Contest House - building context
The next step is creating exterior images of the house, in a schematic context - that means we need to build a little neighborhood.
The individual lot, compact, small front yard in order to maximize the rear yard. The detached garage provides some alternate storage in the absence of a basement. The house I grew up in sat on a lot this dimension - 60ft x 100ft, so I feel very familiar with the scale of this density.
While a neighborhood full of Lagom Houses is unlikely to start we'll present an idealized context. The houses on one side of the street are the second plan variation for the proper street+solar orientation. We will be replacing the lot in the center with a more detailed site model that has the more detailed house model plugged into it. This part should be fun. As the modern house is so often cast as aloof and minimalist we will strive our hardest to present it as domestic and lived in.
Greg:
ReplyDeleteI love it! I have not been able to stop thinking of this design since I first saw it this morning. I thought I better comment so my brain can move on. The plan is great and I really like the south elevation facing the street with the modern dormers. I love the concept and the (Swedish) theory behind the concept.
Moving forward, reducing the size of newly constructed homes is one of the greenest things that we can do.
I like that the design presents different facades to the street depending on the orientation. I am concerned about the severity of the version in which the north facade faces the street. My first reaction was to suggest breaking the roof back down to reduce the scale of that facade, but I realize the solar "potential" of having that area facing south, Still, I want the scale of the facade to be more humane. The addition of a small porch roof of economical means to protect the entry might be a possible solution. Some clients might even opt for a larger porch.
You know that I am a modernist at heart, but I sure want the north side of the house when it faces the street to be little more lovable! The same argument could be relevant even when the North facade faces the back yard.
M-R-U
Robert - thanks for jumping over from Flickr and also posting your thoughts here.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you totally about the front porch, and when this house design finds its way into my catalog I will add one - the same kind of simple corrugated roof porch I've been putting on many of my other house plan designs.
The situation that is keeping me from putting the porch on for the contest is sort of odd. If I win the contest then Free Green will be doing construction documents of this house for sale on their site, which is great. But I also plan on doing my own construction docs whether it wins or not. So for better or worse its important to me the plans sold on their site will be different than the ones sold on my own site - so one of the ways I want to add value to the plan product offered on my catalog is the front/rear porch. I want theirs to be a "stripped" version, just the south facing yard version, where as my plan set will be all 3 versions plus the front/rear porch.
In the meantime I plan on trying to use other means to lower the scale and humanize that tall facade for the competition images. Although I have to admit I like the stature, the small house standing so tall!