Improvisations on the Land: Houses of Fernau + Hartman

Since its formation in 1980, Bay Area firm Fernau + Hartman has became renowned for inventive structures that combine environmental responsibility with formal ambition. Based in Berkeley and greatly influenced by the Bay Region architectural tradition, their ambition has always been to develop a place-rooted architecture, a sensibility that would allow them to work in a variety of landscapes and climates, from their unique Northern California perspective. Leaders in green design since the first wave of interest in sustainability in the 1970s, principals Richard Fernau and Laura Hartman have focused on designing energy-efficient homes that are not only adapted to their site, but that deepen and maximize the connection between built and natural environments. As the 18 residential projects presented in this volume attest, their improvisational vision is both playful and pragmatic, proving time and again why the pair view architecture as a branch of applied philosophy.