The October 2011 issue of Down East magazine features a Knickerbocker Group project story, titled “Magnum Opus”.  We of course googled the term to find it means “the greatest achievement of an artist”. 

We couldn’t agree more, except for this project we might re-phrase it to say “the greatest collaborative achievement of a group of Maine artists”.   While Knickerbocker Group provided the architecture and construction management, there were nearly 7o subcontractors who contributed their diverse skills, talent and artistry to this project.   A special thank you to all those involved – we are so proud of your work and your sincere commitment to making this home the best it could be!

Here is a link to the online article, as well as contact information for the major contributors:  http://www.downeast.com/magazine/2011/october/magnum-opus

• Interior Design
  • Urban Dwellings
  • Tracy Davis
  • (207) 780-6136
  • tdavis@urban-dwell.com
  • www.urban-dwell.com
• Faux Painter
  • Chameleon Coatings
  • Herb Clarke
  • (207) 233-1520
  • herbclarke@juno.com
• Curved Doors – guest house, and many of the curved mouldings and production
  • Tidewater Millwork
    • Alex Hamilton
    • 35 Burnt Jacket Landing, Woolwich, ME  04579
    • (207) 443-8020
    • alex@tidewatermillwork.com
    • www.tidewatermillwork.com
• Curved Doors – main house slider
  • Architectural Openings
    • Steve Kearns
    • 16 Garfield Avenue, Somerville, MA 02145
    • (617) 776-9223
    • info@archop.com
• Sunroom curved windows – main house
  • KSD – Custom Wood Products
    • 102 High Street, Boscawen, NH 03303
    • 603-796-2951
    • kdoubleday@ksdcwp.com
• Stone work
  • Ledge Hill Creations (exterior)
    • Dan Ucci
    • 89 Ledge Hill Road, East Pittston, ME  04345
    • (207) 458-1819
    • uccigreens@roadrunner.com
  • Morningstar Marble & Granite (Interior)
    • Nick Whatley
    • 47 Park Drive, Topsham, ME  04086
    • (207) 725-7309
    • nwhatley@morningstarmarble.com
• Audio Visual
  • Custom Home Theater
    • Lee Lareau
    • 168 Pleasant Street, Suite 2, Brunswick, Maine  04011
    • (207) 373-1147
    • info@customhometheater.biz
• Lighting
  • DayMatero Studios – Design
    • Greg Day
    • 100 Front Street, Bath Maine  04530
    • (207) 671-5551
    • gregdaylight@gmail.com
  • Oberuch Electric – Electrician
    • Pat Oberuch
    • 52 Mill Road, Edgecomb, ME  04556
    • (207) 882-6789
    • poberuch@oberuchelectric.com
• Landscaping – Design
  • Gates Leighton & Associates, Inc.
    • Arek Galle
    • 855 A Waterman Avenue, East Providence, RI 02914
    • (207) 400-6508
    • agalle@glala.com
    • www.glala.com
• Landscaping – Landscaper
  • Back Meadow Farm
    • Ned Kirkland
    • P.O. Box 478, Damariscotta, ME  04543
    • (207) 563-5659
    • BMFlandscaping@yahoo.com

Knickerbocker Woodworking, the cabinet shop of Knickerbocker Group, is designing and constructing three mahogany entrance doors for the Cuckholds Fog Signal and Light Station. These doors will cover the principal light station entrances and will replicate the original doors. Knickerbocker Woodworking is generously donating the doors to the Cuckolds Council to assist in the rebuilding and restoration of the Light Station.

According to Philip Yasinski, Cuckolds Council coordinator, “From the very beginning of the Cuckolds Rescue in 2004, Steve Malcom, of the Knickerbocker Group, has been an enthusiastic supporter. He joined the Cuckolds Council, took time to become informed about the initiative, offered his ideas and assistance, and became someone we could turn to for advice and counsel.”

When asked why he and his company were interested in this project, Malcom said, “The restoration of the Cuckolds light is a great opportunity for the Knickerbocker Group to join with Eric Marden and others to preserve an important Boothbay Region landmark. I am very pleased to have the chance to contribute to the excellent work that Eric and his talented team have begun. This kind of collaboration is what makes our community tick!”

Steve Malcom and the Knickerbocker Group have been in the business of building and renovating fine homes throughout the state of Maine for over thirty years. In addition to custom carpentry and woodworking, they offer architectural design, civil engineering, cabinet making, and property management. Steve wears more hats than just his signature Knickerbocker ball cap. According to Yasinski, “We first got to know Steve many years ago, as a driving force in helping spur the Opera House rescue. He has built his life and career caring about the Boothbay Region, the organizations and people who help create community. We are grateful for his civic leadership and community spirit.”

We are very excited to have Knickerbocker Group founder, Steve Malcom, profiled in the August issue of Maine Home + Design.  If you haven’t picked up the magazine yet, please check out the on-line article at:

http://mainehomedesign.com/profiles/1630-the-way-to-rebuild-.html

It seems we all tend to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so renovating or building a new kitchen can be very rewarding!  In this cottage home, the owners wished for something unique and whimsical to express their appreciation of art and love for the outdoors.  The owner also wished for “something that would make me smile every morning when I saw it”. 

On a trip to Tucson Arizona, they discovered a perfect fit:  one-of-a-kind tiles created by Santa Theresa Tile Works.  Each mosaic-style art tile is cut by hand in shapes inspired by nature, individually glazed and detailed, then high-fired to ensure durability.

Of course, selecting the tiles and transporting them from Arizona to Maine was no small task… but with the help of paper templates of the work area, creative time dedicated to selecting and laying out the tiles on the template, and then a sticky paper overlay to secure the tiles in place during transport… the tile was easily installed to create this very fun and striking border!

We are working on a very exciting project that involves design, fabrication and installation of an intricate wood moulding on a barrel ceiling.  The ceiling is located in the master bedroom of a 5,500 square foot house on the coast of Maine.  The architect is Rick Nelson and the construction manager is Marcus Golding, both with Knickerbocker Group.  The millwork was handled by Alex Hamilton of Tidewater Millwork in Woolwich Maine.

This has been a very challenging process… from schematics through install. The following is a quick outline of how the team pulled this together, along with some construction photos to demonstrate each step:

1.  KGroup architectural team first created a schematic design, and then followed up with a rough 3-D Sketchup computer model to demonstrate the design concept.

2. KGroup construction team then hand-drew the design on the barrel ceiling.

3.  Tidewater Millwork created a full-scale computer model of the ceiling and proposed wood work.

4. Tidewater then ‘flattened’ the computer model to create MDF templates for the ceiling.

5. KGroup then assembled the templates on the ceiling for a final round of architect/owner design review and ‘tweaking’.

6. Tidewater created an 8’x8’ mold of the ceiling in order to bring the ‘real’ built curve of the ceiling back to their shop.  They then made templates of mouldings and located them on the mold to test the fit.

7. Poplar strips were laminated directly on the mold, then run through a shaper to create the profiles and finally delivered to the job site.

8. KGroup construction crews then installed the ribs over the hand-drawn sketch on the ceiling, using specialty tools to finalize the intricate curved connections.

9.  And finally, Herb Clarke with Chameleon Coatings adds a finishing touch of gold leaf to an intricate moulding in the gallery, with the finished barrel ceiling visible in the background.

In this beautiful modern home, concrete floors are used as the  finished flooring surface.  Installed with radiant heat tubing in the slab, the concrete floor acts as a “thermal battery” in the home, storing heat to consistently release even temperatures in the winter and offering a refreshingly cool surface in the summer months.

These floors were finished by Jon Meade from Portland, Maine,  http://www.jonmeadedesign.com.  The finishing process included multiple levels of grinding, an acetone stain and then a final polish.  The result is a surprisingly luxurious floor…  in both look and feel.

Over the past year, Knickerbocker Group has been actively involved in revitalization efforts in the town of Rangeley.  Working with the “Main Streets Rangeley Lakes Revitalization Committee” and landscape architects from Gates, Leighton and Associates, Knickerbocker Group assisted in establishing a vision for Rangeley’s downtown areas to help revitalize Main Street for the enjoyment of residents and visitors.

The starting point was the development of the Haley Pond Park in partnership with the Town of Rangeley. According to organizers, this beautification of Rangeley’s main street received impressive public support and volunteers continue to contribute time and materials to make this project a reality.

Knickerbocker Group volunteered design time to develop a plan for a new “Welcome to Rangeley” kiosk.  The 3-sided structure, developed by architect Rick Nelson, is a modern take on traditional Rangeley style, with a cor-ten steel roof, rustic peeled log columns, and weathered cedar siding.   With the design now complete, construction of the kiosk is expected to begin this summer.

Knickerbocker Group is very proud to be a part of the ongoing development of the 64-acre East Boothbay campus for Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences.

Under the guidance of Steve Malcom, who volunteers as Chairman of the Building Committee, construction of the first phase of development is well under way.  The 26,500 square foot, 3-story building now under construction is the “Center for Blue Biotechnology”,  which will house the world’s first microbial single-cell genomics facility, a state-of-the-art flow cytometry laboratory, bioreactor laboratory, molecular biology laboratory, with shared facilities for imaging and sterilization and a center of the collection of marine phytoplankton, the largest such collection in the world.

When the campus has been completed, it will encompass 70,000 square feet and house 100 scientists, researchers, administrators in a state-of-the-art LEED Gold standard, ocean science and education campus.

Danielle Betts, P.E., is the civil engineer for the project and has handled all of the site engineering and environmental permitting for  the project.   Site planning is provided by Terrence J. DeWan and Associates, and the architecture is delivered by both Perkins and Will and WBRC Architects and Engineers.  The design team is currently developing the final drawings for the next two buildings, with construction targeted to begin later this year.

To follow the ongoing construction, sign in for updates on Bigelow’s construction blog:  http://bigeloweastboothbycampus.blogspot.com/

Knickerbocker Group is very excited to be sponsoring next week’s NKBA Maine Chapter event “Bringing the Kitchen and Living Room Outdoors”.

The addition of a well-designed outdoor kitchen and living room can expand our offerings beyond the walls of our traditional showroom. The outdoor room at Knickerbocker Group will be our gathering place to meet and mingle over light fare and beverages. Then we will travel to the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor to the Historic Bar where our speaker, Arek W Galle, will present design considerations for outdoor living. Arek is a Senior Landscape Architect with Gates Leighton and Associates, Inc. of Brunswick, Maine.

More information is available at the NKBA website: http://www.nkba.org/Chapters/Maine.aspx

This pair of owl hand pulls was carved for a barn’s oversized screen doors by woodworker Greg Rollins. Greg is among several artisans who work with Knickerbocker Group to create custom elements for our homes.

See the full article in Down East Magazine’s April 2011 issue, online at: http://www.downeast.com/magazine/2011/april/finishing-touches