Location: Santa Barbara, CA

Residential: 2,050 SF

Awards & Publications: Houses by the Shore; Oscar Riera Ojeda & Byron Hawes / Seasons Magazine; Modern Marvel; Fall 2018 / Dwell Homes - Featured Project; 2017 / ArchDaily; June 2016

Credits: MOA, Design+Build / Zoe Stevens, Project Management / Peter Jarratt, Structural Engineer / Charlie Grant, Civil Engineer / Tyson Ellis & MOA, Photography

The Crossing Wall House is sited where the Santa Ynez Mountains meet the Pacific Ocean, overlooking the City of Santa Barbara and Channel Islands. The property's steep grade necessitated careful site planning and guided the building form as it utilized two narrow existing terraces. The two differing orientations of the terraces are expressed by two geometric grids that come together in the homes central living space and open the home to southern views toward the ocean, islands, and lowlands. The primary living space acts as a indoor-outdoor pavilion, opening fully at the back to an entry courtyard and opening in front to deck and views beyond. The project received Santa Barbara County’s Innovative Building Program's highest tier designation for energy efficiency by utilizing passive solar, thermal mass, passive ventilation, and solar hot water strategies. The raw Corten steel and concrete exterior material palette was developed to create a building that ages with the landscape and respond to localized threats posed by wildfire and termites. MOA completed both design and build work for the project.

Location: Bar Harbor, ME

Residential: 2,500 SF

Awards & Publications: The American House: 100 Contemporary Homes; Hannah Jenkins / Architecture Today: Houses; Manel Gutierrez / Dwell; Oct 2015

Credits: Alan E. Ho, Project Manager (while on staff at SPAN Architecture) / Peter Pelsinski, Principal (SPAN Architecture) / Karen Stonely, Principal (SPAN Architecture) / Aaron Zalneraitis (SPAN Architecture) / Brian D. Shaw Contractors, General Contractor / Albert Putnam Engineers, Structural Engineer / Adrian Gaut, Photography

Situated on a historic 200 acre waterfront property, the Maine Guest House was conceived as a modern day carriage house. The Guest House is the first of a series of structures to occupy the site and is situated overlooking the entrance drive, historic garden and Tea House. The program is a modest two bedroom apartment over a three car garage and work space. The base reflects the vernacular architecture and landscape on site through the use of local granite and cedar board and batten siding. The apartment level is a more contemporary take on the local architecture and is finished in glass, dark stained cedar shiplap siding and steel. The house consists of intricate wood details combined w/ steel to reflect the local craft and rich building traditions in Maine.

Copyright SPAN Architecture, all design rights are credited to SPAN Architecture.

Location: Mobile

Retail: 204 SF

Awards & Publication: Mobitecture; Rebecca Roke / 2018 A+ Awards; Special Mention / 2017 IDA Awards; Honorable Mention; Exhibition Architecture / Design Detail Magazine #53 / Architects Magazine Online / Architektura Magazine / Ambientes Magazine #111 / California Home & Design / Entrepreneur Magazine May 2016 / San Francisco Magazine / AMC Magazine; Interierurs 2016 / BOB Magazine #143 / Contemporist / Inhabitat / Dezeen / Frankfurter Allegemeine Quarterly; Spring 2019

Credits: Spiegel Aihara Workshop (SAW), Co-Design / Bart Chin, Retail Consultant / Popshopolis, Fabricator / Bruce Damonte & Dan Spiegel, Photography

The interior is organized around a series of 4 fitting rooms, a specialized system of curated trays built into a millwork display, and a wall of unfolding origami doors that provide entry, seating and a checkout counter. Each piece of the design is independently operable, allowing for a for a highly adaptable experience depending on the site, weather, capacity, or type of event. Even the textured surface behind the glass wall can open and close in segments to adjust the levels of light and transparency.

In the most basic sense, the goal of the vehicle is to create a highly flexible, mobile, and comfortable space for women to try on True & Co's apparel. Yet, the vehicle has many hats to wear - it needs to attract a crowd, but also feel intimate within. It needs to clearly and strikingly communicate True's brand identity, but also create a mysterious allure. It must be flexible, but also durable and solid. The space within needs to be bright and airy, open to the exterior, but also feel private and protected.

The base of the vehicle is a 24ft trailer, originally made to carry a 'tiny home.' A custom steel frame supports a continuous wall of glass on one side and a series of operable folding doors on the other. The cabinetry and interior partitions are constructed out of finish grade plywood and cedar, and the glass wall is articulated by a series of folding textile wall segments, which allow for the passage of light, provide for privacy, and fold open for a semi-voyeuristic display of product and brand imagery.

Location: McKenzie River, OR

Residential: 2,025 SF

Credits: Dennis Coduti, General Contractor / Madden Baughman Engineering, Structural Engineer / MOA, Photography

Location: Anacortes, WA

Residential: 2,400 SF

Credits: Rick + Jonah Petrick, General Contractor / MOA, Design+Build / MOA, Photography

Location: Seattle, WA

Residential: 858 SF

Credits: MOA, Design / Lensit Studio, Photography

As part of an effort to promote ADUs and increase affordable housing stock in Seattle, the City developed a pre-approved ADU program where residents can purchase a pre-approved design online to help expedite permitting and reduce initial costs. The MOA Family ADU was selected to be a part of this program.

Calling to mind the Swedish philosophy of lagom, or living with “just the right amount,” the MOA Family ADU offers a fully functioning family dwelling in a small package (858 sqft). Comprised of two distinct bedrooms and dedicated living and kitchen/dining spaces that are thoughtfully connected to a private outdoor area, the unit can provide a family of four with a comfortable living environment. For a couple, it offers a guest room or office space. The two levels create a sense of spaciousness while also demarcating the living spaces from the private spaces. Built-in seating, storage, appliances, and equipment are all carefully configured for both function and efficiency. Exterior finish options offer the ability to tailor the unit to suit individual tastes. Additionally, the simple design ensures it will blend with a variety of architectural styles, while the relatively small footprint allows the unit to be situated in tight sites.

The MOA Family DADU was featured on Backyard Builds, a YouTube Channel devoted to ADUs. See the interview with Dustin Stephens, here.

Location: San Francisco, CA

Residential Addition / Remodel

Awards & Publications: 2018 AIA San Francisco Award for Architecture / Archdaily / Architect Magazine

Credits: Spiegel Aihara Workshop (SAW), Co-Design / Bruce Damonte, Photography

The A-to- Z House proposes an alternative to conventional approaches for expanding an outmoded San Francisco home. Perched on a hillside in Golden Gate Heights, a modest single story 1934 developer vernacular structure had limited space and failed to take advantage of expansive views of Sutro Tower, Golden Gate Park, Sausalito, and the Bay. But rather than replacing or merely attaching to the existing structure, the A-to- Z strategy seizes upon the existing forms – scaling, repeating, and manipulating found objects into a contextual collection of structures comprising a dynamic home immersed in its surroundings. A new gabled roof structure is inserted at the ridgeline of the existing living room bar, stepping back from the street to reduce mass and nestling into the existing roof to establish a low horizon line. This datum is characterized by a ribbon of operable windows that wrap two corners of the building to take advantage of critical views, accented by to a saw-tooth window system and thickened metal edge. Inside, variations of the floor level and ceiling height provide different ways to experience this horizon in each space, from sweeping vista to private lookout. As the new gabled structure reaches the carefully terraced back yard, it twists and wraps down around the dining room. This turn along a torqued Z-shaped axis (alternately horizontal and vertical) is held ever so slightly apart from the existing house, using a band of light and the articulation of the ceiling to create meaningful difference out of similar forms.

Location: New York, NY

Residential: 3,000 SF

Awards & Publications: Interior Design Magazine; Sept 2015

Credits: Alan E. Ho, Project Architect (while on staff at SPAN Architecture) / Peter Pelsinski, Principal (SPAN Architecture) / Karen Stonely, Principal (SPAN Architecture) / Aaron Zalneraitis (SPAN Architecture) / Hailey Development Group, General Contractor / Adrian Gaut, Photography

This NYC Condo consisted of combining two separate apartments, on two different levels into a single family residence. The spaces were seamlessly incorporated into one through a vertical slot that acted as a pivot point for the two units. This central stair was conceived as a slot of light and air. To reflect this, a perforated 1/8 thick steel plate was folded to act as the transparent staircase. This slot is furthered emphasized by oak panels flanking either side, which helps emphasize the lightness and transparency of the staircase.

For the majority of the apartment, the client wished to mute the architecture and have it serve as a backdrop to show piece their art and furniture collection. This is achieved through an open floor plan for the public spaces and hiding the service programs (such as the kitchen, bathrooms, storage) behind concealed doors or millwork panels. A careful and flexible lighting strategy was employed to allow for low level ambient lighting throughout, countered by accent lighting on the art and furniture.

Copyright SPAN Architecture, all design rights are credited to SPAN Architecture.

Location: Carlsbad, CA

Office: 25,000 SF

Credits: MOA, Photography

As prAna began to expand, so did it's need for a larger workspace that reflected its culture and brand. prAna's budget for its new headquarters was lean, requiring an innovative approach to create a unique space that was in sync with the company's core sustainability values. A serendipitous connection was found, when MOA learned of the demolition of wooden shade house structures at a palm farm in Oxnard, CA. The wood structures consisted of primarily 40-year old weathered douglas fir 2x4s that held little value in the salvage market and was considered junk wood. MOA saw an opportunity to use this raw material in sophisticated ways and allow this single material to create the identity for the space. prAna secured the material before it made its way to the landfill and over 35,000 board feet of salvaged 2x4s were saved to create the primary design elements of the prAna Headquarters space. The wood was used as finish work throughout the project in cladding, screen-walls, trim panels, doors, furniture, and casework.

The design for prAna Headquarters reflects its culture not only through the use of recycled material, but through a variety of flexible work spaces that are evenly distributed throughout the building. This flexibly is a key element in prAna's own business model and provides prAna with easy impromptu collaborations. These flexible and undedicated spaces are scaled at different sizes and provide varying degrees of enclosure to accommodate differing group sizes and work settings. Each space is outfitted with active work surfaces (full whiteboard walls, magnetic surfaces, cork, and projection surfaces) to allow ideas and visual content to flow easily. This allows for individual workstation areas to be compact and efficient. The open and flexible space strategy allows for more function in less space.

Location: Ojai, CA

Residential Garage: 2,200 SF

Credits: Interdisciplinary Architects, Co-Design / Lifang Vision Technology Co, Renderings

Location: Santa Barbara, CA

Residential: 800 SF

Credits: Interdisciplinary Architects, Co-Design / Lifang Vision Technology Co, Renderings

Location: Fidalgo Island, WA

Residential: 3,200 SF

Situated in the San Juan Islands, the Alexander Beach House is a modest 3,200 sf home overlooking Burrows Bay. The site presented tension generated from steep grade, a narrow lot, and privacy concerns with close adjacent structures. The schemes explored alternatives utilizing a private outdoor courtyard that provides for privacy, indoor/outdoor connections and captures the dramatic views to the bay. The clients wished to have a one bedroom house that included a connected guest apartment for family visits. This guest units becomes integrated seamlessly into the massing, yet allows for internal privacy between clients and their guests.

Location: Ulster County, NY

Residential: 2,500 SF

Credits: Alan E. Ho, Project Manager (while on staff at SPAN Architecture) / Peter Pelsinski, Principal (SPAN Architecture) / Karen Stonely, Principal (SPAN Architecture) / Emily Anderson (SPAN Architecture)

Upstate Pool House is a private retreat on a 200 acre property, adjacent to a small swimming pond. It is conceived as a series of volumes around a central pool. Each volume contains a different program for guests staying on the property - a bedroom in one, kitchen/living/dining area in another, and a study.

Copyright SPAN Architecture, all design rights are credited to SPAN Architecture.

Location: Isla Vista, CA

Retail: 3,500 SF

Credits: Interdisciplinary Architects, Co-Design / Lifang Vision Technology Co, Renderings / MOA, Renderings

Location: Anacortes, WA

Arts Stage/Pavilion: 150 SF

Credits: Brekke Works, Co-Design

Location: Eagle Butte, SD

Public Pavilion Event Space/Education Space: 4,000 SF

Awards & Publication: 2016 AIA Emerging Architects Exhibition / NY Architecture League Exhibition & Lecture / ‘Pow-Wow’ 2016 Lecture at ‘A Planned Disappearance’ at Proxy SF / AIA Top 10 Instagram Posts of 2016

Credits: Spiegel Aihara Workshop (SAW), Co-Design

The CRST Demonstration Pavilion project leverages the construction of a investigative structure towards the launch of a long term economic, community, and affordable housing development program. The pavilion will initially serve as auxiliary event and gathering space during the annual fall Pow Wow, inviting members of the tribe to use the yearly celebration as an opportunity to meet and address current and future housing needs. The pavilion will consist of a collection "test structures," showcasing sustainable building techniques such as straw bale and rammed earth, the construction of which will be used to train groups of workers from within the community. With each season, a new group of workers will be trained and the pavilion will grow to incorporate new gathering spaces. The structures are arranged to create an iconic, mountain-like form rising out of flat horizon of the Pow Wow grounds, providing a shaded area in the hot summer months, and a warm fireside shelter in the winter. Upon approach, the mountain form dissolves in to discreet objects, defining gathering spaces of many sizes suitable for storytelling, meetings, performances, parties, markets, play, exploration, and quiet repose.

Location: Mobile (w/in Arctic regions)

Mobile Research Unit: 75 SM

Awards & Publication: Arctic Perspective Cahier #1; Andreas Muller / Arctic Perspective Initiative Exhibition; HMKV Pavilion Dortmund, Germany and Canada House London, England

The Arctic Mobile Mediatech is a proposal for the integration of indigenous arctic cultures, media technologies, and research. The Mediatech utilizes the latest technology and materials to provide a space for interaction and comfort in the harsh arctic conditions. While a number of sophisticated materials and systems are contained within the Mediatech, the strategy is simple: a compact and lightweight core containing all the systems is surrounded by an air supported envelope which encapsulates the interior space. With the use of CAD/CAM technologies, the unit can arrive as a kit of parts that is assembled by local correspondents. Mobility is provided by an air cushion under the unit.

During transport, the Mediatech becomes a hover-trailer, towed by locally available small all terrain vehicles (such as a snowmobile, tracked-quad, snow-cat, sled dogs, etc). The Mediatech's internal mobility system is kept simple, reduced to a 16hp air cushion fan and the air cushion itself. The Mediatech treads lightly across the fragile tundra, only placing 15kg of force per square meter during transport. Inside, 3 radiant heated media work stations serve research and interaction projects. The fully contained, efficient, and sustainable systems in the Mediatech make it a landmark of each location visited.

Location: ICFF, NYC

Trade Show Booth: 800 SF

Credits: Dustin Stephens (while attending GSD) in collaboration w/ Bryan Boyer, Justin Cook, Daniel DeSusa, Marta Morais, Kristen Hopkins, & Zhiyang Zhang / Greg Carafelli, Bryan Boyer, & Dustin Stephens, Photography

The Cloud Pavilion served as a showcase space for Swedish furniture design and fabrication at the 2005 International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City. The problem of designing an indoor pavilion that highlights furniture is a curious one. Neither building nor furniture, but in danger of mimicking the scale of both, the Cloud Pavilion was faced with the paradoxical demands of being a beacon from across the exhibition hall, but disappearing when actually visited, so as to not distract from the experience of viewing the furniture on display. Furthermore, when the Swedish Trade Council commissioned the design, a manifest of objects to be included did not yet exist which further convoluted any attempt to design specific display opportunities. Being exhibited at the Javits Center in New York City complicated matters further by layering onto the project immense fees for any use of (unionized) labor.

Rather than propose a piece of gargantuan display furniture, the pavilion at ICFF is conceived as a temporarily displaced portion of Sweden herself, a little Swedish Cloud that has floated across the Atlantic. All of the objects in the booth are unified by the presence of this undulating cloud structure above and the unique light that is cast through it. Due to its height, the cloud becomes visible from quite far away, but allows the ground plane to be freely organized for curatorial purposes.
The underbelly of the cloud was designed as a control surface, allowing us to carefully craft three separate zones at different scales that create a variety of display possibilities underneath. By seeking to minimize the material waste and cutting time, both significant factors in our budget, we developed a unique method of nesting the shapes of individual ribs so that two pieces are cut with one tooling-pass, eliminating material waste.

To minimize incurring costly labor fees for transport and assembly, the project was prefabricated with fast assembling slot joinery, it weighed less than 1lb/sqf, required no tools, and it packed small and flat enough to be carried in through the front doors. By strategically navigating loopholes in NYC labor laws, the exhibition requirements, and CNC tool paths, the Cloud Pavilion successfully provided a potent design solution within a modest budget.

Location: Toronto, Ontario, CA

Pavilion: 4 SM

The Cloud Station was a submission for the Toronto Winter Stations Competition. Winter Stations is an annual public art competition that challenges designers worldwide to re-imagine Toronto's lifeguard stations as a basis for winter art.

The Cloud Station provides a phenomenological experience for Toronto beachgoers performing as a trans-formative mass that interacts with the winter environment — collecting snow, forming ice, catching light and expressing these conditions through changes in its density, presence, and experience.  Constructed of a highly transparent aluminum perforated sheet (80% open area) bent into simple triangulated columns and collected into a floating monolith.   In a thawed state, the multifaceted and layered transparency of the Cloud Station’s aluminum veil forms an ephemeral mass that highlights the lifeguard’s chair as a curated object in the landscape.  In a frozen state, snowfall and ice accumulations collect in varied degrees influenced by wind and the layered mesh — the Cloud Station builds translucency and opacity.  As darkness falls, the Cloud Station’s thin cap becomes a subtle glowing plane, drawing passersby down onto the beach.  The Cloud Station can be responsibly recycled after exhibition.

Location: Governor’s Island, NY

Pavilion: 500 SF

The Garden Pavilion was a competition proposal for the City of Dreams summer arts program on Governor's Island, NY. The competition brief was centered around the question: What is the Future City? Through our proposal, The Garden Pavilion, we suggested that the Future City may balance technology with simple concepts of sustainability. In a reaction against the wasteful transport of our current globalized food network, we proposed that NYC could provide its own food sources. We are interested in what a self-subsistent produce network would look like in a city of 8.4 million people and whether it is possible. Our proposal focused on utilizing the pavilion not only as an active public space for Governor's Island, but also as a tool to communicate this vision of a Future City. Our strategy used the form and surface of the Garden Pavilion to communicate a representative question: How much urban garden space would be required to grow produce for all of NYC?

We proposed to intercept an existing sustainable supply chain and participate in the transition of a material's use. Our strategy was to source a small aging New England barn and create the Garden Pavilion by participating in the re-appropriation and re-location of reclaimed wood. We proposed to collaborate with a local milling shop that works in wood reclamation to inform our own transformation of the barn's wood-stock so that our own intervention moved the material efficiently and effectively closer to its next purpose as a finish material.

The barn's familiar vernacular form acts as the point of departure for the proposal's form. Our process transformed the barn form to achieve a simple graphic methoda figure/ground image of how much planted garden space is required to supply current NYC population with the associated produce. With five sides of the barn representing the five boroughs: the area of each side is manipulated to proportionately match the developable area of each of the five boroughs. The gable end frames are preserved in their original shape while the intermediate sides and roof are manipulated to produce the proportional relationship with each borough's developable area. Wood boards are arranged across each surface to create a figure/ground representation of the approximate garden area (rooftop, ground, or otherwise) required to grow NYC's produce needs. The void space on a given side represents the growing area needed for that borough. The overall and comparative results are interesting to contemplate: Using high density vertical garden and farming methods an area covering 18% of New York City's developable land could provide the City's 8.4 million residents with basic produce needs. This could be achieved on existing flat roof surface area of the city, but is also roughly equal to the amount of vacant land that exists within the city already.

For the visitor, the reading of the figure/ground image is obscured until the visitor enters the pavilion and is able to look out. Once inside, a visitor can view each side of the barn's surface and obtain an intuitive sense of how much area must be planted to grow the produce for each of the five boroughs.

Location: Silver Springs Township, PA

Memorial: 1,500 SF

Commemoration from Community: The Silver Springs Veterans Memorial proposal for the Silver Spring Township honors the five branches of service within the US Armed Forces. A gentle arcing form is cut into the subtle slope at the site. Perpendicular to the arc, five distinct memorials dedicated to each of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces embed themselves into the slope. While honoring a particular branch or individual, visitors feel the collective presence of the arc form in the landscape, recognizing that the service of each branch, group, or individual is built from collective spirit. Visitors enter along a raised wood walkway recognizing that they are walking over revered ground. As they move down the walkway, each visitor passes over the five branch memorials simple linear surfaces constructed of contrasting rough and polished pavers. To the east, each of the branch memorials embeds itself firmly into the slope. The memorial gives form to the deep-rooted contributions that Silver Spring's Veterans have given the community and nation in their service. Further east, at the top of the slope a row of evergreen trees (existing) reinforces the unwavering and lasting service of Silver Spring's Veterans. As each branch memorial sets itself in the slope, the vertical face proudly displays an engraving of each branch's crest and motto, recognizing their unique approaches to service. Polished pavers form a refined surface at the easternmost portion of each branch memorial. The continuity of the polished surface at the east end shows a unity, the camaraderie within each branch as servicemen and women must rely on those around them.

Moving westward out of this continuous polished surface a pattern emerges. Polished pavers become distributed in an orderly fashion, now engraved with the names of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in their service. Rough pavers now fill around the edges and in between polished and engraved pavers creating contrast that calls special honor upon those lost during service. The memorial remains dynamic, evolving to honor those that will fall in service, new polished engraved pavers extend in pattern as they replace rough ones over time. Access down to the engraved pavers is layered between each of the five branch memorials. Grass ramps and paths lead visitors down for intimate contact with individual names.

On the westward side of the walkway each branch memorial transitions to a continuous surface of rough pavers, passing under the walkway. A silver birch tree grows out from each branch memorial's westward end, these five trees call attention to the generation of those currently in service in each branch. The annual deciduous cycle and the birches shedding of outer layers of bark call attention to the constant renewal of service in the from the Silver Spring Community. These birch trees are kept separated by the elevated path to make clear distinction between those that have served and those that are in service, but remain linked through the paver surface that passes under the walkway. The contrast of eastward evergreens against the westward birch trees demarcates earned honor and the active earning of honor through service. Similarly, the embedded nature of the eastward portion of the branch memorials contrast against the open nature of the westward portion, shows a pathway toward deep-rooted contribution to Community and Country; distinguishing between those that have fulfilled that pathway and those that are on that pathway. The dynamic nature of the memorial offers a unique reading of service in the United States Armed Forces, one that respects and honors not a frozen moment in time, but the presence of a community of military service in Silver Springs Township and the lives of those that upheld it.