One Plus One Equals More

Douglas Fanning went into business as Dyad, a studio specializing in furniture, lighting, and complex metal­work, in 1998. Now, the newly licensed architect has completed his creative vision by establishing an offshoot, Douglas Fanning Architecture.

Meghan Edwards -- Interior Design, 3/1/2011 2:49:00 PM

Douglas Fanning went into business as Dyad, a studio specializing in furniture, lighting, and complex metal­work, in 1998. Now, the newly licensed architect has completed his creative vision by establishing an offshoot, Douglas Fanning Architecture. "I'd been developing this idea, of having two studios, for 10 years," he says. The recession nudged him into the broader arena of design-build as a way to provide enough work to keep both facets of the practice busy. "When one is slow, the other's not," he explains.

A New York roof garden, his first, epitomizes the symbiosis between concept and implementation while adding 200 square feet of outdoor space to a top-story apartment in a town house. To partially enclose and shade the terrace, he used long planters held aloft, in parallel rows, by an in­novative framework. This armature was welded together from steel I beams, cut down the center into T shapes, and the planters, plain cedar boxes, contain bamboo, other grasses, herbs, flowers, and vegetables. They're watered with the assistance of a telescoping ladder and a spray wand.