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This is officially the last article I am going to write for Life of an Architect in 2011 so it seemed only fitting that it should address what is going to happen in 2012. I’m not talking about how I’m finally going to break the 4 minute mile mark – unless I’m on a bike and even then – kinda dodgy. No, this is about the next big project I will be working on – and therefore documenting – here on LoaA.
Just an FYI, all the images here are click-able and will open up jumbo shrimp size if you need a closer look … just ’cause I’m considerate that way *high five-snap-pistol fingers-wink-tongue cluck*
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This house should be really amazing and I’m looking forward to the construction process. We have a great contractor on board – one that I have worked with many time before, and two amazing clients, well, I think they’re amazing. The wife is super friendly (so far…) and the husband makes an effort to be funny, which seems to be a rare client trait for some unknown reason. Besides, I think they read this blog and so I have nothing but good things to say. They’re the BEST!! As always, as a courtesy, the projects location, the clients names and any personal information will remain a secret – so don’t ask how much it costs or for me to publish plans because it isn’t going to happen.
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Because there are some serious eagle eye readers out there, I need to issue a disclaimer that these 3d images are not current with the construction drawings. These were created during the design development phase and once we go into construction document mode, we don’t go back and update the model. This 3D model made by none other than yours truly using SketchUp. They are intended to be study models – not photo realistic representations of the final product. We generate these to evaluate sun angles and building massing but we endeavor to make them pleasant enough looking that we can show them to the clients during the design phase so they can get an idea what to expect.
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This house sits on a 5 acre piece of property and is covered in trees – way more than I have shown here. Since the objective is to show the house (and the fact that SketchUp seriously bogs down) we thin the trees out a bit. Same thing goes for the landscaping – none of which I’ve shown here. The final landscape design isn’t done yet because the landscape architect likes to go onsite and sense the chi of the land before settling in on his final plant selections.
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This project has a few specialty features to it – most notably the 3 cantilevered rooms that face the acreage at the rear of the property. At the smallest, the distance from the ground to the cantilevered box is around 18″ – at most, it’s around 6 feet – should be pretty dramatic.
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One of the things I am going to do in 2012 here at Life of an Architect (besides sleep more) is focus on the detailing and architectural side of what I do. I always seem to get a lot of positive responses when I include details, construction photos, and final product images, so I am going to respond to the will of the people and oblige them with the goods. For today, I’ve included two wall sections through the cantilevered rooms. In the wall section above, we have built-in window shades to provide some relief from the sun. Above the shades, there are transom windows (above the flat roof). For these areas, we have designed an exterior metal louver that wraps around the room – you will still be able to see through it, but the harsh summer sun will be blocked out.
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In this wall section, there isn’t a transom so there wasn’t a need for the metal louvers. This is however the master bedroom so if you look carefully, you will see that there are two automated roller shades in the ceiling. The reason there are two is that during the day, when it’s brighter outside than inside, we have a 8% opacity so you can see through the shades while still getting solar protection. At night when it’s brighter inside than outside, we have a 3% opacity shade so the owners can walk around in … well, however they want, without people being able to see through the shade and get any of the juicy details.
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I get asked some times about our drawings and what sort of effort do we put in to document these sorts of projects. To say “a lot” probably isn’t a very satisfying answer. I thought it would be interesting to lay out some data for you on some of the metrics on this projects construction drawings:
- 53 – pages of construction drawings at 30″ x 42″ sheets – the breakdown = 31 architectural, 14 structural, 4 landscape, 4 lighting design. That’s 463.75 square feet of drawings or 61.83 yards if the sheets were laid end to end
- 62 – interior and exterior doors
- 34 – window types
- 19 – wall sections
- 71 – door and window details
- 105 – interior elevations
- 14 – exterior elevations
- 299 – individual architectural drawings
- unknown – sodas and cups of coffee consumed during the drawing of these documents
I look forward to continuing these sorts of posts in 2012 – I hope you do too.
Cheers,
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I had an interesting conversation with a contractor the other day – it centered on job site culture and how to create the right sort. I’m not talking about Fight Club sort of culture or stuff found on toilet seats sort of culture, this is about setting expectations for what sort of standard level of care and service will be expected from everyone working on the project.
This conversation happened when I was complimenting the contractor on the job he did installing the wood ceiling that is on the roof top terrace of the large modern house I have been working on. I covered some of this in Monday’s post (Exterior Ceilings – Here’s an idea for you) but I thought it would be interesting to see another one of the patios because in some ways, this covered patio is even more impressive than the ones I featured on Monday. I also decided to cover this today because it is a holiday week and people are starting to mentally check out and I thought just looking at some pictures with minimal text would be just about the right speed.
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The topmost 3d picture was a design study that I had created early on into the design process and all the photos today feature that covered rooftop and trellis. The picture immediately above shows an intersection where you can see the rough framing in two quadrants and the finished ipê wood ceiling in the other two quadrants. Take note that there aren’t any exposed supports for the ipê wood boards and that each section starts and ends with a full width piece. That isn’t an easy thing to coordinate when the structural steel is being erected (about 15 months ago). But wait … it gets even better and far more impressive if you are a detail nerd like me.
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In the upper right-hand quadrant of this photo you can see the in-line radiant heater that will make this rooftop terrace nice and comfy on those freezing 50 degree Fall Texas nights (brrrrr). Again, please note the full size boards …
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This is a picture of one of the two guys installing the ceiling. The ipê wood boards are glue and finished nailed into position … you can get a little better view of the entire wood ceiling where you can see the recessed can lights and the in-line radiant heater.
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Okay … this is where it starts getting really good. See how the length of the in-line radiant heater fits nicely within the wood ceiling and none of the boards are cut to accommodate it? How about the 2 lights to either end? See how they are centered into the joints between two boards?
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A detailed look at how the spacing for the boards, lights and heater all come together … perfectly.
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Here is one of the other bays where all the recessed can lights are ALL centered on the joints between boards. This stuff doesn’t happen on accident people!
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I included this last picture to show how the full width board in the corners were slightly radiused to accommodate the weld where two pieces of steel came together. That is attention to detail and once you start to realize that this sort of attention to craft is occurring, you start to recognize it everywhere on the project. The very best part? I didn’t actually have anything to do with it – this was all on the contractor.
This finally brings me back to my conversation with the contractor about creating the right sort of culture on the job site. When I was there taking these pictures, the contractor wasn’t there bird-dogging every move made by the two guys working on this particular task. The expectation and attention to the finish product had already been established by everyone else who had already done some work on this job site. Nobody wants to be the guy, or the crew, that sucked. The bar is set high for everyone to pay attention to every move they make so that the every little bit contributes to the whole. Everyone on this project has pride in their work and it shows … and it makes everyone look good.
One of the modern day 7 deadly sins – pride, or hubris, is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and is considered the source from which all the others arise. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others, and excessive love of self.
It is also what separates a good contractor from a great contractor.
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