Hello Friends!

Hello Friends!

March 17, 2009, 6:16 pm
Filed under: Progress Reports

Wabi: tranquil simplicity; austere elegance; unpolished; imperfect or irregular beauty; rusticity (rustico); things in their simplest; a natural state; a serene & transcendental state of mind.—Sabi: miraculous spontaneity; peace and serenity; the impermanence of all things; the beauty that treasures the passage of time; the patina that age bestows.—Wabi Sabi: the art of everyday life; life becomes art. It is, above all, a state of mind. (from Wabi Sabi, by Diane Durston)

Fourteen years ago we bought the land in El Mirador, ten minutes outside of San Miguel de Allende. Fourteen fully rendered designs have come off of Barry’s drawing table since then…the designs have ranged from a one-person casita to a couple of two-story homes with bridges to adjoining studio/garage buildings, and all sorts of variations in-between. I have loved them all—Barry, for mysterious architect reasons, has not—and so has easily and dismissfully thrown full sets of preliminary drawings onto the floor, and announced: “I’m starting over.”

Only five months ago #13 was tossed—a gorgeous collaboration with Barry’s close friend and former partner Brent Daggett. That design was quite modern and high-tech, and designed down to the finest details, when one late afternoon after a day at the drawing table Barry confessed that as much as he loved this design, he felt it was becoming a sculpture with egotistical tinges, and seemed to be getting away from our commitment to simplicity & sustainability, and so once again, he asked rather sheepishly if he could give it another shot.

Thank goodness #14 has stuck. Along with his exquisite architectural and artistic skills, Barry stayed mindful of two things: creating a home on a humanistic scale with the intimate spaces that we both crave. Here is the site plan and some models and floor plans of the house:

 

Site Plan

Southwest Elevation

Main Floor Plan

 

2nd Floor Studio Plan

 

2nd Story Studio (Barry's Studio)

 

Carport/Shop

 

Now, after all of these years, all of the hesitations, and turnarounds, and maybe’s and I-don’t-know’s…

Casa Wabi Sabi is officially getting underway this week. Barry calls it a ‘soft start,’ as we are still waiting for the water permit. We had several friends over to the land last Thursday night to celebrate (our first nighttime party there) and in the afterglow of a magnificent sunset, we sat around  a campfire, ate roasted chicken with chiles, toasted marshmallows for s’mores, and told stories under the Mexican stars. On Sunday we staked out the layout of the house, using metal stakes and white string. I stood in each room, and imagined…

This blog is our way of sharing the Casa Wabi Sabi adventure with you all—our friends and family. We will do our best to post photos and updates on a regular basis as the project progresses. We invite comments and questions, and we are now taking reservations for the guest room. 

Here are four photos of the land—graded, terraced and ready for the walls and foundation.

 

Looking Down Driveway

 

Terrace with Organos

Looking South

Mesquite Forest

Nancy watching Leonor and Domingo making the adobe bricks for our house...they make the adobe in the traditional way: dirt, dried plant material, water, hard work, and the heat of the sun. Leonor and Domingo live in a little village about an hour from San Miguel. It's an amazing feeling knowing the source of the materials that go into the building of one's home, and watching the care that goes into those materials, along with the laughter and the energy of the people who make them.

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