Best of the 2012 CH+D Awards Winners
Author:Sarah Virginia WhiteAs everyone gears up for the holidays, ‘tis the season to compete for the annual CH+D Design Awards showcasing the ten best projects, products and designers that California has to offer this year. The deadline is coming up fast—it’s November 28, for those of you still gathering materials—so head to our submissions page to enter your project online or by snail mail. But as the deadline draws near, we were inspired to take a look back at a few of our favorite projects.
Inspired by architect Cliff May, who invented the form for light-filled ranch houses, the Caterpillar House in Carmel Valley (top) features a sloping, segmented structure that’s instantly reminiscent of the charming arthropod from which it derives its name. Jonathan Feldman of San Francisco’s Feldman Architecture created this 2012 winner, which got a dose of midcentury style from designer Jay Jeffers—scroll down to check out his grown-up playroom (another favorite).
We see graffiti everywhere these days, but the 2010 winner for Residential Interior Design included this punked-out bathroom in a Venice loft, designed by Gary Hutton of San Francisco’s Gary Hutton Studios. It still surprises us with its saturated color and pitch-perfect placement in an art-filled home.
Petaluma Landscape designer Suzanne Biaggi outdid the competition with this stunning garden-cum-dining room, and took home top honors for Landscape Design in 2011. Created for the Late Show Gardens in Sonoma, it was a treatise on sustainability—featuring edible greens and plenty of space for indulging Bacchus-style in an outdoor feast.
Love it or hate it, cardboard furniture has a place in design, and we’re still attracted to the amorphous Blob, a series of 100 cardboard sheets held together by plywood combs. Fans are willing to gamble on pieces that will dent and distress over time in order to enjoy the Dr. Seuss-like quality of the clever design.
The back porch of this Sea Ranch home is open to the views via glass barn doors, yet protected from blustery weather by surrounding walls. It offers the best of both worlds and helped architect Malcomm Davis of Malcolm Davis Architecture clinch the 2009 title for Residential Architecture in 2009.
It’s not often we see a playroom that could double as an adult living space, but designer Jeff Andrews impressed us with this room that includes a commissioned painting with the lyrics to Madonna’s “Little Star”—part of his winning project for Residential Interior Design in 2012.
