OCTOBER 22, 2010
A Dream House’s Difficult Birth
Four architects, seven years and millions later, a Carmel property nears completion
by Nancy Keates
EXCERPT:
Ms. Page, a 60-year-old executive recruiter-turned-neurofeedback counselor, didn’t get quite everything she wanted. When she suggested the installation of four microwaves so she could heat all her Whole Foods takeout simultaneously “I just about died,” confesses concrete artist Fu-Tung Cheng, who also designed the kitchen. A single microwave and a speed-oven were installed instead.
To enter the home, 10-foot bronze doors open into an un-walled space with views of trees on all sides. Tree-filtered light moves from one side of the courtyard to the other. At the entrance stands a large fountain — an arc-shaped greenish slab of concrete made by Mr. Cheng that’s embedded with crystals and fossils and made to look and sound like a creek. Water streams through a path along the top, flowing down steps to end in a pool with blue glass shards at its bottom.