5/22-5/26 | A Good Step Forward

TLDR

This is a mini update for my project. I go over in more detail the purpose of this project, the basic design of my house, my plans for upcoming interviews with local architects, and what steps I need to take moving forward.

Refined Purpose

I mentioned briefly in the previous blog post what the purpose of this project was, but I never really described why I was pursuing this project. Over the years, I've somewhat distanced myself from more suburban architecture and have been more drawn towards modern, simple, and efficient spaces to live in. Houses have kind of become the same cookie-cutter shapes and styles, and somewhat counterintuitively, I want to move away from that by breaking things down to the bare essentials. I'm a big fan of Scandinavian and New Zealander design, mainly because of their use of rich and natural materials such as wood, stone, and glass as well as how they integrate their buildings into the landscape.

I don't want my house to draw too much attention to itself. It should sit within a forest or natural landscape almost like a large rock, accented with neutral tones such as gray, black, brown, and tan.

That being said, it should have a character of its own; I hope to introduce some peculiarities/irregularities to make it less sterile and more of an imperfect "product" of nature.

Because of this overarching connection to nature, I would like this house to be ecologically conscious. Though this technology still needs time to develop, I hope to have my house 3D printed in some way with a recycled composite material that would act as the structure and insulation. Exterior and interior paneling would then be fitted onto this shell. I will update exactly what all of the materials going into the house would be once I have done more research. All components would be made in a factory or warehouse, and the pieces of the house would be transported to the site via a semi (which, hopefully in the future, would be a Tesla semi or some other electric vehicle). These pieces would then fit together and minimal construction would actually take place on-site. The house would also utilize well-insulated windows to keep heat in during the winter and keep cool during the summer.

The house should also be relatively easy to move. Of course, it's not mounted to a trailer so it's not as portable as a tiny house, but within a day, the house should be able to be removed from two concrete platforms, leaving next to no impact on the surrounding landscape. These are all important elements to my design because I want to not only immerse myself within nature when inside the house, but also respect the nature that was already there.

With that in mind, I have singled in on a design idea that I believe incorporates all of these elements.

The Design Going Forward

From the number of sketches I did, there was one design that I was more drawn towards. It was this somewhat wonky rectangular prism that connected to another section through a glass hallway. I really liked the idea but the layout seemed somewhat impractical, so I expanded it a bit by extending the prism, modifying the windows, and then adding an identical piece on the other side so that together, they create a V formation on the roofline.

On the left is the original design, and on the right is the refined design.

However, I still wasn't too happy with the layout of the second version. The big appeal for this design was that half of it would be floating via a concrete pillar and three big metal support beams. I had a section of one of the halves where the window stretched into the floor and ceiling, and it would be ideal for that to be floating above the ground. So I flipped the orientation, modified the windows near the rear, and made this more detailed perspective sketch:

Perspective sketch with side profiles

Let's split up the house into two halves. The half closest to the viewer in the above drawing is half 1 and the other is half 2. The entrance is on the backside of half 2, leading into the kitchen area. The kitchen has a long window strip above the countertop to maximize light. The kitchen then leads into a large living area complete with a window corner. On the far side of half 1 is the bedroom, and alongside it is the bathroom. To the right of that is the ceiling-wall-floor window that serves as a nice place to relax solo.

The two halves would be constructed individually and then married together onsite with, hopefully, minimal work. Wood siding would cover the exterior along with a metal roof.

You can see all sketches above in this imageboard. You can also see some rough paper models I made to help visualize some of my designs in this imageboard.

Revit

So far, I have been going over the basics in Revit. I have been experimenting with all the construction elements as well as familiarizing myself with the interface, but I didn't want to commit to a Revit project before finalizing what my house would look like. The next step for me is to decide on measurements (which will probably be informed by highway transportation limitations) and the interior layout. These, along with the overall shape, will be translated into Revit, though I am anticipating that it will take a while since this is my first attempt.

Architects and Architecture Firms

Looking forward, I have scheduled meetings with Darren Schroeder and Clive Knights on June 2nd and 3rd respectively. I hope to learn a lot from talking with them, and I also would like to share what I'm working on and get their input. That means that while I should definitely work to make strides on my project until then, I should also leave some parts open so as to incorporate their feedback without backtracking much if needed.

I would also like to thank Elizabeth for sharing with me the email address of Nathan Hamilton, an architect at Allied Works that worked on Catlin's CAC, which is awesome! I should get in contact with him soon once I get a better understanding of how my project is coming together. Though I would love to share what I'm working on, ideally I would like to tour their space and get a sense of how working in a firm is like. If I could get onto an actual construction site, that would be amazing as well. This would probably happen sometime during the fourth week as the third is already pretty busy.

Tentative Plans

By the end of the second week, I should have the basic shape and structure of the house modeled in Revit with the interior and exterior being developed. I will also make more detailed sketches from different angles exploring materials and compositions.

I will be gone from May 29th to June 1st and won't have access to Revit, so I'll take that time to really think about the interior and other small yet critical details. When I come back, I will do the two interviews, take notes, and then refine my design. By the end of the third week, I should have a version of the house in Revit complete that I am happy with.

During the fourth week, I will clean up the Revit model, render it in Enscape, and prepare my final presentation. If possible, I will also meet with Allied Works. It's a lot, but I think it'll be alright. 😅