Berkeley, CA is a robust city, rich with culture, intellect and ambition. But architecturally speaking, it’s a bit of an anomaly, being at once traditionally conservative and boldly modern.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on this phenomena recently, delving into one of Berkeley’s most contested debates. That of the “Berkeley Brown Shingle.”

From the article:

Berkeley architect David Trachtenberg is much more precise in describing how his use of brown shingles reflects the design philosophy of the First Bay Tradition, which has inspired his buildings throughout the Bay Area: “When you sheath a building in shingles,” he says, “it gives that building’s smallest gestures unique expression.”

Now he has applied this idea to three townhouses at 1350, 1352 and 1354 Neilson St. in North Berkeley, two of which have just come on the market.

Read more about architect David Trachtenberg.

Trachtenberg Architects was formed in 1991, six years after Trachtenberg graduated from Harvard with a master’s degree in architecture. His firm has designed homes and commercial buildings from Sonoma County to San Jose that have been praised for their aesthetic qualities by critics (including the late Allan Temko) and city planners. Among them: Berkeley landmarks Rose Grocery, Saul’s Delicatessen, Cody’s Bookstore on Fourth Street, Berkeley Bowl Market and the La Farine Building on Solano Avenue.

And, of course, if you’d like to view more of San Francisco’s modern homes, check out Sell Modern’s listings.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 8:40 am and is filed under Contemporary Homes, Featured Architect, Featured Modern City, Modern Architects, Modern Homes, San Francisco Architecture, modern architecture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.