Improvisations On The Land

Description

"Since its formation in 1980, Bay Area firm Fernau + Hartman has became renowned for inventive structures that combine environmental responsibility with formal ambition. Based in Berkeley and greatly influenced by the Bay Region architectural tradition, their ambition has always been to develop a place-rooted architecture, a sensibility that would allow them to work in a variety of landscapes and climates, from their unique Northern California perspective. Leaders in green design since the first wave of interest in sustainability in the 1970s, principals Richard Fernau and Laura Hartman have focused on designing energy-efficient homes that are not only adapted to their site, but that deepen and maximize the connection between built and natural environments. As the 18 residential projects presented in this volume attest, their improvisational vision is both playful and pragmatic, proving time and again why the pair view architecture as a branch of "applied philosophy.""

"Richard Fernau is a Professor of Architecture at UC Berkeley, where he has taught design and theory since 1981. He has served on a number of architectural juries including the Progressive Architecture Awards and as an evaluator for the MacArthur Awards. Richard's work ranges from furniture design to large-scale master plans. Before forming Fernau + Hartman Architects with Richard Fernau in 1980, Laura Hartman, AIA, worked with Esherick, Homsey, Dodge, and Davis in San Francisco and with Dolf Schneibli e Associati, in Agno, Switzerland. Laura has taught in the Architecture Department at UC Berkeley, at the University of Utah, and at the University of Oregon. She frequently serves on architectural design juries. Foreword by Beth Dunlop, editor of MODERN Magazine and an architecture critic, writer, and editor who lives in Miami Beach, Florida. Essays by Thomas Fisher (professor of architecture and the Dean of the College of Design at University of Minnesota) and Daniel Gregory (editor of Houseplans.com and former Senior Editor at Sunset magazine.)"