Houses + Origins, published in July 2012 by Images Publishing, is the first monograph in the work of WA Design, David Stark Wilson’s firm in Berkeley, California, but it’s not Wilson’s very first publication. That honour goes to the 2003 name Structures of Utility, a collection of black and white photographs which Wilson shot in California and other parts of the West, documenting the region’s natural beauty and rural architecture. Not surprisingly, but hardly intentionally, those photos and the trips that allowed them influenced his residential layouts.
This new monograph’s name spells out the continuing impact of natural features on Wilson’s architecture. Houses + Origins collects 10 jobs — nine homes and a single office building — three of which I have written about earlier: the Berkeley Courtyard House, the Tahoe Ridge House along with the Willits Compound. This ideabook appears within the pages of this book’s very first chapter, which documents that the Berkeley Courtyard House, talking it specifically and in the larger context of this monograph.
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The cover features the Berkeley Courtyard House, its own central space with pools against a narrow canyon with its bed of plain water. The publication “shows the impact of seeing things in a wider context,” says architecture author Stephen Crafti about the rear cover. “The homes featured in the publication, designed by Wilson in conjunction with architect Chris Parlette, show the significance of understanding that the word ‘context.'”
However, since the cover illustrates, inspiration can be remote, removed from a job’s immediate context.
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Each project is recorded in a similar vein, starting with an outside photo on a two-page disperse.
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The large photo is followed by a two-page spread with the project description and an altitude or construction section. This one–just two punch links the photo (final product) with the drawing (process). In the instance of this Berkeley Courtyard House, the construction section is most important, because it shows the space between the 2 regions of the house and how the angled roofs correspond with one another.
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Spreads split between photos of the house and the natural inspiration are interspersed among other photos and drawings. Here, a photo of the entrance sits across in the photo of fall leaves on the ground. The dappled impact of this multihued leaves is linked to the perforated wall next to the front door and the light routine it casts throughout it.
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One of the most refreshing parts of the novel are where Wilson documents the siting of the homes. Small photos of the property as faced by the architect and the client sit atop a site program. The photos illustrate the effort and consideration in determining where the homes were found, decisions which impacted the shape, orientation, openings and other aspects of the websites.
The land for the Berkeley Courtyard House needed a house on it until fire destroyed it in 1991. The tiered hillside and remote perspectives toward San Francisco Bay made several things clear, especially orientation.
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Each project includes floor plans attracted continuously and clearly labeled and keyed. Photographs can also be numbered and described in captions, although regrettably the locations of these photos are not included on the programs. This could have helped orient men and women that are not well versed in reading floor plans. Yes, most people who buy architectural monographs are architects, however, ones on residential buildings have a crossover appeal to a wider audience that’s undeniable. Extra effort, like keying photos to programs, would have aided in that regard.
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People acquainted with WA Design’s homes will observe much of the same in these pages. But the novel shows multiple images together, as seen here, to enable comparisons and allow readers to draw them. Small photos on the left (click photo to view whole view) show the dining room and the kitchen (top) and a couple of the home’s stairs (underside), while a large, full-bleed photo on the right page extends to the leftside, making the movement throughout the courtyard to the north wing.
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Another disperse makes clear the connection between the entrance (left) and the living room (right). Again, this can be an advantage of novels: You can see views of multiple graphics relative to one another.
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This disperse puts photos of this Berkeley Courtyard House’s exterior spaces along the top. The bottom row comprises close-ups of landscape features. These details show that Wilson’s thinking about landscape is not solely concerning inspiration for architectural form; it extends to the implanted landscape around the house. Colors and textures are juxtaposed against the various substances that form the walls, the pools and other capabilities.
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Last is just another spread showing a design and its own inspiration. Wilson’s captions read: “Zinc shingles and the autumn foliage of ginkgo trees” (left) and “A epidermis of glacial gloss on Sierra granite, Tuolumne Meadows, California” (right).
The factor flat/glossy and rough/muted nature of this granite contrasts with the regular routine of these zinc panels. And the juxtaposition of trees from the zinc is similar to the 2 variants in granite. Whether the granite was an inspiration for Wilson with this house or not, these spreads highlight the presence of nature in the imagination, which can be equally as important as its presence on earth.
Book: Houses + Origins (Graphics Publishing, 2012)
Tour WA Design jobs:
Berkeley Courtyard House
Tahoe Ridge House
Willits Compound