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At once grounded and ethereal,
transparent and opaque, the complex has an air of mystery
about it that begins even before you walk in the door.
A simple palette of materials—burnished concrete
block, stainless steel and Rheinzink, a German-made
alloy of zinc, copper and titanium—is joined
at the main entrance by a cast-glass wall, which forms
a corner of the courtyard. A magical bit of technology,
the freestanding rippled-glass wall seems almost liquid,
visually absorbing the color, light and shimmering
movement of the unseen pool waters poised behind it.
“I like a sense of surprise when you enter a
residence,” explains the architect, who collaborated
with partner Takashi Yanai. “I think of houses
as being about more than frozen sculpture and capturing
space. They are about people connecting to people,
to nature and their own feelings.”
In Africa, where he spent six years after architecture
school in the Peace Corps and teaching, Ehrlich came
to appreciate the power of the courtyard to shape public
and private space. He went on to develop an approach
he calls “multicultural modernism”—a
term he’s actually trademarked. |
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