DESIGN DIGS
BY CRAIG SMITH | PHOTOS BY KATE RUSSELL
Have no deck
house music
I
f architecture is, as Goethe once said, “frozen music,” James Satzinger is a modern Mozart of materials—a man whose designs have the inevitability of melody, and their realizations the power of consistent harmony. Both show strongly in Satzinger Design’s current project, Casa Carolina, a new residence at 129 Circle Drive in Santa Fe. The home combines contemporary construction techniques with inspired design, and Western practicality with a serenely Eastern sense of spareness and quiet. It’s also a visual statement of Satzinger’s views on how architecture functions—as an art form, as a way to provide grounding within a landscape, and as contemporary form defined by function, giving residents both a metaphysical hearth and a practical home. “I’m in my forty-first year of business, I’m happy to say,” notes Satzinger, current president of the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) New Mexico chapter, which will host the AIA Western Mountain Region conference this October 16 to 19 in Santa Fe. Speakers include the parent of New Urbanism in city planning, Greek Los Angeles architect Stefanos Polyzoides; Bronx-born conceptual artist and landscape architect Vito Acconci; and wife-husband duo Billie Tsien and Tod Williams. David Lake of Lake|Flato Architects will jury a design competition, and a panel of experts will give talks on everything from indigenous planning and the design of the
218 TREND Fall 2014/Winter/Spring 2015
James Satzinger’s newest Parade of Homes winner is simple, clean, and green
Spaceport to a nature patterns workshop and the role of social media in architecture. “I started out when I was 22, as a union carpenter, having dropped out of graduate school in fine arts in California. Pretty soon I started drawing plans, and my father recognized my talent.” In 1973 he fronted his son enough capital to design and build his first house. From that start, Satzinger didn’t look back. He progressed from carpenter to contractor, and later passed the professional architecture examination with colors flying. His original practical background still stands him in good stead, as he continues to do some finishing work and insists on every detail being as perfect as the general whole. Over the years, Satzinger’s work has evolved from a love of geodesic domes and earthy California coastal wood structures, to adobe architecture and construction influenced by his move to Santa Fe, then on to more Modern ideas over time. Of the local style, he notes, “With our flat-roof vernacular, it’s much easier to do Modern design here than in places where roofs are pulled down over a building’s forehead.” Casa Carolina’s modernity and clean design do not mean a lack of practicality, however. The 3,463-square-foot single-family residence offers three bedrooms, four baths, a two-car garage, additional parking, and a generous studio-office area that could serve as guest quarters or a separate, fourth bedroom. Most rooms provide
trendmagazineglobal.com