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    Wednesday, January 9, 2008

    And Next

    Now that we are mostly done with the condo and living in it, that means I get to forget about it and move on to other things. That being the case, I have been doodling around with some thoughts for a home design on an extremely small lot in the area.

    Pay no mind to the windows. I am really awful at window placement and such.






    The layout and shape of the house is informed by the odd shape of the lot and an attempt to maximize square footage. This would achieve about an 800 S.F. footprint.

    8 comments:

    That One Guy said...

    Looks awesome!! If I were to offer my input, I'd say to shorten those upper windows by just a hair, and you're right there...

    This looks somewhat like a house that was recently completed in Logan...
    here...

    On another note, have you considered SIP panels at all?? These are wonderfully green, as they are manufactured in a very controlled environment, are SCARY for R factor insulation, and are footprint friendly as they go up on-site. A recent DWELL issue had a big story on a SIP project. July/August 07, PP 86.

    :)

    I happen to know a local builder who is HOT TO TROT for SIP construction.

    Tai said...

    I've read up on SIPs quite a bit and would love to use them. As I've followed various projects on the internet it always seems to come out that the bid for the SIPs always comes out to be cost prohibitive as compared with stick built. When we actually get down to it, we'll have to compare all the options.

    As for Logan, that's a cool looking house. I've seen a few cool looking modern homes go up in Logan. A more rural setting usually equates to more freedom to build what you want, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

    That One Guy said...

    yeah - not sure on the cost vs stick built really... the builder I know who digs that stuff is not me, so I don't know for sure - although I've *heard* that the cost washes pretty quickly when paired up with energy savings, etc....

    on the Logan thing, I saw it over at the local forum section of LiveModern.com.. I think I read that it was a pretty urban setting (for Logan)... if you're interested, you can find more there - there are lots of comments and discussion.

    Good luck - this looks really nice.

    april said...

    I love it!

    It's screaming for some livable space on the roof, though that will probably depend on the height and orientation of the buildings on either side of you. And a solution for accessing the roof without infringing on your interior space.

    I agree with That One Guy, you should check out the regional forum at LiveModern. I actually just joined up this morning after looking for some info on period-appropriate entry doors for our new house, and stumbling onto the larger website.

    Tai said...

    Yeah, Live Modern is great. I've been a steady reader there since it's inception. It started out as the forum for Dwell magazine and when they grew tired of having it on their website, the put forums up at Live Modern. The Utah Modernist forum is where we originally found the link to grassrootsmodern.com.

    The thing about this design is that I'm playing around with ideas that we would like to do in a perfect world. In this perfect world there would not be crazy oppressive restrictions in this particular neighborhood and the Historic Landmarks Commission would be full of well informed members that realize that a building should reflect the time it was built in and not look exactly like the older homes that surround it.

    This not being a perfect world, there is probably no way to do the roof line as it was drawn. This neighborhood has an overlay that limits the height of exterior walls, and therefore flat roofs to 18 feet, 2 feet shorter than the already oppressive city standard of 20 feet. I probably would not be able to point to any housing in the area that would provide a precedent for that roof line.

    I've drawn some other versions of it that are more boring, but might stand a better chance of passing. Once we have settled on a lot and an architect hopefully we will have a better idea of what can really be done.

    That One Guy said...

    yeah - you're preachin to the choir, brutha....

    hallelujah, amen!

    :)

    That One Guy said...

    most folks on those Boards are like stuffed armadillos - unique and cute, but ultimately useless.

    :)

    been there, and done that.

    brooke & luke said...

    wow...you're already looking to move? haven't you had enough of that yet? just kidding. i like the layout, i'm telling you, you need to build a few of them and sell the others...i'll be an investor!