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Need help with front elevation

9 years ago

We are trying to finalize our house plan but need some help with the front. We initially did not have the gable over the front door but wanted to bring a little more attention to the front door and also provide some protection from rain/snow for anyone waiting at the front door. The architect came up with the gable below but because it's set back from the room to the left, the left side of the gable gets cut off a little. Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated as the architect is not really being much help with this.

Sandy

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Comments (6)

lookintomyeyes83
9 years ago
Can you post the plan as well, please? It may help in coming up with ideas. The assymetrical roofline suggests that the plan isn't as symmetrical as the profile suggests.

I agree with you on needing to refine that gable, it's clipped-ness doesn't help you really see the front entrance.
Is there a pillar on the left side of the entrance as well? It looks slightly out of place to me, but I'm not an architect.

Any chance you can shift the entry to the right, so that it's not partially hidden by the rooms in front of it? have the approach to the house angled so that the peak is more visible?
SMC0904
Original Author
9 years ago
Here is the layout.
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bmh4796, I tend to agree with you that we shouldnÃ¢ÂÂt try to combine brick and stone, at least on this particular house. Good point about the roofing materials also. I didnÃ¢ÂÂt take your suggestions as anything other than kindly meant, and thanks for your input. zone4newby, Ã¢ÂÂover-decoratedÃ¢ÂÂ is a great way to describe what my concern is. Again, agree that either the stone or brick should go. Do you have any suggestion for which would look better? I tend to lean towards stone because I like it, but I donÃ¢ÂÂt have anything against brick if it would look better. Your idea about the shutters impacting the choice of roofing materials is interesting and a point I hadnÃ¢ÂÂt considered. Renovator8, if cost wasnÃ¢ÂÂt a factor IÃ¢ÂÂd love to use only stone and shingles. However, that may not work with the budget. WeÃ¢ÂÂre meeting with the builder tonight, so IÃ¢ÂÂll try to get better estimates from him on the relative costs of shingles v. lap siding v. brick v. stone. Staining the shingles is an option that is on the table. The changing materials half way up the wall is something I had thought would look better as you have suggested. What type windows would you recommend? Again, we are trying to maximize a view from the right side of the house and the rear, so IÃ¢ÂÂm not sure if window grids would work towards that goal. But, IÃ¢ÂÂm open to suggestions and changing to double-hung windows, for example, would save us quite a bit. I donÃ¢ÂÂt care for the cornice returns, as you mentioned, but my husband likes them. IÃ¢ÂÂm going to keep fighting on this. IÃ¢ÂÂll talk to the builder about the flashing on stone issue. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. IÃ¢ÂÂm going to play around with Photoshop a bit and see what I can come up with.
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You asked for opinions so... It doesn't "work" for me. Not at all. It's far too busy and there seems to be rational plan to how the different cladding materials are used on different parts of the structure. They're just slapped on willy-nilly. But then, I also don't like your inspiration picture. To me, having stone go part way up the second floor level but not all the way to the roof makes it look like somebody goofed and didn't order enough stone and then, rather than get more, decided to just "do something different" the rest of the way up. Ugh. And, if your builder doesn't flash very properly between the bottom of the Hardi sections and the stone/brick below it, you're likely to get water intrusion. In my opinion - and I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder but you did ask for opinions - you've chosen a bad "inspiration" and made it worse. James Hardie's website has a nice little booklet called "The value of design" that I urge you to read. Here is a link that might be useful: The Value of Design
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The fact that you had to remove boulders might indicate that the building site is rocky and builders frequently encounter rock when digging. That may be the reason why no one builds basements. That is a complicated building site. Judging from the number of topo lines, you've got a lot of elevation change. You will absolutely need a skilled architect and an engineer. There is no way a stock plan will work for this site. I think you need to build up rather than out. The driveway might be modified to cross the front of the lot and the garage be placed on the other side so that it isn't in your face on the approach climb. You need professional help.
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The problem is there is no central theme for the house. Since the most successful themes can be seen in the major house styles that’s a good approach but it’s always possible to invent your own if you have a bit of experience and skill. That doesn’t mean randomly combining architectural elements, that only creates confusion. Start with multiple 3D massing models without eave and rake overhangs. It’s easy to do with SketchUp since it’s easy to push and pull walls. When something looks promising add some detailing on a print by hand. Let it be loose and even sloppy. Save everything for later review. Reinforce what you like with a heavier pen. When you think you have something put it on another copy of the model and then print and sketch some more. When it very promising add color or materials but only a few.
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SMC0904
Original Author
9 years ago
Naween, I'm not really sure what you mean by "The assymetrical roofline suggests that the plan isn't as symmetrical as the profile suggests."
lookintomyeyes83
9 years ago
I was referring to the fact that the ridge of the main roof 'drops' down towards the right, as indicated in the attached sketch. So you lose some of the symmetry.
After studying the roofline on my own house, I've started to get a better understanding of house roofs work, so that's why I wanted to see your plan.
Naf_Naf
9 years ago
Your architect did these drawings?

To place a gable like that you will need a cricket, otherwise you will have snow/rain accumulation.

Why do you need those columns if you have no porch?
The best thing to do is create a porch aligned with the living room on left (full foyer/dining width), then the roof will not be recessed and you can do something more substantial.
User
9 years ago
To have to design cover and emphasis at the entry as an afterthought should be a major embarrassment for your architect so if he/she is not aggressively trying to correct this error I would question his/her professional background. You might look up his/her registration to make sure that background has not been misrepresented.

To avoid having too many stock developer cliches in one house facade, I would eliminate the high pants belt line and the tapered column on a masonry base; it's not that kind of house. I would also avoid masonry on the large gable over the entrance.

The sketch below is the simplest way to solve the problem but it creates more useless attic space in a house that has far too much attic space already, but the alternative would be to start over and design the house with the entrance in mind from the start which might be expensive. If I were your architect, I would expect you to ask me to do it for free.

Good luck with it.

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