turning the corner

So far it has been a struggle to find the time to advance the drawings. Picking up the project now and again on evenings and weekend has been both a blessing and a burden. On one hand I am after looking at the project fresh and on the other I forget where I left off.
With spring here to say I see the urgency to finish the permit drawings and I have adjusted my work mode for this. This is the design management part of a project that is so important...taking those small but necessary little steps of faith based on what you know at that time, making decisions and trusting where it will lead. After all this is practice right ?!

inspiration in Philadelphia

Sometimes it takes distance from a project to see things from a different perspective. While on vacation I was impressed by the permanence and and beauty of all the front steps of the historic houses. Surely these steps have been there for ages and nobody has grown tired of them nor do they look tired in themselves. I had yet to think of the entry to this house in such a way.

There have been some big changes from when I last wrote.  We have said good-bye to our beloved dormers  and vestibule and said hello to more light and views.  It took a long time but the design is much better now.  I learned a first hand lesson of what it means to be held back by tradition and history and we now seem to be applying the modern ideas of functionality along with its aesthetic.  As we are bound by the area that was approved with the original design I have had to pull in parts of the second floor to allow for a functional third level room.  I quite like how this has led to some interesting recessed windows which only helps the flatness of our boxes. We are a little nervous that these changes are too drastic for the approvals that we already have but we are taking our chances and I am working hard to get permit drawings together.  Gotta go!

We have deleted the upper canopy due to code reasons and sloped the upper roof to simplify the form. I like how this simple form acts as a backdrop to the intricate historic homes in front. Originally I thought black stained wood cladding for the addition but for maintenance reasons I think standing seam metal cladding is the more practical solution. There is a pop up for the stair to the third level which is masked behind the terrace guard. This saves the upper room from becoming too narrow. I like where this is heading ...if only I had the time to complete the work.

The mechanical system...

I made contact with a mechanical consultant today and she helped me to have a clearer view of the project from a heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning perspective. I have been able to sketch up, with the help of my cat Rex, a layout. I have also been able to develop some ideas about the interiors and the potential to express parts of the mechanical system and the structural system. With each sound piece of advice I feel the project is getting more traction. 

Current design minus Peter's Spiral staircase.

looking around

The good thing about blogging a process is that you have a record of where you left off. I left off in a holding pattern and I feel that I am in another holding pattern as I blog. I find myself looking to the left and right for things that I have missed. In doing so, I have found some things in areas that I don't necessarily gravitate towards. Too cryptic? Here is an example - I have a running budget spreadsheet... but I do not update it or look at it nearly as much as I sit down to sketch. Updating the budget led me to have a conversation with my bank to see if it would be possible and beneficial to take a builder's line of credit. The possibility of a more robust budget lead me to an analysis of the viability of the options that I have been entertaining. Options of a third storey scheme, a two storey scheme with finished basement and a two storey schemes with unfinished and finished basements. Comparing these schemes on paper complete with rental apartment revenue, expandability, etc etc helped me to see them more clearly as well as in a new light. One of the notable examples of this was the potential for a two storey scheme to have solar panels since the full height allow by zoning would not have been used. This is something I had not thought of in a while. I am now researching the technology.