EVOLUTION OF IDEAS
GOOD DESIGN IS HARD, SLOW.
Two or three hundred years ago, good design was natural. It was passed on from the experiences of friends and neighbors over generations… original crowd sourcing…only slower.
Alexander separated such evolution into 2 kinds….self-conscious and unselfconscious.
Go back and read this chapter, watch how nimble his mind is in describing the reasons things evolve or do NOT evolve. His mixture of mathematical logic, and clarity of Human Nature over the eons is beautiful.
Why some house designs have not changed over 1000 years vs those that change with the weather.
Again, I am not here to teach anything, but to spin you off in a few directions you might like to read…since ideas, that are 50 years old, are still valid…they just get buried with time…(and web references….) but if you don’t know OF these nuggets….you will be left reinventing the wheel again yourself.
Anyway, 3D design quickens this process… but still, there are 100 wrong ways to do things… Because, when just anything is possible… your job is to pick the best way… & that takes time.
Christopher Alexander calls this evolving, the picking and choosing of better or best, MORPHOGENESIS. A step by step process of extracting life out of a design… Making your design come alive, be dynamic, organically full of fun and surprises…. that takes a lot of time and minuscule deliberation of each of your changes of the design.
He had to this at the construction site, in real time, with others watching him, giving him feedback, or pushback…so awkward and slow.
We get to see a comparable process on a computer screen, from all angles, and with the ability to change evolve constantly.
Sure it is a cost, to learn the software, and deal with upgrades, and problems solve software issues… but, we design in the era we live in. Having a friend using the same software can shorten the learning curve. And if not a friend, searching problems on google or forums works well….eventually YOU become the teacher, helping other.
Back to morphogenesis…
CA concludes that it “takes some practice and experimentation to become aware the subtleties of the step by step process, and careful judgments, but you can achieve the signature better and better as your skills develop over time.”
page 32 Schumacher
EVOLUTION OF IDEAS
Good design is hard, slow.
Two or three hundred years ago, good design was natural. It was passed on from the experiences of friends and neighbors over generations… original crowd sourcing…only slower.
Alexander separated such evolution into 2 kinds….self-conscious and unselfconscious.
Go back and read this chapter, watch how nimble his mind is in describing the reasons things evolve or do NOT evolve. His mixture of mathematical logic, and clarity of Human Nature over the eons is beautiful.
Why some house designs have not changed over 1000 years vs those that change with the weather.
Again, I am not here to teach anything, but to spin you off in a few directions you might like to read…since ideas, that are 50 years old, are still valid…they just get buried with time…(and web references….) but if you don’t know OF these nuggets….you will be left reinventing the wheel again yourself.
Anyway, 3D design quickens this process… but still, there are 100 wrong ways to do things… Because, when just anything is possible… your job is to pick the best way… & that takes time.
Christopher Alexander calls this evolving, the picking and choosing of better or best, MORPHOGENESIS. A step by step process of extracting life out of a design… Making your design come alive, be dynamic, organically full of fun and surprises…. that takes a lot of time and minuscule deliberation of each of your changes of the design.
He had to this at the construction site, in real time, with others watching him, giving him feedback, or pushback…so awkward and slow.
We get to see a comparable process on a computer screen, from all angles, and with the ability to change evolve constantly.
Sure it is a cost, to learn the software, and deal with upgrades, and problems solve software issues… but, we design in the era we live in. Having a friend using the same software can shorten the learning curve. And if not a friend, searching problems on google or forums works well….eventually YOU become the teacher, helping other.
Back to morphogenesis…
CA concludes that it “takes some practice and experimentation to become aware the subtleties of the step by step process, and careful judgments, but you can achieve the signature better and better as your skills develop over time.”
page 32 Schumacher
Case History
But each error, each insane idea, was actually golden at the time…brilliant! That in the end, turned out to be either insane, or goofy.
(I have no lower adjective in architecture than goofy… every AIA dreads, this word)
This is a case history of converting a small house (1300sf 2/2 house) to a large house (3700sf 5/3house) that will adapt to a family that will change in size, age, and needs in the future…a flexible house.
An astonishing relic of 1950’s, built square and solid, by the men returning from WWII. It used true 2×4’s, …dry dense wood, iron strong, some with edges of bark still on.
Since then, a dozen families have lived here, but it remained largely unchanged.
It had no storage, no insulation, original plumbing, minimal electrical outlets and 30 years of deferred maintenance, and dust.
This contributed it selling 5 times in the past 15 years. 1995, 1998, 2002, 2004 until we bought it in 2011.
No one lived here long enough to do the decades of deferred maintenance for this old house.
With 2 bedrooms, 1 bath and detached garage..on land with massive 100 foot trees in Buckhead Atlanta… It looked great to us, …just like the old houses we grew up in.
Then… the shine wore off…At first, we tried the Band-Aid approach, to fix the house…laughable now but we were desperate.
- reglazing rusted tub,
- replacing toilet and bathroom sink,
- move washer and dryer out of the kitchen,
- replace kitchen sink,
- put heat tape on pipes so they would not freeze.
- added electric sockets
- getting a curved shower curtain rod, so shower curtain would not cling,
- added shelves…
- painting walls,
- foam insulate the attic.
- build shelves in the garage
- storing boxes in attic and garage and crawl space….on and on…
Now, it was either move, or renovate…we stayed.
This shows only a few of the steps and drawing we used to figure out the best use of space, within boundaries of zoning, and within money allowed by final bank appraisals. So here goes..
NEW ROOF AND SIDING--Yes
No matter what, we needed to get rid of the asbestos siding, and add a new roof…and paint it not-green
1. Save the garage? no
Good try, but silly. Drawing it out showed why it wouldn’t work. Had to try tho. (garage was flimsy, floor above garage was 4 feet higher than main house etc.)
2. Build bedrooms under Deck
This is a common idea, especially with the house on a hill. But bedrooms UNDER street level have poor appraisals, “don’t count” But this is worth trying, since it is cheaper than a second floor
The bank will not loan enough money for a house that will have a low appraisal.
So go fish.
3. CATHEDRAL CEILING IN NEW LIVING ROOM? Nope.
A cathedral ceiling, with massive windows looking at the woods, is a traditional go-to, when trying to get the WOW factor in you house… the mountain lodge effect.
But it will cost a lot to build, with a low appraisal (because low square feet added) …thus, bank will not loan enough money. The ratio of above ground space, to whole construction costs was too low.
What costs a LOT is the new foundation, massive dig-out of dirt, for garage under new floor, and for all this, only this upper new space counts toward GROSS LIVING AREA…only a 3/2 on one floor…
With an extension this large, a new roof will have to go up, and below the new roof, reveals a huge amount of livable space in “the attic..”
Start over. Now here is where it gets “creative” gut embarrassingly insane..
Clerestory windows, over a second floor addition...no.
Clerestory windows, over a second floor addition…no.
Larger roof, large dormer in back...getting there...
The back dormer looks good, but now we will also need some front dormers too..
Consider a conventional attic, with a large dormer window for light, and raw, unfinished space for future use.
This adds anohter 800sf ABOVE GROUND… better for appraisal.
The box drawing below, measures the square feet of living space with over 7 feet of headroom, below the slanted roof.
It was important to delineate all second floor space, with about 7 foot headroom, which will count toward Minimum Ceiling Height for Habitable Spaces, in an appraisal.
From now on, each plan, carried a square foot value, to measure final appraisal value.
Now, how to get large heavy objects to new second floor? We are too old to carry stuff up the stairs…wait…we don’t even have stairs in the design…
Hay Bailer? creative, but goofy....
I put this in, as an example of the convoluted, evolutionary process a house design happens….
Again, we can add a second floor, but how to get heavy objects up there?
First idea, is a Hay Bailer…as seen in some Houzz examples.
Truly goofy, nope.
ELEVATOR? YES..
As we wandered thru construction sites, we found a nearly finished house, with an elevator…the house was unlocked, (think of this… a beautiful, finished house, furnished…and not locked!) so we wandered in, and saw how spectacular & normal an elevator could be. We rode it like kids in a department store…
We visited a couple of elevator shops, that took us around to other houses they have installed them… very eye opening.
Our elevator sales rep, took us to several houses he installed an elevator in, and we saw how normal they are.
When doing new construction, it is easy to draw it into the plan, fixes a lot of aging in place issues, and only added 5% to cost of house…and improves the appraisal, and make the resale easier. Logic, perfect…justified and done.
MOVE STAIRS TO THE SIDE...Yes.
But still, you need stairs, somewhere…so we cantilever the stairs 4 feet beyond the footprint, saving using up a bedroom space, normally used for a stairwell. The framing below, shows how the cantilever was supported.
FRONT DORMERS..yes,
but not Dog Houses...
We tried on different type of dormers, to get light into the top floor. Finally coming up with 3 flat shed dormers, low profile, great scale, symmetry, and lots of headroom inside…maximizing the square feet apraisal for living space. I could write books on dormers…90% of what I see are horrible, both inside and out…see essay…
MOVING PEAK AXIS BACK...YES
OPENING UP BACK DORMER,
yes, great views.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
JUST DELETE DORMER, MAKE BACK WIDE OPEN, brilliant!
SHED DORMERS IN FRONT
CONCLUSION
This procedure of design, experimentation, trial and error, best fit, learning zoning, IS hard, but creative. All good design is hard. See Tom Turner “Twelve things to try if you get stuck with design” page 172…you will see you are not alone.
HOW DO YOU KNOW,
when ARE you DONE!?
How do you know when to stop?
You let it rest a while… your designs will cook in the back of your head.
You work on your 3D drawings, twirl them around, look at views from inside and out, add furniture to make sure you have enough room round the foot of the bed. Calculate the number of square feet, and see if you can squeeze out any more… every square foot is worth $300 so, it is worth it. When a house is 40 feet wide, each foot is worth about 12,000, 10 feet is worth $120,000… so look closely.
OTOH, you pay taxes on these square feet…but you do NOT pay taxes on carports, or decks…so I made them a huge as possible…adding 700sf of tax free living area, to each floor… 2,000 sq feet! to expand out to, with chairs, furniture, games, plants, flowers, and to feel the sun, or sit out in the rain…great space… no taxes..!
For me, I just wanted wide open views of the wood, as many windows as possible….but, with enough walls to feel inside, walls to hold wiring and lights.
My footprint extended right to the flood plane line…to the inch! My decks had to be at least 10 feet wide, to allow movement around a table, on both side (I hate to scoot in, to let someone pass) All this defined the size of my bedrooms and the living room. SEE? The house draws its own walls by default…