Douglas Newby Insights - Page 39
Open, Private, Cool
The Edward Durell Stone designed home is almost magical. One can stand in the middle of the home and look outside in all four directions. The exterior of the home is wrapped in glass, allowing 360º outside views. And yet one feels a sense of privacy because of the brise soleil that embraces the home. This provides the first layer of privacy. The pair of carved wood screens found on both sides of the public rooms create another layer of privacy. One can see out but people cannot see in. The interior pools are cool! They are dramatically and aesthetically cool, and the water is cool. Interior water features and pools are traditionally problematic. Here architect Russell Buchanan and interior designer David Cadwallader were able to recreate and accentuate the original design of Edward Durell Stone that included these interior pools of water because of the construction competence of the @SebastianConstructionGroup. The pools were engineered and cooled to provide the visual and emotional appeal of the water without any undesirable side effects.
#EdwardDurellStone #Interior #InteriorDesign #InteriorPool #ArchitecturallySignificant #Architect #Architecture #Design #InteriorDesigner #Contractor #MidCenturyModern #MidCentury #1960s #BriseSoleil #CarvedScreens #modernarchitecture #homesthatmakeushappy #FloatingDiningRoom #Open #OpenFloorplan #Dallas #City #PrestonHollow #ModernEstateHome #Contemporary #Engineering #Construction @cadwallader_design #sebastianconstructiongroup
Architecture Exposed
A barn is a big part of Texas architecture. It often made up part of the compound of original pioneer Texas homes. One of the things I love about barns is when the architecture is exposed and unadorned. Architects David Williams and O’Neil Ford made a point of showing the intimacy of the architecture and the craftsmanship with the exposed beams, woodwork, and metalwork in their Texas Modern homes. While a barn sounds like a simple structure, here you can see how elegant the architecture of a barn becomes. One can also see another kind of example of the precision of Sebastian Construction Group that allows the structure to become the decoration.
#Architect #Architecture @SebastianConstructionGroup #InteriorDesign #Design #Barn #BarnArchitecture #StructureAsDesign #Texas #TexasArchitecture #TexasModernArchitecture #Art #Wood #ExposedArchitecture #UnadornedArchitecture #Contractor #Construction #sebastianconstructiongroup
Secondary Structure Vies for Primary Appeal
Architect Svend Fruit @Bodron+Fruit designed this pool house. The visual presence of this small structure fills the acreage of the adjacent Philip Johnson-designed modern house. The juxtaposition of the tightly orchestrated horizontal lines of the landscape and house, with the arched façade wrapping around the two-story modern primary house is visibly exciting and cohesive. The differing styles and sizes of these buildings are harmonious as they project modern architecture as it relates to the site and each other, and their respective era on this one project @SebastianConstructionGroup was able to execute the dynamic renovation of the existing architecturally significant home and next to it build a new architecturally significant modern pool house. The quality of construction also helps visually tie these two structures together.
#PoolHouse #SvendFruit #Architect #Architecture #ModernDesign #Contemporary #Pool #Landscape #Glass #Windows #View #SecondaryStructure #EstateHome #ArchitecturallySignificant #PrestonHollow #Dallas #City #Neighborhood #Art #ModernHouse
#Design #art #estate #sebastianconstructiongroup
Hotel Room Envy
Even before I knew that this was the hotel room where Bette Davis made her home, it is the only one I can remember looking up at and thinking with a bit of envy this looks quite fabulous, I think I could love living there. At different times in my life I stayed in iconic historic hotel rooms. As a child, I stayed in the penthouse suite of the San Francisco Fairmont Hotel. Some years later, I stayed in the penthouse suite of the Waldorf-Astoria, and other hotels, like my favorite the Carlyle, in rooms where dignitaries had once stayed. However, it was this simple-looking room that caught my attention. It was at the top of the hotel, but only a few floors high, so it still related to the street when one is on the balcony. This corner suite, surrounded by balconies and French doors, provides many views, of the river below that runs through San Sebastian, a full view of the beach and sea, the plaza below, and even the fireworks display of the annual International fireworks competition.The curved balconies that related to the city and provided beautiful distant views, suggested a home that could make one happy. Quite inadvertently sometime later I was assigned this room. Yes, it did make me happy.
#SanSebastian #Pintxos #Architect #Architecture #Plaza #Sea #Beach #River #Iconic #Penthouse #BetteDavis #BetteDavisSuite #Design #Style #View #SeaView #HomesThatMakeUsHappy #Balcony #BalconyView #Plaza #HotelMariaCristina
@HotelMariaCristina #Hotel #HotelAsHome #BasqueCountry #HistoricArchitecture #History #Spain
When a Hotel Becomes a Home
I have often wondered how someone of great wealth, fame, privilege, and adoration decides to make a hotel a home. How do they decide which city to live in and which hotel? Is a hotel a home, a way to put down roots in a peripatetic life, or does it give one a sense that their life without roots continues? The hotel suite in Hotel Maria Cristina with this view was selected by Bette Davis where she lived much of her late life. Walking distance to the Pintxos restaurants and bars in the old city, views over the river, to sea, and a plaza with hills in the background, I imagine, are some of the reasons she picked this hotel for her home.
#SanSebastian #BetteDavis #BetteDavisSuite #Pintxos #Suite #HotelSuite #SeaView #View #Plaza #SaintSebastian #Statue #Sea #Beach #CityBeach #River #Architect #Architecture #Design #Style #City #Home #OldCity #Historic #HistoricArchitecture #Balcony #HotelMariaCristina @HotelMariaCristina #HotelAsHome #Hotel #Spain
Bette Davis Eyes Share a View
My favorite room in San Sebastian turns out to be the favorite room of Bette Davis. Until I was assigned this suite, I was unaware that this was where Bette Davis made her home for much of her late life. Fittingly, the Hotel Maria Cristina celebrates Bette Davis’ affection for the hotel and the room she made home by naming the room after her and displaying iconic images of Bette Davis here. One only needs to stand on the balcony or look out one of the windows wrapping around the suite to be able to see the views Bette Davis’ eyes captured.
#BetteDavis #BetteDavisHome #SanSebastian #HotelMariaCristina #HotelAsHome #Hotel #homesthatmakeushappy #BetteDavisEyes #Window #Portrait #FrenchDoors #Balcony #Sea #River #View #City #Spain #BasqueCountry #Design #InteriorDesign #Art #HollywoodStar #History #Architecture #HotelSuite @HotelMariaCristina #Photography #PortraitPhotography #HistoricArchitecture #History
Oglesby Revealed
Architect Bud Oglesby designed extravagant estate homes with over 10,000 s.f. and tiny condominiums under 1000 s.f. However, every Oglesby-designed home I have seen has had extraordinary open public spaces filled with sunlight. Entering the home, the volume of the interior of a Bud Oglesby-designed home always feels much larger than the square footage of the home would indicate. This home provides an even greater surprise as the exterior is architecturally disguised to conform to the development association guidelines. When one enters the home, it is pure Bud Oglesby. Architect Cliff Welch who worked in the firm of Bud Oglesby has returned to the project he worked on as a young architect. He now adapted the adjacent property to extend the Oglesby design and create 21st century modernity. On lots with zero lot lines that look over creeks and forests, Sebastian Construction Group moves easily in this world of renovation and new construction. Here they built an architecturally significant home that reflects the original design, and is also architecturally cohesive and current.
#BudOglesby #Modern #ModernHome #ContemporaryHome #InteriorDesign #ModernDesign #Art #Architect #Architecture #OpenFloorplan #Walls #Windows #Contemporary #PrivateArtGallery #ResidentialGallery #Renovation #Dallas #PathToTrinityGroves #City #sebastianconstructiongroup #TurtleCreekCorridor #DowntownHousing @SebastianConstructionGroup
Large House – Intimate Detail
One of the most difficult architectural achievements is designing and creating a huge house that draws your attention, not because of its size but its intimacy, proportions and quality of detail. This large home is a perfect example of a triumph of detail over mass. Smooth-faced cut limestone is a backdrop of intimate carved detail. The difference in off-the-shelf stock cast stone molding and detail with each piece designed and carved out of stone is quite significant. This home represents how Sebastian Construction Group, which is often appreciated for taking on substantial projects, is also known to architects for their ability to implement complicated design. In this case they transferred front façade architectural details to shop drawings for 500 pieces of carved stone that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, creating a graceful façade.
#JigsawPuzzle #CarvedStone #SmoothFacedStone #StoneMoldings #ShopDrawing #Design #VolkEstates #EstateHome #Dallas #Neighborhood #City #UniversityPark #Contractor #Construction #ArchitecturallySignificant #Detail #Limestone #sebastianconstructiongroup #Entry #Architect #Architecture #Facade @SebastianConstructionGroup
Flourish of Opulence
Can a pool provide an accent to a home? In this case, yes. Extravagant opulence can overload the senses, be intimidating, or just too much. And yet when an opulent room is almost hidden away, a flourish of opulence like this interior pool room can remind one that the entire home has an opulence of construction and materials even when they are understated. Here it is fun to see the architectural virtuosity of the Sebastian Construction Group as they build and provide extravagant finishes for a stately home.
#Opulence #Flourish #Pool #InteriorPool @SebastianConstructionGroup #Design #Chandelier #Interior #InteriorDesign #Contractor #EstateHome #Dallas #City #UniversityPark #VolkEstates #ArchitecturalExuberance #Architect #Architecture #Art #WallFinishes #sebastianconstructiongroup
109° — Topo Chico On My Mind
Going through a Bud Oglesby designed modern house, lo and behold, Topo Chico was included in the display of vessels and vases. Maybe a mirage or maybe an aesthetic statement in response to the heat wave we had recently when it got up to 111º. Regardless of the temperature, I love Topo Chico whenever I find it.
#TopoChico #Heat #Summer #Temperature #100degrees #Mirage #Vessels #Vases #Art #Design #Silly #Modern #Contemporary #PathToTrinityGroves #Knox #TravisWalk #KatyTrail #Dallas #City #Urban #Neighborhood