Kitchens Inside and Out

By Mary Swift-Swan

Michael Heckmann is an architect and planner located in Tiburon.  Michael has worked in Tiburon for the last two plus decades and seen start-to-finish many fine homes that line the hills and waters’ edge in this unique and quiet community. Michael was delightful to interview for Bay Crossings Waterfront Living Tiburon Feature. His words say it best when describing what brought him to this field.

“ I first got into architecture as a fantasy from my hgh school years. I’ve always had this excitement about putting things together with my hands. It was from a level of seeing results, sort of realizing the physical changes almost immediately of something that I had in my head, building models, and different things. Out of high school, I was able to develop that going through college at the University of Texas in Austin. It was a great time, in places of higher learning, all over the country in the late ’60s and early ’70s. There was a lot of excitement and optimism in the country and in our college as well. There was a lot of new thinking and it seemed like everything was possible. When there, I had met an architect from Tiburon, Warren Callister. That led to a connection with him over the years.”

After college, Michael moved to California and finally settled in Tiburon around 1980. After commuting to San Francisco for a little over a year, he took an joined his college acquaintance, Warren Callister, and his architectural group in Tiburon.

“The group is a long-standing Bay Area firm known for their Bay Area regional style. They created designs that were sensitive to the site. The expressions they created were not really classical but had a classical feeling to them. The expressions had a lot of thought put into them about shapes and forms. Much of the work was actually expressions in wood. The detailing of wood was given a lot of thought both inside and out. Many of the interiors that we worked on at the time were churches and chapels. In every project I was involved in at that office, we articulated the transitions where points of the building would meet. How doors and window were articulated were given a good deal of thought, too. In 1988, I became a partner. It was good exposure for me to be in that group. Not just Warren, but my other partners as well, Jim Bischoff and David Gately. We were a group that varied from 10-12 people with great interaction between all the architects.

“In 1996, I struck out on my own and started my own firm in Tiburon. Eighteen months ago, we moved to the current location at the end of Ark Row. It is a wonderful location and interesting building. It was an Ark at one time. Here we are, right in the middle of things and it is a nice environment in which to create. There are big beautiful windows and a free-flowing workspace that works for us. It has great high ceilings like many fine older homes. Our core group is myself with three other architects, though we hire outside consultants to build models or work with us on special aspects from time to time. Like all business, there is an ebb and flow.

“We work predominantly in Tiburon and Belvedere. We work on one or two new homes a year , as well as remodels and renovations. We also do work in Sausalito, Mill Valley, San Rafael, and San Francisco. As our name gets out there, we hope to work all over the Bay Area. In my previous partnership, we did work all over Northern and Central California, plus some work across the country.”
When asked, Michael defined what was common to his favorite projects. “In general, it’s the client that makes the project more exciting for me. They bring something special about architecture and excitement about design. And that enthusiasm is infectious. I bring it to work with me every day. Sitting across the table from someone who has that same feeling about everything we are trying to do is very infectious. In some of our larger projects, the client had to make a tremendous commitment of time and energy. They maintained the excitement and commitment from the very beginning to the very last day. It just made the whole experience a joy for everybody involved. For me as the architect, it was a wonderful thing to experience. I look for that every day. It can happen on any scale. I have worked with people who have made small changes or additions to their homes that have brought that same enthusiasm and commitment to their projects that have been a true joy to work with. All that time I spent as a kid making models and creating things connects and I still feel that excitement when working as an architect, just on a much bigger scale. I don’t actually make models any longer. Mostly now my hands are busy sketching and creating some of the vision for peoples homes and the changes they want.”

When asked who most often requests his services, Michael continued, “Among our clients, we have two extremes right now. Young families or people who are just deciding to have children,who want a better environment for their children to grow up in. Also, people who are farther along in their life. They no longer need many bedrooms, so they want to create an office, media rooms, exercise area, a wine cellar. They are doing a lot more things in the later part of their lives that maybe they did not have time or room for with children at home.”

What is new in the current style for waterfront living in the area? “In newer homes ,it is becoming really clear that living and dining rooms are not quite as significant in the scheme of things. People really concentrate on their kitchen, family room, and maybe a casual dining area. The notion of a great room that started about 10 to 15 years ago, and maybe started 100 years ago,” he laughed, “is getting more and more prevalent. That form of living space for the family is getting more exciting in the architecturally in terms of space and detail. It is getting better positioning to take advantage of the best views and use of the property. Years ago, you would place the living room or dining room in a position to have the best views. These days, the focus is on the family room and kitchen area, the center of family activity. It has become clear to people that they really only entertain occasionally or on a limited basis over a year’s time. They would now rather have the focus on that area of the house in which they spend time everyday. Sometimes bathrooms take focus but generally it is the kitchen and the hearth or fireplaces indoors and outdoors that are getting the most attention.”

He continued, “Outdoor fireplaces are part of everyone’s wish list. The environment we live in may have a bit of a chill at the onset of evening, but the climate is so enjoyable that most of the year evenings outdoors is quiet pleasant for the family as well as for entertaining. There are no airborne bugs biting in the Tiburon area and very little fog, which helps to make the evenings outdoors a pleasure.

“People are moving their kitchens outdoors as well. The barbeque has been upgraded to be incorporated into real cooking areas with counters, a sink, and sometime even a small refrigerator is worked into the cabinets. The areas are becoming much more formalized to where they are re-creating a kitchen on the outside of the house. A lot of times it is a practical problem based on where the kitchen is and where the outdoor entertaining space is. In those instances, it is very common for us to do that. We are looking into adding dishwashers next. It won’t be long before every amenitythat exists indoors will be available outside as well. We use the same kind of materials, too. We use marble and granite, special lighting and sound systems. It is becoming a true outdoor living space. We have so much outdoor activity (in this area) and so many days it is available to us that this is a natural step.”

Michael gave a tour of a home his firm recently completed. The home is located toward the end of the Tiburon Peninsula on a knoll where they have a full view of Raccoon Straits, Golden Gate Bridge, plus a bit of San Francisco, and the East Bay. It is positioned on almost an acre of land with very generous room sizes. There are four bedrooms, a workout room, and media/play room with retractable shades that fully withdraw into the ceiling. In the center of the house is a formal living and dining room. On the west side upper level is a great room with family hearth and dining area plus a few smaller areas. Most of the rooms are of dramatic proportion totaling approximately 7,500 square feet for the main home. There are two additional outer buildings: a home office and Cabana for the pool and raised spa that are surrounded by a clear wind screen that have a direct entry from the driveway affording a view of the Gate. The two outdoor entertaining areas include a small one with an outdoor fireplace just outside of the great room with a small BBQ station, patio, and lawn area. Down the stairs to the lower level on the west side is a long andwide lap pool and spa.

“The vaulted ceilings go up 16 to 18 feet,in some places. We had to use big beams with a lot of structure. A lot of steel was used, especially since we are in earthquake country. The results are quite phenomenal. Classic columns were used in the entry, but the house on the whole is of contemporary design. The property is on a knoll so the house wraps around the knoll taking advantage of the full potential of the view and available space.The two outer buildings create greater privacy from the street. These clients were very enthusiastically involved all the way to the end. The contractor, Robinson and Hadley of Belvedere, provided a high level of quality with great attention to detail. They are one of the premiere construction firms and certainly the best in our little piece of the world here in Tiburon/Belvedere.”