Making plans

Things are looking surprisingly doable with this piece of land. I've been cranking out lots of thoughts for the past few weeks, discarding many, and forming the remaining ones into somewhat of a plan. This piece of land is actually supporting many of of the things I had speculated upon in earlier postings, and you will see that these plans incorporate those concepts, as well as many others.

The driveway is naturally at a much lower grade than the land. This works nicely with an earth sheltered design

I think an elevation like this could use space very efficiently, maximize solar benefits from the south facing windows while leaving some south facing roof for hot water and maybe photovoltaic. The north portion of the house will be primarily stairs, storage, & baths.

These windows are just stand ins, but the idea is that the south facade will be covered in windows.

I am working with an engineer to revise this plan moving the house closer to the road to cut costs.

A design like this probably requires a lot of concrete construction, so I'm looking into ICFs. I'm also still trying to come up with a way to shade the main level windows from the summer sun. I would love to hear any critique and suggestions in the comments.

Investigation

The extremely low price on this land is like the flowers I buy my wife after an argument... it would be much nicer if there wasn't a reason for it.

The problem is that the lot slopes up steeper than the town allows a driveway to be built. The seller had started to remedy this situation by digging and removing dirt to lower the grade, but this obviously resulted in a driveway that is channeled much lower than the natural surrounding grade. I find the new contours interesting and appealing, but they will require some serious engineered retaining walls and drainage systems for the town to approve the lot. Right now I am talking to engineers to get an idea of roughly how much all of this work will cost, as how it works into the total price of buying and developing the land.

satellite image with overlayed contours

photo looks down the driveway toward the road

Season One Recap

That was not the greatest cliffhanger ending, but for those still following the show, it is back for another season.

Over the past eight months while this blog has had no activity, I have in fact been doing two very important parts of production; making money and watching the real estate listings.

Finally there appeared a piece of land in a perfect location, which filled our criteria, and fit our budget, so we decided we would go forth with the steps to make an offer.

Well a few days ago a new listing appeared in the online MLS. It was half a mile from the other parcel we were watching, had more appealing terrain, much quietter neighboring land, and cost half as much. It looked promising through my computer screen through the lens of the camera through the window of the airplane that was taking online map photos for Microsoft live maps. But in order to really get a feel for it, I had to walk it with my own feet (in boots, through the mud and snow). I drove up there and rather than walking it, I ended up running it, dancing it, skipping it, and jumping it. It felt perfect. We made our offer the next day, and today it has been accepted.

We stipulated 30 days to perform due dilligence, so (spoiler alert) the next 30 days of posts will be just that, because very much dilligence is due (more on that later).

Wet Land

I've looked over many pieces of earth for sale, but none attract me as much as the lot I posted about previously... that is until I found this wetlands map on the town planning & zoning website which doesn't make the lot look so pretty...

Now, I walked the land with the Realtor, and it only really feels like wetland in a few small patches toward the bottom of the slope, and the lot has been approved for building and septic. The Realtor says this map is old and that wetlands change, and suggests making an offer contingent on the town's approval of the plan.

Even if the build is legal, my question is whether it is wise to build on a lot where water is drawn to, especially when I am very interested in a partially underground structure.

Is there a way to circumvent the water problem? I've got some investigating to do, including a trip to speak with the town Planning and Zoning folks.

Looking at Land

While I haven't posted for a while, I have looked at several pieces of land. One of them in particular has my attention because it is in the perfect location for me and my wife, and has a very low price tag. The cheap price is probably due to a substantial slope in the land down from the road. A real topographical study hasn't been done, but I sketched out some rough lines indicating the terrain:I know that building on a slope can provide some serious challenges, but I think it could provide some unique opportunities as well. I really like the feel of sloping terrain, and I think the fact that the general slope is down toward the south could be advantageous for the passive solar/earth sheltered design that I'm thinking about.

My concerns are that excavation cost would be high, and that the property feels like it is sloping in the bottom of a "valley" and might not receive as much sun as I desire. Here's a close up from Microsoft's Virtual Earth:


The lot is approx 1.75 acres, and is approved with perk tests complete.

Does anybody have precautions I should investigate regarding building on a steep slope, or selecting a piece of land in general?

Two faced

I scribbled out a little sketch showing the general concept I'm looking into:


The idea is to find a site which allows for a private but open outdoor area to the south, shielded by the house whose "back" is turned to the road and the north winds.

The glass explains much of the reasoning.
The functions of glass windows/doors...

good	bad
View the beautiful outdoors	Can reveal unsightly things
Provides an entry/exit	Lessens indoor privacy
Allows sunlight inside
Allows in solar heat energy	Heat is sometimes unwanted (summer)
Can be opened for fresh air	Has very poor insulating properties

Each of these "good" functions are amplified many times when used in the pictured setup, while many of the "bad" are mitigated. Therefore, it makes sense to me to almost exclusively place windows on that one side.

Another concept I'm looking in to is placing an earth berm toward the north of the house. Since I'm not concerned with windows on that side, and earth is a readily & freely available material, walling the house with it could add significantly to the insulation and privacy.

Sloping the roof - part 2

Determined that shape must make a difference, I mulled over the roof styles further, and I'm very intrigued with this one:

Here are my reasons:

Simplicity
The entire roof is a single face, which will make construction simple and inexpensive, maintenance rare, and runoff very manageable.

The Sun
This design favors one large wall over the other three, just as the sun shines from one cardinal direction more than the other three. This coincidence could be used to maximize solar gain, while minimizing cold and breezy north facing surfaces. By filling the large side with windows, the sloping eaves would welcome all of the winter sun while shading the home from the summer sun.

Large outer wall
Typical roofs leave the greatest height in the house along the middle. This roof puts that height along an outer wall allowing the height to be used by dramatic windows (like mentioned above.) Ceiling height is only really impressive when it is drawn attention to.

Yes, all this attention on one wall does leave its short counterpart without much to offer, but certain rooms don't require tall ceilings, hot sunlight and good views, like bathrooms and storage


What do you think? No, it's not much to look at yet, but remember we are still just theorizing.

Where the heart is

I came up with this blog as a means to expose my thinking, and embrace critique. It has been extremely helpful hearing all of your comments. I realized though that I haven't communicated my lifestyle and values very well, which in turn has made it difficult for readers to contribute relevant direction. Before going further, I'm going to try to clarify some things, for you as well as for myself.

First, the practical:

• The house will home my wife, myself, and several (future) kids.
• I am an artist/computer artist and my wife is a dancer.
  
• We plan to live there for the rest of our lives.
• I intend to have a large role in the construction of the house. but...
• I only have basic construction knowledge. but...
• I love to learn and love to work with my hands.
  
• The house will be secluded, in the woods. (Central CT)
• Aside from the land, I am aiming for construction costs to end up around $150k

And the theoretical:

• I believe that enormous value can be found by rethinking design/lifestyle traditions, and I am open to these thoughts.
  
• I value long term efficiency over short term savings.
  
• I am a bargain hunter, and believe that better things can always be found for less money if the time is taken, and highly value efficiency.
  
• I love the thought of self-sufficient lifestyles.

Overall, I am just looking to get the most lasting & functional bang for my buck. Although I love beauty and design, I'm not worried about the aesthetics yet, because I believe function comes first, and I don't want to be swayed by my lust so to speak.

Here are some houses that inspire me: (gut reaction, not ideals)


This blog is just a central place to muse upon ideas, not necessarily a progression. Thanks for all your comments, please keep them coming!

Sloping the roof

I had previously boiled the purpose of a home down to the simple "form containing livable space" definition. A key factor in a space's livability is in its protection from the elements. I've briefly mentioned considerations in protecting from the cold by reducing surface area and shaping the house around a cube, but a cube's flat top isn't the best way to to protect from precipitation, and therefore I'm inclined to let some of the worries about water leakage fall off the side of the house by way of a sloped roof.

This is where it gets interesting because unlike a cube where there is really only one way to shape it, a "cube" with a sloped top can be shaped many ways for example...

But what's really the difference? They each can have similar slopes, and the difference in surface/volume ratio that I talked about earlier is insignificant. Do these shapes and roof styles possess any inherent advantages over each other? At this point siting becomes an important factor, but let's assume that any site is available.

My quick evaluation:

• 2, 3 & 7 have more ridges which add to the complexity & cost
• 4 & 5 are simpler, with 4 being the simplest.
• 2 & 7 are symmetrical, while 1, 3, 4, 5 & 6 offer unique properties to different sides while adding to the sense of 'front and back'
  
• 1, 2 & 3 are very conventional, while the rest are more unique.
  

What else makes these very different styles different? Why choose one over the other? Please leave your comments...

The other side of a cube

I had raised the discussion over at GardenWeb and received some great practical critique of my thinking, and of this idea of a cube shaped house. Some of the mentioned drawbacks are:

1. "Flat roofs leak easily"
2. "A box house isn't very appealing"
3. "Think about snow load"
4. "Other things (especially site) are more important than shape"

Here are my current thoughts on each of these points:

1. Flat roofs leak easily
Yes they do, and yes there are ways around it like covering the roof with a thick and solid PVC membrane, growing a "green roof" with a good drainage system etc.. But these techniques are complex and outright contradict my philosophy of design in which I strive to harness simple natural principles rather than using high tech solutions. So then, I should choose to abandon the perfect cube and value a slight tip of the roof allowing gravity to freely pull water off my house over a savings in surface area.

2. "A box house isn't very appealing"
I disagree. Simple shapes can be very appealing. A special kind of care needs to be put in to it, but if you give the right designer just about any functioning form, he/she will be able to make it appealing. To point out a commonplace example, take Apple's iPod. It is a simple rectangle, and by that description could be quite ugly, but a brilliant designer chose a precise rounding of the corners, a pure and glossy uninterrupted finish, and controls that appear harmonious with the form, and he created one of the most appealing designs of the century. Conversely you can take a simple shape and with the right proportional ornamentation make something magnificent (think Colosseum or Parthenon.) I personally find nothing less appealing in architecture than looking at something and seeing profligate design decisions uninformed by function (ala the McMansion roofline).

3. "Think about snow load"
A good point since the house will be in Connecticut and we receive a couple good snowfalls per year. A nice steep roof would shed some snow pounds, but I don't think we get enough snow here to justify such a tall roof alone, so the snow weight consideration will come back up when it's time to do the structural engineering.

4. "Other things (especially site) are more important than shape"
We don't have a site selected yet, but we will be looking for something very private, probably quite wooded. Aside from that, I would like the house plans to help determine the kind of site we choose, and that is why I'm working out some rough ideas first. Who knows, I may need to start over once the land is bought, but the exercise in design can only help the whole process.

p.s. sorry it's been so long since the last post. life comes in waves.

efficiency of 3d solids

I spent the weekend sketching, most times beginning with 7 straight lines that resemble a cube in perspective. The question of how closely I should adhere to my premise that a cube is the "best" shape kept coming to mind. I had based this premise on a general understanding, but I now needed to run the mathematics to give me a scale on how advantageous the house geometry really is.

This chart shows the surface areas of various shapes, each containing 1000 cubic units of volume. I mentioned in my last post several of the benefits to reducing surface area, and these results give me a sense of the factor of those benefits. (the "house" shape is a square house with a gable roof & in most cases the proportion of dimensions affects these figures.)

A relevant consideration is the fact that roofs & foundations are often much more expensive than walls, and they transmit heat in different ways, so the idea of minimizing footprint should be factored in with other decisions as well.

I was directed toward some great examples and discussion of cube houses by the folks at designcommunity.com. Here are a few inspirational pics:

first stroke

To begin thinking about a design, I am going to treat this blueprint as I would a painting - laying down the big strokes first so that I don't get caught up in the pores of the skin before marking out accurate proportions in the figure.

In either case, I need to understand the purpose of my strokes before touching the canvas. I have boiled down the purpose of a house to this overly simple definition: a form containing livable space.

Thus, my first considerations will be of the best possible shape for this form. Now I greatly appreciate that geometry is free, whereas building materials aren't. So then, I will splurge on a lavish geometric shape that minimizes surface area while maximizing volume of "space" (another free substance!)

Being economical is only one of many reasons for choosing to minimize surface area. The energy efficiency of a home is largely determined by how much heat escapes through the outer surfaces, and reducing the area of these surfaces can only help. By reducing the material usage and increasing the energy efficiency, we consequently have a lower impact on the environment, less required maintenance, and a more durable home.

Simple geometry tells us that a sphere is our most efficient three-dimensional solid. Natural laws exhibit this every time we blow air into a shape (a bubble for example).

After some very enjoyable pondering on building a spherical house, it is pretty clear that this shape doesn't fulfill the very important principle of practicality in building and living. My estimation is that all benefits this shape embodies would be negated by making it livable (flat floors, construction complexity etc.)



It seems that the 90 degree angle truly is the "right" way to build a house and the ideal shape which holds the most volume while tolerating nothing more or less than 90 degrees is the perfect cube.

This simple shape will be the first stroke I put on my canvas blueprint. It will of course be affected by many forthcoming decisions, (probably most dramatically by roof slope) but it makes an ideal starting point.

Please join me in scrutinizing these seemingly simple ideas, and leave a comment below.

overall mindset

Since every person sees and lives in a different way, I understand that I need to direct this journey toward a central goal, which is of course to construct my "perfect house."

Despite my use of the word "perfect", I am of course limited by money. Probably about 150,000 dollars of it for this structure that will house my wife, my many future kids, and myself here in the state of Connecticut.

Nevertheless, thought is free, and using it abundantly and openly should naturally result in a house that is affordable, beautiful, durable and environmentally clean.

introduction...

the OPEN-house project

My wife and I are now starting the process of building a house. This blog will follow the project all the way through from conception to birth by:

• keeping the house experiences and thoughts open as a resource to others

• keeping our plans and ideas open to collaboration by the collective minds of people around the world

as we attempt to rethink the concept of a home by keeping an open mind.

I plan to reason through even the most basic decisions aloud, rather than faithfully following traditional architectural conventions. I hope for this blog to be a thinking ground for many ideas to meet, synthesizing into the perfect structure.

please join us, and I thank you for your comments and expertise.