How Does an Architect Design an Addition to This? 

This was an emotional one for me and everyone inolved. Thanks to Grant, Carol, and Jeff Sanders for letting me invade your world. I didn't know Doug Garofalo, but he's very present for me, the city, and UIC. Hope everyone enjoys this probe into this great project.

Interesting to finally see the inside of that house at the beginning. It's in my hometown. Used to drive by it all the time. I remember my parents would always tell me that everyone in that neighborhood threw a FIT when the house was being built.

Great video, interesting design problem. One lesson not addressed is the importance of planning for aging, possibly disability. In architecture school we all loved changing levels, but as someone who became disabled at 40 knows they can be very challenging. Thankfully I lived in a loft - zero steps. Planning for the client aging needs to be part of the program when couples build an expensive forever home.

This is what I call a house by architects for architects.

Thank you so much for this! I'm teaching architecture in the Philippines and have been struggling to convince my students the importance of physical models (since they love working purely on their computers) hahaha Imagine my excitement when Grant started pulling out all these physical models of the house to explain the concepts behind the design

This is such a great channel to learn about architecture. Your editing and voice overs make it such a joy to watch. As an industrial designer looking to learn more about the design process of architecture, these videos are so valuable!

Great video Stewart. Working with a local architect we just finished a renovation of our house, while it was trying at times It was a great experience. While we were not working on the scale or budget of the people in the video the results were great. I should note that many people told us we didn’t need an architect, a builder would be fine…we needed an architect. Though I never once saw our architect point at anything.

Stewart, I've been watching your videos for a few months now, and whatever the subject matter they are never less than good, and usually brilliant. I'm personally not crazy about much of modernism, but you are an excellent explainer, conveying thoughtfully and sympathetically what the architects are trying to do and how these buildings 'work'. It's always an interesting and positive experience, intellectual but never pretentious. Many thanks, and please keep them coming.

That's the best compliment you can get from a client. It completes the design.

Great video as as always. Unfortunately I'm not such a fan of the addition to the house. I really don't think the curve works. It's like how facelifted cars never look as good as the original. They just don't "fit". I don't think an addition is a terrible thing, but it needed to be angular in my view. At least the owner likes it though.

At first I was skeptical about the addition to the back being round. But then, I instantly fell in love with it due to the spot that gives the secret view to the street... So simple, yet so interesting!

Superb video. It's not uncommon in undergraduate courses in architecture schools in Europe to ask students to design an extension to an iconic house, ideally one the students can go visit at the outset: e.g. Villa Mairea, Villa Savoye... even a Palladian villa. A good way for the students to do a deep reading.

So much space for just a few individuals. Everyone deserves to enjoy nature as a whole.

I was blown away by the original design of the house, and fascinated by Grants study model of the pyramid tent encapsulating spherical voids. I love this video style by the way, you helped tell a great story here.

That house is a complete eyesore against a natural landscape like trees and rivers. Brutalist architecture will never satisfy me

I have to say my opinions on the round addition aren't too great. I like the angles of the house a lot. I like the shape. I personally would like to see that just extended back out a bit more for their new space. But that's just my opinion and I don't live there, so whatever they feel is the right choice is the right choice.

I enjoyed the video, however, it was a bit head scratching - first the architects loved angles, now he loves circles. Why? It reinforces the arbitrary nature of design and how fashion can overwhelm a project.

Beautiful tour of both the process and the project. Doug was my favorite studio instructor when I was at UIC and it was emotional to see him highlighted here. It's a great project from an amazing person and it's really gratifying to see his work both honored and also challenged. Life goes on and so does design. Well done.

Really enjoy this Stewart! As a story about a specific architect and a specific building feel, this video feels especially human-scale and relatable. I'd love more like this!

Neighbors must love him. Everyone has this nice midwest cottage style. This guy drop a giant concrete brutalist deuce right next to it.

An architect and an engineer are reviewing plans for the human body. The architect says "What do you think of my design?" The engineer says "Why did you run the waste disposal line next to the recreation area?" There's no better description for the thought in my mind when I saw this house. Architects love wasted space, hard to heat, hard to clean and maintain designs. The "Circles inside of a pyramid" portion of the video illustrates this exceptionally well. 5:29 "They contain the house, but they also make it impossible for you to ever alter those sides of the house." This is architect speak for "I designed it to be almost impossible to upkeep, repair, or modify, and they actually paid me for it, lol." It's a beautiful toy. Except it's unmaintained concrete facade this many years later is not even beautiful. It's pock marked, irregular, and sterile, there's no life to the exterior. It's like the opposite of Xeriscape. Rather than molding your creation to fit into the environment, you chose to put a post-modern office building in a residential zone. It's the architectural equivalent to the Cybertruck, angular, flat, grey, and lifeless.

I live near this house actually. It's in my neighborhood. I've always been curious about it and I love the look. Thanks for the video!

As a non-Architect but as someone who loves Design this was a great video Stewart, really pulled me in with the whole narrative and backstory of the house. Great stuff.

only an architect would say a round wall irons out complications. material choice is a factor but for the builder a round wall is more difficult. i love the brutalist aspects.

If there was a design video of the year award, this might win it

2:25 I live near that church he designed. That's an overly flattering angle. Viewed from the street or the train on the NEC the building looks like a fortified warehouse that might be a church (or the HQ of a cult).

What a tight fit into 'regular' neighborhood. Very special design from the outside for sure.

This channel is a delightful smorgasbord of the classic conceits of rich people and their architects.

god what a beautiful house. I know that style is not for everyone, but there is nothing warmer to me than cold, sharp concrete.

I find unusual spaces really interesting, including odd and unexpected angles. My critique is always with raw concrete exteriors. They look unfinished, usually collect dirt and organic debris, which then oxidizes black. It makes for an ugly, dirty, unfinished exterior that get worse and worse over time. I don't like them.

Wonderful video on a house I know well, since my work is featured in it! The word that comes to mind when thinking of this project of Grant Gibson, and Jeff and Carol Sanders is fearlessness!

Stewart, I discovered your channel a few months ago, and have enjoyed several lost in time binge sessions catching up. An architect nerd to the Nth Degree, or architerd (not sure if that works) all my life, my earliest newspaper memories were excitedly flipping to the “Home Plan Of The Week” feature in the Weekend Edition of the Vancouver Sun. Have always been fascinated by buildings big and small, and much of my photography is of modern and vintage buildings and homes with every photo taken imagining what it would be like to be inside that structure. I would have pursued architecture as a career except for a crippling fear of math and complete inability to draw a straight line. This was by far my favourite episode, and it had a lot of competition. The masterful way you set the video up with the photos of the house as built, was the perfect primer to understand the problems adding on to it would create. Questions about artistic integrity, structural consistency, the role of the homeowner, geometry! and although not delved into, I’m sure the mixed feelings the current architect must have had working, and changing his mentor’s work, indeed his masterpiece. So much to think about after watching. I also appreciate you didn’t muddy the clarity of what the video was about by making any spoken comment about how comfortably, (or uncomfortably) the house sits in that neighbourhood of very traditional looking homes. I can only imagine the controversy and rampant NIMBYism that must have accompanied its original design and construction. A recent project of mine are photo essays of Vancouver neighbourhoods with a significant inventory of original development from pre-WWl, between wars, and post war mid century modern. I’ll often include an infill that is thoroughly modern in concept, finishing and massing. It’s almost always one that I feel has found a way to fit in and augment the street, maybe give it focus, is fun, or sometimes it’s one that in my opinion stops your eye and destroys whatever sense of streetscape or community the original development created. I don’t find very many like that, however viewers of my essays are vitriolic in their damnation of almost every single one of the modern intrusions. And I can easily imagine their reaction to spotting this house in one of their drive by explorations. Whole other topic I know, and one you may have already covered in a yet to be binged episode, but I’m very intrigued by how architects handle or mitigate this pressure, some of which I’m sure is civic government inspired or used as a political football; and maintain their vision, integrity, and the wishes of their clients, in the face of what can be ferocious opposition. Which in our new and not improved atmosphere of uncivil water boarding and threat making can only be getting worse. Thanks for creating such excellent content.

What a great client!!! Very trusting, well spoken, and understanding of the process of design. Not to mention brave with her space and her resources. Designer duo Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam say every project needs a straight, an angle, and a curve. Triple check!

Very glad I came across this video. I've always casually thought architecture was cool and I really liked seeing the thought processes involved. I tried to find more of this house online but I couldn't, so I'm glad I at least got to see it here.

Really liked this view into an active project! Talking with architect and home owner was really cool.

How beautitul concreet can look. And shape of the house looks simple and fits. Love the location as well.

That was excellent. What could have been a nightmare turned out to be a triumph. I learned something.

Awesome follow-through on last week's look at models. The story here makes Gibson's consideration of these models all the more personal: thinking not only about the progression of ideas but lives represented in his iterating on the home hits me with a great feeling of thematic resonance.

I'll be honest - while the interior of the house is really nice, the exterior of this house in my opinion is absolutely ghastly. I am not a fan of brutalist concrete structures, especially when they contrast with neighbouring structures or with the landscape. Looking at the comment section I feel like I'm in a minority here - I wonder what the neighbours thought when the house was built

Arcs, curves and circles are great complimentary elements for designs that includes dynamic shapes and angles.

I’m making notes for when I graduate. If someone wants me to design a house for them, I’ll tell them it’s so complicated that it would be easier to buy the block next door, knock down an existing home , and build there instead. If they fall for that, I’ll know I’ve hit paydirt. As for being wildly passionate about angles, then later equally passionate about circles, it reminds me of my sister’s obsession with boy bands. Or the cat, who is absolutely enamoured with a salmon flavoured cat food right up to the day I buy 2 dozen cans of it, then it’s suddenly inedible.

Great video! I spent most of my career as an architectural historian studying old buildings, both architect-designed and vernacular. One thing that became clear in my studies is that *all* buildings undergo a lot of change over their lifetimes (unless they are torn down shortly after construction). These changes can be well done or poorly done, but they will happen. In the hands of a good architect additions or alterations add immensely to the character of the building. This is an excellent example of that. I would have liked to see more about how this Gibson handled the changes in level that seem built-in to the structure of the house. I get concerned that far too many architects, past and present, design buildings that admit almost no possibility for change as the needs or preferences of the inhabitants change. I used to love buildings with dramatic and unusual changes in levels. Now that I'm at an age where stairs can be a real problem, I especially identify with these owners' need for living on one level.

Thank you for another great video! I am sadden to just found out that Garofalo has passed away at such young age. I was his student back in early 90. He was a great mentor.

Stewart, check out E. Fay Jones’ masterpiece on Agusta in Springfield MO Similar circumstance to this JC home, the owners were living in a Don Russell home next door, bought the adjoining lot and after a few years of construction time, moved 500 feet East, Ha!

I would love to see the finished addition! It would be awesome to check in with Grant & the owners once it’s done and show us the completed version (if that’s feasible for you all!)

I love the “story telling” part of your videos. Great job. I just subscribed.

Great video, a new fresh style. It was a pleasure to get to join you in following a real project coming to life.

Wow! I love the straight through passage dividing the basement! Genius! Extremely novel design, not seen in homes where I live. A must watch.

what a FANTASTIC video. thank you Stewart!

Doug Garofalo was an amazing architect and an even better human being. Great to see Grant growing into a similar role.

I've been appreciating that limitations can lead to really great solutuons; stuff that wouldn't get to exist if the limitations weren't there. Great video!!

Thanks for the story Really when person tells the events make you live that moment

Did I miss something, the owners wanted a more horizontal house as they age, so they got a small addition to the deck, and a new basement, the addition makes no sense as it doesn't address the clients want's, adding more living area under the existing two stories is more vertical living not horizontal, I hope they included a lift in the additions.

".... this involves a lot of pointing." - dry, subtle and enjoyable self-deprecation!

I live in the same city as this house, I've always wanted to know more especially since it's such a stand out in the neighborhood it's in, ty so much 🙂

Beautiful video, thanks for creating and sharing this with us!

I really liked this one, it had the real quality that can be absent in some abstract videos.

5:02 10:08 Interesting to hear about Grant wanting that angle on the walls facing away from the road, and then actually seeing it. I thought that was an interesting element of the house. Those walls sticking out and creating a recessed look, was very appealing to me.

the house reminds me of something the sand people would use to transport droids

That addition turned out sooo well, congrats!!! 🥳🥳👏🏻

Oh wow.....i just found this channel. Great production quality. 👏 well done sir

Beautiful and informative video as always. TY. What a horrific home. Those poor neighbors. It’s worse than a Calatrava disaster. But at least it was privately funded.

It's great the get a glimpse of the process. Really nice vid.

I sort of feel like every architectural plan for a house should include the design for possible future additions, whether ultimately constructed or not. The house should stand on its own without an implication of an addition, but I think this is a way to provide more value to the owners/builders by considering both the future of the structure as well as the future of the occupants.

I love this channel. Every second of it.

5:34 I love how he says "the mistake is that the back is so open that you can add to it" as though the intention was to create an immutable fortress, and they left a gap in their defenses. I don't know if he intended for it to come across that way, but I feel like that really gives me a different insight into how they designed the concept, and it's so different from how I think about art. I also love how Grant has previously built concepts that use hard angles to encapsulate round, organic looking shapes. As the owner says, it really is almost like the house was waiting for this addition and, unknowingly, Grant has been preparing for years. There's something so nice about that.

I kind of don't understand what all the struggle was about. I look at all design as a way to set up and then divert or expand expectations. A final voluptuous curve at the central focal point of all those planes seems like exactly the thing to do! Very nice work.

Stewart thank you so much, i truly enjoy your videos

its ironic when rich people in their fancy houses filled with expensive art then put up buddhist prayer flags on their rooftop terrace

If Grant's love of circles is so stronly reflected in the addition; how much is the solution genuinely answers to the site or do we just constantly relay our biases? How much should the project be it's own, related to the client, site etc vs how much of it be the designer's will and personality. Both the house and addition are excellent btw.

Nice look into the whole design process.

When you witness the beauty of Architecture being brought back to reality and fulfill a mission...

Great video. This is my first video of yours I've watched and I had to because I immediately recognized this house in the thumbnail. Anytime I'm in that neighborhood I love driving by to look at it as well as other houses in that area.

Great video 😊 , i'd love to see more of this format '' short documentary / interview ''. Your channel is like Netflix for architecture 👌

Just discovered you this weekend and somehow happened to watch like 5 of your videos. Really interesting channel. This one though... talk about a cliff hanger! We all want to see how it looks finished!

Love these videos soo much. More more more. Thanks

Well, the client is happy etc... but couldn't the house be just a tiny bit more beautiful than Chernobyl's sarcophagus?

Stewart this was freaking awesome. Well done

Walking by the house every day, first thing I got to say is: Thank You! Very inspiring! Missouri does need more of that. My dog though hates the temporary gravel driveway, I say its a small price to pay.

This is my favorite video yet. Like how it shows one way a design process is done. Great for clients themselves to learn how to communicate their vision to architects

This is like Song Exploder for architects. keep it up!

How cool. I know exactly where that house is. My hometown, near where I grew up. It's design was not widely liked when it was built. I however think it's great!

Beautiful form

Fantastic take on a retrospective of Doug's work and the continuation of the vision. Thanks for putting it together.

I'm sure the engineers who have to actualize this crap love you for it.

Don't think I didn't notice that the center island in the kitchen is the same angles at the interior. You cant hide that detail from me. Also this house is shaped like a sand crawler from Star Wars, there, I said it, I'm sorry, its really cool tho.

10/10 everything on this video

"He inspected the work. This involves a lot of pointing." 🤣

Oh snap! In the ending fly out you can really see the big F U they gave to their neighbors, and how their new deck sightlines will no longer occlud them.

Ah yes the "I want to live in a bunker but want a log cabin too" aesthetic... how unique?

This reminds me of doing cord progressions in music. Keeping to your normal "tools" will always sound good, but it's kindda boring. Adding some spicy dissonance will make it more interesting, but harder to consume. Dissonance is the question, but it needs an answer. So a good middle ground is going for that dissonance, but resolving it to "home" at the end. If you dont it feels incomplete. This building was made to feel incomplete, with it's raw concrete and angles. It now found home.

as someone working on his license, it is a beautifull house

Seems a little odd to add a round deck made out of wood, to a concrete building. Wood hates being forced into round shapes, because it's useful state is as lumber. Straight and flat. Concrete is plastic and likes being round. The client has the do re mi. Should have made the addition out of concrete. Now the question remains, why does Doug's love of circles have a damn thing to do with it? He's not responding to context, to the house, to his mentor, the original design. Nothing. I like pie. Should I design a house that looks like a pie. Sheesh. It's guys like Doug who give the rest of us a bad name. Also, the original design pays no attention to the context of the neighborhood either. It's possible to do modern buildings that respect or acknowledge their surroundings. That's what people hate about this. They don't have the architectural vocabulary to articulate it, so they just say it's ugly. It isn't ugly, but it is insensitive and brutish. A loudmouth at a party. Look. At. Me. Screw you.

Always nice these tours!

I really love your videos. They are well done.

the drone shots were 🔥

Having spent some time examining the bunker house and how it offends everything around it, my suggestion for an addition would be several pounds of Sem-Tex. I feel sorry for the neighbours.

PLEAAASEEE MAKE MORE VIDEOS ABOUT OTHER ARCHITECTS AND THEIR WORKS IN THE FIELD

Great video. I would watch a follow up. Would be cool to see how Grant's office has come along.

Similar to some house here in Okinawa! I love it!