Fougeron Architecture is a nationally recognized design firm whose work exhibits a strong commitment to clarity of thought, design integrity and quality of architectural detail. The firm's decidedly modernist attitude is the result of founder Anne Fougeron's vision to create a practice dedicated to finding the perfect alignment between architectural idea and built form. Her work can be defined by three basic tenets:

• That architectural space is modulated by the quality and character of the natural light,
  
• That innovative use of structure becomes the architectural ornament, and;
  
• That the exploration into the visual and tactile nature of materials enhances how people engage a building.
  

Ms. Fougeron's keen interest in crossing disciplinary boundaries has led the firm to develop a collaborative creative process that capitalizes on her relationships with craftsmen and artists who are experts in their fields. Contrary to most traditional practices, the firm does not separate between the design and production parts of the work process; preferring to believe that the process of design and innovation must continue through all phases of design and construction. This relentless pursuit of design excellence has won the firm a number of awards and commendations including 2000 and 2001 Best of the Bay awards for the 440 Residence and Hosfelt Gallery respectively and the Dupont Benedictus Residential Award 2000.

Each project undertaken by the office is an exercise in communicating not only design intent, but in emotionally effecting those who inhabit them. The office focuses on fewer selected projects and developing intimate relationships with its clients. In so doing, Ms. Fougeron's personal involvement in the design of each project from inception through occupancy is assured. She is assisted by three senior staff, whose technical and managerial expertise assures that each project remains consistent with its stated goals throughout the design and construction process.

The firm's work ranges impressively in scale, type for both private and public sector clients. Fougeron Architecture is committed to non-profit organizations through its ongoing work for Planned Parenthood and Mercy Housing. Current projects include health care, commercial and residential work. Residential work includes both new single family homes as well as 100 units of affordable housing in San Francisco's Visitacion Valley and Hayes Valley.

Fougeron Architecture is a woman owned business, with a staff of 10, and as such is committed to maintaining a diversified staff.

This remodel of a kitchen and bathroom in a San Franciscan victorian explores the effects of transparency in both the literal/material sense and the phenomenal sense. Exterior and interior glass walls allow light to create continuous, multiple readings of space - at different points in time and with various interpretations. The glass box is the perfect layer of protection between the communal nature of the kitchen and the private nature of the bathroom. This translucent wall speaks of sensuality and voyeurism. During the day, light is allowed into the bathroom from the south-facing kitchen, creating a bright, warm interior that accentuates the experience of bathing. In contrast, the translucent volume glows green at night through the use of jelled fluorescents, becoming a beacon for the gleaming kitchen.

Old and new are integrated without obvious historical or stylistic references. We reinterpreted the order of this victorian by creating alignments of circulation and emphasizing plan diagrams. Custom steel sections, doors and details for the exterior and interior glass walls convey the notion of craftsmanship and tectonics, linking old and new in a reciprocal dialogue.

Photos 2, 3: Grey Crawford
Others: Matthew Millman

The design for this new 4500 sq ft house in a subdivision of Akron Ohio is a counterpoint to the traditional sub division architecture that surrounds it.
The neighboring houses are large unarticulated structures with enormous roofs that have little or no relationship to the land. Vast areas of green grass with a few interspersed spruce trees constitute the major landscaping elements.

In opposition to this, the house:

— is embedded in its context with particular attention being given to climate, topography and local building materials. Solar orientation, views to the lake and existing trees to the west, are an integral part of the design. For example, a new type of screened patio — indispensable in the Midwest in the summer — is attached to the living room space. It has large screens that fold up and allow the space to become open to the exterior when the weather and insects permits.

— is integrated into the existing land and grades. The house takes advantage of the slope from front to back to create sunken patios extended in the front and rear yards grounding the house in the land. The house and land are inseparable.

— is articulated in its massing with four distinctive volumes — all at different levels — that are tied together by a circulation spine. This spine — also the main staircase of the house — is conceived of as a glass bridge suspended between the volumes. The volumes — corresponding to the main program elements — are all distinctive in their massing and cladding.

— is a showcase for sophisticated steel structural systems — as its name implies — which highlight the craftsmanship of the client who owns a steel fabricating shop in Akron. For example, the black volume at the front hovers over the driveway disconnected from the ground through the use of large custom steel trusses. And the circulation is a bridge structure hung from the roof.

— is organized around the concept of phenomena, achieved through a complex spatial arrangement, overlapping perspectives, the articulation of light and transparencies and an innovative use of materials. Intrinsic in the design of the house is the movement of the human body in space, most carefully articulated in the main spine and stair, the very soul of the house. Natural light, shade and shadow take on both volume and form. Light is articulated and substantial, no longer illusive and hidden. Finally materials are reinvented: for example, a brick wall is transformed into a semi-transparent screen that shades lightly the living room and dining room.

Located in the Big Sur area of Northern California, this 2,500 square foot 2 bedroom house was built for a family to enjoy together on the weekends and holidays.

It is a modernist structure that sits lightly on the land acknowledging the ecologically fragile nature of the site. It took working with ten different consultants for three and a half years to satisfy all the requirements of the local governing agencies that would have preferred to leave the site as it was-overgrown and uninhabited.

The house is composed of four volumes all made of different materials that are interwoven and interconnected to create visually and spatially complex exterior and interior spaces.

The steep walls of the canyon dominate the wooded site next to a creek. The house holds its own in this tall and cavernous place neither dominating nor being dwarfed by it. The main volume of the house runs parallel to the canyon with a butterfly roof and glass corners that reach out to the sky and the light at the open ends. The thin roof sits delicately above a band of extruded glass, connecting to the roof structure with thin rods, invisible on the exterior. At the corners of the house, two story clear windows frame the views of the redwoods and the sky at the ridge of the canyon. This volume is clad in standing seam copper.

On the front, the second volume is a one-story structure that includes all the service functions for the house and acts as buffer from the dirt road, which leads to the other houses in this old subdivision. It is clad in yellow Alaskan cedar that is turned in three directions acting as a rain screen, a fence and a railing, the material is left untreated so it will age naturally becoming silvery grey.

The back of the house is open to the views of the creek with a custom steel and glass volume. Finally the fourth volume of the staircase is both the seismic structural brace for the house and a visual foil to the shimmering and transparent volumes around it, it is clad with grey integral color stucco that wraps inside and out.

On the ground floor, two bedrooms at the opposing ends of the house enclose in the middle the two story communal living space, the fireplace and the loft library above. The fifteen-foot high windows in the bedrooms dissolve the corners of the spaces, bringing light and views into the bedroom and living spaces of the house.

On the second floor, the space is open with the library and communal sleeping room separated from the two story bedrooms below by glass panels.

A combination of transparent glass and extruded channel glass reflects and dapples the light on the inside, creating an ever-changing interior with a warm play of light and shadow throughout the day.

Photos: Richard Barnes

Located in downtown Palo Alto, California. This new two story 5,000 sq. ft. house with a complex program includes two studies, one exercise room, two bedrooms, a living room, family room, dining room, kitchen and wine cellar for a professional couple.

This residence represents a clear example of our modernist aesthetic. The glassy, open-plan house incorporates the latest in building technologies, such as new glass products from England and avant-garde structural systems. The exposed structural steel moment frame in the circulation spine and the thin columns and beams express the construction system for the house and its presence in an earthquake zone. Natural light from various sources - floors, ceilings, and walls - combine with translucent, transparent, and reflective materials to create visually dynamic spaces.

The house is organized around the central living room volume which is flanked by a glazed circulation spine and a solid storage mass. It was conceived as a transparent link between the gardens at the front and back of the house. This transparency is augmented through the use of tapered steel plate columns and beams which carry the eye past the steel framed glazing system to the ourdoors. The circulation spine, with its two story glass channel walls and sandblasted glass floor, pierces the building at both ends reinforcing the transparency of the living room by reconnecting the viewer with the garden spaces. The storage mass acts as a solid separating private spaces from the public domain. A bridge suspended through the living room connects the circulation spine with rooms on the opposite side of the mass.

Throughout the house, a complex array of materials for floors, walls, ceilings, and cabinetry has been carefully orchestrated to create an environment that, while simple, is full of visual surprise and tactile delights.

Photos: Richard Barnes