Roger Wade Studio, Inc.

Hitting newstands now, Architectural Digest’s April 09 issue features two of Roger’s recent projects. Beginning on page 125, a Japanese minka house in northern Arizona serves as a Zen-like weekend retreat for a busy couple from Phoenix in Southwest Satori. From the article:

“If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?” The rhetorical question was posed by Dogen, the 13th-century Japanese scholar and founder of the Soto branch of Zen Buddhism. Nearly a millennium later, the sentiment is built into the design of a remarkable house in northern Arizona: a faithful iteration of a Japanese minka, which translates very loosely as “a residence for average folk.” Today the word minka can be used more generally to describe any house that features classic Japanese design elements.

Front Elevation

Engawa

In Rustic Redefined, a Toronto, Ontario home showcases the work and talent of our clients, architect firm Locati Architects and interior design firm Locati Interiors. The house began as an idea by the homeowners to reimagine a dilapidated cabin falling down on their property. Reimagined indeed. The result was an amalgamation of materials which invoke the aesthetic of the wild west: reclaimed timbers, rusted steel, logs, Oklahoma fieldstone and barnwood.

“An architect shouldn’t give himself away at the front door,” says Locati, paraphrasing Frank Lloyd Wright. “A house should have a sense of discovery.” This one does. The low-ceilinged, rectangular entrance hall barely hints at how the interior volumes expand, radically and intriguingly, in the rooms ahead. Some of these, such as the family and dining areas, feel so open as to seem barely contained.
“As you move through the rooms, you get a sense of space and light,” says Locati. “The ceiling starts to open up. The floor steps away. The rooms widen.” The interior space reaches its apex in the great room, with a vaulted ceiling that rises to 24 feet. Strong horizontal elements, including a hefty mantelpiece that cantilevers from the fireplace of Oklahoma stone, offset the room’s upward thrust, making it feel “open but still cozy,” says the wife.

Front Elevation

Great Room

The story begins on page 156 or you can read it online. View more pictures of the property here.