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Author: Bonnie

March 12, 2021
in Uncategorized
by Bonnie

Winter Park House Architecture & Design Progress

Winter park, Grand county, Colorado. Building a new home in the mountains is not easy but so much fun! We collaborated with Julie Doman Interior Design on this simple cabin. You remember this last post of the amazing site that we get to work with. Since that post we have made much progress on the design. Making this project much closer to getting built. These simple views from Revit are getting me excited about this project. It's going to be such an incredible place to rent as a mountain house. We are designing it for the ski season in mind. Keeping in mind hardy materials that can withstand the impact of ski boots and snow being dragged into house. Concrete floors and radiant heat were a no-brainer. But we also created extensive ski storage and boot warming space. The front of the house will be a minimalist box form and...

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February 9, 2021
in Uncategorized
by Bonnie

New Cabin in Winter Park | Getting started with the site

We are starting to work on a new cabin in Winter Park, Colorado. Building a new cabin in the mountains of Colorado can be a daunting task. But as avid skiers, we can certainly appreciate the appeal. As architects, this is our favorite type of project. A new, ground-up building with tons of potential. While we have written about building a house, building in the mountains presents it's own unique challenges and opportunities. The largest challenge is sequencing any site work around the ground frost. Given the limited number of sitework contractors in these mountain towns, it's important to have all your ducks in a row so that contractors can hit the ground running. The ground is often frozen until May/June and starts freezing again as early as September/October. This makes winter a perfect time to design for a "Spring Start". As you can see in these photos of the...

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Vail Colorado Modern Custom Residential Remodel Architect 3D View
December 3, 2020
in Uncategorized
by Bonnie

A Kitchen Renovation Concept Inspired By Japanese & Scandinavian Design

Elevation A kitchen renovation is one of the most common project requests that we get. Even though it's a very common request, at the start of every project we follow the same process. Information gathering. We need to find out the goals of the project, which are often related to the program, functionality, site constraints, and financial requirements. These are the real-world metrics that are going to influence the design After gathering the information we start our design process. Ever since architecture school, we found Japanese and Scandinavian design appealing. Through a kitchen renovation, we can illustrate how the tents of "Japandi" design are so classic and timeless. And why so many of their tenets are part of our core principles of design. Japanese & Scandinavian design priorities Integration with nature is supreme on the list of requirements. The connection to nature is important to create a human-centered design. Even with spaces...

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Colorado Modern Custom Residential Remodel Architect
October 23, 2020
in Architecture, Contemporary, Design
by Bonnie

Keeping Your Home Cozy

How do we keep our home cozy through the winter? We had our first overnight frost. Aside from the unexpected snowstorm a few weeks ago. Which means that we are heading into the Hibernating season. What does this have to do with Architecture you may ask? Well, everything. Tom and I met while studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. We arrived in January and left in June. Winter in Northern Europe is not pleasant at all. However, we found that many people were just as happy and active. The warmth came from their environment. This is why the concept of "Hygge" has been so popular all over the world. Most simply it describes coziness in the built environment. We have experienced first hand the impact that your environment has on happiness. So why not add a little coziness to your winter routine. Especially before daylight savings day comes. And you...

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May 19, 2020
in Architecture, Colorado, Construction
by Bonnie

Building a House – Getting Started Guide

How do you get started with Building a House? We get so many emails and chats in passing about how we approach projects - so we thought it would be a great post here to share some of our starting block tasks. The BARI 'What you need Checklist': Existing Conditions drawings (if available)Building PlatNeighborhood guidelines and jurisdictions (if applicable, Home Owners Associations or Design Review Boards/Historic district guidelines)Land Assessment Site SurveyVision Board or photos of ideasProgram/wish list of spaces  The Steps to Building a House Step 1 - Site Survey Site Survey - This is where we measure and document everything that currently exists. If you have drawings of your house we still need to verify that all the dimensions are accurate before starting design. If you don't have any plans or drawings of the existing house or structure then we would need to go out to the site and measure everything. We would use...

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May 30, 2018
in Architecture, Behind the Scenes, Construction, Contemporary
by Bonnie

Construction on Takoma Park House Progress 2

Construction Update Construction is cruising along in Takoma Park, Maryland as the Brown House renovation and addition project is progressing.  As seen in the first picture below the front door has been moved to the side. The front door is the main reason the client was frustrated with the house. By moving the door over to where the window is we are able to create a mudroom/landing space right as you enter. Below is a shot of the siding going up on the house. The siding is all Hardie Board, 4x8 sheets with vertical strips to get the effect of board and batten.  All of it will be painted black, trim, board, batten, panels, etc.   Horizontal Cedar Railing for the deck Drywall progress inside! Those are boxes of the fun tile the homeowner ordered. Ah the skylight, always, always, always a great idea! We debated adding mor windows to the blank wall, but I advised...

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April 14, 2018
in Architecture, Construction
by Bonnie

Construction on Takoma Park House Progress 1

Construction on the Takoma Park House is moving along and should be done this summer. This project is such a delight to work on and I just can't wait to photograph the final product! We are working with the Design/Build team at J. Allan Smith from Maryland. Foundation The site of this addition slopes steeply away from the house so the basement didn't have to be dug out much at all. We are going with cast in place concrete for the basement. The concrete base will be painted black, but will provide some texture and create a "plinth" for the rest of the wood framed house. Out of the ground Fast forward a few weeks and the house has been framed! Below is a view of the back of the house. The bump out  will allow for a little extra space to stretch out. Soon the two-story bump will hold two built-in benches, one...

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Colorado Modern Architect
April 3, 2018
in Architecture, Behind the Scenes
by Bonnie

What Does BARI Mean?

We often get asked what the word "BARI" (Bāṛi) means. And why we chose it as the name of our architecture design studio. There is a town off the Eastern coast of Italy called Bari, you can take a ferry to Greece from there - I've done it! But no, this particular instance doesn't have to do with Italy but rather India. The word "Bari" in Bengali (the regional language of East India, around Calcutta/Kolkata) is the world for "Home". And quite frankly a lovely way to describe how one should feel in a space.  I was driving around with my father and he asked me what I thought about a local DC building that had a staircase made primarily of glass-block. I told him I thought it was awful, and sure enough that building is undergoing a massive renovation now. When my father asked me about the building he called...

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November 29, 2017
in Architecture, Contemporary, Gift Guide
by Bonnie

The Official BARI 2017 Gift Guide

Gift! Do you have a discerning relative who loves design, all things mid-century modern? Or maybe that’s you! Gifts are a reflection of ourselves after all! After going through a major organizing/decluttering phase it’s been really hard for me to buy anything. Finding gifts has been extremely hard too, but I find that some of my favorite blogs have great suggestions, so if you can't find anything from this list try the New York Times Gift Guide, or the Remodelista guides, or my friend Meg Biram has a great selection that I always love! How do we know that these gifts work well? We use them often in staging projects for photoshoots. You may recognize some items from our Kitchen Addition project. GIFT LINKS: The Classic Aalto Vase  - Every home needs a vase or two, and this is a great sculpture even when it's empty Schoolhouse Electric Matte Black Pour Over Kettle -...

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