After watching Kate’s soccer game and then having lunch, Bryan and Scott Andersen went to the job site to work on the lights in the Atrium.

It was Scott’s birthday today so we took Scott and Sue Therrien to Nick’s on Main for dinner.

Mocking Up the Lights in the Atrium

We’ve been working with Randall Whitehead on the lighting plan for the  house.  He has explained to Bryan, in no uncertain terms, that each room, including the Atrium, should have the four layers of lighting: ambient, task, accent and decorative.  In working with Bryan, Randall has suggested alternative fixtures to use and, of those alternatives, recommended which fixture he prefers.

In reviewing the Atrium, Randall had recommended strongly that we include decorative fixtures.  Our overriding design concept has been ‘clean and simple’ and emphasizing function over form.  By definition, decorative fixtures do not provide much function although they can often provide accent lighting.  So, we still haven’t made a decision on the decorative fixture(s) for the Atrium.

When creating the lighting design plan, Randall recommended a number of Artemide fixtures in various locations.  To really understand how the fixtures would look, Anita Synovec, who works with Randall, arranged for Bryan to visit the Artemide showroom in San Francisco and Bryan toured the showroom on August 30, 2011.

While in the showroom, there were several fixtures that caught Bryan’s attention.  All of the Artemide fixtures have a decorative element to them, and several fixtures that were of Bryan’s interest were not on Randall’s list of alternatives.  This was no surprise as decorative fixtures are very much a personal preference and it takes a significant amount of interaction with another person to understand their personal preferences.

Bryan has always admired Scott Andersen’s eye for design and Bryan’s personal preferences are very much aligned with Scott’s personal preferences.  So, when Scott and Sue were in San Francisco on Friday morning, Bryan asked then to go through the Artemide showroom and look at fixtures.  Then, when they walked through the house on Friday and Saturday, they could identify additional decorative fixture alternatives.

Last night, over dinner (and wine) at Steamer’s Grillhouse, Scott and Bryan reviewed the lighting plan and what Scott had seen in the Artemide showroom earlier that day.  After some discussion, Scott sketched out how three Mouette fixtures could be mounted in the Atrium.  The three different Mouette fixtures are the Asymmetrical, Symmetrical and Mini.

This discussion continued over lunch today and Scott recommended that we mock up how three Mouette fixtures could be arranged in the Atrium. 

Then, Bryan and Scott spent several hours at the job site and, using cardboard and string, made a mockup of how the three Mouette fixtures could work. Of course, having ‘objects’ for decorative fixtures in 3D modeling software, such as Autodesk’s BIM software (see Green Building) could be used to ‘see’ what the lights look like when designing a house.

And it was time for dinner …

Celebrating Scott’s Birthday at Nick’s on Main

With Jo-Anne back in town after spending several days closing the quarter in Boston, we all went for dinner at Nick’s on Main.  Last year, we were in Toronto on October 1, 2010 to celebrate Scott’s birthday.

We arrived and enjoyed a glass of J Cuvee 20 NV Russian River Valley sparkling wine on the sidewalk while waiting for our table.  After moving inside to our table, we had an excellent dinner with a magnum of Chateau Montelena 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon, from the Napa Valley.  The wine was spectacular.

Scott, using the temporary deck as a craft table, cuts some cardboard to mock up the smallest Mouette fixture. Scott on the ladder hanging the cardboard mockup of the smallest Mouette fixture in the Atrium.

Scott on the ladder hanging the cardboard mockup Mouette fixture in the Atrium.

Continung, Scott hangs the second cardboard mockup Mouette fixture in the Atrium.

The two carboard mockups look excellent!

In order to visualize the placement of the three fixtures, Scott used a string line from the temporary deck to the celing.

Bryan, Jo-Anne, Sue and Scott enjoying a glass of sparkling wine in the alley next to Nick's on Main.

Enjoying dinner with Scott and Sue at Nick's on Main. Happy Birthday Scott!

We moved forward on several fronts today … nothing completed but solid progress.

Submitting a Draft Document to the City of Monte Sereno

The first task of the day was to drop off our documentation to the City of Monte Sereno.  Bryan handed two copies to Howard Bell, the Building Official, who stamped them as ‘Received’ and said he would review the documnet.  Howard will be in a class all day tomorrow so Bryan will follow up directly with Brian Loventhal (as one copy was for Brian).

The deadline of September 29 is looming …

Picking Up Our Pink CAT5

While we don’t need to use pink CAT5 for our C-Bus network, we thought it would be a nice touch to follow the Australian code for lighting controls.  In Australia, pink CAT5 is mandated by the building code.

Bryan picked up 2,000 feet of pink CAT5, which had been ordered through ADI in Santa Clara.  Armed with the pink CAT5 and the ferrules that arrived on September 23, we have all the materials to rough in the lighting control system.  OK, we still need the final lighting design …

Working on the Lighting Design

Bryan is still working on the documentation of the lights in the house.  After the design session with Randall Whitehead last week in San Francisco, Bryan documented most of the decisions.  He needs to finish it off and get the list of lights out to the suppliers.

When going through the Artemide showroom on August 30, 2011, we discovered the Artemide’s Mouette lights, which look like airplane wings or birds in flight.  We couldn’t think where they could ‘fit’ in our home.  On the weekend, when going to the Artemide catalog again, we started to visualize how there could be a series of three individual lights that would like like they were emerging from the lower level (basement) and exiting through the clerestory windows in the atrium.

Bryan gave Scott Andersen and Sue Therrien, who are visiting us on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the address of the Artemide showroom in San Francisco so they can see the lights and then help with the design.

Time to focus on this one …

Priming the FSC Siding

Al started priming the FSC siding yesterday and then Al, Dan and Nep were cutting and installing it.  Al decided it would be more efficient if he and Nep primed all of the siding.  Then, they ccould all work together on getting the siding installed.  Especially since another box of Cor-A-Vent should be delivered tomorrow.

Dan got another couple sheets of siding up today.  These were some of the most difficult sheets of siding as they require holes for the electric receptacles and the air vents.

Lots to do tomorrow.

Especially since Scott and Sue arrive on Friday!

Photo from the Artemide catalog showing the Mouette lights in the San Francisco Airport (SFO). These lamps are very cool ...

Another photo from the Artemide catague showing the asymetric Mouette lamps. Note the glass bridge in this photo.

Our pink CAT% matches the smaller loop of pink CAT5, which was included in our light switches. We can now start wiring the switches together.

Bryan picked up another 5 gallon pail of tinted primer as the FSC siding is soaking up the primer!

Al primes another sheet of FSC siding ...

We're using all stainless steel nails on the exterior so we don't run the risk of seeing nay corrosion caused by nails.

The primed, back and front, FSC siding installed on the West side of the house.

The West wall is looking great after the inital pieces of siding have been installed.

September is coming like a freight train!  Along with everything else, we need to finalize our lighting design plan and get our vertical culvert covered.

Picking Up Our Ladder in Merced

One of our major building challenges is that our house is located on a ‘seasonal perched water table.’  During the year, we can have underground water that rises to 5 feet below grade.  Thus, we have a series of underground pipes that flow into a 20 ft deep vertical culvert.  Inside the vertical culvert, we have sump pumps that pump the water into our 3,677 gallon underground cistern.

The vertical culvert will be covered with an aluminum manhole cover.  Inside the vertical culvert, we need an aluminum ladder that can be used to service the sump pumps.

We worked with Ralph Rabbatt at O’Keeffe’s Inc. in San Francisco to have a custom ladder manufactured.  The ladder will be permanently mounted to the wall of the vertical culvert, and allow easy and safe access to the sump pumps.

Bryan drove to O’Keeffe’s manufacturing site in Merced today and picked up the ladder.

Looking at Artemide Lights

After picking up the ladder, Bryan drove to San Francisco to visit the Artemide showroom and look at lights.  We have been working with Randall Whitehead Lighting Solutions to create a lighting plan for the house.  Randall is a well-known lighting designer that has published several books on lighting design.

Randall suggested that we include several Artemide fixtures in our lighting plan.  It is difficult to understand the look and scale of lights by looking at photos in a catalog.  Given that Artemide has a showroom in San Francisco, Bryan drove there to see some of the Artemide fixtures that Randall was recommending.

Lots of driving!

Arriving at O'Keeffe's manufacturing site in Merced, California.

Our ladder is loaded securely on the rack, and the safety post is in the box.

The Artemide showroom at 855 Montgomery Street in San Francisco.

Pirce Suspension, by Giuseppe Maurizio Scutella, 2008.

Mesmeri wall sconces, by Eric Sole, 2005.

Mouette suspension (symetrical), by Willmotte & Associes, 2004. This light is way cool and comes either symetrical (as shown) or in an asymetrical style.

Megan suspension system, by Ernesto Gismondi.

Floor mounted framed mirror, by Ron Rezek.

Part of making a commitment to install Schneider Electric’s C-Bus Whole Home Control system was agreeing to attend a 3-day training course to become a certified installer.  Bryan signed up for the March 8 to March 10 course that was held in Palm Desert, California.

We met with Neil Moodie of Schneider Electric at our project site on November 29, 2010 and then Bryan toured their Experience Center in LaVergne, Tennessee on January 6, 2011.  After evaluating our alternatives, we selected Schneider Electric’s C-Bus Whole Home Control system for our project.

The lead trainer for Schneider Electric’s C-Bus Whole Home Control system in the U.S., Duke Dunsford, took the opportunity with this training class to ‘train-the-trainer’ so we were fortunate to have both Duke and Darryl Warren as trainers for the 3-day training class in Palm Desert.

The objective of the class was to provide an overview of the components in a C-Bus Whole Home Control system, and configure those components in an integrated system that included relays, dimmers, thermostats and other devices.  At the end of the course, the participants were qualified to use Schneider Electric’s C-Bus Toolkit and PICED software.

The instructors used computers with projectors so the entire class could see the presentation material and the configuration software. There were special hardware kits that contained the all the components in a typical system (e.g., switches, dimmers and relays, and lighting loads).  The learning modules included exercises to configure the lighting control system software to manage the components to meet the stated requirements.

We covered a lot of ground in the training course and they were flexible in delivering the course to meet the needs of the participants.  Bryan found it particularly valuable to learn about other projects and to leverage their leading edge requirements.  As well, he could apply the course immediately to our situation and discuss potential solutions to our challenges.

The course was excellent, and the network of contacts made at the course will be invaluable.

Oh, the facility?  Spectacular!  It was an incredibly beautiful setting and a great, high tech facility that created a great learning environment.

The 3-day course was held at the University of California Riverside, Palm Desert Graduate Center.

And, within the University of California Riverside campus, we were in the Richard J. Heckmann School International Center for Entrepreneurial Management.

The campus was amazing ... note the beautiful blue sky and the palm trees in the early morning sunshine. It was a delight ...

The design was amazing and the actual care of the landscaping was even better.

After the great entrance, the note on the front door says it all ...

Inside the hall was a three-story atrium with natural lighting.

The class used computers with projectors so the entire class could see the presentation material and the configuration software. There were special hardware kits that contained the all the components in a typical system (e.g., switches, dimmers and relays, and lighting loads).

The setting in Palm Desert was incredibly beautiful. The clear blue sky above the palm trees with the winter snow on the mountain tops was a unique contrast.

During the class, Bryan outlined some of the challenges for our lighting design and received input from the instructors and class on how to design, and configure, various solutions.

After Day 2 of training, walking back to the Marriott Courtyard hotel. The desert setting was absolutely stunning.

The landscaping was all indiginous, with drip irrigation. This baby cactus is an excellent example.

The agave plants will be amazing when they mature in a few years.