JOHN SALADINO
VILLA
(APRIL 2009)
by John Saladino
As one of today’s foremost architectural designers, John Saladino has worked on a tremendous range of projects, from massive luxury residences to residential towers with public urban spaces to multi-acre private gardens. Yet, it was a neglected old stone house overlooking the Pacific in Santa Barbara that captured both his heart and his imagination. VILLA (Frances Lincoln, Limited; April 2009; $95.00 hardcover) is a love story between a designer and a house. And like the most satisfying love stories, it is filled with drama and excitement, and has a happy ending.
When he first saw it in 1985, Saladino had a visceral response to the villa. As he writes in his Introduction, “The architecture was so like my own that I might have designed it myself…and when I finally bought it in 2001, I felt immediately that it had been destined to be mine.” At once highly authoritative yet intensely personal, VILLA takes readers on a guided tour of the meticulous restoration of John Saladino’s house and garden in which he reveals intimate insights into what the home means to him, as well as the design philosophies that have earned him such a distinguished reputation around the world. Hundreds of photographs, floor plans, and drawings throughout the book illustrate the many steps of the reconstruction and design process.
Some of the professional secrets the designer shares include, in his own words:
* Ambient light should be pervasive but its source should be hidden.
* Make the largest piece of furniture in the room the same color as either the floor or the walls so that its bulk doesn’t intrude.
* Graphic or sharply contrasting colors…can be unsettling. And they also date quickly. Most patterns, like bright colors, only work…on a small scale.
* Make people feel sheltered by immensely thick walls, and then give them windows that seem as translucent as dragonfly wings.
* The closer the planting is to the house, the more [one should] prune and manicure it.
Saladino describes how, at the end of the four-year transformation, his villa had truly become home. He writes, “In a sense it completed the circle of my life: while it is rooted in American soil, its form and shape were nurtured by the spirit and traditions of Italy.” With its revelations into the design process and the mind—and heart—of the designer himself, VILLA is at once an important source book and a fascinating read for professional designers, architects, and design enthusiasts alike.