1859 Summer 2009

Design
One of the greatest
challenges of the
project was making
sure the home
would evolve to meet
Pickhardt’s needs.
A stone wall opens to an interior courtyard that provides a transition
to the front door.
Flexibility was key to the home’s construction. Before the drawings
were put to paper, Gladu drove a stake into the ground and determined
where rooms would be located based on the site orientation. Even then,
there were no guarantees. “Jeff called when they were pouring the footings
and said it didn’t quite line up on Mt. Bachelor, so we dragged those
forms for the bedroom wing around so you could get that view dead on,”
recalls Gladu.
Beyond the flexibility of design, there was the flexibility of use. One
of the greatest challenges of the project was making sure the home
would evolve to meet Pickhardt’s needs. “In the middle of all this, he got
married and started a family. It was interesting to know where he was
going even though he, himself, didn’t know,” says Gladu, “I kept asking
him, 'Where is the Big Wheel going to be parked?'”
In the end, the success of the project is its function for the Pickhardt
family. The attention on materials, efficiency, siting and flexibility is subservient
to that crucial goal. “It’s really simple living,” says Pickhardt,
“and easy to live with and live in.”
Book List
Gladu's design must reads
Books by Christian Gladu
Cradle to Cradle
Remaking the Way We Remake Things
by William McDonough and Michael
Braungart (North Point Press, 2002)
Earth the Sequel
The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop
Global Warming by Miriam Horn and
Fred Krupp (W.W. Norton & Co., 2009)
The New Bungalow by
Matt Bialecki, Christian Gladu, Jill
Kessenich and Jim McCord (Gibbs
Smith, 2008)
Small Bungalows by Christian
Gladu and Ross Chandler (Gibbs
Smith, 2007)
Bungalow Plans by Christian
Gladu and Christin Gladu (Gibbs
Smith, 2002)
Available at
1859magazine.com/marketplace
A stainless steel circular staircase, built by a local welding company,
leads up to the studio and down to the media room. The master
bath is behind the bedroom and uses the same materials as the rest
of the house to provide continuity in design. Out of view is a cedar
Japanese-style soaking tub.
58 1859magazine.com summer 09