Exposing the dynamic potential of a building under construction was behind the development of the seismic exoskeleton that became one of the defining elements of Xiao-Yen’s house.
The clients are a documentary filmmaker and her husband, an artist who primarily works in assembling found objects. Over decades he has amassed a huge stockpile of old growth redwood. During early design-related conversations he expressed an interest in reusing this material as well as the existing redwood framing that would come out of the portion of the building that would be demolished. The architects were excited about the possibilities of reusing his wood and began designing in options for implementation. During this time, he carefully deconstructed nearly all of the redwood from the existing building by pulling out nails and carefully grading it for quality. The project began to be referred to as “honest sustainability” among the client and architects, meaning it required a lot of sweat equity, but would be ultimately more satisfying than just replacing an obsolete item with something new and shiny. The realm of sustainability was elevated to a higher level where the materials changed state, becoming regenerative.
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