Camp Revamp

Pitching a project, most architects bring a portfolio. Matthew Hofmann just pulls up to the curb in the Airstream that serves as a mobile satellite studio to promote his fledgling firm, Hofmann Architecture, as well as all things eco.

Annie Block, Mark McMenamin, and Meghan Edwards -- Interior Design, 6/1/2011 12:46:00 PM

Pitching a project, most architects bring a portfolio. Matthew Hofmann just pulls up to the curb in the Airstream that serves as a mobile satellite studio to promote his fledgling firm, Hofmann Architecture, as well as all things eco. Two large awnings shade windows from sunlight during the day, and an integrated propane heating system fights the nighttime chill in and around Santa Barbara, California. Paint is zero-VOC, lighting low-voltage. The shower features a low-flow wand and recycled-glass mosaic tiles. Locally sourced natural-strand bamboo appears as counters and flooring for the bathroom and kitchen and a tabletop for the office. In the spirit of doing more with less, that tabletop quickly lowers to convert the office into sleeping quarters.

Transforming the rundown trailer was a road trip in itself. After using nontoxic strippers to dissolve the dull clear-coat finish on the aluminum exterior, Hofmann buffed it back to fresh-from-the-dealer sheen. Inside, he removed the original dining table and repurposed it as oak-veneered shelving nearby. As for the well-worn appliances and fixtures, he donated them in order to extend their life span elsewhere, then replaced them with energy-efficient equivalents. The biggest challenge? "Removing the wet-dog smell. Under every panel and cabinet was a healthy ‘carpet' of pit-bull fur," he recalls. Some things will forever defy recycling.