There in a heartbeat

For more photos of this tiny house in the mountains by Bearth + Deplazes, go to their website and click on "Projeckte" and choose "Wohnhäuser". Then click on the 5th little square in from the left . . . Why is this so difficult?!

When the owners leave after a weekend stay, this little house closes up tight, like a little cube with a peaked roof. Sliding doors complete the two sides which, when the residents are there open to expose a lovely, sun-soaked but sheltered space. With quite a view. . . sigh. – GF
photo Ralph Feiner

introducing a new design: Hus1

The first of a new collection of house plans on the lamidesign.com/plans site. The new collection is to be modest in size, large on livability, family friendly, eminently build-able, with a contemporary modern presence and a bit of retro mid-century dash as well. The first in a series, introducing the Hus 1.



The result of my year long study of the Swedish housing industry, and my love of mid-century modernism, the Hus1 puts these influences together with practicality and livability of the many small 50s and 60s homes in my own neighborhood. The basic two bedroom house will start out at modest 1,350 sqft, or the larger 1,750 sqft 3 bedroom plan shown below. Both have the option of an additional 500 sqft master bedroom upstairs which in the larger plan allows the downstairs master to serve as a family room.



A very livable home, the L shape creates privacy for its rear terrace where family life can flow out from the living areas. Conventional construction makes this house easy to build, and the iconic traditional form won't scare the average home builder.



Look for Design Prints to come available on the site soon. Well, you will hear about it here when it happens! And yes, this is the house for which we have been experimenting with new drawing styles. Not quite sorted out yet, but when its done the new collection will have a distinct graphic look apart from the original collection of designs.

Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, Hus1

Adventures in the Modern House Real Estate Market

About a week ago I got an email from someone I don’t know and who only gave his initials but who has been looking to buy a modern house in the New Canaan area. The correspondence has been short and almost telegraphic but it’s been interesting in that it gives the immediate perspective of someone who wants to buy and seems to know what he’s doing.

The first email he sent me was about the Round House, in Wilton. Here’s the email, in its entirety:

HI: I've been doing a bit of research on this house and am trying to figure out why it hasn't sold. It looks stunning. Do you have any info above and beyond the broker's hyperbole?

Regards.

To which I responded (in its entirety):

I'm afraid I don't know anymore than I've written.

Apparently the warmth of my reply prompted him to write again. A couple of days ago I received this:

I was at the round house -- a broker took us there and it was BUTCHERED! A real travesty inside. Outside is still fantastic, but for some reason two foul homes are situated right behind it ….

Anyhow, we passed on it.

I replied:

bummer about the round house.

what about johansen's bridge house, on louise's lane

And he said:

our broker actually wanted us to see it today, but I didn't like the brochure -- didn't like the feel of it and the rooms weren't to our liking.

It's also $5M which is high...

Saw the Philip Johnson house [i.e. the Alice Ball House] today as well but were totally underwhelmed to say the least. …

It's very tough.......we are very particular.....any leads/ideas?

He also asked me about a house on Ponus Ridge Road, designed by Willis Mills, to which I responded:

I have a bit of info about that Mills house (I had to write a paragraph about it for the 2004 modern house day brochure …) . At the time I spoke to mills's son. Mills built it for himself and his family. When I saw it, in 2004, it was owned by the two guys who now own the hodgson house that johnson designed (across from the glass house); they might still own the mills house two. A good friend of mine redid all the cabinets in the kitchen of the mills house. It's nice enough although not my favorite among new canaan places.

… I guess if you're going to spend a few million dollars on a modern house, you'd better get what you want. But of course modern houses were all built to satisfy specific clients, so to buy one now, your wants have to match what the original client's wants were.

He responded:

to give you an idea about myself -- I bought a 1928 home in the Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles and fired all of my contractors redid the structural engineer's plans. This was the first house built on the Old Getty Museum mountain -- I took it back to perfection and every single exposed screw, hinge, knob etc. is period correct.

So I do not want to redo another house, but may have to. Having said that, I want something relatively easy to live in and clean modern lines etc.

As of yesterday, he said, he's working with Gillian DePalo of William Raveis and is optimistic. We'll see how it turns out. -- ta

drawing trial

Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house

considering new drawing styles for new designs

As we wind down on completing the plans in the original collection of houses I'm looking forward to creating new collections with new themes to tie the designs together. I'm looking at drawings from some of my favorite design references looking for inspiration for new graphic styles to use to distinguish and reinforce the design themes in the new collections. One of these sources is Case Study House #24 from Arts & Architecture magazine.



CSH #24 was published in 1961 and never built, but it was always one of my favorites. Half underground, half sheltered by earth berms, the house was surrounded by walled courtyards. These courts admitted light to the glass walled house but kept it completely private even in close proximity to a neighbor. I've always loved the drawings of this house, a close up of the oblique plan projection above - an axonometric it is called.

And here the plan. It reveals the footprint of the house and courtyards. I also love the simple delineation and labeling of the floor plan graphic. If there are any house drawings that you love please share them and I will make them the subject of future entries.

Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house

0859 Unger Studio - structure clad, with balconies

We are winding down on the conceptual design work for the Unger Studio today. Posted are current images of the state of the design.



The building will be clad, as its location requires it to be insulated. The owner is considering steel insulated sandwich panels similar to what we use on the EcoSteel projects.



The balconies are intended to be made from an industrial mezzanine system. The roof is a self supporting corrugated steel arch, a very economical structure. Normally its used to create inexpensive space under roof and would come all the way down to the slab in a quonset hut like fashion. We are experimenting with several appropriated building technologies in this project to try and keep the cost to a minimum. We will continue to report on how that plays out.

Technorati Tags: container house, modern design, modern house, prefab house

0859 Unger Studio - bifold doors

Considering horizontal bi-fold doors for the workshop.

Technorati Tags: container house, modern design, modern house, prefab house

Category: Live Here Now

There are a few houses I keep in a mental file that I could walk into and immediately call home. Some I have physically been in (I have told architect Alan Goldberg on more than one occasion that his own house in New Canaan feels so right to me, it's hard to leave when the other guests do). Others I see online or in print. There's that elusive combo of comfort and delight that makes me to just want to stay. . .

Here's another one, from Swedish architects Claesson Koivisto Rune: No.5 House. Nothing fancy – it just "talks to me." They also design some prefabs, one of which looks like it will be on my Live Here Now list – the Folded Roof House, found under 'In Progress'. Claesson Koivisto Rune is a multi-talented, multi-disciplined group; there is a lot to see on their site. – GF

$1500 Plans So Long, and thanks for all the fish

Today we announce our impending price increase. The price of Construction Prints will be increasing from $1,500 to $4,750 on 24July2008. Yes, this is a significant increase, on the order of 3x, but still a small fraction of the cost of a home and they remain a tremendous value in comparison to custom design charges.

The new pricing is part of a marketing agreement we have made with stock house plan vendor Houseplans.com who will now also be distributing our designs (by also we mean that we will still be selling plans direct from our site as always). This is part of an effort elevate the level of design offered in the form of stock plans, not only modern houses, but of all styles. This has been a goal of mine since starting this venture, and for the first time in the leadership at Houseplans.com I have found a similar vision. Yes, they offer the usual array of mediocre design, but they are behind this idea and are committed to marketing better designed home plans in a different way - a way in which design is more important than square feet, or bedroom count. The offering that they will assemble will completely out-class the offerings of other vendors and it is my sincere hope that this brings pressure to bear on them to improve their game. The end result, I hope, is the enlightenment of the buying public to better design, the creation of demand for better designed homes, and the inevitable move of the market to fill that demand. End game - better designed homes readily available for everyone, particularly for my camp of modernists.

This really brings the introductory phase of our house plan venture to a close. We now have 8 different designs and 3 variations on one design available in Construction Prints for a total of 11 different plan sets, and another on the way in Design Prints only right now. And there are more great designs on the way. Customers have stepped up to the plate, and if you have been watching our blog you will have seen many houses under construction at all ends of the country. Our house plans have found their way into media, appearing in the New York Times, Dwell, This Old House magazine, soon Metropolitan Home, and numerous blogs covering design online. Our thanks go out to those early adopters and the journalists and bloggers that have covered them. As well as this launch has gone it has been a struggle to create the designs, market them, and maintain the sites to promote them, all while running a local architectural practice to keep our roof above our heads. The new pricing will allow us to dedicate more time to producing more product, so truly good things lie ahead. Thank you for following this adventure with us.

Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house

OK Tray House - exterior complete

And from what I understand from the Owner the interior is largely finished as well. He send along a pair of photos from the Tray House from a few weeks ago.

I can't tell from the photo if the siding is cedar or doug fir, but it sure looks nice. The owner has promised a few more pictures soon and says its moved along quite a bit from here. The progress must be inside as the exterior looks quite complete. He said the construction debris from the site has all been removed. In the meantime visit the Flickr set for the house and re-live the progress!

Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, Tray House

0859 Unger Studio - interior shell

I've mocked up the container box modifications, and the interior partitions and doors, stairs and rails. Next we have to layout the infill panels that enclose the spaces between the boxes, and also separate the high bay of the workshop from the office on the second level.


The workshop.

Technorati Tags: container house, modern design, modern house, modular house, prefab house

Not sure what to make of this

Our readers may have picked up on my Swiss-leanings, but here's something can't quite wrap my mind, OR my emotions, around. Do I like it, or do I not really like it? I don't think I hate it . . . but could I live in it? Take a look at Vetch Architectur's earth houses, and tell me what you think.

From the website:

With his [Peter Vetcht's] technology (sprayed concrete constructions) he manages to create building shells which encompass maximum space volume with a minimum of surface area, an ideal form for energy saving. These constructions eschew right angles and their spatial diversity overcomes the the monotony of traditional normed designs. They remind us of Antoni Gaudí's organic forms as well as Jugendstil architecture.

OK - I can dig that.

Compared to traditional residential houses built on the ground, the aim of building an earth house is another: Not to live under or in the ground, but with it. If ground and house are separated, a house is built “into the air”, resulting in the loss of heat and humidity, and the exterior shell of a building loses lifespan. The earth-house concept uses the ground as an insulating blanket that efficiently protects it from rain, low temperatures, wind and natural abrasion. An earth house does not have to be built under the ground, it can be placed onto naturally grown terrain. The earth house is a flexible construction which can be built according to the wishes of its owners, fulfilling the need for individuality, environmentally friendly construction and energy saving.

Yup, got it.

The structural engineering of an earth house provides for an organic design requiring spatial sense and creativity. Earth house architecture brings to mind habitable sculptures, incorporating artistic claim and sculptural quality.

Hmmm, well, if you say so . . .

Earth houses by Peter Vetsch are based on the interpretation of an environmentally conscious, ecological and progressive architecture. They stand out due to their closeness to nature and allow an experience beyond the usual four walls and their right angles. The earth house concept uses its surroundings as an advantage – the surroundings are not adapted to the building, the house is shaped in order to preserve the natural environment.

Well. I have to say I like the interiors very much, when they are spare and white and you feel the swoop of the the verticals meeting the horizontals . . . and, ooooh those fireplaces! And they must be quite beautiful in the snow. I can't help imagining this is the architecture of present-day, well-to-do trolls! – GF

Update: Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling

The Museum of Modern Art's Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling show opens in just 11 days. Some of the five, full-scale contemporary prefabricated houses are completed by now, and a couple are wrapping up to meet the opening date of the show on July 20th.

I've enjoyed reading the journals kept by the architects of each house and by the members of the curatorial staff at MoMA who are working on the exhibition. Today's New York Times has a teeny slide show, which isn't very informative, here. Best of all, if you have the time, are these videos from MoMA. Fantastic.

It takes something very special indeed to get me into NYC on a steamy summer day, but this might just be the thing. Or maybe I'll wait 'til Fall, when the heat and the initial crowds subside. – GF

0859 Unger Studio - progress

Technorati Tags: container house, modern design, modern house, modular house, prefab house

keeping regional architecture current: the good and the not-so-good

I've always been interested in how indigenous architecture evolves, is reinterpreted and reconsidered for contemporary living.

It is maddeningly frustrating to me how new houses in our area, (not necessarily mcmansions), are constructed – I can't bring myself to say "designed" in this case – to simulate a New England farmhouse, or a "Colonial". Everything about these new houses is wrong: proportions, placement on the land, window size/shape/placement.

Example: The two top photos are of houses almost directly across the street from each other in our town. The house in the top photo replaced a sweet, if terribly dilapidated, 19th century farmhouse. The house in the next photo shows a house of possibly slightly older vintage which was recently very simply renovated. The contrast between the original and the newly-constructed is so obvious. Why is this when there are plenty of examples of the real thing all around us?!

This contemporary Swiss "farmhouse" villa in the Jura region, fits so beautifully into the architectural vernacular as well as the landscape. It is very different in many respects from the old houses of the area (which makes sense, as it no doubt houses only humans and not also their livestock and farm equipment), but in the big ways – materials used, how it looks as if it belongs on the land, etc. – it is a successful and natural extension of the regional design. It's designed by the firm Geninasca Delefortrie, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. – GF

Upcoming Project Round-Up

Things are going to start getting pretty interesting around here as several projects start to happen. Here is a quick round-up of what will be coming later this summer.



Our first bona fide shipping container based project is well into the design phase with intrepid client John Unger. John is an adept metal artist and will be fitting out much of the house himself. 3 stories, 6 boxes, including a 2 bedroom home, office, and workshop.



A complete and modern renovation to a Virginia Farm House. Yes, that is a big honking window in the side of the existing house and its going to take a bit of exposed structural steel hoonage to hold it up. Yup, and to hold up one of those sexy hanging fireplaces too.



A new compact, and efficient EcoSteel house, should be going in the ground late summer in Maryland. This is the one I think, the one that has some legs, the promise of being anybodies affordable prefab. The new 3030 House: 30ft x 30ft plus porch footprint, just under 2000 sqft, 3 bedrooms, and a nice open plan living space. Fits on narrow in-fill lots, or in new compact communities. No onesies though. We want to sell these in bunches.



And the Massachusetts EcoSteel Plat House which started last fall is rolling again. The steel order is in and due on site at the end of the month.

So keep your eyes peeled for these projects coming soon.

Technorati Tags: ecosteel, modern design, modern house, Plat House, prefab house