Jenn Thornton, Author at Digs.net

Chris Cortazzo, 27560 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90265

Chris Cortazzo’s Rhapsody in Blue—27560 Pacific Coast Highway

Jenn Thornton June 11, 2020

Posted high above the beach, with private access to sand and shore, the home at 27560 Pacific Coast Highway sits atop the world on an

Architect Eric J. Smith Works with Thoreau-inspired Poet—Designs Modern “Cabin in the Woods”

Jenn Thornton June 10, 2020

Having worked prolifically with more traditional typologies, from Cape Dutch to Georgian to French, Writer’s Studio—600 square feet of exquisite, undiluted design in forested Connecticut—marks

Edward Ogosta’s ‘Four Eyes’ Will Give You an Endorphin Rush

Jenn Thornton May 28, 2020

Are you looking for an endorphin rush mixed in with a whiplash of your senses? Edward Ogosta Architectural piece, ‘Four Eyes House’ ought to do

Calgary’s Central Library is an Icon of Contemporary Design

Jenn Thornton May 15, 2020

Designed for a growing city with a social-good focus, Calgary’s award-winning Central Library is a contemporary icon of cultural design—and a new blueprint for a

Uncontrived, lush with exotica and featuring ponds and porticos, stonework and sculpture, “garden” actually seems too provincial a term for the hybrids of function and fantasy that Grace creates. Hers is a fine eye and a remarkable hand. “As a licensed landscape contractor, I build what I design,” she says. “That’s when my work took a big leap forward. There is no separation between design, installation, and maintenance, it’s all one and happens on a continuum. Unless it’s integrated, it doesn’t work—period.” This is how she thinks too, both pragmatically and painterly. Much like an artist, she uses “broad and fine brushstrokes” to transform a two-dimensional canvas into a three-dimensional work of art. And in a systematic fashion; first is attending to infrastructure beneath the ground, then to its surface with the layering of elements. Rocks, for instance, are not so much placed as they are selected and then worked such that their shadows will cause additional depth or bring color forward. From there the garden grows. One also sees this artistry in Grace’s exquisite new tome Private Gardens of Santa Barbara: The Art of Outdoor Living (Gibbs Smith), a rapturous showcase of her elegant outdoor Edens, from rustic to coastal to modern. Each of the book’s made-to-age milieus represents a temple of residential garden know-how and is illustrative of nonderivative design that reflects the character of the native landscape. “The Art of Outdoor Living” idea certainly accounts for the substantial exterior living rooms and heated floors of our era. “About 10 percent of outdoor living comes down to ‘my fort is cooler than your fort,’” Grace refreshingly confesses. But at the root, “it is a way to describe a lifestyle connected to nature.” For Grace, who went from toiling in the family garden to forsaking a career in medicine after a 13-week stint as a park ranger proved she’d long lost her heart to the natural world, this is the point. “Step outside and you hear birdsong, you smell water evaporating. It’s a rich and simple experience, but relaxed and comfortable. We take a deep breath and feel better. It’s so automatic we don’t even think of it, but it is a very profound thing. It’s experiential, there is intentionality to it.” Landscape as soul, nature as a relief—what a thing of beauty. gracedesignassociates.com Photos: Grace Design Associates And Holly Lepere Johnson (Home).

A Lush New Tome: Margie Grace Cultivates Exquisite Gardens

Jenn Thornton May 14, 2020

Landscape designer and author of a lush new tome, Margie Grace cultivates exquisite gardens with singular flora and flourish.

Sustainable Design By Modern Design Practitioners

Jenn Thornton April 3, 2020

Modern practitioners of ethically-driven design are reshaping the future with sustainable solutions that meet the moment.

Kinfolk Gallery And Norm Architects Create Poetic Minimalism

Jenn Thornton March 18, 2020

Fusing Japanese and Scandinavian design, Norm Architects brings poetic, minimalist rigor to a collaborative space for cult-favorite Kinfolk magazine.

When Color Comes Into Play

Jenn Thornton March 5, 2020

In this mostly minimalist moment, the audaciously pigmented space is a bold proposition, indeed. Here, some of the architecture and design studios creating built environments

Expansions, Re-creations, and Installations— All Are on View at New and Notable Museums Worldwide

Jenn Thornton February 19, 2020

Artists and architects are the curators of our physical world. Leaders in each field are creating bold interactions between space and surrounds, challenging the landscape

Designers To Watch—Egg Collective and O&G Studio

Jenn Thornton January 22, 2020

At the forefront of this movement, Egg Collective and O&G Studio are innovating all categories, honestly and sustainably, with a reverence for art and nature.

Heath Ceramics: A Cabin As A Physical Extension

Jenn Thornton January 8, 2020

For the last seven years, Cathy and Robin have transformed a modest 1973 Tahoe cabin into their personal retreat. Now, this humble space—prioritizing simple, beautiful

Atelier Vime darling of the design world

The Darling of the Design World: Atelier Vime

Jenn Thornton December 12, 2019

French renaissance is underway in Provence, where, in the village of Vallabrègues, Benoit Rauzy and Anthony Watson happened upon an 18th-century hôtel Particulier