Sliding barn doors, green walls, a loft area and slides are often on the want lists of aligning homeowners. But they’re also trending in 11 custom-designed playhouses from this year’s Dreams Happen occasion, a biennial auction and fundraiser benefitting Rebuilding Together Peninsula. Using donated materials from local companies, San Francisco Bay Area architects and contractors followed just one rule: Every playhouse might have a maximum footprint of 8 by 10 ft and be no taller than 10 feet, 6 inches. The rest of the layout was abandoned to each team’s inner child.
Playhouses on Display
Where: Stanford Shopping Center, 660 Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, California
When: Through June 8, 2013. Mall hours: Monday through Friday, 10 a.m to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Auction and gala: June 1, 2013, at 6:30 p.m.; tickets are $115. Bids for the playhouses start at $5,000. More information
Mod Pod Time Machine
Design team: Inhabiture Design (this photo and next)
Props: Baby Gap, Gap Kids and Gap
This geometric cedar wood structure could grow with a child and be used as a grownup refuge, office or home studio. The side slats provide a resting place for planters.
The inside is available by sliding doors. Built-in shelves flank the inside center window; the floor features a custom comic strip by a local artist.
Box.O.Matic 3000
Design team: Ana Williamson Architects and Mediterraneo Design Build (this photo and next two)
Props: Marimekko
This modern modular structure is outfitted with a great deal of hidden surprises. An artificial-turf rooftop is available by means of a galvanized metal ladder made from plumbing pipes, whereas the yellow plaster pop-out window is really a sitting nook. On the side hangs a rain chain.
Ana Williamson Architect
A sunken area inside can be used as a soccer ball pit or a landing pad for kids playing on the swing. The blue sliding door at the bottom left is a secret-tunnel entryway available from the exterior.
Woodwork: walnut veneer plywood
The exterior is covered in cement fiberboard and galvanized metal bands, while the entryway comprises two slipping Lexan plastic doors. The detachable aluminium trellis is decorated with hanging potted plants and supports the circular swing indoors.
“We wanted kids to play with the structure nevertheless they want to but also develop with it,” says architect Libby Raab of Ana Williamson Architects. “It might be a rocket ship, a reading nook or perhaps used as a writing studio for grown-ups.”
Peninsula Creamery
Design team: Square Three Design Studios and Pete Moffat Construction (this photo and next two)
Props: Pottery Barn Kids and Sprinkles Cupcakes
Inspired by 1950s diners and an iconic local ice cream shop, this very small structure is excellent for budding restaurateurs using its aluminum sliding ordering windows, serving counters and talk tube on the side for putting orders.
Vintage milk cans from the first Peninsula Creamery double as kid-friendly dining stools outside front. Organic stained Douglas fir outlines the underside of this standing-seam metallic roof.
A 4- by 5-foot attic inside has its sliding window and balcony to get an indoor-outdoor dining area, and can be available by built-in shelving that doubles as a staircase. The kitchen features two sinks, one to hook up to a garden hose and the other to maintain ice and refreshments. A pint-size play range and Caesarstonecountertops finish the distance.
Home Base
Design team: SDG Architects and Chesler Construction (this photo and next)
Props: Edwards Luggage and Gymboree
This tiny version of AT&T park pays tribute to the San Francisco Giants, who won the 2012 World Series. Brick encompasses a porthole window, though a second narrative artificial-turf deck gives access to a twisty tube slide. On both sides are a scoreboard and arena seats.
A ladder of baseball bats signed by the team contributes to the deck, and orange lockers shop toys. This deluxe playhouse also comprises a flat-screen TV for viewing the matches.
Safari Campout
Design team: Hayes Group Architects, Morris Engineering and South Bay Construction (this picture and next two)
Props: Pottery Barn
Outfitted with a Western red cedar roof and ipe decking, and pine support logs out of a local tree farm, this structure has plenty of room for adventurous kids to research.
A miniature vertical garden develops in wall planters on the cement board siding. Kids can hang out from pint-size hammock seats.
Clubhouse Loft
Design team: Arcanum Architecture and Behrens-Curry Homes (this picture and next)
Props: Bloomingdale’s
A steel and Western red cedar butterfly roof tops that this playhouse, which has operable exterior sliding window coverings on each side. “This was intended to be a creative area with duality — appropriate for both introverts and extroverts,” says architect Timothy Chapelle of Arcanum Architecture. “Kids can have fun playing with friends, but together with the sliding doors, they can also distinguish themselves and have some quiet time to read or write” The top floor includes an orange cedar sliding wall; on the side a steel door slides vertically.
Behind the wood slat wall made from reclaimed Wyoming snowfence wood, a ladder contributes to a very small balcony and slide. Behind the slat wall is a 8-foot-tall Cor-Ten steel sliding wall.
A Modern Point of View
Design team: Gary J. Ahern and W.L. Butler Construction
Props: Crate & Barrel and Naartjie Kids
“My intent was to create a cantilevered glass observation deck,” says architect Gary Ahern. With two distinct levels — a downstairs space that’s a bit more personal, and a upper floor where kids can have sleepovers or look out across the lawn — this very small structure also comes with a balcony and slide for a fast exit. The exterior is a mixture of stacked stone and ipe wood siding, while the roof is stainless steel standing-seam metal. Native grasses and horsetail are set up in a front planter that can accommodate trickle irrigation.
The inside features LED lighting plus a vertical-grain pine ceiling.
Ohana Hale
Design team: Cara Kuroda Design and Peninsula Custom Homes (this picture and next two)
Props: Janie and Jack, and Tommy Bahama
This island-inspired structure gives a layout nod to the farm fashion common from 1850 to 1950. “Ohana” in the Hawaiian language means “household,” while “hale” (pronounced “HAH-leh”) means “home” or “construction” A surfboard functions as the first step into the playhouse, which is complete with a very small porch.
A customized mural depicting underwater sea life wraps around a seating nook inside, even though a customized octopus cutout looks on.
Home is Where the Heart Is
Design team: Barbara Butler Artist-Builder (this picture and preceding)
Props: Howard’s Shoes for Children
This playhouse is as much a jungle gym, using its rock wall and hand‐woven rope net ladder, as it’s a key fort. Each climbing device contributes to a porthole that’s an alternative entry to the attic inside.
The Red Barn
Design team: John Onken Architects, Thor Construction, Menlo Park Firefighters Association
Props: Ralph Lauren
This carefully crafted playhouse edition of Stanford University’s iconic Red Barn and equestrian center is designed to appeal to people who love to ride horses, and a reminder of the reason they love riding in the first place. It’s big enough indoors for an adult to stand up.
The Small Mountain Cabin
Design team: Pacific Peninsula Group
Props: La Baguette and Williams-Sonoma Grand Cuisine
This little cabin features cedar lap siding with painted planters and trim out; there’s an integrated play kitchen using a limestone counter and stainless steel sink inside. A cozy window seat plus a living room result in a loft accessible by ladder.
Château Chien Doghouse
Design team: Winges Architects, Hooper Construction & Remodeling
Props: Frette and Kiehl’s
This darling Craftsman-style structure made from cedar shingle siding and ipe hardwood floors is the sole doghouse entrance this year. It’s big enough for one big dog or two small ones to snooze indoors or take from the environment while standing watch.
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