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Freeze frame

A closer take on the hottest solutions from June

Staff -- Interior Design, 6/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

1. Playing by the Rules

Local building codes posed several challenges to Scott Hughes in designing his own vacation house in Hobe Sound, Florida. "In the 10 years that I've worked down there, the regulations have been continually evolving," says the architect. "Every time I build another house, I have to learn something new." Hurricane season, for instance, ushers in winds of 140 miles an hour, making an errant coconut a serious projectile hazard to a house with extensive glazing. The storms dictated characteristics such as shutters, required on every window—including the 64-foot-long expanse of sliding glass doors along the pool. Impact glass was used for transom windows. Other local codes, aimed at keeping McMansions at bay, suggested an exterior finish of gray-green stucco that blends with the landscape. "It was important to keep the structure as subtle and low-key as possible," Hughes explains. Along the balcony that provides access to guest rooms, Hughes scored the stucco horizontally with the teeth of a giant comblike tool. He borrowed this technique, which creates the appearance of wood slats, from a California house built by Richard Neutra, whose work gave Hughes his starting point. "A Nod to Neutra," page 146.

2. For Safekeeping

In a quiet corner of the master bedroom in an apartment on Chicago's suburban North Shore, Powell/Kleinschmidt installed a glass-topped writing desk. The custom piece gives the apartment's owners a place to catch up on correspondence, and reading matter is close at hand, too. Architects Donald Powell and Robert Kleinschmidt, partners in the Chicago firm, installed a taupe hand-rubbed lacquered credenza, which incorporates a glass enclosure to contain books and magazines as well as serving as a bedside table. As always with P/K's work, detailing follows classic modernist principles of simplicity and clarity. The dining room's credenza is another elegant storage solution, designed and fabricated to fit the specific dimensions and quantity of the clients' sterling silver cutlery and fine china. Standard on most P/K projects, custom pulls are flush with the hand-rubbed lacquered surface of the drawer and cabinet. The credenza also boasts a limestone top, handy for serving meals to large gatherings of children and grandchildren. "Circle of Life," page 160.