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The bedroom hallway opposite the master bedroom wing in the U House has its own sliding door to the deck, all the better to create that wide open connection to the courtyard and the landscape beyond.
Continue reading "0518 U House bedroom hallway"
If we were going to stand at the very tip of the U House, all the way at the end of the master bedroom, and look back this is what we'd see! If you look through the master bedroom door between the two closets you see the hall window, and through that you see the living room windows, and through those windows you seek the kitchen cabinets!
Continue reading "0518 U House master bedroom"
Where the master bedroom hall meets the living room the transparency of the U House reveals itself in interesting ways!
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The U House, from the side. The way that the U House is transparent in some directions, and opaque in others is why it has potential for an interesting relationship with the landscape. Site your house carefully!
Continue reading "0518 U House from the side"
Another view of the U House open living space, this time from the kitchen side. At the far right is the doorway that leads to the master bedroom. Beyond the windows on the end of the space is a small courtyard on the side of the house.
Continue reading "0518 U House"
Whats all this talk about at the U House courtyard and bedroom wings, and what does that look like? Even more descriptive than a floor plan in this case is a birds-eye view. The living/dining/kitchen wing of the U House is a bar with a raked roof - think of it like a one story Steel Case House if you will. The bedroom wings are simple bars, each bedroom equipped with an angled bay window to get great views even when they are not located on the end of the bar. Thats how it works - see for yourself!
Continue reading "0518 U House - the Over View"
Usually with a traditional house when you call it a day, and go to turn in you typically would be going upstairs, or down the hall to your bedroom at the more private reaches of the home. But with the U House its a little bit different. This house is designed to enjoy a special view, or take in a great landscape. So instead of going upstairs or down the hall the U House takes you that much closer to that great view or dramatic landscape and puts you at the best spot possible to enjoy it even more.
Continue reading "0518 U House master bedroom with a view"
This is what technically is the front of the U House. It presents a monolithic wall to visitors, the only windows high on the wall for privacy. While formidable on first glance, a peak around the corner reveals the side porch entry to the kitchen and a door directly in to the homes mud room.
Continue reading "0518 U House welcome signs"
Even though the U House reaches out and takes in a huge chunk of the landscape, its actually a pretty compact home of modest size. It tops out at only about 1900 sqft for its 3 bedroom layout, and even squeezes a big mud room and a study/guest room into the plan. But at its heart its a compact design the way we like them here. This view shows the open plan living & kitchen area at the heart of the home. The modest living space is doubled by its relationship to the central courtyard. And by stretching out with the bedroom wings, it puts the bedrooms far from the living room making the house feel bigger than it is.
Continue reading "0518 U House living room"
The U House is everything you want in a country home. You've found a beautiful site, it has a beautiful view that you want to enjoy every moment you spend there. You want a deck or outdoor space to enjoy the view and you want that outdoor space to easy to reach so it can take part in the life of the house. And you want the bedrooms to have a good shot at the good stuff too - not shoved in the back of the house away from the view. Here the bedrooms are like welcoming arms hugging the view, framing the courtyard and giving you some privacy and shelter from unwelcome elements as well.
Continue reading "0518 U House a country retreat with a private courtyard"
About a year ago, long before the stock plans for the 0518 U House were complete, we had an inquiry about making an EcoSteel version of the house.
The U House is one of my favorite designs combining the elements of two different design themes in our house plans: The shed roofed bar as you see in the 0242 Plat House and the 0357 Steel Case House; and the low slope roof box as you see in the 0380 Cube House, the 0367 Porch House, and more recently the 0738 Palo Alto (both the Porch and the Palo Alto are hybrids in themselves as well).
The bedroom wings of the U House were designed to make them easy to build in a modular factory. The intention was to make it easier to build the house quickly, and support the opportunity for people to grow into the house by building one wing at a time. But at first blush I was not so sure that the house lent itself to the EcoSteel system.
I knew the living/dining/kitchen wing would work as its construction is similar to the Steel Case House. I had already looked closely at the conversion of the Steel Case House to EcoSteel, and its a no-brainer. But the bedroom wings? Sometime after this we did a design study for a pair of house designs in Desert Hot Springs, CA. These were to be oriented on a narrow lot along the long dimension. Those designs were previously posted here. Suddenly those design studies shed light on making a long narrow wing for the U House. Now it all made sense, and the geometry of the bedroom wings complemented the house.
We didn't get to build this one but it occurred to me that I should show it here on the blog. Maybe the person looking for that EcoSteel U House is reading this right now.
Technorati Tags: ecosteel, house plans, modern design, modern house, U House
Continue reading "0518 U House - EcoSteel version"Done, available, and the first set out - to someone like you
A few weeks ago I posted that the U House Construction Prints were almost done - and neglected to return to announce that they were finished. If you were watching the catalog page you would have seen the "Buy Now" button go live, but no excuses - I dropped the ball! The first set has gone out to a customer in Utah and we are hoping to see it going up. If so, we will share it with you.
My hat is off to the brave people willing to follow their vision against the status quo.
Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, U House
Continue reading "0518 U House Construction Prints Done"Construction Prints for our latest design are nearly done
Now that its not so unusual for a house to be under construction, I have been posting more about construction process than design process. I don't know if people who read the blog care, but if you do, by all means let me know. If you want to see actual houses then I'll keep the emphasis there. If you like watching the progress of new designs I'll pick that up again.
In that spirit I'd like to report that I've been working through October and November to complete the Construction Prints for the 0518 U House design. A glimpse below of some of the construction sheets in progress. Many people have been interested in this new design, so I've buckled down to get it finished. I think it will be done by the end of the month for sure.
Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, U House
Continue reading "0518 U House Construction Prints"The design of the new plan is done.
The Design Prints for new U House plan are complete and available immediately. A new web page for the house is posted at our site.
Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, U House
Continue reading "0518 U House Design Prints available"The model of the house is done,
now I can move on to creating the Design Prints. I have to add some "props" to the model and export images. Design prints should be available next week.
Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, U House
Continue reading "0518 U House model done"The framing of the living wing is being modeled now.
The frame of the living room wing is complete leaving the walls, windows, doors, and kitchen fit-out to complete. I had originally intended to document this house with a steel frame, following the construction method of the 0357 Steel Case House but I am concerned that the steel frame is still intimidating for most people. Since the 0404 Pump House will be documented with a steel frame I decided to document the U House with a wood frame. An alternative version can always be created later if you steel frame fanatics come beating down my door.
Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, U House
Continue reading "0518 U House living wing begun"The master bedroom wing is modeled now as well.
The master bedroom wing also contains a study which can also be used as a guest room. The master bedroom has a small porch off the end which you can see here. The bedroom wing in the background has two bedrooms and a utility/laundry room.
Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, U House
Continue reading "U House Progress"I've begun working on the design representation for the U House.
I am developing the 3d model of the U House which will be used to generate the Design Print Images. The bedroom wing is already complete.
And here an overview where you can see the bay windows.
And reposted here the small sketch that has been on the Remote House Group page for several years now!
I've not forgotten about the Pump House. I plan on working on both of them, however there have been several requests for this house, and I thought I should move it along.
Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, U House
Continue reading "0518 U House starts production"
