Office: Schwartz and Architecture | ArchDaily

A Mourning Dovecote / Schwartz and Architecture

Hadir Al Koshta — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 03:00:00 +0000

This 390 sq ft studio addition onto the owner/architect's existing home in Sonoma, California, takes inspiration from the site's abundant pairs of Mourning Doves. The Mourning Dove, one of the most widespread of all North American birds suffering the impact of habitat loss, is typically monogamous yet is a prolific breeder, raising up to six broods a year. Both sexes take turns incubating –the male from morning to afternoon and the female the rest of the day and night. Appreciation of these qualities and the dove's historical associations with peace and calm made the idea of cohabitation with them a critical leitmotif –one made even more potent in a global pandemic.

Leit House / Schwartz and Architecture

Hadir Al Koshta — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Millions of years ago, the volcanoes of Sonoma Valley spewed hot magma across the landscape. As the lava quickly cooled, the eruption's gases became trapped, forming porous cavities instead of crystallizing into dense stone. These blackened rocks —rhyolite, basalt, andesite, and pumice—still dot the landscape today, surprising in their lightness despite all appearances.

The Green House / Schwartz and Architecture

Hadir Al Koshta — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 20:00:00 +0000

The original home, before our renovation and addition, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright's protégé, Aaron Green, and built by Echler Homes in 1966. In 1951, Frank Lloyd Wright hired Green as his West Coast representative, allowing him to continue his independent practice out of their joint office.

The Lichen House / Schwartz and Architecture

Rayen Sagredo — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 17:00:00 +0000

The precise relationship between lichen and its host provides inspiration for an architecture specifically tailored to its site ‐‐ both as a response to it and as an augmentation of its best attributes. The Lichen House works in concert with nature’s mechanisms, not to mimic them blindly, but to expand our understanding and experience of them through architecture.

29th Street Residence / Schwartz and Architecture

Rayen Sagredo — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 13:00:00 +0000

It is often difficult to create a sense of openness and continuity in multi-level urban homes. By allowing the staircases of this three-story structure the freedom to shift location on each level -- defining a continuous flow of space and movement -- we turn this challenge on its head, elevating the prosaic stairwell into the key architectural and unifying feature of the home.

Overlook Guest House / Schwartz and Architecture

Karen Valenzuela — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Despite an extremely steep, almost undevelopable, wooded site, the Overlook Guest House strategically creates a new fully accessible indoor/outdoor dwelling unit that allows an aging family member to remain close by and at home.

Show Sugi Ban House / Schwartz and Architecture

Karen Valenzuela — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:00:00 +0000

This project, an extensive remodel and addition to an existing modern residence high above Silicon Valley, was inspired by dominant images and textures from the site: boulders, bark, and leaves.

Box on the Rock / Schwartz and Architecture

Karen Valenzuela — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 14:00:00 +0000

With an economy of means, this simple form morphs to amplify the experience of the dramatic site and create an expansive feeling home that belies its small footprint. Each adjustment to the diagrammatic box negotiates the functional and environmental needs to foster self-contained and site-specific living with a minimal environmental impact.

Pinterest Headquarters / All of the Above + First Office + Schwartz and Architecture

Diego Hernández — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

When we first met with Pinterest, it was to discuss their office in Palo Alto. There were 12 people in the group, but they were growing quickly. Evan and Ben, Pinterest’s founders, asked us to design an office environment that could reflect their unorthodox character and growth. Our response was through monumentality. Rather than buying a desk for every new engineer, we proposed one large table that would reach maximum capacity over a long period of time. It measured 32’ x 32’, and could easily fit sixty people. The table went into production, when we were called in for another meeting.