This San Francisco residential project looks at two potential scenarios:
_a serial exploration of different space and program combinations anchored by a specific set of custom built furniture installations within an existing condo.
_a serial exploration of different space and program combinations through the addition of the clone condo below.

process models by graduate student Eri Sano.

In addition to developing curriculum, shop facilities, and digital fabrication programs, ODC partners Kenneth Ford and Neil Henk teach graduate studios, 3d modeling and representation, and thesis students at the Academy of Art University’s Architecture Program.

Nopa is a San Francisco gathering place ‘north of the panhandle’, serving urban rustic food and specializing in organic wood-fired cuisine. The restaurant prides itself on its sustainable approach to dining using only fresh local ingredients to produce exquisite yet comfort-inducing dishes. Nopa’s success has lead to crowd-packed nights producing an intense amount of ambient noise detracting from the dining experience of its clientele.

Other Desert Cities is currently working on a project for Nopa to integrate an architectural acoustic solution to accentuate the ‘right’ sounds and suppress unwanted noise while reinforcing Nopa’s brand identity of ‘urban rustic dining.’ The project approach is to work with existing architecture and graphic identity while evolving missed opportunities within the original architecture. Design strategies focus on ‘accentuation’ and ‘camouflage’. A proposed innovative acoustic solution uses micro-perforated, environmentally sensitive eco-resin panels to reinforce brand identity while other solutions are ‘blended’ into the architecture and focus on pragmatic issues of budget and maintenance.

please check back soon, more work is coming….

Other Desert Cities is currently involved in an international development startup addressing cultural and environmental sustainability in Vietnamese real estate development.

The Future Is Green. The Future is Now

A mobile exhibit showcasing eco-friendly transportation technologies and green living ideas sponsored by Southern California Edison and its partners.

This touring exhibit will appear at shopping and community centers throughout the Southern California area and will demonstrate how forward thinking business people are developing new product opportunities in the quest to preserve the environment.

For the Academy of Art University’s Architecture Spring Show in 2007, Other Desert Cities designed and fabricated a modular display installation using honeycomb cardboard panels which allowed students to explore the idea of ‘sectional differentiation and repetition’ in order to curate and hi-light the best work of the semester.

This amazing site in Angel Fire, New Mexico is the backdrop for a 3000 square foot three-bedroom residence. The clients, interested in minimal impact to the site, had to choose between locating the house in either a pristine meadow or a beautiful aspen forest.

Other Desert Cities approached the threshold between the two areas to provide a degree of privacy for the clients while not limiting views out into the meadow. The project encases a selected set of aspen trees within an internal courtyard to provide a protected space of meditation and light. The approach to the courtyard fostered an overall attitude to keep as many existing trees as possible. A rammed earth wall extends through the house and along the courtyard providing a material link between ‘served and servant’ portions of the house. And a viewing bridge running along the edge of trees at the ‘threshold of the site’ provides a ‘climate controlled walk through the woods’ between public and private areas. The house is heated with radiant floors and attempts to take advantage of southern exposure to heat areas of maximum use.

The market is tough. How can a company, product or service standout within the ever expanding and evolving marketplace? How can you incorporate a new customer base, without jeopardizing your current clientele? These are some of the questions and problems we establish before embarking upon any commercial design.

Idemitsu is Japan’s oldest domestic petroleum company. With increased competition from foreign petrol station brands, Idemitsu was forced to address its aging inventory of retail facilities. The objective was to clearly establish a new brand identity and maintain their current clientele, while establishing a new customer base.

Other Desert Cities and The Brand Architect Group won a national competition to design the new service stations and new store identities in 2005. The new architecture and branding proposal are currently being constructed and by April 2007, there will be more than 5000 Idemitsu service stations across Japan using our new designs.

Alpen Group of Japan has the quintessential problem of the ‘big-box’ store: a massive amount of product at accessible prices but the appearance of ‘cheapness’ and a congested spatial organization of product.

Other Desert Cities teamed with The Brand Architect Group to provide a design strategy that created a simple but sophisticated spatial organization of displayed product vs. stored product, integrated new interior zones for emerging sports lifestyle markets, and clarified brand identity. Specific cues were taken from higher-end stores such as REI and Niketown focusing on lifestyle and simple but high-impact graphics for signage. These cues allowed an otherwise ‘discount’ store to appear to be of higher quality. Product zoning was refined and a translucent ‘stock-wall’ was suggested to allow for the appearance of an availability of an abundant amount of product while allowing the floor to remain easy to navigate with a more articulated selection of product.

The UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design was awarded the 2005 Progressive Architecture Award (P/A) by Architecture magazine for “L.A. Now: Volume 3,” an urban design research project encompassing 35,000 housing units in downtown Los Angeles.

The project was led by UCLA professor Thom Mayne, principal in the architecture firm Morphosis. Other Desert Cities partner Kenneth Ford acted as graphic director for the project. Now in their 52nd year, P/A awards recognize unbuilt projects that demonstrate overall design excellence and innovation. Over time, they have served as bellwethers of emerging architectural design trends and talents.

This media wall in a restored victorian house integrates the physical aspects of a selective digital video/audio collection and hi-end audio and video components while providing inlayed spaces and inputs for the couple’s laptops, atlas, and a special ‘memory book’. Portions of the piece detach to form a ’satellite coffee table’

Dressing is a calculative measure, a premeditative act for preparing oneself for the activities of one’s day. How does architecture play a role in the activity of the selection of clothing and dressing?

We consider a women’s dressing room as a threshold to her daily experience; a pivotal place in which she addresses the decisions of preparing her appearance for the outside world and a space of intimate conversation and self reflection.

The design considered the relational aspects of materials which evoked associations and memory, and layout that considered ease of selection and organization. These material and spatial aspects highlighted elements of femininity, simplicity and delicateness, with crafted and graceful detailing.

After the merger of The Sports Authority (TSA) and Gart Sports Inc. in fall 2003, TSA was confronted with the task of combining two brand identities into one. ODC provided strategic design and spatial branding direction in an attempt to reinvigorate and redefine the Sports Authority brand. Seeing that the current locations were mostly located within nondescript ‘Big Box Stores’, ODC implemented a strategy to reinvent the current shopping typology. By reworking the existing facade, ODC provided a space for sport equipment trials. The new front elevation became an engaging and dynamic sport information and active branding facade.

The natural integration of the landscape and the clients’ love of reading inspired the development of Angel Fire 1. A set of natural rammed earth walls were used to separate private and public spaces, frame and envelope the fireplace and connect the material qualities of the house to the surroundings.

By defining the idea of a ‘book cellar’, we developed a space that split the public and private domain through the activity of reading. Understanding the fundamentals of this activity helped justify the existence of the move; a space of quiet and repose, between the activities of the day and those of the evening. The ‘book cellar’ opens up to an exterior reading garden where a rammed earth wall slips out to become an exterior fire place.

For this one-off event for the owner of Red Bull, ODC developed the conceptual direction and provided the technical orchestration to make this celebrity gala an astounding success. Working with Bernd Bartosek Engineers in Vienna, the construction of this 80m x 3m x 9m, forty ton, mobile catering station, nicknamed ‘the monolith’, was pulled into the newly constructed Hangar 7 by a Boeing 747 towing hitch as the final festivities of the Salzburg Music Festival concluded. All of the vital systems for catering operations for the event were housed within.

The market is changing. How can an aging company evolve and adapt itself in order to remain relevant in the marketplace?

Facing increased competition from gas station mini-marts and the Starbucks-inspired coffee shop phenomenon, 7-eleven found itself in need of a facelift. In a presentation made to 7-eleven executives, Brand Architect Group and Other Desert Cities conceived three directions for a for a design makeover to better appeal to three unique customer segments: urban workers, commuters, and health- conscious suburban families.

The Karimou retreat, commissioned by a member of the Nigerian consulate, is a residence, guest house, and garden pending construction in Naimey, Nigeria. Working with Robert Crockett Architects, Los Angeles, Other Desert Cities provided design services to help tailor and direct the aesthetics and detailing of both the internal and external elements.

The project is a modern Eden in a rough Nigerian neighborhood, where a 24 hour guard is positioned for watch. The guest house skirts the exterior walls naturally developing a courtyard where the main residence sits prominently in the center like a jewel. The natural elements of the design, such as the exterior pool, sleeping garden and growing shades, heighten the contrast between the exterior harshness and this supple interior.

Peck and Hallet Residences

long beach, ca
project by: Laidlaw Schultz Architects | lsarchitects.com

After working with Laidlaw Schultz Architects, ODC partner, Neil Henk came away with the understanding that a careful and thorough consideration of both the client and site are essential to the success of a residential project.

A residential project by nature, becomes the physical manifestation of the working relationship between the architect and client. No client or project are equal or the same. That is why, we approach the relationship professionally, but with an open and relaxed mind.

Three variables exist in all projects simultaneously; budget, time and quality. Other Desert Cities believes that the role of the architect is to help mediate and balance these oscillating variables so that a project can meet both the pragmatic requirements and the aspiration of our client.

The Van Alen Institute Gallery provides a site for the display and discussion of critical discourse and emerging trends in architecture.

In association with Lewis Tsurmaki Lewis, Other Desert Cities partner Neil Henk provided design and fabrication services for the New York firm. His expertise assisted in the execution of a series of tactical architectural elements (shelves, moving walls, transparent envelopes, working desks, acoustic consideration, etc..), each served multiple functions to maximize the possible functional configurations and operation of the space.