For as long as I can remember I have loved to build things.  Starting with models and cubby houses as a boy, I was designing and building houses in my early twenties and haven’t stopped for more than thirty years.

My focus has always been on the design I am currently working on and looking forward to what is coming next, but I recently paused to reflect on significant moments in my journey in response to questions from a new client.   While there are many memories from the last thirty years, some stand out as pivotal in the development of my approach to house design.

The first was during a visit to the United States, where I had invitations to visit two Frank Lloyd Wright houses. The owner of the first house, the Teater Studio in Idaho, was very generous with his time and offered many insights into the Studio, the restoration he had completed and architecture in general.  The second was the Berger House in San Anselmo, just North of San Fransisco.  I had been reading Wright’s views on Organic Architecture and thought I understood what he was writing about; but walking into the living room of the Berger House was a revelation.  Here was the concretization of those ideas in a simple but breathtaking form.  It is simply a gorgeous space to be in.  My wife Nicola and I got to spend a wonderful afternoon with Gloria Berger, an eighty-years-young delight who was still so passionate about the house that she and her husband Robert had built themselves more than 50 years before.

I have been extremely fortunate to visit many wonderful houses during my travels, and while there are so many that I could consider highlights, it is the visits with three architects as much as their houses that stand out.  Bart Prince,  Ken Kellogg and Robert Harvey Oshatz are three wonderfully creative architects who were very generous with their time, very open about their approach, and passionate about their work.  Those discussions will stay with me forever.

Finally a visit with the very interesting owner of a spectacular house near San Diego led to some wonderful discussions about architecture.  During one of those discussions the owner commented that he thought “it is shame that so many people live architecturally impoverished lives.”  That statement has stayed with me since, and I have been trying to improve that situation one house at a time.