modern by design

architect: mark english architects

builder: rbr development

photography: matthew millman

after the shock. the summer following the financial collapse was one of uncertainty, but that didn't prevent metropolitan home magazine's selected team of a-list designers from choreographing a seamless narrative in their san francisco show house called "modern by design". gary hutton's team was given the master bedroom and office suite on the second floor…four rooms and a hallway in which to play and have fun. the team wanted graphics and dimension in the hallway and settled on an abstracted, metaphorical map of united states seismic activity. In a ghd twist, the map was created by pinning silver pearls to the wall in clusters where earthquakes occurred, with no indication of geographical features or borders. ever on the leading edge of materials, gary's team employed felt (made from recycled plastic bottles) for curtains. used cardboard boxes were carefully incorporated into a nightstand (which quotes artist robert gober's work), held together with giant rubber bands. the team designed an articulating screen of real ivory soap bars for the perfect transition between bathtub and toilet. the room hit just the right note for the times.