cushions by Cristallo Garden Gnome Driggs zzdriggs.com;

radovan.us Woody sectional from Upholstery Plantscapes vintage seats from Floor
Landscape design by Sobu sobusobu.com; cristalloupholstery.com gardengnome 13 floor13nola.com
Aly Rae Hanson at coffee table by Santa using leather from plantscapes.com 90 Dennett modular
SunRae Gardening Cruz Green Builders; Leatherwise leatherwise 85 Ton 14 bentwood shelving and Payson
instagram.com/ Havana chair from .com cane stool from coffee table from West
sunraegardening Anthropologie 83 Haven sectional Schoolhouse Elm westelm.com;
79 Elevate windows anthropologie.com; bird from Neighbor schoolhouse.com Colour cabinet from
from Marvin marvin.com sculpture by Slow hineighbor.com; 88 Record shelving Design Within Reach
82 Wide-plank Roads slow-roads.com; Regis Dome sconce from FandFVintage dwr.com; Husky throw
hardwood floors from custom bed by Taylor from Rejuvenation fandfvintage.com; rug from Missoni
Mohawk Darling; quilt from rejuvenation.com custom bed frame by missoni.com
mohawkflooring.com; ace&jig aceandjig.com; Allen Cruthirds for
RSF Focus SBR wood- Dome pendant from In 84 A Big Tent Chemical 14 chemical14
burning fireplace icc- Common With .com For contact information
rsf.com; Estie rug from incommonwith.com; Alao 89 Convertible Indian for our advertisers,
Lulu and Georgia custom leather nook alao.design wedding table from ZZ please turn to page 102.

Dwell® (ISSN 1530-5309), Volume XXIV Issue 6, publishes six double issues
annually, by Recurrent Ventures Inc., 601 W. 26th Street, Floor 13, Suite
1350, New York, NY 10001. Occasional extra issues may also be published.
Copyright ©2024. All rights reserved. In the US, Dwell® is a registered
PHOTO: CEDRIC ANGELES

trademark of Recurrent. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of

unsolicited manuscripts, art, or other materials. Subscription price for US
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DWELL N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 111

 one last thing

A peculiar device Sallyann Corn: While visiting

friends in Austin, Texas, we trav-
surrounded by pecan trees, and
tried it out. You push the handle
discovered in a Texas eled to Lockhart to try a famous down and the pecans shoot up
barbecue joint. through the basket, and suddenly
antique shop helps Joe Kent: After eating, we walked the thing is full of pecans. I was
around and found an antique surprised by how well it worked.
Seattle-based designer store. Suddenly, Sallyann jetted SC: A couple days later, I was
off to a corner and came back determined to get it on the plane
couple Sallyann Corn with this. She said, “I don’t know back to Seattle. It was too big to
what it is, but I’m buying it.” fit in our suitcases, so I just car-
and Joe Kent find SC: It was leaning against a pile ried it. As it went through the
of records, and I thought, What scanner, the security person
inspiration in utility. the hell is that? It’s about waist looked at the screen, looked at
high and is made of steel in this us, looked back at the screen,
brick red color. It almost has the and asked, “Is that a Slinky on a
proportions of a pogo stick. stick?” And I just said, “Yeah, it is.”
JK: There’s something about JK: In our studio, we have
AS TOLD TO looking at an object like this and shelves of objects like this, and
Lauren Gallow not being able to tell immediately we pull them for inspiration.
what it is. It’s purpose-built, but SC: We love objects that do just
PHOTO BY | @KALEBMARSHALL
the purpose isn’t apparent unless one thing and one thing really
Kaleb Marshall you’re in the know. It was a well. It’s similar to what we pro-
moment of discovery when the duce as industrial designers for
shopkeeper said, “Oh, it’s a our studio, Fruitsuper: simple
pecan picker-upper.” objects that make a single task
SC: I don’t think I’d ever even a little easier and more fun.
seen a pecan tree or knew what JK: These kinds of objects are
one looked like. So this made it usually born of a utilitarian need
a totally foreign object to me. but are often dismissed or taken
JK: After we bought it, we went for granted.
next door to City Hall, which was SC: They’re the unsung heroes.

112 N OV EM B ER/D ECEM B ER 2024 DWELL

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