Beebe Skidmore Architects

Pontiac MI
2011

Beebe Skidmore is developing plans to replace a dilapidated wood garage with a new loft space featuring a monumental double-hung window wall. The building will serve as leasable space for professional offices and will be readily subdivided for multiple tenants. The structure combines a heavy-timber frame, to be assembled by an Amish carpentry group, with custom steel components and SIPS panels pre-fabricated locally. This project is part of a multi-building multi-phase project to renovate a contiguous group of historic properties located on a prominent intersection near downtown Pontiac.

San Jose CA
2008
 
Beebe Skidmore collaborated on a technological public artwork with artist Maggie Orth of International Fashion Machines and Josh Smith of Intel. The project is a response to the San Jose Climate Clock Initiative: an international competition aimed at using art and technology to communicate local climate data.
 
Our proposal creates a 200-foot long open-air gathering place in downtown San Jose. Climate change data is depicted overhead on the horizontal surface of this lightweight canopy structure. A robot suspended from a recycled industrial gurney slowly etches circular patterns in the carbon-laminate panels that form the canopy ceiling. Bigger circles represent cleaner air. Smaller circles represent current pollution levels. Over time, as the atmosphere gets cleaner, the structure will be increasingly perforated with daylight.
 
Our team was selected as a finalist and presented the project at an invitation-only colloquium for artists and scientists held at San Jose State University. Other finalists included artists Bill Fontana, Mel Chin, Chico MacMurtrie and Usman Haque. 

Portland OR
2010

This contemporary design combines pre-fabricated, modular cabinetry with site-built shelving, countertop slab, lighting elements and period hardware. The result is a custom fit with a clean, efficient appearance and unobstructed flow of daylight.

Bloomfield Hills MI
2011

This prototype wall assembly serves to stop wind, trap heat and transmit daylight. The construction concept explored in this prototype could be used in a range of cold-weather applications from ice fishing to emergency shelter. The wall is assembled from common foam cups bonded to form air pockets and squeezed together inside a plastic shrink-film envelope. The wall prototype stands 14 feet tall.

Bloomfield Hills MI
2011

Doug designed and fabricated this prototype chair at Cranbrook Academy of Art. The chair assembles by hand without mechanical fasteners and is made of portable, polished 2" square aluminum tubes. The geometry of the chair is a function of calculated slots and tabs cut into the tubing at precise angles. As furniture, the piece is completed with fitted rubber shock cords and a pliable seating surface. As a structural investigation, the piece comprises of individual trusses, each of which is a free-standing element and could be used in architectural applications on a larger scale.

Columbia River
2007

This economical design for a modern houseboat accommodates a two-person family with 5 dogs and 4 kayaks. The project starts with a pre-engineered floating boathouse kit of the type widely used for year-round storage of marine vessels. The structure is sliced open and in-filled with light frame construction to create a mix of durable indoor and outdoor spaces held together under a single roof.

Astoria OR
2009

The Astoria Museum of Contemporary Art is a creative initiative to establish an international art destination in the historic maritime town of Astoria, Oregon. Due to its broad wharfs, downtown Astoria has a tiered structure resulting in numerous vacant lots located on the "main drag"--many with steep grade changes and dynamic ramped platforms. The proposal identifies a network of these underutilized urban sites as well as formal strategies for how they might be occupied and organized into a decentralized sequence of outdoor art venues and galleries. 

Portland OR
2008

The City of Portland organized this ideas competition to explore ways of creating greater density and affordable housing within the existing city grid, which is heavily oriented towards detached single-family structures. Submissions were required to provide a minimum of 6 houses on two standard lots with off-street parking and a common yard.

Our scheme recognizes the deep-rooted appeal of individual ownership and aims to create a balance between 7 private and 2 common spaces. The houses are not identical. Rather than forming a singular block, the building mass is shifted to allow light to pass through. Each house has its own private garden and ground floor indoor/outdoor flex space. For safety, comfort and market feasibility, the scheme splits the courtyard requirement into two functional zones: one for cars, and one for people.