Tanglewood Conservatories Blog – Alan Stein's Writings about Custom Conservatory Design and More

We recently received an email from Ken Tate, the project architect for the large renovation project that incorporated a Tanglewood Conservatories steel and glass pool pavilion. Ken is a pretty high level architect and has been named as one of the top 100 architects by Architectural Digest magazine. It was for the project that was featured in Architectural Digest magazine in July and included a full page interior picture of the custom pool house we designed and built.

Ken wanted us to have a testimonial from him and wrote:

“My experiences with Tanglewood Conservatories have been exceptional ones…from the early design and coordination phase, to the shop drawing and construction phases. Tanglewood is a couture conservatory company, meaning that every detail is custom designed and all shop construction is overseen personally by the owner Alan Stein himself! And Alan, being an architect, is always refining the smallest details. My first project with Tanglewood was featured in “Architectural Digest “ (July 2010 page 89) as part of a feature article on the house that the conservatory was attached to. So, the “proof-is-in-the-pudding”.

Ken Tate Architect

Aside from just being a great recommendation and making us feel really good, Ken points to one of the defining features of Tanglewood Conservatories. While many conservatory builders refer to themselves as “custom” or “bespoke”, what they are mainly commenting on is their ability to mix and match their standard parts to make different looking conservatories.

What we did for Ken was to conceive an entirely new way to build a conservatory, using entirely new materials – steel and glass instead of wood, based on his desire to have an “old world” steel and glass conservatory.

The fact that Tanglewood Conservatories is willing and able to explore with architects and clients how best to achieve their vision without limitation– no matter where it leads, is what makes the company’s approach completely unique.

Yes, other conservatory builders make conservatories that look like some of ours and we make some that look like theirs, but Tanglewood is pretty unique when it comes to our ability to listen to our clients, both their expressed desires as well as the not as obvious ones and to build rooms that capture the essence of their dream in great ways they had not even thought of.

Alan

I hope everyone has had a chance to look at the new video’s we’ve posted in the video section of our site. They are also linked from our Homepage in the area called Latest Video.

The ones titled “A View Inside –
Tanglewood recreates the grand conservatory at Biltmore Estate are very interesting. Part One shows a very unique conservatory project being created in our workshop and Part Two shows the installation of the same custom conservatory on the job site. It gives everyone more of an insight as to how our beautiful conservatories are created.

This particular custom conservatory had as it’s inspiration, the great historic conservatories at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina. On the estate are several conservatories, the one on the main house which is just off the main entrance hall being the one that the owner of this latest Tanglewood conservatory project fell in love with and wanted Tanglewood to recreate.

The other classic conservatories are in the garden and serve horticultural purposes. These are beautiful steel and glass greenhouses much like many of the other grand conservatories of the age.

The conservatory video titled: “The Design Process-
Working together with clients to create their dream conservatory” is about how our process works with a client when we are designing their conservatory. This is the story of our journey with the owners to create their dream conservatory.

From our first meeting with Molly and Michael, it was clear that theirs would be a most unusual project. They were actually looking for a custom designed greenhouse at first but after visiting Tanglewood’s workshop decided in favor of one of our beautiful mahogany conservatories instead. The custom greenhouse would come later.

I hope everyone takes a look at these videos.

Alan

The July issue of Architectural Digest included a photograph of a unique swimming pool enclosure designed and built by Tanglewood Conservatories.

Included in the recent issue of Architectural Digest magazine is a feature on a large renovation project by Louisiana-based architect Ken Tate. The project includes a very unique conservatory which he commissioned Tanglewood to design and build. The full page image on p. 89 shows off the steel and glass pool pavilion that Tanglewood designed specially for this project

The architect had approached Tanglewood Conservatories with the request for a pool house conservatory which he insisted be constructed with steel and glass instead of the more traditional material for custom conservatories – wood.

When Ken first approached Tanglewood for some help with his project, he was unsure how the conservatory pool enclosure could be done in all steel, but trusted our team enough to let us run with the design work. He had some images in his mind but had no idea how it could be built.

After some discussion with Ken and the client about the design direction and other important factors to the design, we set to work. This initial phase of the work took about four weeks. We produced drawings for Ken to review, then went back and forth refining the concept.

When Ken first saw our initial design for the pool enclosure, he was completely enthralled. He hadn’t imagined how we could have designed the steel and glass pool pavilion conservatory the way we did and he was delighted with Tanglewood’s unconventional approach and design expertise.

Following his acceptance of Tanglewood’s pool house design, we worked together to resolve the many construction issues having to do with how the conservatory connects to the rest of the house, how it is set on the foundation and how all the small details would come together. Ken was one of the most detail oriented architects we’ve ever worked with but the close collaboration yielded a most remarkable project!

Mutual respect was the key to our success. Ken obviously had a great deal of respect for Tanglewood’s many years of experience in the design and construction of custom conservatories and we absolutely loved Ken’s work and were thrilled to be able to contribute to one of his great projects.

This project is really not much different from many of our other commissions. Tanglewood is hired by some of the best architects in the world because they can see our dedication to great design work and our vast experience within the highly specialized niche of traditional conservatory design. The fact that we are completely comfortable working with steel, bronze, wood or many of the other materials they might choose to use is a great benefit to them.

On our side, we make the commitment to them that we will produce an exceptional, innovative high quality building in a time sensitive and a cost efficient manner. We realize that one of our most important jobs is to make them look great.

The interior picture of the pool house is on page 89 of the magazine.

Ken paid us a big complement on seeing the steel and glass pool pavilion the first time. He said: “Extraordinary, I just want to tell you that I think it is fabulous. I think of how great your quality is, it’s absolutely extraordinary and I hope you love it as well!”

Thanks Ken. The project is a great one!

Alan

The annual convention of the American Institute of Architects, this year held in Miami, wrapped up last week after four days of seminars, workshops and exhibitions.

Attendance seemed to down quite a bit from years past however the strong program was welcomed by everyone I spoke with. Many attendees make a point of coming for the continuing education credits available.

Our attendance gave us a great opportunity to get out and about the fashionable South Beach historic district.

Running right through town is Ocean Drive, a hip see and be seen corridor of cool shops, eateries overflowing the sidewalks and super cool hotels.

The coolest by far is the elegant and historic Delano Hotel, originally named in honor of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and renovated in the mid 1990’s with Madonna as a partner.

Entry to the main lobby is gained through archways in the mature topiary which encloses the entire front of the hotel and sets the stage for the magical, surreal interior. Once inside, twenty-foot tall, white sheer drapes divide the cavernous hall in to intimately crafted “stage sets” of elegant variety. Sparsely decorated with the most unusual of pieces, a fantasy atmosphere somewhere between Alice in Wonderland and the Arabian Nights flows through onto to the back patio, down the wide grassy steps to a lawn surrounded by a village of private cabanas and then out to the pool.

Palm-tree lined Ocean Drive is also lined with an amazing concentration of tropical, Art Deco architecture, the largest in the world. The entire Deco District consists of about 800 of these remarkable pastel treasures originally built in the 1920’s through 1940’s.

The entire, wonderfully eclectic concoction of pink, peach, lavender and teal buildings is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Most of the buildings are small to midsized hotels with restaurants and shops at street level.

I noticed an interesting feature on many of the buildings. At first glance, they appeared to be decorated with beautiful, subtly shaded marble panels. However as I got closer, I realized it was actually coral, not marble, I suspect cut from the tropical reefs offshore!

The entire South Beach area is a unique national treasure, so purely American, a must stop on any tour of great Americana.

Alan

Here are some pictures of the interior structural steel for a new greenhouse project we are working on.

This project features both a fully functional greenhouse as well as a conservatory. The greenhouse will be used to grow all manner of flora while the attached conservatory will be devoted to their display.

The exposed steel structure is a typical feature of larger scale greenhouses, its robust character and construction often celebrated as it was in the old train station architecture. Here, the structure is used to support a much lighter weight “skin” consisting of wood windows and glass panels which gives the greenhouse an airy transparency both in reality and effect.

The steel columns and beams are fabricated with a decorative patterning which adds interesting detail and contributes to lightening the overall effect.

I will continue to post progress pictures on this very unique project – one of the most unusual greenhouses and conservatories Tanglewood has ever designed.

Many people ask the question: What is the difference between a conservatory and a greenhouse? Quite simply, no matter what the architectural style or construction materials, a greenhouse is intended for plants while a conservatory is intended for people.

Not that a beautiful greenhouse, especially a beautiful, romantic antique greenhouse or soaring glass-roofed palm house, such as the one above is designed to be, doesn’t invite one inside to bask in the rarity and quietude of its magnificent tropical setting.

Most of the custom greenhouses Tanglewood has designed and built have been used extensively for both planting and people. A beautiful greenhouse filled with exotic specimens, as was also done in years past, make great party rooms. In Victorian times, the romanticism of the conservatory greenhouse was in striking contract to the formality of everyday life. Images abound of delightful pursuits inside the conservatory.

Many a Tanglewood greenhouse began with an idea for a mere potting shed or cultivation house, then grew and flourished to become a magnificent botanical greenhouse. A singular sanctuary for its owners to retreat to or entertain in as suits their pleasure.

Many greenhouses have specialized mechanical systems to facilitate the horticulture. Whether it be a misting system, specialized lighting, heating or sun shading, each unique greenhouse project requires something special – the same as all our projects.

Alan

Drew Greenblatt, CEO Marlin Steel Wire Products, myself, Greg Moores, Senior Product Designer, DeWalt tools, and Mike Galliazo, Founder of the Regional Manufacturing Institute at our presentation to the Woodworking Industry Conference.

My recent trip to Monterey, California was a huge success. I was invited to participate in the Woodworking Industry Conference as a panelist discussing “Going $ Green; What woodworking companies are doing to become green”.

Conference attendees were interested to hear about Tanglewood’s multifaceted approach to sustainability and green issues. We feel it is important to keep pushing our conservatory company to become better stewards of the environment and the resources we use.

At the conference, I spoke about our efforts to become a completely paperless company, to reuse as much of our scrap material as possible, to utilize raw materials form sustainable sources and to incorporate cutting edge technology into our products and processes.

One of the most exciting aspects of our push towards greater green is the introduction of existing green technologies into our projects. The use of photovoltaic’s is a great example. There are presently glass products on the market that act both as photovoltaic generation panels and semi-transparent panes of glass that can be incorporated into the roof or windows of a “green” conservatory. This technology has been available for several years and is getting better all the time.

One client recently approached us with a request to use such a product in his conservatory design and we were able to locate a source and design it into his conservatory.

At the conference, I also spoke about other opportunities for incorporating green technologies into our conservatories through the inclusion of products already fairly commonplace in buildings such as geothermal heating and cooling, LED lighting and wind turbines for electricity generation. The object of using these products is to lessen the energy impact of a conservatory (or any other type of building) project.

There is already a lot of interest in this kind of inclusive broad based approach to the greening of our projects.

These kinds of specialized solutions fit well with Tanglewood’s design philosophy which values the complete flexibility to respond to each customer’s unique requests whether technological, architectural or functional.

Alan

An architectural rendering showing the new conservatory and greenhouse on the right side of this home.

This really cool project that we’ve recently begun work on is actually two projects in one. Attached to the client’s house is a new conservatory, then attached to the custom conservatory (with a bell shaped dome) is a new greenhouse.

The architect on the project contacted us and sent drawings of a scheme he developed and asked for some guidance.

We realized that the trick to designing these two great spaces was to make them relate to each other yet at the same time, be expressive of their very different functions. The conservatory (on the left) is a wood structure while the greenhouse (to the right) uses an exposed steel structural system. We wanted the two adjoining rooms to be quite different. A conservatory is usually used as a living space. People are the primary inhabitants. A greenhouse is for plants, though a wonderful place for people to spend time as well.

Many people will try to use a conservatory as a greenhouse because they like the beautiful details and design of conservatories and there are not many greenhouse products available that have the same level of attention given to their design. Historically, the great conservatories of the nineteenth century were all horticultural houses. Only in the last thirty years did the idea of using a “conservatory” as a living room type space become popular (and feasible).

Working with the architect, we produced drawings of several design solutions and met with the entire team to decide which was best. We gave the greenhouse the same degree of design effort as the custom conservatory.

For example, we created eyebrow windows, a very unusual and distinctive feature for the greenhouse, on each side of the new room, with the lapped glass domed roof curving above them.

We will be following the progress of this unique job through the shop and will continue to keep everyone posted on our work.

Alan

Our friend, Jae Brown, has a very interesting collection of shoes. In fact, so interesting and unusual, it is going to be on display at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh beginning in April 2011.

In the early 1990’s, Jae was in Crete (Greece) during one of her many visits and came upon a small shop in the town of Heraklion. It was the retail outlet of the master shoemaker and extraordinary artist Vasilis Stamatakis. Fascinated by one of the items she saw in the window, she inquired of the owner and over the next five years a friendship between Vasilis and Jae blossomed.

Vasilis was born to a farming family living near Heraklion in 1916. As a boy, he hated farming and at an early age, became fascinated with boot making. He trained under master bootmakers in Crete and later in Athens, an unheard of distance away at the time and learned to cater to the extravagant tastes of extremely wealthy clients.

He learned the trade secrets that included how to make the fabulous wedding and trousseau pumps, exquisite little shoes for babies, and even specially footwear to wear in the coffin for the high society of the time. Little by little, he had worked his way up to full-fledged Master Shoemaker from shop assistant.

The amazing thing about his art work is the absolutely bizarre circumstances under which he worked. Once in business for himself, each painstakingly handmade pair of his exquisite shoes, produced decade after decade, were made completely in secret and never offered for sale. For although he had a retail shoe shop and an extremely well equipped workshop, his high-style handmade pieces were never even displayed but were done entirely for his own pleasure.

His downtown Heraklion shop “The Elite Shoe Shop” displayed and sold only the rigidly-conservative humdrum footwear mass produced by the wholesale shoe manufacturers in Athens. The reason for this is that Vasilis early on realized that the ultra-conservative matrons who were his customers wanted only the inoffensive ordinary brown and black low-heeled pumps or sandals. In 1941 when he opened his shop, Crete was incredibly conservative and there was no market for the stunning pieces of art he would handcraft.

So over the course of a year and a half, Jae purchased thirty five pairs of shoes from his collection (then in storage) all of which he had made by hand in his Heraklion workshop. The work was done between the years 1941 and 1969 when Vasilis retired and handed the shop over to his daughter.

I was first introduced to Jae’s extraordinary collection during a visit to the Riverstone property in Foxburg Pennsylvania. They had just completed a photo shoot using local friends as models and set them against the great backdrop of the Foxburg estate and mansion. The photographer, Dennis Keys also took some photos at his farm.

You can see these extraordinary works at his website.

Jae herself has set up a website devoted to the life and art of Vasilis Stamatakis. Visit the site and learn about ‘REMBETIKA’ – THE MUSIC THAT INSPIRED VASILIS’ FABULOUS DESIGNS

Might be worth a trip to Pittsburgh too.

Alan

I was flying home from a trip last week and picked up the in flight magazine to see an interesting article titled “Handmade in America”. The article was about the resurgence of interest in “old-school” craftsmanship – handmade artisan products which are becoming very “new-school”. Some would include our conservatories in that group.

With the tagline “Out with the new and in with the old, trendsetting artisans look to the past to make goods that stand the test of time”, the article profiles eight individuals and their company’s that have built thriving businesses making extremely high quality products by hand – the “old fashioned” way.

Tadd Meyers, a Dallas photographer, crisscrossed the country and shot more than 10,000 images of these artisans and their work. In the article are some of his photographs of shoemakers, a company that makes handmade baseball gloves, a company that makes pewter artifacts, a custom guitar maker and a company that makes wooden jigsaw puzzles and rocking horses.

The article highlights a few of them including Danner Footwear in Portland Oregon. It’s not uncommon for Danner’s customers to boast they have been wearing their same Danner Footwear for twenty years. The sole aim of the company since its founding in 1932, is to make their boots last just that long. Each piece of leather is individually tested and all stitching is done by hand.

As is Trail Town Boots in Saint Jo Texas. Carl Chappell, owner, says that before he even starts a pair of his custom made boots, he uses a tape measure to size the customers feet and checks how much “meat” is on them so he knows how firm the boots need to be. Each pair of boots takes him about forty hours to craft.

The article interested me because I am a long time proponent of back-to-the-past craftsmanship however, my take has always been to make the utmost use of available technology. I suspect that back in 1932, when Danner Footwear was founded, the owners would have jumped on any opportunities presented by technology to make their boots the very best at that time – AND make their business the most competitive around.

They would have never turned their backs on technology which could give them a competitive advantage, so why should we do that today. Do companies really have that kind of luxury to charge customers for the cost of not employing technology just for the sake of being able to say the product is “hand made” and thereby unique? Being in the manufacturing business, I can assure anyone that anything made “by hand” is not better just because it is hand made. Technology has the potential not just to make things more efficiently, but to make them at a much higher level of quality as well.

So why is it that handcrafting has become so retro-popular? Do people believe that handmade stuff is really better than items made using technology? Is it because of the stigma that mass production has? Does it have something to do with our sense of ourselves as unique individuals? We want something ultra unique to express our inner uniqueness? Or maybe we don’t feel unique enough inside and want something to compensate? I think we all want desperately to be unique individuals ourselves.

I think the real trick is to find a way to produce very individually distinct products, products that are highly customized to a customers unique wishes, yet to produce them in the most efficient technologically-advanced way possible. That is what we try to do at Tanglewood Conservatories. It requires a very high level of technology because it is the antithesis of mass-production. Each job that Tanglewood Conservatories designs and produces is unique, with unique details and sometimes even unique whole building systems that we have to invent as we go.

It is technology that allows us to do this and it is this process that is one of the most exciting parts of the conservatory business for me.

So please do not count me in the ranks for the back-to-the-past purists. I’m looking forward to the future and all the great stuff we can do with it.

Next time, I’ll show everyone some REALLY cool hand made shoes.

Alan

Our friend, Mathew Glover, sent me an email announcing his successful completion of the Cycle India (as in bicycle) event. The purpose of this event which is held every two years is to raise money for Heal, an organization whose flagship project is the Heal Children’s Village in Andhra Pradesh, India. The village is home to more than 200 orphaned or destitute children.

Along with the rest of the group, Mathew rode 190 miles in rough terrain that he likened to the highlands of Scotland in temperatures of 30 degree Celsius (86 deg. F). This is a terrific cause and I’d like to encourage everyone who can, to make a donation. Mathew says that they raised over £80,000 for Heal, “which is an excellent achievement considering the recession”, however they are short by about £20,000. “I would like to thank all those who have sponsored me personally on my Just Giving page. I am still a bit short of my target so if anyone else wishes to sponsor me, then I would be very grateful.”

These are some pictures Mathew sent of the trip.

Heal has been around for 15 years and is a UK based charitable organization committed to providing shelter, support, education and health care for needy children.

They state: “We are committed to expanding over the coming years with further projects, with the aim of helping up to 1,000 children escape the poverty trap by the end of the decade.” Heal stands for Health and Education for All.

Mathew serves as Head of Fundraising for Heal as well as holding down a his full time job as Managing Director of the Conservatory Outlet, a UK company providing high quality UPC conservatories and windows.

Mathew talks about the highlight of the event visiting the Heal Children’s Village after they had completed the cycling, “… and it was great to see the children who performed a wonderful programme of dancing and entertainment to the Cycle India group and local people. For all of the cyclists, being able to see how the hard work they put in during training, fundraising and cycling made it all worthwhile.”

For future events, Mathew says:
“We are hoping to hold Cycle India again in January 2012 (maybe in Kerala) so if anybody is interested in escaping the cold weather in two years, please get in touch. Also, we are thinking about a trekking adventure in the Himalayas for next January potentially, and maybe a MotorCycle India for those wishing to experience India without all the exercise!”

There is something really appealing to me about this cause and the Cycle India event. Maybe it is the allure of the exotic location but I have wondered why a bunch of young, seemingly ordinary working Brits would be so engaged in this. Of course there is the historical connection between India and England, but I think it is more.

Looking at the pictures, no one in the group looks older than their 30′s and as far as I realized, the fascination we all had with things Indian passed with the 1960’s. Nowadays, I’m much more used to hearing about young people’s business exploits and career concerns.

So where does this interest come from? Did the ideals that were born in the 60’s of worldwide peace, love, brotherhood and understanding really take root in the world in some essential way? Could this be or is there some other mundane explanation.

I have a great deal of admiration and respect for anyone who would undertake to participate in such an event. I just might get it together to do it myself at some point.

The motorcycle idea is particularly appealing.

Alan