We have just been asked a question about doing pre-fab construction. What are the pros and cons, and specifically what about doing it in San Francisco? First of all, as far as San Francisco is concerned, our feeling is that since pre-fab gets a lot of press and is still trendy, the San Francisco planning department would not have a problem with it. San Francisco is trying to be green and progressive. The look of prefab is modern, typically, and in many neighborhoods, there are modern examples that are built out to the allowed height limits and setbacks already. The neighbors do have a chance to weigh in but regardless of whether you do traditional construction or pre-fab, that would still be the case.

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One of the questions we get often when we begin working with clients is how much will the project cost. There are several ways to determine this, and like the design process, there are many elements involved; the earlier it is in the process, the more schematic the pricing will be. A dollar amount per square foot is one way to help establish a budget, for example, residential costs per square foot in the San Francisco Bay Area is typically $350 or more. If a client has a set amount of money they’d like to spend and a scope of work, the architect can prepare a preliminary drawing that can be used by a contractor to put what is called a “ballpark” estimate together.
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Here is a recently completed remodel of a kitchen in a San Francisco flat. It was a tight space before, but once two of the walls were removed it really opened up the living room to the kitchen. An island was placed where the two former walls met and we put in a skylight. The lighting was also updated.

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One of the arguments for saving water that is a struggle for owners to accept is the fact that since water is so inexpensive, the return on investment for building water saving systems does not pencil out. The way California and the west will reduce its water usage has to be planned for strategically, it cannot occur through economic forces. Its strange, but water here is cheap and building a cistern in your back yard is not! With the population growing and the lack of feasible future technology such as de-salinization, there will be a water shortage. We must reduce our consumption of this precious resource. In another post we mention that water consumes roughly 33% of California’s overall energy use, thus not only does saving water save water, but it saves energy also. There is an attitude shift that has to happen. Read our other post here.

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Here is a familiar form every licensed California architect has seen. This is the license renewal form sent by The California Architects Board, within California’s Department of Consumer Affairs. They regulate the practice of architecture in California. Ironically, an organization that regulates a design profession apparently does not use the services of a design professional for their forms. This form is very difficult to fill out.  It is neither visually organized nor written clearly. There are many different sizes of text,  fonts and formats. Inconsistently outlined blocks of text are not aligned with each other or justified.

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As the year 2011 comes to a close, we share with you some favorite buildings we were lucky enough to visit this year. We always make an effort to see buildings wherever we go, but 2011 was special because we went to Chicago. This amazing city has some of this country’s most significant ones and we look forward to visiting again. The list is in order of year built.
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Remodelist featured our Lafayette house, have a look! Thank you Remodelista!
http://remodelista.com/posts/architect-visit-lafayette-remodel-by-hart-wright-architects-east-bay-aia-home-tour

Instead of showing you our work and explaining our ideas, this entry is about some of the places and things that have inspired us. We presented these images in person at the AIA East Bay office when they hosted a “Pecha Kucha” Slide Show to introduce the Home Tour architects. Continue reading →

Our Lafayette Project Will be featured on 8/13/11.  Please save the date for the first ever AIA East Bay Home Tours, August 13, 2011, where you will see one of our projects featured!

• For more information visit: http://www.aiaeb.org/hometours.htm
• An article in the Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/07/HOVE1KH91N.DTL
• To see more photos of the house visit: http://www.hartwrightarchitects.com/projects/blackthorn/

http://slowhomestudio.com/design-minutes/a-detailed-look-at-a-ranch-house-in-san-francisco/