Architecture
In keeping with the clients' goal of creating a highly sustainable home, a photovoltaic system generates electricity. The energy produced by this system is monitored in real time, so the owners can see how their house is performing. The monitoring system, by eMonitor, cost less than $1,000 and helps the owners understand where the energy comes from and how it's being used. For example, this graphic shows a large fall-off of energy production from the photovoltaic system. This enabled the owners to quickly see that there was a problem, diagnose its cause and do the necessary fix. If it hadn't been for the monitoring system, the problem could easily have gone unnoticed.
By providing this interior courtyard at the intersection of the two legs of the L, the architects ensured that each room gets natural light from at least two sides. This again keeps the interior light and bright and, once the courtyard landscaping matures, will allow views of nature from every room.
Much of the glass is in the form of clerestory windows, which provide wonderful views of the sky and treetops. The main entry is at the intersection of the two legs of the L. This entry is kept low, with a ceiling height of only 7 feet, 6 inches, to give a sense of compression and make the main living space feel taller and brighter.
11. Do you have time for this? If you’re not a morning person, you’re not going to like your general contractor's showing up at 7 a.m. every morning and looking for you. You need to be available to a general contractor. Also, you can’t exactly leave town on vacation for three months and hope all goes to plan. You’ll still need to be available for phone calls and emails, even if you’re in Australia and your home is in the U.S. What to do: You need to be available to your general contractor to answer questions and make sure things are moving along smoothly. Conrado says that 8 a.m. is reasonably the latest time workers should show up. “These people have jobs; they have to work," he says. "If you want to have everyone show up at 10 a.m. every day, sure they’ll do it if you’re going to pay them for those hours they could be working.”
8. What’s going to happen to your front yard? It’s not just a portable toilet. A renovation means trucks parked in your driveway, possibly a Dumpster, pallets of materials and debris everywhere, muddy sidewalks. It’s a tough thing to come home to, but you can’t expect it to be anything less than a mess. What to do: Have a constant dialogue with your contractor and know when the trash company and city require debris to be picked up. In some places it’s daily; in others it’s weekly. Sometimes it’s an onsite Dumpster; other times there’s a trash pile that a truck comes and hauls away. Also, let your neighbors know what’s going on. Your contractor might send a letter to your neighbors — you might want to ask him or her to do this; it’s a good marketing opportunity for them anyway — or the city might do it if it’s a big enough project, but the polite thing to do is let your neighbors know what's going on.
7. Where will everyone go to the bathroom? Chances are, if you’re remodeling one bathroom, you’ll have a powder room or another bathroom to use. But think about how long you’ll be sharing a bathroom with your family members. Also, your contractor and workers will need a place to go as well, and it’s not recommended that you open up a downstairs powder room to a cadre of construction workers. What to do: Get a portable bathroom for workers. Conrado says a portable toilet costs about $100 a month, and there are higher-end versions for homeowners if you’re doing a remodel that will knock all your bathrooms out of commission.
5. Where will you stay and for how long? As your house — not to mention your life — is ripped apart during a remodel, you might want to consider staying somewhere else. Hotels can get expensive, and staying with family can be taxing for some — especially if you get a call that your remodel has been delayed two weeks for some unforeseen event. What to do: If you’re undertaking a major renovation that will last nine months to a year or more, rent a place to stay in. If it’s a shorter-duration project and you can’t stay with friends or family, and don’t want to hole up in a hotel room for weeks at a time, Conrado suggests buying a used RV or trailer with a kitchenette. It's like having a one-bedroom apartment onsite. “At the end, just sell the trailer,” he says.
4. Where will you store your materials? Your contractors will need a staging area, and the best place for that is a garage or driveway. If your home business is based in the garage, you’ll need somewhere else secure and weatherproof for the materials. What to do: If your cabinets are ready and you don’t have a place to store them, your contractor will have the cabinetmaker hold them, which can get expensive. Don’t have a place? Conrado suggests renting a temporary storage container that can be delivered to your property and secured.
2. How much time is it going to take? Permits, inspection, building custom cabinets — these things take time, and sometimes you never know exactly how long something will take. Getting permits varies by city and can take a couple of days or sometimes up to 12 weeks or more. What to do: Start as early as you can. While you’re drawing up plans and doing value engineering, have your designer or architect call to see how long the permit process will take. Also, try to be flexible about the deadline. If you make builders rush to meet a deadline, the quality will likely drop. “It’s important to have a continuous dialogue with your builder,” Conrado says. “You should be concerned if you drop by the jobsite and it’s empty. You should be calling your contractor and asking what’s going on.”
What will the weather be like? Rainy, snowy, muddy, cold, hot? Remember, contractors and subcontractors will be going in and out of your house for hours all day during a remodel. This means that if it’s summer in Florida and you’re cranking the A/C all day, then you’re going to waste a lot of energy. If it's in the dead of a Minnesota winter, it's probably not the best time to peel the roof off. What to do: If you're hoping to get your kitchen done by the winter holidays, you should be in the design phase by late August to early September at the latest. Also, ask your contractor how he or she is going to seal up the house to prevent dust buildup and air loss. Paul Conrado, a general contractor in Saratoga, California, who’s been building homes for more than 25 years, builds an insulated dust door out of plywood that can be locked from the homeowner’s side. This prevents air loss and dust buildup in the rest of the home — and affords some privacy.
Villa Savoye Year built: 1931 Architect: Le Corbusier Location: Poissy, France Visiting info: Individual and group tours available Must know: This weekend house near Paris for Pierre and Emilie Savoye has become one of modern architecture's key icons, residential or otherwise. It perfectly encapsulates Le Corbusier's five points that he developed in the 1920s: raising the building on pilotis (slender columns), a free facade that was independent of the structural system, ribbon windows based on a similar logic, an open floor plan, and a roof garden that regained the ground lost through the building's occupation of the landscape.
2. Narrow It Down I’ve found that what works best is when clients let me know what is essential and what would just be nice to include. Remember your reality dish? Budget and space certainly help whittle down that priority list, and absolutely your architect should be part of this process. Let's say your 1,200-square-foot backyard won't accommodate your dream of an Olympic-size swimming pool. If your architect knows that you want an Olympic-size pool because you'd like a couple of 25-meter lanes for your morning lap swim, then perhaps he or she can design an alternative that will allow swimming without an entire Olympic pool. There's no easy way to decide what is a must-have and what isn't. Budget and space considerations will take care of part of this, but plenty of time for introspection and a stab at predicting the future are equally necessary. Only you can decide what's essential for you. Each of us is unique, and our homes reflect that — or should reflect that. A good architect will explain the pros and cons of each item on your wish list to help you make an informed decision. But the decision making is up to you.
Sketch out a floor plan. I know this sounds like a drag, and something a schoolteacher would advise you to do. (“Make sure you prepare a floor plan before you start your assignment.”) But the Internet has made this step truly fun. You’ll find free floor plan programs all over the Web. My personal favorite is the room planner offered by Jordan’s Furniture in Boston. It is relatively easy to use, is flexible, offers a good selection of furniture templates and doesn’t limit you to proprietary furniture brands. If you want to see how your floor plan translates to real life, put those moving boxes to use and “build” furniture out of them, or make footprints of each piece out of newspaper, towels or blankets.
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