AIARE CRAN Tour of Christopher Alexander House

House Tour of Christopher Alexander Designed Home

Tour led by Architect Demetrius Gonzalez and Contractor David Leff

Hosted by Heidi Faulkner, Sotheby’s Realty

This magnificent artisan estate was designed by renowned architect Christopher Alexander whose talent created a masterpiece of profound beauty in Sebastopol.  The home uses passive solar design and its thick walls are built of shot-crete. The house is designed to last for several hundred years.  Recycled and sustainable materials were used as much as possible throughout the house. The wood floors in the living room are made of recycled mahogany from crates used by Sunkist to bring tuna to California at the turn of the 20th century, and the upstairs floors are made from old-growth redwood from chicken coops in Petaluma. Beautiful cabinets in the gourmet kitchen and the stairway are made from a sustainable form of eucalyptus. The redwood on the outside of the office wing came from an old farmhouse built in the 1880’s. Most of the other floors are acid etched concrete with radiant heat.

This project is a good example of the ideas that Christopher Alexander wrote about in his books on architecture.  Christopher Alexander studied at Berkeley in the 60’s and wanted to find a different way of “procuring” architecture.  He found a great lack of feeling in the designs at the time.  He wrote several books, including a four volume opus, “The Nature of Order”.  He had a theory that there is an objective source of beauty.  That source is the interconnectedness of everything. He strived to create that feeling of unfolding life. The motivation behind the design of this house was to create something of deep feeling that enlivens people.  There is certain geometry that does that and it comes from nature and certain traditional cultures.

In addition to Christopher, the project team included architect Demetrius Gonzalez who worked with Christopher and was the project manager and David Leff of Leff Construction who was the general contractor on the project.  Demetrius connected with Christopher fairly early and worked with him in London and then back in Berkeley and on this project.

Beauty, functionality and good stewardship of the land are all part of philosophy behind the house and the gardens.  The house sits high upon an east facing ridge and has sweeping views of vineyards and redwood forests that lead the eye across the Sonoma Plain to the Mayacamas and Sonoma Mountains toward Napa. It is a seven acre garden sanctuary which uses a sustainable and ecological approach, called permaculture, to grow heirloom fruit, berries and lavender.  See the photo gallery for more photos of this beautiful home.

Fall Color

I attended a tour and lecture of Permaculture's farm and test gardens in Sebastopol recently.  The US Green Building Council organized the meeting and even though it was mid-October, there was still a profusion of plants and flowers still thriving.  As the evening progressed, we were treated to a beautiful sunset lighting the few clouds in the sky.

Claremont Branch of the Berkeley Library

The Tudor-style building at 2940 Benvenue Avenue in Berkeley was opened ceremoniously by Berkeley Mayor Frank D. Stringham on the evening of October 27, 1924. The library was designed to blend in both scale and character with the beautiful homes around it. James W. Plachek, who also designed the Berkeley Central building downtown, gave the library an Old World charm still apparent today.

Artists, writers, musicians and political activists among others, have been attracted to the Elmwood neighborhood since the first homes were built in the early 1900’s.  The name "Elmwood" first appeared in a 1905 promotional real estate brochure extolling its bucolic charms and its wide unpaved avenues of elms and poplars. Today anyone living within easy walking distance of the shopping district at College and Ashby Avenues is part of this pedestrian-friendly neighborhood.

Renovated and improved, the Claremont Branch is poised to serve future generations with updated and state-of-the-art spaces that are inviting, efficient, and flexible. The renovation and improvements were completed as part of the Branch Library Improvement program that began in 2009. Funds from a $26 million bond measure will bring all four branches up to current code standards. The renovated branches will meet current seismic requirements, be fully ADA accessible and provide environmentally sustainable “green” operations.

The new addition and entrance.  For a slide show click here.