Extremely Organic Architecture

Think you know what "organic architecture" is?  Here's another definition for you, from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/garden/05tree.html?_r=1

Rights and Wrong

The issue settled this week in a Columbus, Ohio dispute was the location of a flag pole. Michael Readnour reached a compromise with his condo association after a four-year battle over how he was allowed to display the American flag outside his home.

It's a familiar story across the country; what is the line between homeowner's rights and condo association rights? Homeowners want to personalize their house and the association wants to maintain a consistent look throughout the development.

But isn't there plenty of room for both? Sure, I don't want a junk car on blocks in my neighbors' front yard, but I don't want his house to look identical to mine, either. In fact, I'd prefer that his house be particularly distinct from mine.

And to me, that's the real issue. The charm and character of a group of buildings can come from their differences rather than their similarities. The communities that we find appealing were often built over time, by various owners with different motivations, tastes, and resources. And that can result in a rich palette of architectural interest.

When the basic design elements of massing, scale, texture, and proportion are skillfully used, you can mix wildly different styles and get a whole that is much more interesting than the parts.

This street scene in Cooperstown, NY is an example - a rich mixture of styles, colors, and signs gives this urban environment a lively, welcoming feel.

If these same principles had been built into the design of Mr. Readnour's condo development, his American flag would be a detail that enhanced its character, rather than a non-conforming distraction.

Raising A Ceiling

Question:
We're buying a new house that has 7 3/4 feet ceilings and would like to raise them to 9 feet. We have a second floor directly above the first floor with rooms on that floor too. Is this a doable project? For a 1500 square foot floor (3000 sq feet total home), how much does this kind of project run (i.e is it cost prohibitive)?

Answer:
It's possible, but expensive. You're going to run into a number of issues in the process including having to completely rework all the wiring, plumbing, and heating in the house to some degree. When you do something this significant, the building codes will require you to bring the entire house into compliance, which usually means a lot more expense than you'd planned. You will also bring energy codes into the picture which will likely mean replacing windows...and on and on.

You may also find that the existing first floor walls are not engineered to support the upper floor when you extend them by 16 inches...it has to do with the "hinge" effect (too involved to explain here), but suffice it to say you may need to rebuild the exterior walls of the home - not just make them taller.

You will need to rebuild/replace the stair to current codes, which probably means a much longer, shallower stair than you currently have - taking up space you probably don't have to spare.

And of course you'll have to replace/repair drywall inside, and sheathing and siding outside.

But you might not have to do any of this, depending on what you want to achieve. A 9' ceiling is nice, but isn't necessary to make a home comfortable. Ceiling height should always be a factor of room size; in other words, a high ceiling in a bowling alley stills "seems" low, but a low ceiling in a powder room "seems" higher. What's important is to scale the ceiling height to the room size.

In your case it might make more sense to "rescale" the rooms to fit the existing ceiling height. That doesn't necessarily mean adding walls...there are many other techniques you can use to break up larger spaces into smaller living areas including half-walls, flooring changes, columns, soffits, lighting patterns, furniture arrangements, even paint colors. Even properly-sized furniture will help; most furniture stores sell absurdly oversized stuff these days that makes any room feel cramped.

For ideas on making smaller homes "live large" take a look at the Bungalow style from 1920's California - lots of great stuff there!

Anything you can do to scale down the apparent size of the living areas will help make the ceiling feel higher - and save you a ton of money.

What Is "Unique" Worth?

Forbes.com ran an article last week titled "America's Strange Homes For Sale", about a collection of unusual houses on the market across the country.

The homes are interesting, some are downright weird - but what I found far more interesting is the article's angle; it's all about return on investment and how convention and conformity is the way to go.

That's alien to what I consider "true" architecture, which is about designing buildings that express the uniqueness of their site, their environment, and their owners.

Should everyone's number one priority be resale value? Are we building for ourselves or for the next occupant?

We're choosing to create instant obsolescence when we think more about how the "market" will accept our home we do about how our home will support our lives. When we intentionally build homes that don't fit us well we shouldn't be surprised when we very quickly find them inadequate for our use.

And so we move, and move again, from one drab, conventional home to another, all the time concerned only with what the home will sell for. We never settle down and we miss the joy of a home designed to celebrate our uniqueness.

This article didn't get to the real question - do these owners care that they don't get the high ROI that their more conventionally-minded neighbors did? I'm guessing they don't; I'm guessing they value the unique experience of living in these homes far more than the cash they get at closing!

Lonely Barn

Saw this little barn off the side of RT 36 in rural Delaware County, Ohio. Something struck me about the setting; the golden fall colors, maybe the sense of solitude? I do know that I wish I'd had my "good" camera with me!

Featured in the paper!

My firm is honored to have one of our custom home designs featured in our local paper this coming Sunday. It's in the "Home and Garden" section of The Columbus Dispatch.

The article by Jim Weiker is about Architect's designs that "you can't see...yet". It will featue seven or eight home designs that remain unbuilt for various reasons.

The design of ours in the article is a Craftman-styled cottage home that will be under construction this fall.

Sometimes a ruin can be intriguing, maybe more so than the original intact building. In rural Otsego County Michigan near the town of Gaylord, this barn foundation called out to me from the roadside.

The original wooden barn had been long ago cleared away but interestingly, the foundation remains - completely intact. So much so in fact, that I have to wonder whether the barn owner hoped to someday rebuild the barn on this solid base.

It's easy to imagine the form that a new barn might take (the area has many examples) but there's a certain beauty and character to the foundation that makes me hope it stays that way...there's so much more opportunity for story-telling with a ruin.

Residential Architects Report Home Sizes Shrinking

A new report from the AIA (American Institute of Architects) indicates that Residential Architects are seeing home sizes shrink as clients adjust their home-design aspirations to meet economic realities.

Read the full report here.

Fire Sprinklers In New Homes

This one's going to cost you, unfortunately! Effective January 1, 2011, all new homes built under the International Residential Code (adopted in 46 states) must have a residential fire sprinkler system installed.

These systems will look very much like those in commercial buildings, with fire sprinklers protruding from the ceilings of certain areas of the home. Some rooms will not be required to have sprinklers, including attics, crawl spaces, closets, small bathrooms, and garages. There will be a fire sprinkler above each furnace.

Each sprinkler may not cover more than 400 square feet of area; meaning that in a typical 2,400 square foot home you'll have at least six sprinklers, and probably more, since it will be only in the rare case that a room will be configured in such a way so that one sprinkler can cover 400 sf.

Ceiling fans are considered "obstructions" to sprinklers and will require additional sprinklers in the area.

Shutoff valves that isolate sprinkler systems are not permitted.

Why is this a concern, other than the added expense (1% to 2% of construction cost)? Because many in the residential design and construction industry believe it's unnecessary. The vast majority of house fires occur in homes over 60 years old, with unsafe electrical systems and other hazards that cause most fires.

Residential Fire Sprinklers - Like it or Not!

Beginning in 2011, all new one and two-family homes and townhouses will be required to install fire sprinklers throughout. This new requirement is a part of the latest edition of the International Residential Code (adopted as the "Residential Code of Ohio" in Ohio).

The cost of these systems is expected to be as much as 2% of construction cost for most homes.

Is this a necessary requirement? Will it save lives and property? I'll be providing more information soon...

Field Of Corn

Late July, Midwestern United States.

No more description needed, is there?

Another great little neighborhood is Mt. Adams, overlooking downtown Cincinnati (really, some of the views are incredible!). It's a quirky place, filled with twisting, steeply-sloping narrow streets and populated with unique restaurants and night clubs.

Mt. Adams is over 200 years old, and has the architecture to prove it. The homes and storefronts span a wide range of architectural styles, and includes some new construction here and there.

My wife and I made a fun discovery there recently - a place called "St. Gregory Steps", a hidden walkway connecting Guido Street and St. Gregory Street thirty or forty feet below.

Energy-Efficient Remodeling

Most homeowners put together a list of “must haves” and a list of “want to haves” when they begin thinking about remodeling or adding on to their home. If energy efficiency is mentioned at all, it’s always been on the “wants” list.

Until now, that is. State law mandates a minimum threshold of energy efficiency in new homes and remodeling projects and potential Federal regulations may raise that minimum considerably.

In many remodeling projects, upping the insulation values of walls and ceilings and increasing the efficiency of mechanical systems isn’t enough to meet these requirements, especially when the entire existing house is considered in the energy calculations.

But those simple upgrades aren’t the only route to energy efficiency, and may not even be the most effective; thoughtful, energy-oriented design is the real key to savings.

The most effective strategy is to find ways to reuse existing space in the home in ways that reduce the size of a potential addition, exposing less surface area outside. That takes more thought than simply “adding on a room” but the result is a better-functioning home, lower energy bills and as a bonus, lower construction cost.

Even the best windows can be energy hogs, but where the windows are placed makes a very big difference in how much they slurp up. South and west-facing windows for example are great for allowing heat in on sunny winter days but an air-conditioning burden in July.

Consideration of solar orientation, exposure to prevailing winds, function, and views are all important considerations in window selection and placement.

The opportunities for reducing the energy consumption of an existing home through a thoughtfully-designed remodeling project are tremendous. And with new energy-conservation regulations on the horizon, those opportunities should be on everyone’s “must have” lists.

Small Town, Big Public Place

In small towns you sometimes find the most interesting public places; often they're "old town" places, developed in the early days of the town.

Gahanna, Ohio, a town of about 34,000 has a brand-new "old town" space to boast about. This is Creekside, a significant mixed-use project that has transformed the core of Gahanna.

It's a wonderful combination of public and private uses including water features, dining, shopping, and condominium living.

High Desert Landscape

The high Sonoran Desert has a unique beauty all it's own. Careful landscaping and architectural design can bring people into the desert without destroying it's appeal. In some cases, sensitive design can even enhance the experience - as at this golf course clubhouse.

This is the Cochise/Geronimo clubhouse at the Desert Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. I've had the pleasure of visiting this spectacular high desert landscape several times over the past few years, working with a client on a new home project there.

I'm particularly enamored with how this unique building follows the contours of the surrounding mountains, blending with and adding to the desert scape.

From a distance, the building is nearly "invisible"; and surprisingly, it remains extremely low-key up close.

Taliesin West

High in Arizona's Sonoran Desert sits Frank Lloyd Wright's winter studio and home, Taliesin West.

Beginning in 1937, Wright moved his family and architectural practice from Wisconsin to the dry desert climate each winter season.

The buildings and grounds have been restored and designated a National Historic Landmark, and is currently the home of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

The surrounding area, once empty saguaro-strewn desert, is now dense with suburban development.

It's a Garden, it's a Park, it's a Path...

The Book Loft is a quirky, rambling collection of 32 rooms cobbed together from several buildings. It spans an entire city block in German Village, an historic district in Columbus, Ohio.

But perhaps more interesting and unique than the labyrinth of rooms inside is this garden/path/entryway to the store.

Sandwiched between the Book Loft and the building next door, this cobblestoned, bench-lined, multi-leveled adventure is a delightful transition from the bustling street to the wonderous solitude of the interior.

And as bonus, the path is a mid-block shortcut between adjacent streets - it's a perfect accidential place. Look closely at this photo - the gentleman on the bench at left is fast asleep!

(BTW, it's a great bookstore - I walked out $107 lighter that day!)

Global Warming - Something To Talk About

I certainly can't argue that the planet has warmed (and may still be warming). But given that 20,000 years ago my currently temperate part of the world was 5,000 feet under the Wisconsin ice sheet I'm not particularly surprised, and am inclined to think that far greater forces are at work here than the puny works of man.

But that is, admittedly, just a casual observation on my part, not a scientific conclusion. It seems to me that the arrogance of man extends to the impact we think we have. Earth has survived much worse than us in the past 4.4 billion years.

We most certainly have much work to do to clean up messes we've made, and much to learn about how to go about our lives without leaving so much waste behind. But we have made, and are making, measureable progress, thanks to the efforts of many good people.

I sometimes worry, however, that we are a little too concerned with preserving things the way they are today, as if our environment were static. That would, unfortunately, make us and our current ways of life the reason for our efforts, instead of concern for the fate of the planet.

And if that is the case, we're working against our own stated cause. If the planet is indeed our concern, rather than preservation of our current ways of life, then our mantra should be "let it be".

Unless we truly believe that we're smart enough to be absolutely certain that we are causing dramatic changes in our atmosphere, we should be smart enough to understand that efforts to "correct" it may have unintended consequences. And those consequences could be something other than what Mother Nature had in mind.

Do we need to find ways to create cleaner energy? Absolutely. Do we need to carefully monitor our impact on the planet? You bet. Do we need to cripple our national economy to address an issue we may not know as much about as we think? Debatable, at least.

The Soul Of A Home Remains

Something draws me to abandoned homes like this one. The human lives have withdrawn from it, but somehow the home's soul remains behind.

This home has a story to tell - the wealth of the original farmer who built the home; his growing family that required several enlargements over the years; and the hard times that caused the farm to fail and the family to sadly leave their home behind.

Homes like these often seem to me as if they're waiting patiently for resurrection...waiting for the right family to see beyond the disrepair and decay; to put the life back in; to awaken the home's soul and continue the story.

What Lies Beyond?

What intrigues me about this particular place is wondering what might be beyond the huge taxus shrubs on either side of the driveway.

Driving by you're afforded only a tiny glimpse of a modest cottage with a perennial garden, a rust-red door, and a couple of chairs on the porch.

Someone's made a point of letting the evergreens almost completely block the house and yard from the street - what is kept hidden from view?

Community - A More Meaningful Life

Economic turmoil is causing many of us to re-examine our lifestyles and find new ways to fulfill ourselves.

We've fallen into a habit of turning outward to satisfy our needs to impress others, to keep busy, and to entertain ourselves. We work hard to show the world that we're living a full life.

But are we satisfied? Maybe not.

After the 9/11 attacks, Americans turned their attentions to their families, their neighbors, their communities, and many discovered a sense of belonging they hadn't experienced before or had forgotten. That lasted a few years, until the pain of that day was numbed, and we began to fall back into old habits.

Now we face an economic "attack"; an attack we might not dismiss so quickly, but one that promises a silver lining for those willing to see it.

We have an opportunity to simplify our lives - by necessity, for many of us - and reconnect to the people and the things close around us, the things with real meaning, the things that bring us real fulfillment.

We can re-learn the meaning of "home".

For much of the history of this nation, "home" was defined in the community sense as much as it was individual "house" sense. Home always was a village, a town, a neighborhood, and the people we shared that community with. Home was a place larger than the house we lived in.

But affluence changed that. No longer did we need to go out to the movies, we could build a movie theatre right in our own home. Why meet friends at the local tavern, when we've got a perfectly good full-sized bar in the basement? And what's the point of joining the community at the park for the Independence Day fireworks show when we can hold our own "show" on our 2-acre lawn?

A wonderful opportunity is before us to reconnect with our neighbors, to recreate our communities. It's a chance to remember how much we have to gain by bumping into our friends and neighbors outside the movie theatre; a chance to share a drink with a stranger at the pub and get to know him; a chance to experience the community spirit of watching fireworks on a blanket at the park with a picnic basket.

It's time to rebuild our sense of community, and to experience a more fulfilling, more meaningful life.

Another One That "Gets It"

Kudos to Doug Covell, interviewed in Columbus Business First newspaper about his "not so big house" that my firm designed for him and his wife.

In the article, Mr. Covell’s comment that “what we saw in a typical spec home was more of a focus on drama than livability”, sums up well what I believe residential architecture should be all about.

Read the full article text here.

A Nice Waterfront Home

I spotted this home on the waterfront in the Murrell's Inlet area of South Carolina. An attractive and well-composed home, especially in the context of the generally poorly-designed homes in the area. Up close it appears to be under construction, but nearly finished.

Larger homes like this are often terribly over-designed; it's refreshing to see one done well with a little restraint, but all the quality and features appropriate for a house of this caliber.

Compare this to the house in the previous post!

Architecture That "Speaks"

Great architecture "speaks"; it tells stories of inspiration, of motivation, of innovation.

Architecture occupies a special place in our culture, connecting generations past, present, and future with a glimpse of our values.

Architecture communicates it's intentions to us and reminds us of what we aspire to. There's a great deal of meaningful architecture around...and then there's this.

Here's a building that speaks; can you guess what it's saying? Hint: it's a beachfront home.

Still can't hear it talk? Look closely at the sign - it's The Sand Castle.

Get it?

This Is NOT a Vacation Photo...

As I'm preparing to head back home after a week in the southeastern U.S., I couldn't help but add a comment about that "place" everyone knows as - The Beach. Just the mention of the word bring images to mind instantly, doesn't it? "The Beach" is almost synonymous with vacation and relaxation. Sights, sounds, and smells, all combine to give "The Beach" a very strong "sense of place".

The Future of Sprawl

I read a question on a "green" forum the other day, it asked, "Is Suburban Sprawl Ever Going To End?"

Here's what I posted in response:

Suburban sprawl isn't going to end, it's going to change. It's changing now, if you look around a bit.

What's really going on in the American suburb is the return of the community, and the return of the neighborhood. Both are what most of us desire anyway, but we've lost contact with them through our focus on planning around the automobile for the past 60+ years.

New developments that emphasize walkability and connectivity are going up right now across the country. Sure there are still many "sprawl" developments underway, but the tide is noticeably turning the other way.

It's partly because of energy prices, partly because of world events, but mostly it's the result of the efforts of enlightened planners and architects working diligently for the past three decades to bring the idea of "community" back into the American psyche.

We spent a lot of time and money developing our automobile society - it's going to take a lot of time and money to change it. But momentum is growing, and the changes are happening faster and faster.

Ten years ago, few had heard the terms "new urbanism", "walkable urbanism", "complete streets", "town center development", "mixed use development" and so forth. Today those terms are widely known - and not just in planning and architectural circles.

I attending the American Planning Association's annual convention in Minneapolis a few weeks back and noted that nearly every session incorporated the principles I listed above - a big change from just a year ago. The hottest subject there was "form-based codes" which is very much a town center/mixed use orientation that greatly de-emphasizes the automobile and elevates walking, biking, and mass transit use. Look at the American Planning Association’s website at www.planning.org - they’re heavily invested in urbanism and offer tons of info and many great publications on this and related subjects.

What's happening now is "sprawl" of a different (read "desirable") kind; satellite communities are developing that have almost all the needs of the residents satisfied locally. In most metro areas, we're only going to see small number of people return to the "old" city centers; instead, we're seeing new town centers develop that are truly the heart of the community; a place that residents can call their own, and that they walk or bike or ride to on a regular basis for ice cream, haircuts, parades, concerts, etc.

A great example of how this is developing in an existing small town is Greenville, South Carolina. They're in the process of resurrecting a aging and decrepit town center by making the streets less car-friendly (among other things) and investment in and use of the downtown area is dramatically up. New condominium projects are underway in the heart of the city; a new performing arts center is attracting crowds, and a river park is a huge hit - all in a town of less than 60,000. Check out www.greenvillesc.gov.

It's a wonderful downtown environment, and it attracts residents of all ages. And it's just one example of many happening right now all across the country.

There will always be McMansions, there will always be big SUVs, and there will always be people who want more and more and bigger and bigger. We're still allowed to go after what we want to in this country.

But minds are changing, as real alternatives are made available. We're kidding ourselves and wasting time, money, and energy with hybrids, solar panels, etc. when the real solution is in changing the way our cities are designed.

This isn't about baby boomers "dying out"; in fact, as they reach retirement age (happening right now) they're the ones who are returning to a more urban lifestyle. And they're the ones with the financial means to fund much of this new development that we all can benefit from.

This forum and all the motivated posters in it will be much better served by us searching and sharing examples of great new urban design examples across the country - there are many!

So, what positive changes are happening in your corner of the world?

...Read more

Doing Our Part For More Efficient Home Design

Once again, we're extremely fortunate to have our work and our design philosophies featured in the business press: Business First Of Columbus (opens a PDF file)

Appomattox Virginia part III

How many thousands of "Colonial" homes are built across America every year?

How many of them are as well-proportioned and subtley-detailed as this one? Not many, unfortunately.

The Clover Hill Tavern, an unassuming brick building in Appomattox, gives us a wonderful example of how less really can be more.

Nothing fancy here, just architectural appropriateness in every way. Imagine a home as modest as this one in a contemporary American subdivision - would it be recognized for the supurbness of it's subtlety? Or would it be shunned for how it dares to not be showy?

Clover Hill Tavern was built in 1819 and is the oldest original building in the village. After Lee's surrender, it was temporarily converted into a print shop, where all the Confederate soldier's parole passes were printed.

Because it was Spring and men were needed home to work in the fields, Grant generously allowed all Confederates to head immediately home - when most had expected to spend time in prison after the war.

Appomattox Virginia part II

Most famous of the reconstructed buildings at Appomattox is the home of the Wilmer McLean family, site of the meeting between Grant and Lee that ended the Civil War.

In the 1940s the National Park Service rebuilt the McLean house on the original foundation, which had been dismantled in 1893 by speculators in a failed money-making scheme.

Not all the parts of the original house could be found however, so this reconstruction is partly new and partly made of the remaining original bricks.

Appomattox Virginia

The place in American history that Appomattox Virginia occupies is of extreme importance and widely known; it was here that Generals Grant and Lee met to craft letters of surrender and officialy end the American Civil War.

The original town of Appomattox Court House is gone, but layout has been preserved and many of the original buildings have been rebuilt. It's impossible of course to experience the sense of place as it existed in April of 1865 - when tens of thousands of Blue and Gray soldiers occupied the area - but the reconstructed village is enough to spark the imagination.

This view looks North along the original stage road.

On The Road Again!

I'm hitting the road again next week, travelling through Virginia and the Carolinas (some of my favorite places!) and hope to have a lot to share along the way. There's much interesting Architecture to see (old and new) and many historical sites along the way.

Check in for updates!

More Grounds Of Remembrance Photos

A New Veteran's Memorial in Dublin, Ohio

This past Memorial Day the City of Dublin, Ohio formally dedicated the "Grounds Of Remembrance" - a new memorial to American Veterans. The memorial is more than a building, or a statue, it's a series of experiences spread out over a large area, and includes wall of remembrance, an inscribed loggia, and other elements.

It's not quite finished, but when it is it looks to be a very special and moving place. Read more here.

Sense of Playhouse

About ten years ago, I built this playhouse (the kids called it the "castlefort") in our backyard. We didn't have suitable trees for a "true" treehouse, so our solution was to put it up on stilts.

For a touch of whimsy, we angled the walls and added a few other decorative touches. It's taken a bit of a beating over the years, but it's still holding up. The kids are teenagers now and aren't interested in the castlefort anymore, but it still has the charm of those earlier days.

I had no idea at the time it would become popular outside of our little corner of the world - it was featured in our local newspaper, and was highlighted in a Taunton Press book, "The Kidspace Idea Book" in 2005. It inspired me to write about it for a home design magazine a few years back - the article can be read here.

University Of Virginia

After his presidency, Thomas Jefferson was able to devote time to many of his pursuits, including the design and construction of a new University in his home state of Virginia.

The centerpiece of this new place of learning in Charlottesville was Jefferson's "academical village", anchored by the university library building and enclosed by wings of classrooms and living quarters.

The tree-lined space created by the surrounding buildings is one of the great American public spaces; it was essentially the first American university campus, and is the model for many other institutions across the country.

Historic Place...

Great places are often places that bring us joy; but not always. The very strong sense of place in this photo is overwhelmingly somber.

What is this place, where is it, and what happened here?

Tiny Sustainable House

Student Builds Tiny House With Big Sustainability (from FOX News)