Table b – Designed by Sam Van Dam; Artisans Cold Mountain Builders & Rockport Steel
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| Designed by Van Dam Architecture & Design | Original Napkin Sketch |
Table b
Table b is a study in balancing visual lightness and solidity. The table is meant to be used in a sunny space to appreciate the shadow cat by the contrasting forms. The top is steamed European Beech. The base is fabricated with bronze plates, rods and screws which will patinate to dark brown.
Designer:
Samuel Van Dam
Base Collaborators:
John McKeary & Bill Glover of Rockport Steel
Top Collaborators:
Prentice Grassi, Philip Rule and Jay Fisher of Cold Mountain Builders
Samuel W. Van Dam, A.I.A
Samuel Van Dam was born in Philadelphia in 1949, and grew up in metropolitan Boston. He graduated with a B.A. Cum Laude from Harvard College in 1971, concentrating in the history of art and architecture. At Harvard, he studied graphic design with Toshi Katayama, director of The Carpenter Center for Visual Studies, and 17th century Dutch painting with Seymour Slive, chairman of the Department of Art History at the Fogg Museum of Art. Prior to attending graduate school, Mr. Van Dam spent a year at Sasaki Associates, an interdisciplinary design firm in Watertown Massachusetts, working on site planning and landscape architecture assignments.
In 1976, he graduated with a Master of Architecture degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T). His teachers included Donlyn Lyndon, former chairman of the Department of Architecture at M.I.T. and the sculptor Michio Ihara, a fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies. From 1976 to 1980, Mr. Van Dam was a project architect at Terrien Architects in Portland, and thereafter established his own firm which was responsible for a wide variety of commercial, institutional, and residential projects in the greater Portland area throughout the 1980s. From 1988 to 2002, he was co-principal with Richard Renner at Van Dam & Renner Architects. Significant projects completed by the firm include The Environmental Education Center for Maine Audubon in Falmouth; renovation of the 150,000 sf Porteous Mitchell and Braun department store for the Maine College of Art; marine laboratories for the State of Maine, Bowdoin College, and the University of New England; and coastal residences from Cape Cod to Downeast Maine. Several of these projects have been cited for design excellence by the Boston Society of Architects and the Maine Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
In 1992, Mr. Van Dam became a principal in Van Dam Renner Woodworth with Richard Renner and Bradford Woodworth. The firm was responsible for the historical research and complete design of renovations and exhibits for the Museum at Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and received exhibit commissions throughout the United States from the National Park Service. The design for the Museum at Portland Head Light was cited for excellence by The Waterfront Center of Washington, D.C., I.D. Magazine, and Communication Arts Magazine.
In 1998, Mr. Van Dam was guest of the Imported House Industries Organization of Japan, completing a six-city lecture tour on Trends in North American Residential Design. He has served on the board of the Portland Public Library and Greater Portland Landmarks, and is currently an advisor to the Spannocchia Foundation in Siena, Italy and The Cambodian Arts and Scholarship Foundation. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects.
Sam Van Dam, A.I.A.
Van Dam Architecture & Design
Firm Profile
Van Dam Architecture and Design was founded by Samuel Van Dam in Portland, Maine. Mr. Van Dam has practiced architecture in New England for over 30 years, and has been a principal of his own firm for more than 20 years. Paul Attardo and Stephen Pondelis, senior project architects of the firm, have worked with Mr. Van Dam for many years in their previous association with Van Dam & Renner Architects. Van Dam Architecture and Design specializes in carefully executed residential, institutional, and commercial design projects. The firm is well known for its blend of modernist and traditional style, skillful response to individual sites, innovative use of space, and attention to well-executed detail.
Services offered include architectural design, site planning, and interior design. The eight person staff of Van Dam Architecture and Design has developed strong working relationships with consultants in the following disciplines: landscape architecture; civil, mechanical, electrical, and structural engineering; lighting design; and the selection of interior furnishings. Mr. Van Dam, Mr. Attardo, and Mr. Pondelis have had extensive experience in the management of projects from design through construction, often taking responsibility beyond the traditional architect's role, to act as owners' representatives for clients who live at a distance from their project sites.