John Wenner's Fahrenheit Collective Studio
Fahrenheit Collective, founded in Denver by John Wenner in 2006, produces modern, innovative custom metal fabrication projects. Drawing upon years of experience and breadth of knowledge in metal fabrication techniques, Fahrenheit offers artfully designed and executed home/commercial furnishings for clients.
John came to Matt with an idea for a home studio fabrication workspace in the summer of 2018. He was seeking an energy-charged space that would allow lots of natural light to filter into the workspace. The building site was complex, framed in by the existing house location, a utility easement, and property setbacks. Although a shed pump house existed on the edge of the property line, the existing shed was captured into the new building footprint. An existing 3-foot wide utility easement ran down the center of the lot, so Matt carefully positioned the new workshop close to the current house. In addition, the roof design had to squeeze within the overhead utility line clearance allowances. A side street setback requirement also reduced the available building footprint, compounding the design challenges.
Click here for a VR-based experience of the proposed framing plan.
With the site variables locked in, John and Matt began dreaming up what kind of studio space could be achieved that met his and Mandy’s needs and balanced within their budget. The new workshop enclosed the backyard into a private interior courtyard setting. Operable slider barn doors at opposing sides of the shed allow the shed to become a flexible studio space where materials and fabrication jobs are within a short distance from his residence. Oversized 2X6 wall framing and liberal use of insulation will make the space energy efficient in various seasons. John fabricated the sliding barn doors with an operable man door used during the winter months. Matt carved a large slot-shaped overscaled window, incorporating fluted-plastic paneling on the east side of the structure, allowing sunlight to filter into the space.
The construction documents bridged the dream into reality. Matt's Building Information Modeling (BIM) skills communicated the design to John, Mandy, and the building department. Detailing projects in 3D eliminates questions and problems in the field typically seen during construction. This approach, with detail, allows Matt to move on to other projects without the need to field additional requests for information. John's unique skill set helped execute the project's construction and detailing quickly and efficiently. John's expertise in CAD, SolidWorks, welding, fabrication, forming, forging, brazing, and casting made the build-out a dream. In addition, he's created many custom design features.
Relying on a solid permit package and his expertise in fabrication, John put his skill set to use in the build-out of the space. His imagination and vision helped execute Matt's design construction and detailing quickly. In addition, John uses the new space to design and build custom steel bicycle frames for Wenn Bikes. He's pushing the bounds of fabrication and expert metallurgy with his craft in the new area. Matt has known John for 30 years, and he and Mandy are dream clients. Visit Fahrenheit Collective to learn more about John Wenner, Wenn Bikes, and his extraordinary abilities.
The Lafayette House Historic Renovation
A classic post-victorian styled American foursquare historic renovation
This whole-house remodel aimed to modernize the space and breathe new life into the somewhat dysfunctional kitchen. Renovation of the four second-floor bedrooms into three bedrooms created a new master bath, storage, a walk-in closet, and a small office. The abandoned small bedroom space, an uncovered walk-out porch, and the outdoor storage merge to create a delightful master bathroom and a sunroom workspace perfect for a home office.
The unfinished attic revision creates two bedrooms, and two period-correct dormers added to make the most of this space. Project partner Jeff Stine.
Longmont Bungalow Remodel
This Longmont, CO, residence is a whole-house remodel and renovation project. Matt cleverly found a way to reinvent the floor plan by demolishing an existing chimney and bringing the kitchen into the front of the house. The new kitchen will open into the living room. Do you have a kitchen that needs some love or a home that needs modernization? Call Matt and get started on your dream house today.
Alamosa Barndominium
This Alamosa, CO project is under construction by the owner.
Barndominiums, sometimes referred to as Barndo’s, are new-coined words blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others. The word barndo combines a barn and a condominium with multiple meanings. One definition refers to a type of steel building. This usage refers to a non-traditional structure with a steel frame and sheet metal siding, originally designed as a storage building or barn structure that has been repurposed by adding living areas to previously open space.
This building type suits existing property or multi-acre homesites. The structure often acts as a dual-purpose living. A shop or work and storage area large enough for things as large as boats and recreational vehicles. Matt and his dad Rich cut their teeth on their first barndo in the early 1990s. Barndo’s are a unique, cost-effective design solution for clients seeking sizeable open floor plans, plenty of garage workspace, generous room sizes, and homogeneity within the local fabric.
Take a look at the preliminary framing plan panoramic. BIM is an excellent platform to know the material take-offs in a project. It provides accurate material take-offs, comprehensive scheduling of items and materials, and unrivaled details.
Westminster Remodel
Many times in sound design, less can be more. This job started with an executive-level basement finish package working within many pre-existing constraints that helped prevent a run-away budget. The plumbing stubbed into the basement slab; Matt worked diligently to keep the bathroom centric within the plumbing stub-ups. The existing egress window location determined the guest bedroom location. The most prominent design hurdle was the current location of the furnace and water heater that blocked any efficient circulation path to the bedrooms. Matt's solution relocated the furnace and water heater a few feet. This critical play opened up a space for a clever refreshment area nestled behind barn doors that captured this newfound space. A creative nook chiseled into the hallway space to provide a desk serving as a control area and a place for homework. A built-in home theater and gaming room area provide entertainment for guests. In Many of Matt's designs, he elects to convert the crawl space areas into a floor for a storage area of rubber bins. A staircase staging area makes it simple for the owners to get into the crawl space access panel and has a staging area for moving in and out bin containers. The laundry room on the ground floor modernized the feel and function of the space. Finally, Matt found a creative way to squeeze a powder bath into the mix by snitching extra space from the garage. The master bath was also modernized and updated for the new house owners.
Iowa Golden Residence- First floor renovation looking into proposed kitchen space
The Iowa house in Golden, Colorado, was a mid-century house that needed modernization and love. The owner's desire is a two-phase project. The basement finish component was the first phase.
Matt rotated the staircase to create a more efficient circulation pattern. In addition, the basement bedroom sizes increased in size. Finally, this project had a challenging utility room with a furnace and water heater relocated to make the hallway circulation work.
The basement provides an area to entertain guests, sleeping quarters, a bathroom for two children, and storage. The kitchen remodels scope is the second phase of the project. It takes full advantage of the existing space to create better areas for food preparation, natural light infiltration, and circulation.
The Jersey Row House Historic Renovation
This extensive renovation project is a four-story historic row house built in the 1860s, nestled in the historic landmark district of Hamilton Park in Jersey City, NJ. Most row houses on the block are Italianate style. A common cornice line unites them; the main entrances to the homes are on the parlor floor, which a staircase and porch can reach. The second-floor balconies and stoop railings are ornate cast-iron balustrades in a foliated style detail, which became popular in the mid-19th century. Matt carefully guided his client’s project to meet stringent historic design standards regarding historic protection, preservation, rehabilitation, and restoration of the property, achieving a certificate of appropriateness that entailed a thorough review process with the Jersey City building department and the Historic Preservation Commission review and approval processes.
An 1860’s Italianate-style row house renovation
Matt's design solution for the front porch roof meticulously restored the roof materials, including an oiled-terne metal material that's time-period correct. Many decorative elements of Italianate architecture influence, such as window and door crowns and roof cresting, were meticulously preserved, restored, and rehabilitated, along with the red brick facade. The original window openings, typically longer at the parlor floor, were previously infilled with masonry for smaller replacement windows. The original masonry rough window openings were painstakingly re-opened to their original glory. The jewel-like main entry at the second-floor parlor preserved and restored the essence of the row house. The replacement window selection did not affect the visual characteristics of the known historic window design, based on 1937 tax record photos and two existing windows at the rear of the house from the 1860s. To comply with the Secretary of The Interior's Standards For The Treatment of Historic Properties, include details such as the width of and shadow effect of muntins, the sash detailing, brick molding, or the total glazed areas of the original window unit designs when selecting new replacement window units. Careful consideration and selection of replacement windows preserved the distinctive materials, features, finishes, and an example of the property's craftsmanship.
Once the crawlspace floor's existing condition was vacated at the garden level, finish floor materials/ floor joists removed existing barriers, creating a taller and more generous ceiling height. In-slab hydronic heating keeps the cast-in-place kitchen and dining room area slab on the ground floor warm and draft-free in winter. A high-efficiency boiler/water heater system was chosen for the house, along with a high-velocity space-saving HVAC system by Unico Systems. The supply duct discreetly squeezes into the ceiling space, ensuring not to compromise ceiling heights or interfere with the kitchen range exhaust hood or upper cabinetry height. The orchestration of the masonry, carpentry, plumbing, heating, ventilation, and electrical work modernized and transformed the first floor into a masterpiece. The project transitioned the ground level from an unwelcoming drafty room into a cozy, modern dream living space.
The house most likely sat vacant during the great depression and suffered extensive differential settling from water infiltration of the shared party walls, causing the floors to slope dramatically. At the interior, most of the renovation scope focused on addressing the structural integrity and leveling of the existing floor joists, creating modernized floor plans, and recreating a time period-correct interior detailing. Every existing floor and roof joist were sistered with engineered reinforced joists, and the sloping floor conditions were brought back to level. The house's interior was demolished down to the existing party walls, original floor joists, and the existing staircases, which were carefully preserved during construction.
In the kitchen area at the rear of the house, a generous masonry opening was chiseled out of an existing door and window, creating a boundlessly connected backyard oasis. This bold design decision helped blur the distinction between the outside/ inside relationship of the two spaces and connect the two areas with a three-panel glazed French door system.
This project wouldn’t have been possible without the persistence, vision, and hard work of the entire team, including the owners, Rich Refalo and his son Rich Jr. at Summit Construction, Geneva Kowalski & Kevin Koernig at Studio K2 Architecture, Rich Christie at Christie Engineering, and Matt’s painstaking efforts.
Jackman McDaniel Basement Finish
Basement finish design in a new residence in Golden, Colorado
The Jackman McDaniel basement finish project in Golden, Colorado, was done to complete the living space. It was essential to the client to create spaces where family members could come and stay for extended periods in privacy and comfort.
This project had a challenging pre-existing set of design circumstances. The existing egress windows were already installed and thus dictated where guest sleeping rooms would work. In addition, the heating, ventilation, and water heater were in an unfortunate location and needed relocation to provide efficient circulation.
Bathroom positions in the existing plan are dictated near existing in the basement concrete slab stubbed in locations for minimal concrete cutting. The entertainment area thoughtfully locates away from bedrooms upstairs and downstairs. A media room space was neatly situated, and there was an activity room for crafts and art, a dining space, and exercise rooms.
The basement space was generous and gave Matt ample room to execute a thoughtful design that took advantage of this vast blank canvas. As you come down the stairs, the focal point is a library. They have two children, and the family can gather to do homework in this library space.
The Bemis Studio
The owner of one of the first homes built in Littleton, Colorado, sought to make significant changes to accommodate her lifestyle, interests, and hobbies. Unfortunately, the original 1890s two-story flat had been remodeled in poor taste in previous years. The new design re-envisioned the house into a classic Denver Square. The two-story flat roof area was an addition in the rear, and a new hip roof gave the house an attractive time-period look. The hip roof is offset to the left (from the centerline) to work with the close setback at the right. A wrap-around flagstone porch welcomes visitors with old-world charm.
An art studio and an office on the second floor benefitted from fantastic natural lighting from a skylight afforded by a new front dormer and great corner box vintage-inspired bay window detail. The desk area at the corner boxed window detail captures impressive views of the front range mountains to Pikes Peak. In addition, the kitchen's remodel is a stunning space to prepare food and provide dining space for guests, an office and dance studio on the second floor, art storage and display in the basement area, an outdoor sculpture garden, and a gathering space in the rear of the house.
The outdoor entertainment space created an oasis of comfort. A seating area, fireplace, trellis, bar, and gardens provide a relaxing atmosphere as beautiful sculptures surround guests. The off-shifted roof overhang to the left is discreet. It gives the house the classic Denver Square feel without drawing unwanted attention simultaneously.
The renderings were artistically stylized to keep it loose. The 3D model was an effective tool to ensure the design would meet the client’s wishes. The 3D illustration was instrumental in closing the design process with the client, the city review board, and the neighborhood association. The watercolor-like renderings offer an accurate view of the studio and entertainment spaces.
Matt’s website traffic comes from around the world and he’s grateful to have you visit. Matt worked with his dad, Rich Hodel. He was a veteran, patriot, master craftsman, and well-respected custom home builder in Peoria, Illinois. Rich was a man of unwavering principles, he had a deep understanding of true construction craft, delivering unique & stunning homes that are still sought after today. Without Rich’s amazing knowledge, patience, guidance, and love Matt couldn’t be here today. Thank you Dad.