Design

A recent project I am working on at Larson Brenner Architects gives me another example of how a good designer can add value to a project. The home is in the Design Development stage, so the basic form and plan have been finalized but the details are still being adjusted. The images below illustrate how Larson Brenner utilizes 3d visualization tools (in this case Google Sketchup) to study variations in design to communication options to the client. With better visualization the client is able to make more informed decisions. The image above depicts the completed Schematic Design - a classic midwestern farmhouse exterior. Narrow gable forms, 1 1/2 story height, shed porches and box out bays, white clapboard siding, black shingle primary roof and galvanized metal porch roof. This image depicts a taller plate height and a modification of the roof eave detail to provide more of a midwestern greek revival aesthetic. Image above represents mostly a color study variation of the original f...

While at my regular job - Larson Brenner - I received a phone call a few days ago. It was from someone who had been designing their own cabin. Subsequently the design was given to a builder who's draftsman tried to complete the design and drawings. Well it turns out that he did not like the design. He was still enamored with the floor plans, but not the exterior appearance. The image below is of the original design. I was asked to see if I could take a shot at improving the appearance of the home without significantly altering the floor plans. He also wanted to maintain the basic chalet style roof line that he had started with. I agreed to work on an hourly rate basis to provide the services. I modeled the plan quickly in Sketchup and did several minor alternatives. In the end we landed on the final solution as shown below. Hopefully this is illustrative of a little bit of value an Architect can bring to a project. They can turn an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. G...

At Larson Brenner Architects I am currently working a client on a new home design to be constructed in Rochester, MN.  Here we have run into a very common dilemma.  What to do with 3 1/2 cars worth of garage?    If you put all of that garage to the side of the house you get one very wide plan.  If you put all of that garage forward of the house you get one very deep plan.  Many lots cannot accommodate either one of those plan arrangements.  So what I have proposed to do here is to split the garages into two separate structures.  The main two car garage is directly connected to the house via the mudroom zone.  The additional 1 1/2 car garage is placed on the opposite side of the lot; resulting in a nifty little entry court.  See sketches below. Here you can see a birds eye view of the layout.  Notice the roof between the garage and house is low.  This helps to reduce the mass of the house.  Pulling the garages a bit f...

At Larson Brenner Architects I am currently working a client on a new home design to be constructed in Rochester, MN.  Here we have run into a very common dilemma.  What to do with 3 1/2 cars worth of garage?    If you put all of that garage to the side of the house you get one very wide plan.  If you put all of that garage forward of the house you get one very deep plan.  Many lots cannot accommodate either one of those plan arrangements.  So what I have proposed to do here is to split the garages into two separate structures.  The main two car garage is directly connected to the house via the mudroom zone.  The additional 1 1/2 car garage is placed on the opposite side of the lot; resulting in a nifty little entry court.  See sketches below. Here you can see a birds eye view of the layout.  Notice the roof between the garage and house is low.  This helps to reduce the mass of the house.  Pulling the garages a bit f...

In the "old days" people used to build their own houses. Many would buy a set of house plans and the construction materials from the Sears & Roebuck Catalog; the pieces would get shipped to there home site and they would build it. Today there are Architect Designed Sears homes all over the country that were built in the early part of the 20 th century. Here are a few examples. This trend went away after world war II when the baby boom began. There was an enormous demand for housing and as a result developers began mass producing houses. One cookie cutter house after another. Times are sure different now and I wonder if it is time to learn a bit from our past. The economy is tight and people don't have as much money to spend, but everyone still wants a nice home to live in. So why not start building our homes ourselves again? I would never recommend that you literally go out and start framing your house. You would have to be very skilled and knowledgeable to t...

In the "old days" people used to build their own houses. Many would buy a set of house plans and the construction materials from the Sears & Roebuck Catalog; the pieces would get shipped to there home site and they would build it. Today there are Architect Designed Sears homes all over the country that were built in the early part of the 20 th century. Here are a few examples. This trend went away after world war II when the baby boom began. There was an enormous demand for housing and as a result developers began mass producing houses. One cookie cutter house after another. Times are sure different now and I wonder if it is time to learn a bit from our past. The economy is tight and people don't have as much money to spend, but everyone still wants a nice home to live in. So why not start building our homes ourselves again? I would never recommend that you literally go out and start framing your house. You would have to be very skilled and knowledgeable to t...

Today I have a commentary written by Jim Kirkland - a good friend of mine, and multi-talented individual who has been in the building business for some time. In this article, after visiting quite a few "Parade Homes" in the Twin Cities area, Jim makes some great observations about the tendency to "mimic". In these tough times however, I believe it is more important than ever for builders to distinguish themselves through good, creative and fresh design . Builders Get Fresh, By Jim Kirkland I recently spent an afternoon touring the Minneapolis / St. Paul metro area Spring Parade of Homes. As a designer and builder of residential properties myself, I have always loved following the trends in our industry and touring model homes. But I have to say, this Spring, there sure are a lot of ordinary houses being shown, in terms of design, as well as workmanship. Even in the relatively progressive city and first-ring suburb “re-deux” market, the design work, and the ...

Today I have a commentary written by Jim Kirkland - a good friend of mine, and multi-talented individual who has been in the building business for some time. In this article, after visiting quite a few "Parade Homes" in the Twin Cities area, Jim makes some great observations about the tendency to "mimic". In these tough times however, I believe it is more important than ever for builders to distinguish themselves through good, creative and fresh design . Builders Get Fresh, By Jim Kirkland I recently spent an afternoon touring the Minneapolis / St. Paul metro area Spring Parade of Homes. As a designer and builder of residential properties myself, I have always loved following the trends in our industry and touring model homes. But I have to say, this Spring, there sure are a lot of ordinary houses being shown, in terms of design, as well as workmanship. Even in the relatively progressive city and first-ring suburb “re-deux” market, the design work, and the ...

It's been a while since my last posting. Been busy over the holidays. Also, I have been working on a couple of new interesting projects. I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at one of them. The project incorporated a modified design process in order to save time and money. The design below is a rustic retreat to be constructed on lake property in Tennessee. The client found a plan that was originally designed by John Tee Architect. The plan did not meet all of their family's needs, but represented a pretty good starting point. So they purchased the plan and commissioned a major reworking of the design. I worked in Association with a plan customization company named Architectural Overflow to perform the re-design. The images below reflect our work. lake side elevation side elevation If you are interested in finding the most possible value in Design then this might be a good approach to consider. Find a plan that works reasonably well, purchase the plan, then have a good...

Fine Homebuilding has a new article on the future of framing house plans. For many years we have been framing houses basically the same way. And this way is not necessarily the most energy efficient or material efficient. The article makes the following recommendations to increase energy efficiency and to reduce material and labor costs at the same time: use 2x6 wall framing at 24" o.c. (in lieu of 16" o.c.) use 1" rigid foam insulation in lieu of traditional sheathing eliminate headers where they are not necessary structurally - where they are necessary size them properly (it is common practice to use the same size header throughout) eliminate all the corner framing - let the drywall hang loose or use clips use header hangars in lieu of jack studs eliminate one of the top plates I happen to agree that all of these ideas are good energy savings tips. Some builders however would argue that they are not necessarily cost savings. For instance eliminating one of the top...

Lately I have been getting inquiries for modestly sized new home designs that feature main floor master bedrooms. A search of the web reveals a gazillion main floor master bedroom plans - but most are massive or ugly or both. So I decided this might be a good opportunity to design a new plan fitting this unique need, and to illustrate for you a little bit of the design process at the same time. So let's get started. The design process I use typically involves the following phases: Programming Schematic Design Design Development Construction Documents Today we will start with Programming . Programming really means just identifying a list of functional needs and qualities that you would like to see in your home. I'll start with a list that reflects the kinds of requests I have been receiving. Modest plan size - as close to 2000 square foot as possible. Open floor plan - Living, Dining and Kitchen spaces very connected with each other. Mudroom with space for hanging coats and...

My better half and I just got back home from a short trip to the Napa Valley area. We don't really go for the wine, although that's nice too. For us it is really about the scenery. The area really has such a subtle beauty that we just love. On our trips I of course like to see the local architecture. I try to take snap shots of things I see that I might draw some inspiration from later on. Anyway I thought I'd show you an example from this recent trip and illustrate what I am trying to learn. Here is a snap shot of the gable end of a historic home (the Kelley house) in Mendocino. I love the simplicity in form and the strength of it's details. This is a key to good design. If you have a simple form you need to pay attention to the details. Here are my thoughts: The proportions of the gable are quite nice - neither too slender or too squat with roof pitch neither too steep or too flat. I love the depth of the gable end roof overhang (this is called the rake end...

This post is not related to house plans or home design but I thought would be interesting for everyone. As you know Rio De Janeiro has been awarded the 2016 Olympic games. The Architectural firm of BCMF Arquietetos was responsible for envisioning the Olympic environment. I have included a few of the images they created. Some pretty cool stuff. Chicago is a pretty nice town, but it is difficult to imagine a more dramatic backdrop for the Olympic games than Rio? I am looking forward to watching in 2016. If you want to see more Rio Olympic images you can go to the official Rio 2016 web site Simple,Unique, Small House Plans Cottage, Craftsman and Modern Home Plans

Jonas Samson, an interior designer from the Netherlands has created a new kind of wallpaper that is also a light source. The paper has a light emitting layer within that accomodates LED's. The product, which appears to not yet be for sale is touted as being "green". This is due to the efficiency of the LED lighting. I cannot find pricing, but word is extremely expensive - so in my mind that's not necessarily green. Nevertheless this is an interesting idea with lots of possibilities. If you want to see his website check it out here.

I live in  the  Twin Cities area of Minneapolis / St.Paul ,  where we have one of the  largest Parade of Home tours in the country.  Every year I look through all of the Parade offerings to see if I can identify any new trends. A couple of things have struck me;  1) how  very similar many of these house s  are and 2)  this  economy  can   not be a great environment for  many home  builders.    The question begs to be asked;    i f you are   by-and-large  building  the same house as your competition, how is  your   much sought after  customer going to decide which  house to purchase?      Right ,   pretty much on price alone.     This doesn't seem like a good business formula to me. As an architect  I have worked with a number of builders that understand the benefits of  a creative and well thoug...

Almost every day I ask myself why more people are not taking advantage of this crazy building market.  By crazy I mean this is a ridiculous buyers market.  The answer seems to be fear.  We can't seem to get away from all the bad news.  Just turn on your tv or your computer and you get nailed with it.  I cannot say if the fear is justified or not.  Each persons situation is unique, and so it is up to them to determine for themselves.  But I can tell you that right now there are some really good opportunities for those that choose to pursue them .   If you have been thinking of building a new home or remodeling your existing one I suggest seriously pursuing it.  If not, you may just be missing the opportunity of a lifetime.  I have been in this industry for more than a few years now, and I cannot remember any time that the market has been more favorable for the buyer / client.  Here are a few of the big reasons: Interest rates are ridiculously low. Contractors and subcontractors ar...

Simply Elegant Home Designs is now using Google Sketchup to better describe the interior design elements of their house plans.   Ron Brenner of Simply Elegant had this to say.  "Better visualization of the product results in more thorough understanding of design intent and better translation by the builders.  We have been using 3d visualization for some time to illustrate building exteriors, and have discovered how valuable that visualization is.  It seems a logical next step to illustrate the interior design elements of a home with 3d.  Nowadays Architects have so many good tools to work with, and so why not use them?  The idea is to use the tools available to us to create a better product and a better service.  I think that some day we may not be issuing 2d plans, sections and elevations, but we will be issuing 3d virtual models.  And some day builders may have a television monitor at the job site in lieu of a plan desk." The animation below illustrates the interior cabine...

The mudroom has become an increasingly important space in home design. This space has transitioned over the years from nothing more than a small hallway with a coat closet into a zone that serves multiple needs. I now spend much time thinking about the function of the mudroom zone in our home designs. Here are a few of the potentially important features of the mudroom zone: A Bench - Where you can sit down and put on your boots. Lockers - A place where you can quickly drop off your coat and hat. Dump Desk - A storage space for dropping off the mail or briefcase. Powder Room - The mudroom zone is a great place for the powder room because it is a more "discreet" location and convenient on your way in or out of the house. Laundry Area - The mudroom zone is a great place for the laundry. This space is convenient to the activity areas of the house, but since it is "around the corner" it is a bit more acoustically separated. Hanging storage for the laundry can s...

Some time ago I posted my opinion of the top 10 web places to find good house plans.  I have now updated that posting by dropping in one new name.  LaMiDesign has been inserted into the number 4 position.  It is a great place to find truly modern house plans. Please check out the revised top 10 list. Top 10 House Plan Websites

I ran across this criticism of Architects and the green movement the other day.   http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-007-prioritizing-green2014it-s-the-energy-stupid/?full_view=1 It was written by Joseph Lstiburek; a renowned building science expert and royal smart ass.  Many Architects and Engineers do not like Mr. Lstiburek because of his criticisms.  I think mostly because he is all too often right; and he always has facts to back his claims up. Lstiburek's basic criticism is this.  Architects and Engineers are creating "Green Monuments".  Buildings that are hailed Green and win awards; and yet they statistically are not saving any energy over their non-green counterparts. I tend to agree with many of his criticisms.  I have felt for some time that we get caught up in all the new exciting technology - so much so that we forget the basic principles of good environmental design that the Ancients knew, and that Edward Mazria re-taught us over 30 years a...