Architecture is not for selected few but EVERYONE.
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Tag: Residential

Siebert Remodel (Tacoma, Washington State, USA)

The Sieberts moved into Stevens Addition in early 2022 after purchasing it in late 2021. To accommodate their family of four with two teenagers, they needed to remodel the original house built in 1973 designed by Jane Hastings, FAIA to accommodate an additional bedroom and a bathroom for their daughter. They decided to remodel the […]

Lara DADU (Tacoma, Washington State, USA)

The goals of the project as set by the owners are unifying the existing house and detached garage, not replicating the existing house due to cost, having a storage loft, a patio, and additional off-street parking for the Detached Accessory Dwelling Unit (DADU). To respond to these goals, a simple concept is deployed. The existing […]

Gibson House (Moses Lake, Washington State, USA)

The site is a long and narrow site on a bluff overlooking Moses Lake. There is an existing gable roof garage/storage structure. The neighboring houses are surrounding the site fairly closely (7.5’ setbacks). The proposed design uses the simple gable of the existing garage/storage structure as the basic form for the garage of the house […]

Jeon Remodel (Seattle, Washington State, USA)

Jeon Remodel is a remodel project for a house originally owned and designed by Jane Hastings, FAIA. The house, known as Johnston-Hastings house, was built in 1974 and won a Seattle AIA Honor Award in 1977. The new owners are happy with the house in accommodating their young family of four, but they want to […]

Tree House Module (Ruins in Rural France)

NESTLING|Nature reclaims man-made ruins Vibrac, Mothe Chandeniers, and Ebaupinay are the site of abandoned man-made structures in which nature has reclaimed its place over time.  The ruins are overtaken by three distinct types of plants: the freestanding trees, the hanging vines, and the attaching epiphyte. The nest-inspired tree houses are nestling within the ruins and […]

LAFC (Lakewood, Washington State, USA)

Lakewood Adult Family Care (LAFC) project is for a couple from Kenya who dreamed of opening a five-bedroom adult family care facility.  They have a big dream with a limited budget. The proposed design is very simple.  Bedroom wings are oriented north-south for solar orientation.  They are then connected by communal/gathering spaces such as kitchen, […]

Benteng Tinggi Dormitories (Near Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia)

Benteng Tinggi Dormitories is located within Benteng Tinggi campus retreat compound at the foothill of a mountainous area in South Sulawesi province in the eastern part of Indonesia.  It is sited on three relatively flat areas on campus surrounding a nearby chapel, a soon-to-be-renovated office building, and a recently-built caretaker house. Each building is oriented […]

The Ranch House (Yelm, Washington State, USA)

This project is a total renovation on an existing rambler on Washington State rural prairie for an avid horse riding and ranching couple.  They have a limited budget and decide to renovate and expand their house to be more functional and open to suit their needs.  The house is a typical Americana gable rambler with […]

Terpstra Addition/A Cloud over My House (Tacoma, Washington State, USA)

This project is a second floor master bedroom and bathroom addition to an existing two-bedroom house on a typical residential lot in Tacoma, Washington. The lot is on a slope in a dense eclectic residential neighborhood dominated by large front deck looking towards Puget Sound. To minimize disruption to the existing house, the second floor […]

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News

Architecture for Everyone is part of BCRA Design and Korsmo Construction Design-Build team to deliver the Lowell Elementary School replacement for Tacoma Public Schools.

Ko Wibowo presented Texture Materials for Children at Design for Early Learning Conference in Tacoma, Washington State on Monday, January 22, 2024.

Architecture for Everyone and Johnston Architects began designing the Sumner Library for the Pierce County Library System.

Architecture for Everyone was selected as one of the on-call architects for Seattle Colleges.

Architecture for Everyone was selected as one of four architects for the Child Care Capacity Initiative in Pierce County, Washington State.

Sibert Remodel is currently under construction and nearing completion.

Architecture for Everyone is part of TCF Architecture and Skanska Design-Build team to deliver Bryant Montessori School replacement for Tacoma Public Schools. Ground breaking ceremony was May 10, 2023.

Western Washington University Salish Sea Studio at Fairhaven College is now substantially completed. WWU will install acoustical treatments with the projected opening in May 2024.

Thoughts

Architecture is not for selected few but EVERYONE.  The upper 1% can buy with their wealth, the bottom 5% are taken care of by the government.  The challenge for each architect is to also serve the middle from the bottom 5% to the upper 1%.  That is social justice in architecture.
If Disneyland is to Apple Macintosh in its integrated design, Las Vegas is to IBM PC in its open-source method.  But both employ Robert Venturi’s “ugly and ordinary” design approach.
Creativity is to solve design problems, not to creatively force the realization of a heroic design ideal.
We expect our buildings to be flexible and adaptable but fail to recognize that we, humans, are the most adaptable creature. Architecture is heavy and static and, therefore, shall not be expected to be able to be changed too much without significant intervention.
London is historic, Paris is grand, and Basel is organized.
Recent protests on issues of race and inequalities were staged in public spaces: our streets, parks, plazas, bordered by our buildings. While tolerance is built by understanding each other through listening to others, done as individual human beings, the result is a democracy that takes place in public spaces.  Our behavior in these spaces defines how successful democracy will be.  Thus, the design and quality of these spaces, undoubtedly, influence our behavior.  We learned about listening from Slim’s Table by Mitchell Duneier.  We learned how we instinctively behave on the street when faced with a perceived danger in Street Etiquette and Street Wisdom by Elijah Anderson. We learned how buildings can contribute negatively to our streets in Fortress L.A. by Mike Davis. We learned how we can collectively contribute to segregation in Community Becomes Uncivilized by Richard Sennett. We learned how we prepare and deal with potential negative experiences on our streets in The Uses of Sidewalk by Jane Jacobs. Now it is time we care about our public spaces and apply what we have learned to design these spaces so democracy can flourish and spread out.
Between three east Asian traditional architecture of China, Korea, and Japan, the most ornate and decorative is Chinese, followed by Korea and Japan being the least. That is why Japanese architecture can accept and adopt the idea of modernism well, especially minimalism.
The greatest gift architects can give our clients is the added value of their design while they live in and the increased property value when they sell. The increased property value would be much more than the assessed value and beyond the fee they paid for. This could be one of the ways to close the wealth gap.

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