Maybe it is a bit premature?

Researching Furniture

Jo-Anne found some interesting dining room tables on the internet and sent Bryan to look at a table in Danville.  It was a very nice table and chairs, by Drexel.  Nothing like three hours in a car and 15 minutes looking at a table and chairs in a garage.  Oh well …

(There was a beautiful rainbow on the way through Milpitas on I-680.)

After discussing the furniture, we looked at our bedroom furniture and, to our suirprise, it is all Drexel.  We bought the furniture when we bought our house in 1997.  Essentially, we bought all of the furniture in the house from the estate of the original owner.  The furniture was nice, but we never knew the make or history of it.

Now we do.

Driving up I-680 chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Top of Drexel table, which can be extended to 104 inches.

Legs for the table ...

Four chairs with no arms.

And two chairs with arms.

Jo-Anne came to our job site this morning to evaluate the colored concrete alternatives. 

On Monday, 11/16/09, we poured two samples of colored concrete – Baja Red and Harvest Gold.  Bill Brown explained that, as the concrete cures, it will lighten thus it was good for a few days to go by before evaluating the samples.

We both preferred the Harvest Gold.

(The name ‘Harvest Gold’ reminds us of the appliance colors that General Electric introduced in the late 1960s, ‘Harvest Gold’ and ‘Avacado Green.’  (We’re hoping that the Harvest Gold concrete will be more timeless than the appliances.)

Jo-Anne arrives at the job site to evaluate the colored concrete samples.

Harvest Gold with the color chart.

Baja Red ...

Jo-Anne evaluating the colored concrete - we chose the Harvest Gold.

We need to finalize the design on our exposed concrete floors.  The design we need to establish (decide on) includes the following elements:

1. The color, if any, of the concrete;
2. How that color is set in the concrete (stain or integral);
3. The finishing of the concrete (grind into the aggregate or just into the ‘cream’);
4. The sealant (if any); and
5. The level of polishing.

Reviewing Alternatives

Bryan spoke with Bill Clyne, who explained the differences in the various alternatives facing us, including the maintenance and other issues.  Bill recommended that we visit Safeway’s new ‘The Market‘ store in downtown San Jose.  The floor in this store is stained, sealed and polished, and has received accolades from many people.

Bryan visited the store and was fortunate to meet with Safeway’s product manager for the The Market line.  Safeway has two The Market stores, with the first store opened in southern California (Long Beach) and the second store in San Jose.

The stained and polished concrete looked great in the store.  it was a warm ’earth tone’ and not a cold gray concrete.  Jo-Anne wants our floor to have a warm earth tone and not gray concrete.

(Bryan received permission to take photos of the stained and polished concrete floor in The Market.)

Stained and polished concrete floor with saw cuts to control cracking.

Grace integral color chart against the stained and polished concrete.

Floor area with a deeper grind, exposing the aggregate.

Section of signs identifying the 'green' features of The Market.

With the rebar in place, the forms are being set in the locations where the concrete will be at 3 inches and where it will be at 5.25 inches.

Bill Brown visits our job site to review progress and discuss the findings relating to finishing the concrete.

Uponor 5/8 PEX on an uncoiling spool, ready for installation by Matt Jung (88HVAC) on the weekend.

We had heard about the Passivhaus standards in Europe and thought it would be good to understand this standard for building extremely low energy homes.  Bryan attended an all-day seminar today on passive house design and construction, which was led by Katrin Klingenberg.  The November 2009 issue of Dwell Magazine has a two-page article on the Passive House standard.

Learning About Passive Houses

At Vivian Sam’s suggestion, Bryan attended one of the monthly meetings of the Passive Buildings California chapter, which meets on Sunday afternoons in Berkeley.  It was a good event where Bryan met a number of people that are on the leading edge of high performance homes.

At this meeting, Bryan learned about the free seminar offered by PG&E regarding the Passive House standards so he signed up to attend the session held at the PG&E training center in San Ramon.

Spending the Day in San Ramon

The session on Passive Home design was led by Katrina Klingberg, who is the Executive Director of the Passive House Institute U.S. and who also designed and built the first certified Passive House in the U.S.  Katrina, a German architect, spent the entire day presenting the concepts behind Passive Houses to the 50+ people in the seminar.  She is doing another seminar tomorrow.

Overall, we concluded that the Passive House standards are not very applicable to the climates in the Bay Area.  The standards focus on a significant heating load, as is required in Germany.  The heating load results in a focus on triple-glazed windows and a super-insulated, ultra-tight building envelope.  Although our building performance should result in a very low heating and cooling requirement, the focus of the building design would be on super-insulation and creating an ultra-tight building envelope. 

Overall, it was a good day and it was fun to meet and have lunch with Katrin Klingenberg.

Katrin Klingenberg presenting Passive House concepts.

Passive House seminar at PG&E's training facility in San Ramon.

The forecast is for 100% probability of rain tomorrow.  It was time to ensure the site office is watertight and the site is ready for rain.

Bryan had a good design session with Scott this morning at Hotel Los Gatos.  Scott and Sue are were there last night and are staying in San Francisco tonight before returning to Toronto tomorrow morning.

Design Discussion with Scott

Scott reviewed the plans and, after seeing the space yesterday, outlined the lighting plan for each of the rooms.  Scott and Bryan reviewed a number of alternatives for the atrium, gable roofs, and exterior.  During the discussion, Scott recommended that we consider including some art niches in the wall by the Bridge Hall.  We will definitely be following up on this one.

For the atrium and feature concrete wall, Scott is going to put some light fixture samples together so we can ‘test’ how the lights will wash the concrete wall.  These samples are not for the fixtures but, rather, so we can see what type of lighting we would prefer.  This will help Scott in recommending which fixtures to use.

Scott, Sue and Bryan then went to the project site so they could consider the design alternatives relative to the space.  After 45 minutes, Scott and Sue left for San Francisco.

Scott, on Canadian Thanksgiving, reflecting on the bridge.

Bryan and Scott discussing lighting alternatives and how to show our feature concrete wall.

Scott and Bryan discussing design alternatives.

Scott explaining how to the test lights will work.

Buttoning Up the Temporary Site Office

Given the weather forecast, Bryan spent several hours buttoning up the project site.  Importantly, he put a new tarp over the temporary site office roof to help reduce the probability of leaks tomorrow.

Our Davis weather station looked good today.  We’ll see exactly how much rain and wind our site receives tomorrow.

The site is looking secure with our first winter rain storm arriving shortly.

Bryan put primer on the exposed steel, where the bridges and posts were welded on Saturday.

Ends of Bridge Hall, primed and ready.

New blue tarp on the roof of our temporary site office.

Our Davis weather station, ready to log the rainfall and winds tomorrow.

Scott Andersen and Sue Therrien are in California for a couple days and carved out some time to review our progress.  Scott has been involved in this project since the start and led the conceptual design.

Reviewing Progress

Scott liked the progress and thoroughly enjoyed testing the bridge.  We walked the around the site for over an hour, so Scott could get a good feel for the space.

Sue needed to do some shopping in Old Town, so Scott and Bryan slipped over to Whole Foods in Cupertino to take a look at the finished concrete floors there. 

Back to Los Gatos and to the Rose Collection.  We engaged Cherie Rose to put our color palette together so we thought Cherie should meet Scott.  Fortunately, Cherie was in her store on North Santa Cruz and Bryan was able to introduce Cherie to Scott and Sue.

We went back to 1621 Rebel Way where Jo-Anne made dinner.  Bryan and Scott agreed to meet tomorrow morning at Hotel Los Gatos for a design session.

Sue and Scott arrive, right on schedule, to review our progress.

Scott testing the bridge. He approved.

Scott reviewing the stained and polished floor in Whole Foods, in Cupertino.

More polished concrete in Whole Foods. This section is just 'in the cream' of the concrete and not in the aggregate. This is a nice looking finish.