Frederick Biehle Erika Hinrichs viaARCHITECTURE prioritizes space, light, and material so as to offer you the essence of interiority.

A man-made clearing, a space that allows for an interface between the earth and sky.

In classical antiquity, the oracle was thought to be the mystical portal through which the gods could speak directly to the people.

This proposal is shaped as a man-made clearing, a space that allows for an interface between the earth and the sky, the vertical axis that can intersect with the horizon and the extended parallel path that will traverse the Great Kemeri Bog.

It is a space that allows for the gathering of knowledge through its visitor center exhibition and a place of respite as a kind of oasis that offers regeneration.

The enclosing walls are fabricated in faceted sections from Shou Sugi Ban charred wood, a finishing system invented in Japan that naturally preserves the material. It is set up to act as a scrim, a surface that both filters the condition that lies beyond it while allowing natural light to enter in.

housing must be ordinary, something that recedes into the fabric of the city, and not something that stands forward from it.

The 1960s saw both a rejection of the monumental vision for public housing and a dissolution of the political responsibility to continue creating it. Aldo Rossi’s critique was at the center of the European rejection- Architecture of the City was a protest against the aesthetic functionalism that had been embraced by the public housing industry. Rossi declared that residential buildings are fabric, not monuments, and only by continuing to be fabric can they make a positive contribution to the city as a collective work.

The principal argument against public housing in western democracies has been the cost- which proved to be the critical underlying factor that allowed municipalities to embrace the unproven demolition and high rise construction methodologies. In the US, the result was both the destruction of historically cohesive neighborhoods and the creation of anomalous and stigmatized urban landscapes, anti-urban islands within the city.

The Victoria State Government established its Housing Commission in 1938. In spite of the failure of tower-in-the-park modernism in both America and Europe and the success of its own prefabrication plants, it would choose to abandon its lower rise, higher density track record for Melbourne. Between 1964 and 1970 twenty-eight sites across nineteen suburbs in inner Melbourne would be cleared and developed with forty-seven 20-30 story high rise housing blocks situated in unadorned natural landscapes.

Today, however, these superblock sites can offer a different opportunity- because the land is already publicly owned, one of the principal economic obstacles has been eliminated. Secondly, each of the sites open spaces can benefit from a de-suburbanization, The construction of a low-rise perimeter block apron of new affordable housing can better integrate each of the sites with its surrounding urban condition.

This proposal provides new affordable housing by re-urbanizing Melbourne’s public housing sites- introducing a new low-rise infill to both engage the surrounding streets, integrate certain commercial and retail adjacencies, offer 2 nd floor amenities and services for the larger constituency and better define its landscapes, the now intra-block gardens, to better allow for recreational leisure.

A FULL FLOOR LOFT ON LOWER BROADWAY FOR A YOUNG COUPLE WITH TWO CHILDREN AND A COLLECTION OF MODERN FURNITURE.

The design was intentionally minimal emphasizing the layered planes that apportion and subdivide the space. The nature of materials became a focus- rosewood paneling in the living-dining area, and teak in the bedroom. the plaster vaults of the ceiling were allowed to continue through and the bathrooms were considered as variations of white on white.

One full and one partial floor in a five story brick manufacturing building in West SOHO reinvented as creative studios, sales offices, and showrooms for a designer/manufacturer of silk fashions.

As the clothing designers pattern must be placed onto the flat surface in order to be cut, so too does the figural pattern of this showroom unfold. Private spaces for each of the two partners can be recognized at opposite lengths by identical bent wood walls. The two exhibition showrooms, the projects physical center and visual focus are always open through the transparency of their steel and glass walls. Ten private office areas form the perimeter. 

CONVERSION OF THE TOP TWO FLOORS AND ROOF OF A WEST VILLAGE WALK UP TO PROVIDE LIVING AND WORKING SPACE FOR A YOUNG FILM-MAKER AND HIS FAMILY.

The program requirements were quite brief, simply to open the space and insert the idea of "loft" into the irregular configuration of a century old residential building. But to also include a master bedroom that could be isolated from the rest of the apartment, an interior sanctuary. The concept began by reducing the space to its most essential terms, 3500 square feet on two levels with windows on all four elevations. The interior walls were stripped back to the masonry shell, which was kept exposed along with the heavy timber lintels over the windows. Absolute level was introduced with a new walnut wide plank floor and a lath and plaster ceiling, thus fixing the space's perimeter. Proportionally elongated, the design then interjected distinctively different moments, a series of architectural tableaux that when linked by the sequence of use, could make for a variety of episodic experiences. 

A 1949 ESTATE HOME FACING ONTO THE CHAGRIN RIVER IN NORTHERN OHIO RENOVATED FOR A YOUNGER ATHLETIC FAMILY

The project was executed in four phases all intended to deformalize it, opening it to light and movement while still being able to display a growing art collection: The ground floor public spaces including an atrium, formal and informal living rooms, a dining room, study and billiard room. The 2500 sf master bedroom suite including his and her bathroom and dressing rooms, a second study, an exercise area and a bedroom proper with both sitting and art viewing areas. The kitchen with addition and utilitarian spaces - wine cellar, pool changing room and garage entrance. The exterior pool addition with disappearing edge looking over the sloping terrain toward the river.

14TH FLOOR SOUTH FACING APARTMENT IN THE THIRD OF THREE RICHARD MEIER TOWERS ON THE FAR WEST SIDE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE.

A project of discreet  interventions with furniture and cabinetry to offset the overwhelming whiteness of being. A deep red Venetian plaster wall greets ones arrival and extends the length of the space to the open living room. Easels and wall panels are set up to accommodate an ever changing collection of contemporary painting. 

AN ARTS FUNDING NOT-FOR PROFIT WITH 20 EMPLOYEES WILLING TO SHARE PRIVATE OFFICES AS A WAY TO GAIN MORE COMMUNAL SPACE FOR CONFERENCE ROOMS, FORMAL MEETING ROOMS AND INFORMAL GATHERING RELOCATED TO A FULL 17TH FLOOR IN OF AN OFFICE TOWER ON MAIDEN LANE JUST OFF OF BROADWAY IN LOWER MANHATTAN.

With windows on all four sides of the floor, the intention was to emphasize the loftyness of the space by allowing for repeated moments of visual access to the exterior windows. interior walls have multiple doors (all sliding pocket) and windows. the central conference room is punctuated by 8 openings and can be subdivided. There is a large screening room for films and presentations adjacent to the library.

A FAMILY TOWNHOUSE ON THE UPPER WEST SIDE GOES THROUGH FIVE PHASES OF WORK TO ACHIEVE THE PERFECT RESIDENCE.

Beginning with a glass and stainless steel balcony suspended over the rear garden, the project was one of progressively altering and modernizing the character of what had been a 1960s renovation to a turn-of-century classic townhouse. The last phase was the most extensive, removing the street level rental unit and opening the ground floor directly to the garden for dining, cooking and lounging.

RENOVATION OF A FULL FLOOR LOFT IN a converted match factory building to provide two bedrooms with lots of open space for a young family.

The apartment's private space was compressed and pushed to the rear behind a theatrical steel and Venetian plaster wall, prioritizing the residual space pointing toward the western view of the Hudson River and emphasizing its larger, open dimension.

COMBINING TWO ADJOINING APARTMENTS IN AN HISTORIC DOORMAN BUILDING AT 86TH ST. AND MADISON AVENUE TO CREATE A NEW LARGER BUT LONGED FOR "SANCTUARY."

The intention was to establish a series of singularly unique spaces: a sprawling living room with a new fireplace where there previously was none, a media room all its own, a dining room with serving island and tucked away kitchen, a master suite with a five fixture bath, and an en-suite guest bedroom, all washed by Northern light.

RENOVATION OF A 1250 SF COTTAGE INCLUDING A 1970'S ADDITION TOGETHER WITH A 1250 SF ADDITION WITH OUTDOOR TERRACE AND SWIMMING POOL ON AN INLAND LOCATION ON SHELTER ISLAND.

Some relationship to the original evolution of the property has been embedded in the architecture: the original cottage was opened up vertically and clad with painted pine. It now contains the open kitchen and dining area and a guest bedroom. The 1970's addition is made to be a more emphatic "Great Room;" introduces flat plaster painted walls but retaining the painted pine open ceiling and adding a fireplace. A tower at the corner adjoins a new front porch and entry. The bedroom wing addition initiates the framing of the outdoor court with swimming pool.