[‘The Pad’ is a condo in downtown Boston that I am currently re-designing for my friends Eric and Holly. This series of blogposts chronicles its progress.]
Once we had come to an agreement about the general arrangement of the floorplans, it was time to start thinking about what the place might actually look like. I came up with two themes based on my knowledge of their interests: one based on their enjoyment of the outdoors, which I called ‘Adirondack Modern’, and another based on their liking for Japanese cartoons, which I termed ‘Anime Sophistique’.
‘Adirondack Modern’ begged for natural materials: blue slate floors, extensive wood paneling, rugged stone walls, and rustic furniture. The garden space is shown enclosed with stone planters, creating real separation between it and the living room and bar area. 
The ‘Anime Sophistique’ scheme is unapologetically contrived-looking: it uses graphic black and white elements with pops of strong color to suggest energy and movement. Materials are much slicker: white corian, red leather, red back-lit glass at the kitchen. The garden is delineated by a step up, rather than a screen or wall, and is quite minimal. In both schemes I proposed a white wood floor – in order to bounce light around the space – and a vegetated ‘living wall’ along the lines of Patrick Blanc’s mur vegetal.
THE HOBOTECT 