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Greening your Neighbors

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I just stuck this post over at GreenBuildingAdvisor.com This is more of a musing than a question. When building a new home would it be more environmentally responsible to forego the triple glazed windows and put the saved money into insulation upgrades on neighbor's houses? 10 or 20k would go a long way. Likewise, who is greener? someone who builds a net zero house with 40k of PV. or someone who donates 40k to weatherization programs or even buys 4 solar hot water systems for four neighbors?

Designing for Re-Sale

I don't run into this phenomenon as often as I suspect my more urban counterparts but when I do, it is disturbing. People put all their hopes and dreams about their new home through the filter of what the next owner will think. Or worse, a set of requirements their realtor or builder is telling them they must have for the house to re-sell. A rather obvious assumption here is that the real estate market will not come out of the feedback loop it is currently in although all signs are pointing towards that happening soon and in a big way. Will what sells in 2009 be the same as what sells in 2029? I don't think so. Never having been in this position personally, maybe I'm missing something in the psychology of it all. Maybe people are watching too much TV. I suppose I should add "duh" here. Quite a number of articles have come across my desk recently about how "boomers" in particular but also "millenials" and other age groups are demanding smaller more economical and efficient homes in exponentially increasing numbers. The large scale builders are taking notice and adjusting to accomodate. I guess cleaning three or four bathrooms every week gets old. - remind me to explain my butts to toilets ratio theory of American economics - remind me to invent one to explain.

11/5 Time article ran across this good article about market forces on home size - Downsizing

Windows

Some notes on windows to be filed under "opinions and musings".In the past several years I have designed some houses with large window quantities although not necessarily in terms of the area of glazing to floor area ratio. I often use lots of smaller operating windows and some large fixed windows, often mulled together so they install a one unit. Usually there is some push-back from the client because the number of windows is a clearly quantifiable beast which makes it fair game for the budget axe. Windows (fenestration) are much more difficult to get right than floor plans so I spend a disproportionate amount of time and worry getting them right. Typically the contractor will point out that "there are an awful lot of windows" in this project and the client will then come to me and ask "why" and can we "lose some windows?". Tough thing to hear after putting in so much effort to get them right. The window budget typically represents about 5% of the overall so it is not really a big deal. And also, and typically, (grumpy sputtery architect time) triple glazed windows are completely out of the question because when it comes right down to it, people care about the environment until it affects their granite countertops or 4 bathrooms or huge bedrooms (another blog another day) I have had the satisfaction over the past few years of having the clients understand and appreciate the window decisions I made during planning when they see the real thing built. Sometimes the client will even add a window or two.

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Cross Gambrel

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Here is a pic of a house I helped with the structure of. It is quite large and the folks wanted a cross gambrel roof which makes for an interesting structure from an engineering standpoint. Here is an image from the model showing the cross ties pulling the whole thing together. The house kinda looks like the victim of a mudslide but is also rather cool.

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A client's addition/renovation process blog

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http://musingsfromdave.blogspot.com/Here is a process blog from some folks I helped to design an addition for last winter. It was the sort of project where having an architect payed off (if I remember some of the early schemes they came to me with). We were able to phase the project, and with the help of some very thorough pricing by the contractor, make some big decisions before starting construction. The original house was not unlike my own in size - bigger kitchen and only one bedroom though. They wanted a sunny spot to soak up morning sunshine. I gave them four and labeled them as such on the plans. rear view

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Vermont Mod Farmhouse update

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Here are some photos from a recent site visit to the "Vermont Mod Farmhouse" porches and garage are not built yet but from inside you can start to feel the spaces. This project was a good example of what it's all about for me: light, spatial dynamics, simplicity of form and detailing, a much higher level of plan function than the average house, views, night-vs-day perceptions, modern super-insulation and construction materials and methods, all while maintaining a sense of the familiar. 2240 s.f. plus partially finished walk-out basement, 4 bedrooms.

Triangles in Kitchens

I have been thinking lately about the work triangle in the kitchen. This was a construct of the 1940’s when men in suits were trying to engineer the function of the kitchen to make women’s lives easier. The work triangle consists of the locations for the storage, preparation and cooking of food. Fridge, sink and stove. The triangle ignores some other important functions such as cleanup, the idea of different types of storage (fridge, dry, long term, short term easy access) Sam’s club (24 packs of paper towel rolls) Also if there are several people working in a kitchen, the triangle may result in conflict. I have sketched my ideal kitchen. It is not for everybody but I have lived and cooked in over a dozen kitchens so I know what I like. I like a large island with a small bar sink for all food prep. A drawer type fridge under the counter is helpful because I like a separate fridge and upright freezer of equal size in a large and very adjacent doorless pantry. (I am a gardener and have lots of frozen food) The pantry allows me to keep things such as my mixer, coffee grinder, pasta maker, food processor, microwave etc. out on a countertop. The island allows me to spread out. Due to my long arms I also like the height of the island to be a few inches lower than the countertops. I like a large cooktop with 6 burners and a good large quiet hood with good lighting. I like a very large deep sink with a tall faucet. When I do my own kitchen someday I will get a restaurant sink and faucet. (foot pedal operated faucet?) I don’t like upper cabinets at all but prefer as much glass as possible over the counter. I also detest corner cabinets and strive to avoid them. A variation on this sketch would be to put wall ovens and a fridge on either side of the cooktop along the outside wall. And perhaps put the sink in the island. This works well if there are no windows over the counter.

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facade redesign

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This is a simple project I did entirely in Photoshop after a site visit to take some photos and talk to the owner. The original house needs updating for a number of reasons. Most of what it needs is rather straightforward and shouldn't require an architect. Originally, you entered the door on the ground floor and immediately went up a narrow set of stairs into the living room. I sketched in a vestibule/mudroom to improve the function and experience of entry. The upper wrap-around porch is mostly rotten and unused so I removed it from the image, reconfigured windows and siding and rendered it in a semi-photorealistic way. In locations without stringent building permit applications this is often enough to take to a builder and get started.before after

non-interesting post

Sorry about this not very interesting post. I was in Maine visiting family for a week and when I got back I had to go into production mode. I have an old large oak desk out in the barn where I have been working occasional nights and weekends without the distraction of the internet. I am hopelessly behind on the winters wood supply and I haven't ridden my bike as much as I would like to lately. I could do some mumbling about not getting paid (why do people always want me to work for free?) or I could grumble about square footage (its all relative and americans are really very spoiled) Or about how the banking and real-estate industries work (again square footage - quantity is 10x more important to your bank than quality)but I won't. Lots of my architecture school classmates are under or unemployed so I can't complain too much.

Eastern-vs-Western here in VT

This is something I run into fairly often. I am asked to design a home in a location that has a beautiful view and the client wants every room to have equal share of that view. Oh, and nothing may obstruct that view (trees, porch posts, mullions in windows, other parts of the house). Booooring. It is much more lively and interesting to break up a big view into vignettes so that the various locations in the house have variable relationships with the view. This is much more a part Eastern landscaping philosophy than the Western expansionist ideal. (which often includes random acts of shrubbery) The eastern philosophy says that the view starts at the end of your nose and extends to infinity. It also includes what you don't see but know is there. The Western view is "I need to see as much of the mountains as possible from every room in the house (and outside). Those trees are in the way - off with their heads". Side note: I heard that Tim Burton is working on an "Alice in Wonderland" movie! There should be one spot that takes it all in but this should be a place that you have to go to so the view doesn't become a part of the humdrum of everyday routine. This is just a small philosophical lecture that I usually lose in the end but I thought I'd write it down and file it under "mutterings"

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more sketches from the Southern VT cape

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an exterior sketch - zoomed in shows the feel and spaces better than zoomed out to get the whole building in.  This showed me that there was too much going on on the roof.  We may eliminate the first dormer on the left and replace it with an awning window pushed right up to the frieze board.  The porch is very deep which brings up light issues in the large room behind it.  Thus the small dormer there.  The middle dormer is for the m.bedroom.  I like to create upstairs bedrooms that feel like treehouses.