Randi Fox, AIA

Randi Fox AIA, firm principal, has a Master’s in Architecture and twenty years of professional experience, with a further five years background in the construction trades. During this time he has worked on a variety of building types.

Residential projects include high-rise, midrise and low-rise multi-family projects, custom houses and renovations. Recreational projects include a National Parks Service resort, YMCA work, aquatic centers and a fieldhouse. Civic projects include three libraries and a community center and commercial work includes various mixed-use buildings and a hotel.

Randi has been interested in sustainability issues since childhood. As an architect the opportunity to really make an ecological difference is a responsibility he takes seriously, and sustainable solutions are always proposed and incorporated into his projects. The added value gained from appropriate and efficient uses of materials, thoughtfulness in daylighting, reducing life-cycle costs and increasing indoor air quality easily offsets the care required to consider them.

 

Heidegger-Building Dwelling Thinking

  1. Building is really dwelling
  2. Dwelling is the manner in which mortals Are on the earth.
  3. Building as dwelling unfolds into the building that cultivates growing things, and the building that erects buildings.

Randi grew up in Canada, studied history and theory of architecture at McGill University, fine arts and planning at the University of Regina, and received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Manitoba. He has lived, worked and studied architecture in Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Victoria, San Francisco and Seattle, and currently resides in Port Townsend.

Projects

Wooden boat restoration: 1937 Boeing Coastal Cruiser 48’ LOA, 1957 Grenfell Sedan Cruiser 32’ LOA, 1930’s Davidson dinghy 10’ LOA, 1959 Lane runabout 18’ LOA, 1965 Thompson runabout 19'LOA
Classic car restoration: Volvo 1800’s & Mercedes SL’s with the occasional big American convertible.
House restoration: 1904 Victorian, 1927 Sears Craftsman Bungalow, 1937 Modern, 1955 Modern.

Tatami

Tatami Mat Proportion 3’x6’. Rooms as multiples of that base.

Tatami variations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Habitation

I have an ongoing interest in experiencing and understanding alternative living arrangements, in how different people give meaning to their place. In our culture of movement the responses range from portability to permanence, from transience to appropriation, from sharing to exclusion, from nomadism to ownership. Here are some of my investigations.

1979-1989 Highway Trucking. Sleeper Cabs and truck stop meals and endless miles.

1989-92 Studio/Loft/Warehouse living in Montreal. Forklifts in the hallway, drums in the living (room). Oil paint.

1989-94 Yacht Liveaboard, Vancouver and Vancouver Island. 48’ Classic cruiser the M.V. Sylva Queen. All the coastal towns make sense when you arrive at the Port, the original front door. The rhythm of the tides are a life force .

1990 Squatter’s Tenement, Alphabet City, New York City. Grass roots re-appropriation of derelict buildings. Stay for free in exchange for construction help. Forcible eviction is the norm, but some squats have gained co-operative ownership through struggle.

1991 Bear Creek Commune, Kelowna. Handmade everything: houses, sauna, sweatlodge, gardens. Chop your wood and haul your water. Lots of music.

1995-2003 Airstream Trailering, Canada & US. A 20 year old Airstream commands more respect that a quarter million dollar custom motorhome. The common RV experience is to sell it all and hit the highway. “We’ve never looked back.” The caravan touches a deep nomadic need in our being.

1996-97 Galilee harbor Co-op, Sausalito. San Francisco Bay has been home to generations of rebel artists who have colonized the waters with houseboats and arks. From Bohemians to Beats to Hippies to Skateboarders. For just as long the wealthy landowners have tried to get rid of them. Galilee, one of the last outposts of resistance has just acquired official liveaboard community status. A fragile but important Victory.

1997-98 Belltown Artist loft, 66 Bell, Seattle. One of the last holdouts to the neighborhood's gentrification. Building-wide open house gallery exhibits, day laborers at the doorstep.