Architectural plans are complete for our green house in Houston!
As promised, our architects. RD Architecture (www.rdarc.com), have delivered complete plans for the house! We had gone over the details a couple of weeks ago, and then pored over the near-final plans one more time. Now we have the final plans in hand, and they are gorgeous!
There are many detailed drawings relating to specific elements in the house such as the storm shutters and the cupola, but today I just want to show you the front of the house, and take a look at how close we got with our original concept of a first floor.
Our goal in the look of the house - its first impression, its curb appeal - was to mix some traditional New England with contemporary materials. Imagine the roof as metal, and the siding appearing in two orientations as a painted cement composite - Hardi Plank. color to be determined. Then there is stone at the bottom and at the entrance. I think we achieved a very pleasant look, that makes you think of home, not McMansion or mega house. A house that is the right size for 4 people to live comfortably. I personally really like the cupola, which brings a great touch, and natural light into the hear of the house. At the same time the house is green - a simple shape and frame making it affordable to build, and giving maximum living space for minimum exterior surface.
Then, take a look at the original sketch we had made of where we thought the rooms might be. Our goal of a flow between kitchen, breakfast and family room matured into a circular flow around the central staircase that is open to the living area, not the entrance way. Kathleen Reardon, our lead architect, had discussed this circular flow with us early in the process, which she advocated as allowing communication between the different areas of the house. We never intended to use the dining room as a dining room - one table is OK for us. It is now labeled den, which is how we will use it, but it could become a dining room down the road.
Our living room, which initially was a separate room, changed into a separate area off the family room, and open to it. It got smaller to focus our square footage on the common areas.
You can see for yourself how the kitchen, mud room, butler's pantry etc all came together very nicely, to provide great functionality.
I will return to the subject of LEED points in a couple of weeks after our next meeting with the LEED rater - at the moment we are on the brink of Silver, with a conservative estimate and our eye on several additional points that could be picked up during construction.
Next step - Michael Strong of Green Haus Builders (www.greenhausbuilders.com) is putting together the final budget, and then it will be off to seek financing!
Posted
by Oliver Bogler
1 comment
Jan 25, 2010
kathleenreardon said...
Oliver, we are excited to have the drawings complete, and look forward to the LEED meeting. We can't wait for construction to begin. John and I were thinking about exterior colors today. The blog looks great, and it'll help contribute to a LEED point!
