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Arcadian Architecture: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson-12 Houses

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Question: Where doe the richest man in the world hang his hat?
Answer: In a house built by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.

In a new monograph from Rizzoli, Arcadian Architecture focuses on 12 private commissions built by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. As the title suggests Arcadian Architecture showcases homes that have a rustic or peaceful feeling, heightened by harmonious blending into their surroundings. The houses have a warm earthy minimal style inside and outside, created from wood, concrete, rock and stone. They look as if they grew in the landscape rather than being built there. Each of the 12 houses is presented in great detail, the captions, elevation drawings, sketches, and photos provide the reader with a personal tour of each property.

One of the featured projects in Arcadian Architecture is, " A Pacific Rim Estate", is a residential compound near Seattle perched on a steep site, leading down to the edge of Lake Washington. Arcadian Architecture does not advertise this as Bill Gates' house in the table of contents; this is indeed Bill's. It has been published in newspapers, magazines and is well documented on web sites, including the Architects' own.

The Pacific Rim Estate is a Pacific Northwest style lodge compound composed of more than a dozen buildings. This site covers about 5 acres with 66,000 square feet of buildings, equivalent to 1.5 acres of buildings. The structures are subtle, created from huge timbers, concrete, and glass. A common theme in houses built by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson is a seamless transition from house to nature from inside to outside. Numerous photographs reveal the structural details to be of highest quality and craftsmanship yet very simple. There is almost no covering up of the structural skeleton, wood joinery, the attachment of the timber framing to the walls, ceilings, the joists, trusses, are all revealed.

Some buildings flow one into another through halls, walkways, open patios and others are freestanding such as the boathouse, gatehouse and guesthouse. The architects manipulate what can be seen at any time creating privacy and drama. For example, the main garage holds 20 cars but much if it is below the ground to reduce its bulk and not detract from the landscape. The pool house and the lakeside pavilion have sod roofs that blend into the landscape and can't be seen from higher elevations. One of the most beautiful parts of the complex is the open air amphitheater (reminiscent of Ancient Greece or Rome) which is composed of poured concrete benches arranged in a horseshoe, with "seats" made from sod, punctuated with growing trees. It is a tranquil transitional space between buildings.

The guesthouse, which has won a number of awards, has the most illustrated interior, it is simple and sparsely furnished. There are no fussy details and not even a painting hangs on the walls, just beautiful natural views. The architects designed fine wooden furniture to fit perfectly in the bedroom and dining area. Softer touches come from a simple piece of fabric is draped behind the bed and a few pillows. This is the first portion of the estate built several years earlier and it served as the "lab" for many of the ideas that are repeated throughout the greater complex.

There are a few novel "green" adaptations in this project. The huge timbers that unify the buildings were recycled from a factory that was torn down. These timbers were re-sawn and refinished to perfection. The landscape plantings, 100 truckloads of forest, were transported from an area, which was to be burned in order to clear it. (from an interview with Jim Cutler in AIA) Seattle is known for rain but a 100,000+ gallon underground cistern was built to catch rainwater, which is used to water the landscaping. Water run-off is also funneled into a man made estuary restoring some of the shoreline wetlands on the property's edge. The retaining walls and steep site necessitated additional diversion of water or it would have caused damage.

Members of the architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson have been at the drawing board since 1965, amassing more than 250 regional, national and international awards for their buildings. Bohlin Cywinski Jackson built major commissions for academic institutions, public spaces and corporations (the Apple store on Michigan Ave., Chicago). They also build private homes both large and small. In 1994 they received the equivalent of an Olympic gold medal for their profession, the Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects.

Arcadian Architecture is a big book, 424 pages, 650 color photographs, 250 black and white photographs, 350 drawings and 8 gatefolds all told 7-½ pounds worth. With impressive production values a great value at $65.00.

I won't bore you with what an excellent firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson is, their 250 architectural design awards are evidence of the quality of the body of their work. I instead would like to review the quality of this publication. In over thirty years of architectural practice and school I don't know if I have seen a better constructed book. The contributions by Peter Bohlin and James Cutler as well as the introduction by Thomas Fisher frame the twelve houses is such a way as to clear understanding of the design and construction process that make these projects worth serious study. It is seldom that I open a book for the first time and fell such "WOW" at the quality of its content and construction of the book. It is a work of art in my opinion. Oscar Riera Ojeda has done an excellent job as editor of this work.

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson have a long illustrious history stemming from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Seattle, Washington. As such, this beautiful collection of twelve "arcadian" homes represent the tip of the iceberg of their collective work. In these immaculate residences you will find their signature details, many of them by James Cutler, who worked with Peter Bohlin on the Gates Residence and other projects. You will marvel at the romanticism of the Adirondack Retreat on Lake George, New York, with its granite boulder fireplace and natural cedar and fir interiors. Then there is the Endless Mountain House, located in Northeastern Pennsylvania, with its projected balconies atop crumbling fieldstone walls with a towering chimney anchoring one end of this evocative residence. The house appears as though it were built over ancient ruins. Nestled within these idyllic residential projects is the Pacific Rim Estate, co-authored by Bohlin and Cutler for Bill Gates on Lake Washington, near Seattle. It is a stunning work, not so much in its assemblage as in its marvelous kit of parts, from a barrel-vaulted garage buried into the wooded landscape to the beautiful timber connections in the main body of the residential complex. Here we see brute concrete and heavy timber blended naturally into the landscape, making for a surprisingly unassuming compound that incorporated many sustainable design features, including recycled heavy timber posts and beams.

This is one of the most well crafted books on a single architect. The scale and quality of the photographs, the packaging, it is the best gift you can offer to someone who has a passion for materials and detail.

The content of this book is wonderful and BCJ are to be commended for their work.

The actual book, however, is VERY poorly put together. The binding on every volume I've purchased has started to disintegrate from the moment I've opened the cover. I've purchased and returned several copies because of this (ultimately having to return the book entirely).

For this reason, I can barely give it a single star in terms of rating. Had it been bound like every other book I own, it would earn a 5-star rating.

an absolute treasure. this quite weighty volume covers the top-notch residential work of BCJ in great detail - beautiful drawings and photography all work together to illustrate these wonderful buildings... highly recommended!

Beautiful work, beautifully presented. The binding, however, is hopeless. Particularly surprising coming from a publisher like Rizzoli. If you're looking for a loose portfolio of some of the best architectural design of today in a heavy cardboard box without dust jacket this is highly recommended. The work deserves better.

It is a very nice book and one that my son wants very much to add to his liabrary as he is studying architecture. The book seems to be coming apart, only strings are holding it togehter. It looks like the glue has pulled apart where we have started looking at the book.

The content and houses in this book are of great quality, but the book fell apart the first time I read it! It's really ashamed as this is a 5-star quality book based on content alone.

BCJ's attention to detail, honesty in materials, and consideration of site and light come through loud and clear in this beautifully photographed and printed tome. And it is a tome--it's impressively substantial. This is in fact one of my favorite architecture books, and continues to influence and inspire us as we develop our own house plans with our architect.

In addition to the photography, I also love the construction document details, the complementary booklet of build and unbuilt works, cabinet sections, etc.

BUT...like some others have mentioned the binding begins to disintegrate the moment the book is opened. I'm now returning mine for the second time. This shouldn't be the case for such an expensive piece, and I haven't had a similar problem with other Rizzoli books, including Searching for True, which is similarly bound.

Without the botched binding I'd certainly give the book a 5-star rating.