New construction project

Every construction start begins with a photo!

Best way to record the start date and do much fun to look back and remember the “beginning”.

This project had a few hiccups before the start like COVID affecting progress, price jumps and a difficult land acquisition. But we are still smiling and ready for progress!

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Driveway anticipates many trades, many trades, and some gorgeous materials!

The start up is exciting, everything is new, and all of the conversations and ideas are about to emerge!

From sketches to reality.

Truly a dream home in progress!

I think we are going to build this project now and breath!

A day in the life of...

As an Architect, the first part of the job is designing the project, situating the home on the property, understanding your clients and moving the design to completion. It takes numerous conversation, emails, zoom calls, drawings, and redrawing, the engineering, and finally deciding on all of the finishing touches.

Residence under construction in Sedona

And then, after all of the work….the build of the project begins!

The construction starts with the removal of the trees that would otherwise fall within the footprint of the home…

Just having a bit of fun!

Our “team” start up photo

The home is outlined in the dirt, and then the retaining walls are built to maintain the dirt in place. This involves many concrete blocks. Its now evident where the home is going to be situated and although the entire site looks very confusing, there is a way in which to walk it and say well here is the front door, here is the kitchen, dining, etc.

Then concrete block walls and plumbing start telling the story…and although its really a heap of dirt and concrete, its starting to make sense!

What’s really wonderful for me, is all of the calls, drawings and work is behind me, and I get to watch the home emerge from the ground. Of course questions arise, and sometimes options as the build starts, but for the most part I’m just jumping in my skin awaiting the final form!

This is at the point where the plumbing is in the ground as we gain inspection approvals.

Concept design

Initial Design for the placement of the home.

DREAM HOMES

We’re Being Featured in Dream Homes

We are proud to be featured in DREAM HOMES upcoming book, Dream Homes of North America. This book contains one-of-a-kind urban, suburban, and vacation homes crafted by the nation’s leading architects, and we are proud to be among the featured professionals.

To view the breath taking document visit here.

Neutra and recent project

Recently I was doing my latest pastime of Drawing Botanical, when my instructor told me the best way to draw is slowly with patience which is often promoted by listening to Podcasts. So there I went, to figure out how to get the speakers to talk to my phone, to talk to the podcast world….and after a short time I was set!

As an Architect, what I never had much time for while working to the max….always…was to check out the stories of Architects. So as it is, I have the time, thank you COVID, and Im listening to a talk on Frank Loyd Wright.

What I didn’t know was that he has a strong relationship with Richard Neutra, in fact Neutra idolized him and immigrated to the United States in the early 1920’s with the dual motivation of working for his idol, Mr Wright, and for exploring American industrial potential for economical and lightweight housing, schools, medical facilities and “architecture of social concern”.

Wright's early cordiality changed to vitriol when he characterized those projects as "Cheap and Thin." Although meant as an insult, the characterization revealed a recognition of the different direction that Richard Neutra's goals had given to the basic strategies that Wright had developed twenty years earlier: and thus Mid Century “California Modern” was born.

I found this fun and interesting…evidently with the thin lines and lots of glass, people would mistake the glass panes for openings and walk into the glass. And naturally, Neutra thought that was perfect as it showed that his design intention was working! Form over function!

Dorothy Serulnic was Neutra’s executive assistant. And why do we care…well here comes the connection to my recent work. Richard Neutra designed a home for her and her husband in California.

Dorothy Serulnic’s California Residence

And then Dorothy came to Sedona, Arizona and had this home built!

I met the lovely owner’s of this Historic Home, otherwise known as the Hummingbird House, and was pleased to assist with some upgrades to the lighting, paint and furnishings!

We are keeping the intention of Dorothy’s vision, inspired by her home in California by Richard Neutra…staying with neutral tones to enhance the original beauty of the home….maybe we will paint the front door orange!….it’s a thought!

Parisian Hardware

I seem to have acquired a taste for Parisian Hardware, always going to the flea market to get a few more remnants of old brass.

What is it about the Hardware? Incredible detail, wonderful color of the brass, and it screams craftsmanship of an era that has passed by in most trades. The most interesting one being the Cremone:

Crémone or "Crémone Bolt" is a type of decorative hardware used as a locking device to fasten a pair of swinging windows or casement window.[1] A knob or lever handle is linked by a rack and pinion gearto a pair of half-round rods or "surface bolts" which slide over the outside surface of the door or window and extend into sockets at the head and sill of the opening. The gear mechanism operates the two vertical rods at the same time; one rod extends up into the door head, and the other extends down into the door sill. It is similar in appearance to an "espagnolette" lock, but uses a half-round rod.

How to Design Your Home on Your Land

So you bought a piece of land. Now what?
Or should we say so what!....or rather so what now?

It’s difficult to understand how you see a property with curves, dips, rocks and figure out how you are going to know where the bast place to put your home is. An Architect can help.

There are many factors to consider:
Of course you don’t want to spend more money than you have to. You don’t want to miss any potential views
You want to be in the most peaceful part of the lot.

But to an Architect, its a fun puzzle that we can’t put down till all the pieces are in place!

...............away from water, proper drainage
getting just the right amount of sunshine, sunshine in the right place at the right time of the day....the list continues and can be terrifying! But to an Architect, its a fun puzzle that we can’t put down till all the pieces are in place!

So how do we do it? One small bite at a time...”just as you would eat an elephant,” quoting from an old boss when managing School construction in Newark, NJ. You just can’t expect to get the whole thing done in a day!

First order of business, you must go to the lot and walk it, sit on it, visit it time and again, listen to the birds, just get comfortable with it, as its going to go from terrifying to being your best friend. By best friend I mean when the home is in the right spot the land will sing back to you and you will enjoy every square foot as though it was always yours....like I said just as a best friend you make you feel!

So after gaining the feel for the lot, we move on to some research....just as you would if you met a new fine friend!

1. We make sure we understand our construction boundaries

2. Make sure you know the regulatory agencies that will give you approval

3. Make sure you know where and which utilities are available

Then comes the juicy part....The Land’s Contours
We look at all of the contour maps available to understand the dips and swales of the lot. A few resources are available: Certified Survey

With this information, we start to understand the lay of the land. Where is the latest area? Where to enter the lot. Which direction are the views in? Based on your location, which direction do you want to have with glazing vs not?

Again, too much to really answer at this time, but you may be able to take a few bits got this Elephant bu knowing clearly where the views are...or that there is a ravine you must avoid, or you know where the limited access is.....so take a few bites.

While we are holding that thought, we look not at the lot, but inwards to you and your needs for this new dreamy home. How large of a home do you want? What is your Budget? How many people or pets will be living here? What seasons....it’s called “Programming”, and its what Architect’s do to gain a Program for their Design, just as you would get a program when you sit don to a show.....sorta tells you what is coming up.

Next step is we figure out which rooms want to be adjacent to which, what are your habits and how will you “live” in this home.

Many people jump right into knowing the size of their room requirements, but I find it is particularly helpful to know what you are doing in a room rather than what size it should be.

So then we create a “Bubble Diagram”

This is where you draw a circle or bubble and when they are attached it represents that the two labeled room bubble is adjacent to the one it touches.

The bubbles are moved around, then moved onto the survey or photo of the land, and then you start getting a sense of which rooms will go where on your lot! Amazing.

Then we start changing the bubbles to straight lines and start creating Architecture, with the Floor Plan as the front runner. Again, looking at the boundaries and the contours as we do this.

Bubble/preliminary plan

And finally, .........it becomes a play of going back and forth to the first exercise, answering some of the questions relating to the lot like where do want to look out to the view? Then back to the Bubble and Floor plan, like when you look at that view do you see yourself having coffee at your kitchen, or sitting by your Fireplace.

Back and forth from Land to Plan, Plan to Land....until you have a rough idea on paper.

Then, you begin the “reality check”, and check your size and complexity of your design of your home to your budget. This should include getting a Contractor on board, or at least as an advisor, to let you know current local costs, and what might be expected when you a=start the build out, 6-8 months from now, as that is what a good design, execution of the drawings and permits take.

Now you are on your way.....you would engage with a professional to take you through the process and remember, you must have fun with it and let it flow. Keep the ideas loose at the beginning to make sure you do not have any dreams that you did not even consider....

Stay tuned for my next Blog Schematic Design.

So wait...was that easier than what was done for the design of Petra???

What do you think?