Piece By Piece: Design followed the desire to display in a house made for art

Portland Architect Rick Potestio doesn't mince words when recalling his first visit to Ivan Gold and Mary Meyer's Portland Heights home. "It was a builder's Sheetrock box," he says. "One of those hopeless environments."

Or so it seemed, until Potestio looked around and found he was in the midst of a formidable collection of glass art.

In the moments that followed, the home owners and Potestio discovered a common passion for art, and the partnership to revitalize an old and unremarkable house — albeit one with sweeping views — was forged.

"The biggest limitation to the house was that it was very, very poorly constructed," says Potestio. "It was a two-story house with 8-foot ceilings. I didn't see how we could rectify the situation without tearing the whole place down, but his budget didn't allow that. I saw in him a real interest in doing something exceptional, and that was the attractive part."

By extending the west and north walls into the former back yard, Potestio gained living-room space and the opportunity to create new height. Ceilings on the new portion were raised to 10 feet and the new walls finished in floor-to-ceiling glass.

Now, instead of feeling cramped and dark, the living room took on an intimate air, as though the original low ceiling had been dropped expressly for that purpose. Next, Potestio designed niches and shelves to display Meyer and Gold's collection.

"I wanted it to seem as though the room was just innately perfect for the display of glass, but it wasn't specifically designed to facilitate each piece. We wanted it to feel really natural."

Working with Portland lighting engineer Veronika Batho-Demelius, Potestio took each piece of glass to a warehouse, where workers built scaffolding to determine at what height the glass would be displayed, where the lighting would be positioned and at what angle it would strike the piece. "I went back and adjusted the plan accordingly based on what was determined in the warehouse. It was really an extensive process," he says.

But, says Gold, well worth the time. "We have been completely delighted with the fact that he built a home for us that is more beautiful than any other place we can go. Everywhere we look in the house, we see beautiful things we love."

Lori Tobias is a free-lance writer based on the Oregon coast. Her e-mail address is loritobias@harborside.com.