Your House Here

Ok, so we designed and built our house. Sketchup became my favorite tool and late at night while taking a break from looking for cheap modern faucets, learning about tankless waterheaters, etc., I doodled.

I have an entire folder of houses that I couldn't get out of my head until I tried to put them on paper. I think I may put a few of them up here. I hope others feel free to do the same.

[IMG]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h442/jrous67/Houses/longhouseplan_zps79151301.jpg[/IMG]

This one was actually plan B for the lot we built on. Because of the roof pitch regulations, the first version had a gable. Then I flatened it out.

[IMG]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h442/jrous67/Houses/longhousebirdseye_zps96922533.jpg[/IMG]

Ok, that didn't work as I intended. How about this?

I have long been intrigued with the idea of second floor living. And here was one of my attempts at that.

A neighbor is thinking about buying several lots that span from one street to another. So the lots would be 30'x120' with streets at both ends. He asked what I would do with that I gave him a few options. The courtyard is 21'x12' and faces north. The long roof extending from the living room is to shade the afternoon sun (it gets hot in Texas).

I have been fascinated by Corbusier's Villa Savoye. Here is a modern update with a smaller footprint (I have another version with a small patio on the second floor).

So some friends were building a house and said that they wanted a Frank Lloyd Wright type house. After looking thorough some of my books, it turned out they just wanted a simple house with a hipped roof. I threw a couple ideas together, but their builder's architect had what they really wanted, a standard suburban floor plan. In any case, here is what I came up with.

Here is the other... with a nod towards not only FLW Winslow house, but also Ralph Rapson's Dwell House entry. I prefer the master up and family room down, but with some "windows" to below, it would be cool.

Two years back some friends were adding a pool. They wanted a cabana that could serve as guest house and workout room (incl. treadmill).

I did this, and even worked up a set of plans (anyone want a copy?). They liked the blue, I liked the white. In the end, I instead did a steel and Polygal wing for over the patio. I'll post that sometime soon.

Here is the wing.

And one more with a FLW style.

Glenn Murcutt has this great house with a courtyard that includes a pool. Who needs a yard right? Could that work on a more suburban lot? I like that it has a lot of little places between places.

And here is my attempt at a FLW MCM fusion. I like courtyards. Two bedrooms, a study and a screen porch for dining.

Very Neat Picture Presentation

http://www.econstructinc.com/company_profile.html

Thanks! I'd like others to jump in with their amateur designs. I was just thinking I should "modernize" a few of the "soft contemporary" designs. I fear a "pitched roofs! WTF?" response. Easy to flatten a roof an "mod-up" the windows.

I was looking at one of the above houses, and as much as I like how the hipped roofs intersect perfectly, I decided to modernize it a bit. I love front porches and screen porches... so I added one.

It sort of interests me how building codes can alter not just a singular design, but an entire stylistic wave. Take the egress window requirement. Essentially, at least one window in every bedroom must be 30" wide by at least 42" tall. The Eames house with its horizontal awnings wouldn't pass code. This makes a horizontal theme for the fenestration difficult unless you use a door instead of a window in each bedroom. So this either leads to a horizontal theme or you get crazy and mix up squares and rectangles to get it more horizontal (a chaotic or random theme). In our case, we used a lot of squares and two of the bedrooms have 60"x60" window units divided vertically to get a 30"x60" egress window without going too vertical.

I almost forgot this one. I actually drew up plans. Two bedrooms on the ground floor and two small offices on the main living floor. I tried to do the framing so I wouldn't need the posts, but it was too much of a pain. I like the second floor patio.

Honestly, I am not sure where this one came from. I just like the idea of a outdoor patio on the side of a house, but on the second floor. Two exteriors, one more modern, one sort of post modern, but would fit (perhaps) in a more McMansion-y neighborhood.

congrats on the new house! looks great!