We've done some other small affordable rental house designs for him in the past so I wanted to give him a plan that showed the minimum and keep it in a ranch house without a basement. I drew this quick sketch to show that you don't have to put the bedrooms side by side in a 2 bedroom.I also wanted to give access to the backyard that would be more than 30" wide.

As it turns out, the lot is actually wider than the 25' so we have even more options for the actual plan.

Originally posted 2010-10-14 18:09:22.

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2. Designing Your House – Part 4
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At EVstudio we have established a four page checklist that we go through during the programming process. It covers a wide range of topics and serves as a starting point for discussion. These early programming meetings can be quite lengthy. It is essential to the success of the project that it is properly programmed.

This post is the first in a multi part series of posts detailing the programming process for a new home. The processes for remodels, additions, multifamily and commercial projects have many of the same elements and a few different ones to be covered later. The series will cover:

General Project Information
Site and Survey
Floor Plans, Public Spaces
Floor Plans, Private Spaces
Floor Plans, Accessory Spaces
Outdoor Spaces
Interior Design
Elevations and Exterior Design
Structural Information
Sustainable Features
Bid Documents
Architectural Review Committees
Construction Administration

I think you can see the reason this post will have multiple parts. New posts will come out every few days for the next few weeks.

[digg=http://digg.com/arts_culture/Architect_s_Questions_to_Help_Design_Your_Custom_House]

Originally posted 2008-07-06 16:32:03.

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First off, what style do you like? What is it about that style that you do like and what don't you like? If you aren't clear on a style, bring or email some images of houses that you like and anything that you'd like to avoid. If you're more concerned with fitting into a neighborhood, bring in some images of the existing neighbors.

Besides the style, what sort of exterior materials would you like to have? Is brick or stone more appropriate? Would you like real stone or fake stone, round stone or stacked ledgestone, patterned brick or common bond? Would you prefer siding or stucco? What is the siding made of and what is the pattern? Have you considered a metal siding product or maybe a glass wall if that's appropriate?

Is the house going to be made out of a material like log where the skin is also the structure? Round log or square log?

Would you like to look at an innovative building strategy that might dictate the style, like a shipping container house, a hay bale house or a tire house? Have you spent time watching "Extreme Homes" and have something else in mind.

How much window do you want? Are you looking for views or light or a combination? Do you prefer casement, slider, single hung, double hung or fixed styles?

There are quite a few choices in roofing. Are you looking for simple asphalt shingles, or something else like tile, metal, slate or even copper? If you're considering a flat roof there are a number of options especially if you plan to have a walkable roof.

Next up, we'll discuss your home's structural choices.

TOC Post: Introduction
Previous Post: Interior Design
Next Post: Structural Information

Originally posted 2008-07-29 22:40:19.

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1. Designing Your House – Part 7
2. Designing Your House – Part 1
3. Designing Your House – Part 2

The Prairie Style is often associated with Frank Lloyd Wright and the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 1900s.  One of his finest examples was the Robie House with its dramatic overhangs, stretches of art glass windows, open floor plan, and sweeping horizontal lines that echoed the prairies of the great Mid-West.  The Prairie style is seen as Wright’s reaction to the overly-ornate Victorian style of the late 19^th century. Although it was designed nearly a century ago, the Robie House remains a prime example of modern residential architecture.

Today’s Prairie Style homes include many of the same attributes: shallow-pitched hip roofs, oversized eaves, cantilevered projections, open interior spaces, central chimney massing, minimal exterior ornamentation, and low proportions.  Different geometric shapes are often highlighted through window arrangement, columns, low walls and planters, all which create an aesthetically appealing home.  Transitions between indoor and outdoor spaces are seamless with broad covered porches and large masonry columns.  Large casements as well as rows of clerestory windows are commonly seen in Prairie style homes to provide plenty of daylight for a comfortable interior and also to accentuate its linearity.  Massing generally consists of boxed shapes at varying heights and depths.  Layouts tend to include open common areas with no hallways on the main level, and a modular grid floor plan using only right angles.

Brick is the most common exterior material used in Prairie Style design, but today many of these homes combine it with other materials such as stucco, stone, or concrete block.  The materials were generally light-colored to blend in with the home’s natural surroundings.

Originally posted 2009-08-20 13:08:20.

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Tired of all the holdown straps?

You can eliminate many of the metal holdown straps from the upper floor wall to the main floor wall by modifying your OSB wall sheathing layout.  When the OSB wall sheathing is continuous over the floor framing section or lapped with the rim board uplift loads can be transferred.

If you are utilizing prefabricated wall panels you can still have the OSB extend to the middle of the rim board.  Just have the OSB extend below/above the plates as build in the shop.  The only caution is, extra care is needed to prevent the overhanging OSB sheathing from being damaged during shipping.

This concept can also be utilized at the foundation sill plate to help reduce uplift loads that would otherwise require embedded straps such as STHD10RJs.  In that situation, cross grain bending is not desired on the sill plate as the load transfers to the anchor bolts.  The cross grain bending can be removed from the equation using mud sill anchors (MAS) attached to the exterior face of the OSB sheathing in lieu of anchor bolts.  A great solution when utilizing prefabricated walls.

Typically, when building with wood you want many smaller fasteners that distribute the load out evenly rather than a few large fasteners concentrating the load.

EVstudio | Architecture and Engineering | Denver and Evergreen

Originally posted 2009-07-31 00:01:56.

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Is the building structurally sound? Some structural fixes are easy but some aren't worth the effort. If the building is going to require a lot of work to make it safe to remodel then that tends to push the needle towards tearing it down.

Does the structure have historic value, is it on a historic register, in a historic district? If you answered yes, then you most likely have to look at a remodel or a serious amount of paperwork and meetings. There have been a few purchases that have fallen through for this reason.

Do you like the style of the existing house? Again, if you like the aesthetic of the house then remodeling may make sense. It might also make sense if the house has an expensive exterior that might be hard to rebuild within your budget. We did a remodel in Bonnie Brae where the exterior was all stone, brick and expensive tile roof so the exterior stayed.

Does the existing house preclude you from doing what you want to do? This is a multipart question, does the house sit on the site in a way that makes expansion difficult, does the room layout really not work, do the levels in the house not work or are the ceilings too low. Those aren't always remodel fixes and may mean starting fresh.

Do you have enough room to go out, or do you need to go up (or down) also? Adding levels to an existing house definitely adds complexity and may point towards starting fresh.

On the other hand, does the existing house allow you to get away with something that you couldn't do if you scrapped? We're currently doing a feasibility on a multi-unit building in Denver that is built to the property lines, if it were torn down it would have to be rebuilt 5-10 feet from the property lines and the site would yield less units. On a smaller scale, your existing staircase or window design may be built in a way that we couldn't build from scratch.

What are your plans for the house? Consider what your goal is, are you just doing a fix and flip or are you planning to stay for the long haul? This will have an effect on just how far you will need to go with your changes; how far do you chase that old pipe, how much do you insulate existing walls and do you really need to replace the furnace or the windows.

There is also an obvious need to look at the costs of your options and you can look at involving an experienced contractor or builder to aid in this analysis. You need to figure out just how many of the systems will need to be remodeled or replaced in order to bring the house up to current standards and codes. As architects we can give you a lot of advice but you should consider bringing on someone who works with material and labor costs daily.

There is another option to consider, if the house just doesn't meet your needs but you can't make the numbers work on tearing it down, you might look at selling and buying a lot that makes more sense.

Finally, if you are facing this dilemma or are looking at property to purchase and need some advice, please give us a call. EVstudio has experience and advice for your remodel.

Originally posted 2008-06-29 23:44:39.

No related posts.

We will need to go over your survey which I've covered here. Where do you see the house going on the site and will it work with the other constraints? We'll want to discuss what the terrain is, if there are great site features and where the views are or aren't. Some houses need to be designed to maximize the great views and some need to be designed to minimize the neighbors you don't want to see. Is your house in one of these categories or both?

Does your site work with your ideal house type? There are some sites that support walk out basements and some that don't. Some sites make sense for a ranch and others will require split levels. In cities like Denver and Boulder your site terrain will determine how tall and how many stories you can build.

We'll need to discuss access to the property especially with rural properties on difficult terrain. Is there already an access drive or does it need to be put in? Does the access dictate that the house should really be in a different location?

We'll want to discuss solar orientation and prevailing winds. This is one of the most important things that we can do to make your house both a comfortable place to live and energy efficient. Do the other site features and your house layout maximize the benefits of the sun? In snowy states, is your driveway in the sun or in the shade? Do you need to be sheltered from the wind or would the house benefit from a breeze?

We will discuss and catalog your site utilities. Are you on city power, gas, phone, cable, water, sewer? If not, what do we need to design for? In any case, more municipalities are now requiring this information for the site plan review and we'll need enough information that we can show it on the architectural site plan.

TOC Post: Introduction
Previous Post: General Project Information
Next Post: Floor Plans, Public Spaces

Originally posted 2008-07-09 10:17:49.

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Schuler Residence in Lake George, CO

Also on the boards is the Evans Residence in Clear Creek County. This home was also designed to be a log home and is designed with a cistern, a greywater system and a composting toilet. This home will have no electricity whatsoever and will have a propane refrigerator and gas lighting. A much more rustic cabin than the Schuler's state-of-the-art home in Lake George, but certainly another approach to going off grid.

Evans Cabin in Clear Creek County

We've done two other off grid cabins in addition to these, both with various systems to qualify them under the current building codes. There are a lot of common systems and synergies that we apply to off grid homes as well as sustainable on grid homes. Most clients who elect for a home off grid are driven to do so because of the economics of bringing in electricity, however many people are now considering these systems for rural, suburban and even urban dwellings. If you are thinking about building a home off grid or are electing to integrate these kinds of systems into any building, give us a call and we can help!

Originally posted 2009-01-26 15:56:39.

No related posts.

A first question is, do you prefer to spend outdoor time in the front yard or in the back yard? How much time do you spend in each spot? Do you want to socialize with the people on the street? Where do the kids play and where do the dogs do their stuff?

How enclosed are your outdoor spaces? Are they covered by a roof or a trellis or are they open? How many sides are enclosed and are they enclosed by windows or screens? We've designed a number of houses where the rooms may act as open porches in the summer and are converted back to enclosed rooms for winter. What sort of furniture are you putting in your outdoor rooms?

Where do you want to set up stuff outside? Would you like a barbecue grill that is connected to the gas in your house? Do you have a hot tub, if you do we need to know how big it is. What are your electrical needs outside of the house? I did a house a few years ago where we put electrical outlets in all of the eaves so that Christmas lights would be easier to install. Do you have any custom requests?

What about out buildings? Do you need additional buildings on the site for your hobbies or just for storage? Is the outbuilding connected to the house by a breezeway? Are we designing the outbuilding?

That about wraps up the basic floor planning questions, next we'll discuss the style choices and interior elevations.

TOC Post: Introduction
Previous Post: Floor Plans, Accessory Spaces
Next Post: Interior Design

Originally posted 2008-07-18 13:49:55.

Related posts:

1. Designing Your House – Part 7
2. Designing Your House – Introduction
3. Designing Your House – Part 3

A big part of the private space discussion is the master suite. Do you want a main level master suite, a bedroom near the kids or one on the other side of the house? How big is the bedroom, what furniture do you anticipate and is there a sitting area? Do you want a private balcony? Would you like a fireplace? Is there a television and where is it?

How many bathroom fixtures are in your master bath? How serious a tub are you interested in, soaking, jetted, Japanese? Or do you want to skip the tub? How big is the shower, do you want it open, walk in, roll in? How much sink and countertop would you like? Is the toilet in the room or is it in its own room? We've seen two toilets, bidets and urinals. Any other special features? We also just put in a specially designed make-up counter in a custom home. This one causes a surprising amount of discussion, do you want a door to the master bathroom?

Do you want the master closet to be accessed through the master bedroom or would you prefer (as I do) to access it through the master bath? Do you want one closet or two? Maybe an island in the closet or a window. If your family only consists of the folks inhabiting the master suite, would you like to put laundry equipment in the master closet?

Describe the pieces of furniture that will go into each of the other bedrooms. How much closet space do they need? Do you want any open loft spaces arranged with the bedrooms. In my house, the space outside the kids' bedrooms and bathroom is one of the most used spaces in the house.

How are the bathrooms arranged, accessed of the hall or off the bedrooms? What about a Jack and Jill? Who will be sharing the bathroom? I advise all of our clients to make sure there is a tub in the house, even if you only take showers. Eventually someone will want to wash a kid, or a dog, and need a tub.

Accessory space design comes next.

TOC Post: Introduction
Previous Post: Floor Plans, Public Spaces
Next Post: Floor Plans, Accessory Spaces

Originally posted 2008-07-13 22:44:29.

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2. Designing Your House – Part 3
3. Designing Your House – Introduction