OUR PHILOSOPHY

Our homes express our aspirations, and desires, our sense of style and comfort, and how we see ourselves. Our homes are also a primary means to represent to others who we are and what we value.  A home also needs to provide security, convenience and ease.  It is a place of refuge at the end of the day, a place to recharge for the days ahead and a place to pursue our interests and passions.  Our home represents, in a very real sense, one of the ways we create the lives we want to lead. 

At PCC Residential we try to help you accomplish these goals.  By working very closely with you to understand how you live, what your day to day needs are, what you value, and what you find beautiful, PCC Residential can assist you in designing a house that can best be configured to express your personality and aesthetic sense and to serve your needs, wants and desires.  If we are successful in the translation of these ideas into a well considered and thoughtful design  - your house can be transformed in to a true family home.

By combining solid architectural design experience with an understanding of planning regulations and building codes, civil and structural engineering, materials and construction costs we can help you to create the beautiful home that you desire with the comfort and ease that you want.  Please let PCC Residential show you just what we can do.

TWO DEFINITIONS OF DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE

In the first recorded written  work on architecture, this was in the 1st century BC, the Roman architect Vitruvius wrote that a good building should satisfy the principles of firmitatis, utilitatis and venustatis.  This translates today as;

     Durability - it should be well constructed and long lasting.

     Utility - it should meet the needs of the people who use it.

     Beauty - it should be pleasing to the eye and a delight to see.

A more complete, though no more accurate definition of residential design and architecture can be found on Wikipedia. This much more current and contemporary definition, slightly edited, is;

The creative organization of mass, space, form, volume, texture, structure, light, shadow, material, and program, along with technology, cost,  constructability, and sustainability  to achieve a functional, economical, practical, and hopefully aesthetic or even artistic solution to a spatial or structural need.

INFLUENCES & INSPIRATION

The following are the architects, designers and artists that have most influenced the direction of our design and artistic work.  That is, after years designing and / or building dozens of projects and of very closely looking at buildings and their surrounding, landscapes large and small, and works of art both profound and trivial - in person, in books and in many classes, and lectures these are the people we return to for inspiration again and again.

Cutler Anderson Architects & Miller-Hull Partnership.

     Both these firms do wonderful environmental  contemporary  designs from offices in the Seattle area.  Both firms'  residential design work is earthy and woodsy - it is of its time and of its place. They truly capture the spirit and aesthetic of modern environmentally influenced architecture. Their buildings seem to spring from and yet become part of their surroundings, they have a crisp, natural aesthetic  with a rich and textured timelessness.

Ricardo Legorrta Architect.

     This Mexican designer is a master of simple geometry, bold color and the extraordinary  play of shadow and light.  Each time you look at one of his buildings it takes on a different character - they seem to morph into something all together new as the day progresses, the sun arches across the sky, and as you move through them.

Antoine Predock

This designer, whose practice is based primarily in the south-west US, is both an accomplished architect and an experienced landscape designer.  He sees buildings and landscape not as separate but as part of a unified whole. His buildings  have an aesthetic unity of place that is very appealing.

Lawrence Halprin.

     Lawrence Halprin, a Bay Area design legend, is the icon of  the deeply felt manipulation of  natural forms placed in an urban setting.  His landscapes and fountains transport you to a spring-time Sierra Nevada meadow, a cascading stream or a high mountain waterfall; all while buried deep in the rush of a city.  Few others design landscapes that are as engaging or as thoughtful. 

     The unheralded  designers of simple but elegant California Bungalows of the early 20th century.  Simplicity and craftsmanship.  These are some of the most livable and "homey" houses  ever built. They have front porches, rear garages and comfortable detailing. The architectural equivalent of an overstuffed easy chair.

     The Art Deco Masters of the 1920s and 1930s.  Architecture that is wonderfully over -the-top.  Complexity and craftsmanship. Unrestrained exuberance.  A delight to look at.  Just plain fun in every way.  There needs to be more in the Art Deco style built today. 

Isamu Noguchi.

     Seminal  Japanese-American sculptor and designer who changed the face of art and man made landscape in the 1960s.

Alexander Calder.

     An artist and sculptor who was prolific,  profound and funny.

Ned Kahn

     A truly inspiring artist.  He uses science, technology, and machine tools to create surprisingly simple sculpture.  He started at the Exploritorium in San Francisco and went on to design and build dozens of public sculptures all over the world.  At some point he was awarded a Macarthur (genius) grant. 

Vincent Van Gogh.

 

WHAT WE DO

We design and build new homes.

We design and build;

     Bathroom remodels.

     Kitchen remodels.

     Whole house renewals.

We design and build additions large and small

We provide job cost estimates and value engineering. 

We coordinate all interior and exterior design  decisions and the purchase of specified materials.

We provide design integrity and construction quality assurance.

We design and build the hardscape, structures, drainage, irrigation and grading for landscape installations.

We provide plant selection; including featured tree and perennial  specification, seasonal flower and bloom transition, and annual color coordination. 

We design and build site specific fountains and sculpture in glass, stone, steel and light. 

 A GOOD QUOTE

Scottish architect, Darcy Braddell attempted, in his 1932 book "How to Look at Buildings," to help people understand why some building seem to "feel right" while other do not.  He felt that proper and considered proportions were much more important than anything else.  Further, he held that "every part must make up a whole, that no one thing is beautiful in itself, that restraint is superior to excess and that selection is the key to design."