A one-of-a-kind residence
Set on a working airfield, the Flying Dollar Airport Residence is a true one-of-a-kind.
Designed by Olle Lundberg, the home blends metal, stone, glass, and wood into something entirely unique.
We were proud to partner on this project, helping bring the vision to life with Pella windows designed to match both form and function.
Architect: @lundbergdesign
Project manager: @knowles.architect
Builder: @annsconstruction
Photography: @brianwetzelphoto
Wood cladding: @thermoryusa
Windows: @pellascranton
It was an honor and an absolute joy to present at the West Coast Natural Building Conference this past weekend hosted by @cali_straw_building_assoc and @calpolyarch ! I presented a case study on our nearly complete Strawbale ADU No. 1 and the potential for further scaling and efficiency to be found with natural building technologies which could lead to an incredible synergy between bioregional regenerative agriculture, natural building technologies, and the opportunities created by the rise in missing-middle infill housing development.
It was a truly inspiring conference which left me deeply hopeful about a regenerative future. Extremely grateful to everyone who connected with me after my talk and excited for future collaborations!
We had a great initial design meeting yesterday on a new residential project on the Sonoma Coast. Using three intentionally different initial options generates such a productive conversation with clients, but it’s also a lot of fun to create three designs!
Which one would you choose?
One of the ways good design creates joy is when it gets us to stop and notice the beauty of the world around us. Or in this case the incredible beauty of the work of @melissa.dickenson as the light of sunrise grazes her site-sourced and handmade pigments. We will always be thankful for the joy that her craft brings us in the heart of our home.
Happy Spring Equinox.
#springequinox
#peraltaremodel
Refined Dining
@richlite adds depth and durability to Flour + Water Pizzeria in Mission Rock. Used for countertops, tables and benches, its leathered surface develops a natural patina that suits the restaurant’s relaxed yet refined setting. Built for high traffic dining, Richlite is durable with its heat and stain resistant properties.
Designed by Architect Gavin Knowles, the space balances takeout flow with comfortable dining, while large windows showcase the pizza-making in action. Custom tiling, neon signage and a mural by Nicole Hayden tie the whole space together seamlessly.
Link in bio to read more
#richlite #dininginteriors #sustainablesolidsurfaces #madewithpaper
Flour + Water Pizza Shop has officially landed in Oakland 🍕🚀
We partnered once again with @flourandwaterpizzeria , @knowles.architect and newest collaborator @hollandpartnergroup to bring the first East Bay location of this beloved concept to life - our seventh project together with @fwhospitality ! 🙌
We transformed a warm shell into a vibrant dining space with an open pizza kitchen built for serious volume, performance, and flow. Seeing the restaurant and neighborhood buzzing with energy since opening has been the best (and most delicious) reward for the entire team!
📸: @kristenloken
Anyone want a slice? 🍕 Today’s the perfect excuse to celebrate your neighborhood pizzeria.
At @flourandwaterpizzeria ’s Mission Rock location, opened in April 2025 in San Francisco, our Richlite Black Diamond material plays a starring role in this vibrant 1,800 sq ft space.
Featured in custom countertops, benches, and storage, Richlite beautifully contrasts with bold signage, deco tiling, and a local mural—creating an energizing dining experience designed in collaboration with @knowles.architect .
The perfect place to gather with friends and family for a casual weekday bite or before heading to a baseball game at #oraclepark.
👨🍳 @chefryanpollnow
#nationalpizzaday
2025 seems to have flown by in a flash, but it’s also been a long year of incredibly rewarding work. This year was dominated by multiple projects simultaneously moving through permitting and construction, with several of them coming close to the finish line as the New Year begins. I am incredibly thankful to all our clients and collaborators for making their places in the world better with their contributions to our hard work. Here’s to more of the same (and some very exciting new projects) in 2026!
How do we take as much carbon as we can out of the atmosphere and sequester it in our buildings? One of the best ways (at about 128-165 kgC02/m3) is to stuff our buildings with locally produced rice straw!
We are working together with our colleagues at @cali_straw_building_assoc and @verdantstructural to advance the methods for streamlining straw bale construction in concert with more conventional building methods. @knowles.architect we want to bring strawbale into a modern, place-based design aesthetic that takes advantage of its unitary/modular nature to make beautiful, simple forms. Our Strawbale ADU #1 project is currently under construction in Walnut Creek where we are using a technique called Bale-on-End-Between-Studs (BOEBS) originally developed by fellow CASBA members @dsa.dasarchitects and @arkintilt .
BOEBS takes advantage of many of the properties of straw bales and marries them with conventional framing techniques familiar to residential builders. Typical 2x6 studs walls are built at 24” OC with plywood sheathing and waterproofing on the exterior. From the plywood to the exterior this is a normal vapor-open construction method. On the inside, straw bales are stacked vertically and rammed between the studs. Lime or clay plaster is applied to the inside of the straw bales, creating an 18” thick wall.
We are streamlining the construction further by designing the bale walls as long continuous mass forms on-module with the size of a typical bale, with windows, plumbing, and electrical placed in the conventionally framed walls wherever possible. We are also experimenting with a second layer of 2x4 studs on the interior to allow for easier plastering, and detailing the edges with wood casing to eliminate labor intensive rounded corners.
By making strawbale construction less labor intensive and more familiar to conventional builders we can broaden its appeal and therefore ability to sequester substantial amounts of carbon.
Did you know that straw bale construction is one of the highest carbon-sequestering building techniques in the world, and that California grown rice just happens to make the best straw bales for building?
The straw widely available in California comes from the production of rice in the Sacramento Valley. California is the second largest rice producer in the United States and the main US producer of medium-grain rice including nearly all US produced sushi rice. The rice species in California have been developed for extremely high yields per acre with very large seed clusters on each stalk. To hold up those large seed heads the stalks are stronger and denser with a higher silica content than other rice, or other grains. This means they don’t biodegrade as well, often causing a problem for rice farmers who need to plant next year’s crop. But the extra strength makes it easier to pack the straw more densely into bales – making the perfect wall material.
On top of that, a report released in January of this year by UC Davis researchers outlines how flooded rice fields in the Sacramento River Valley also provide critical surrogate habitat for many species of birds, fish, and snakes. Even conventional large-scale rice production provides critical habitat, making it the only large-scale monoculture which has positive impacts for wildlife and ecosystem resilience.
Straw bale construction improves your immediate place, your neighboring ecosystem, and a local farming community, making it a perfect match for the work of Knowles Architect.
Image credits: (rice straw bales) photo by @rgavinknowles , (aerial) from “A Conservation Footprint for California Rice”, photo by Brian Baer; (egret) from “A Conservation Footprint for California Rice”; (black-necked stilts) courtesy of the California Rice Commission;
Olle Lundberg was truly larger than life and he had more impact on me than any man outside of my own kin. He was a wise teacher, a thoughtful mentor, and a generous friend over the course of the decade that I worked for him and with him, essentially out of his home the entire time.
We shared a love of quiet early mornings, of the joy in a hard job done well, of always having a project to work on for the challenge of it, of great food made from things we grew with our own two hands, and of the friendship of a good dog. Olle had a way of understanding the people who worked with him and of finding the places where they each would thrive. He always gave me just as much responsibility as I could handle, and then a little more. He trusted me with the tough clients, the tight budgets, and the short timelines because he knew I could pull them off even when I did not. He knew I could be an opinionated and stubborn designer and he taught me that to be a leader was to be gracious and understanding.
My pre-order copy of his book arrived on my doorstep the day after he died. I was excited to have Olle sign my copy of An Architecture of Craft for me, but in a way, he already did. Just after the sudden passing of my father and the day before I told him I was resigning my role at Lundberg Design to start my own practice he gave me a copy of The Handcrafted Life of Dick Proenneke with this note written in it. Olle was an extremely observant and perceptive person (a prerequisite for being a good architect) and he had just finished writing the manuscript for his own book. I think his note was really talking about his own book and his own life.
Olle’s greatest skill was building a world around himself that was quintessentially Olle Lundberg. I am deeply saddened by this unexpected loss, but it feels very right to me that he passed through the veil up at his cabin, surrounded by his garden, his architecture, his redwoods, and the love of his dogs and Mary. Olle, may the spirit of those dogs who went before you guide you to where you are needed next. I’m sure they can smell Charles’ cooking, and he already has a barrel tasting lined up for you.
