Anybody know this house?

----- Original Message ----- From: "gruhn" Newsgroups: alt.architecture Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 11:16 AM Subject: Re: Anybody know this house?

Yep, he actually thinks the pitch is not steep enough. In the photo it looks like a 6:12 and the front elevation rendering looks more like a 10:12. The client has asked me to do the prelim drawings at something along the lines of a 12-14:12.

Actually, since the client has only seen the one front photo (which doesn't really show the roofs/rooms on the left and right sides) he won't be disappointed when I show him his "simplified" house.

Yep, he definitely like the massing, though what I'm going to show him will be quite a bit different - if you take the front elevation and lop off the sides (which the lower s.f. forces us to address) the house is way out of scale. Obviously what I'm working on is going to be a totally different house.

Unfortunately, this is far too often the goal of some clients. I'm working on "educating" him on the importance of living in a "great home" rather than a house "impressive to guests".

Yes, I find it almost always easier to get a firm handle on clients likes/dislikes about the details. Massing/proportions are trickier to get a feel for and usually require a broader sampling of examples to determine (i.e. they may like the massing but say they don't because what they really don't like is the exterior cladding.)

True. He's actually has some fairly firm ideas about room layout which will drastically effect what can/can't be done with the exterior massing (i.e. the Great Room, Dining Room, Kitchen and Nook all are to be on the rear of the house and all are to be 2 stories with the Bedrooms at the front being able to look down into those spaces). Like always, this client is learning that what they thought they wanted isn't necessarily what they do want (or at least not for the reasons they thought). The only room I've agreed can't/won't move is the Den, which is being positioned to take advantage of the view of the waterfall and creek.

Appreciate your help & insight,

Michael (LS)

PS - Sorry about emailing you this reply, I hit the wrong button! I blame Micro$oft for making the reply buttons RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER!!!

Reply to
Michael (LS)
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My problem with owning that type of house is the diversion of labor. I'd need to have someone to wash windows for my aggrandizement, when that person could be usefully employed. As a youngster I was rather uncomfortable with the servants being servile. I did know it was a good way to get people out of Europe (post WW2) and get work and experience in North America and so that was a good thing, and they never had to work very much, and could focus their studies on the new culture, I can understand doing that. But today, employing people to maintain my properties seems awfally deficient, unless you're famous and you have too.

Don was asking about vaulted ceilings up north. Well in Muskoka ont, thats a new fad. Friend of mine put up a 2.5 story cottage and has south exposed glass on most of that wall, with dinky triangle windows at the top. So, knowing he's not a man of financial means, asked whose going to clean the windows. He says decided they'll never get dirty. I shut-up, but we all know about pollen, and people actually fart inside a house...well you know...living in a building dirties walls and windows, by occupation.

Regards Ken S. Tucker

PS: Being an infrequent poster, I'm the guy building a 20x20 experimental cabin. Just got 8 4'x10' floor panels completed, finally figured out how to do that on the 8th.

PSS: It's a good thing I post to this group. You Archies live in a world divorced from the reality of ergonometics.

Another story: Friends of ours built a dream home, actually partially practical. In 2 years the place was covered with clothes on the floor, yuck. The wife was a nudist and good looking, but she would stand in front of her black frig for hours admiring the reflection of herself.

Another story: A child friend of mine had a castle like house perched on Scarboro Bluff in the Toronto area, and I got to know the mom. After a while she would talk to me, and explained she only used the kitchen and the breakfast nook - aside from her bedroom - she, BTW was real smart.

Another story: Near the same as last...mom given huge kitchen, must walk 20 feet to go from frig to stove, drove her near crazy, she divorced the man that gave her that house.

The moral of the story: Houses are for girls, homes are for women. ken

Reply to
Ken S. Tucker

I must have misremembered the one picture.

Sweet.

It sounds like the client expects you to design his house and this one is something he likes rather than for you to design THAT house so you oughta be OK.

Depends on how much money the guests bring in ;-)

Seriously, there are some people may manage to miss the bump to VP if their in home entertaining experience isn't up to snuff.

Sounds like you're on it.

Hope this meshes well w/ exposure etc.

Mm... pleasant.

Doh. I've done it myself. No worries.

Reply to
gruhn

Mustn't forget to draw pictures of pretty things.

A common shortcoming among snapshot takers. "Isn't this a great picture?" No, it's a really really shitty picture of something that was probably quite beautiful.

Reply to
gruhn

i already addressed that.

i have no idea what you would design, as for myself, no i wouldnt design something like that.

i was never told to not design anything in studio.

more like half-hearted.

your comparing the architectural variety of a town to one house?

i dont know, i dont know them.

McMansion then?

yes.

sure you can - if its done the right way. Ive got hundreds of years of tried and true methods and techniques to back my position up- what have you got?

Can't have

again - anything can be done, but it should be done the right way.

Worse, the bastards probably put a gothic finial

hmm. tell you what - take a picture and post it. ill tell you if i like it or not.

because that goes whithout saying.

Or is

wow. have you even read it? wouldnt want you to ASSume anything.....

where did you get that from? again, read the book - you really are making an ass of yourself.

no.

"I'll just throw togther a box and tart it up

ahh..so you do understand why that house is an abomination then. good.

So I guess designing to rigid stylistic constraints can't be what

rigid? constraints?

Nope, I can't figure it out. What is "good architecture"?

Reply to
steve

No.

So far vague assertions about "the right way" and nothing useful. Bye bye.

Reply to
gruhn

Geez, I'm an idiot. Toolbar now customized!

Thanks,

Michael (LS)

Reply to
Michael (LS)

"Don"

It seems more of a client-designer yin-yang. Presumably the client wants you in part because of your design talents, otherwise you show the client the door... and what a nicely-designed door it is.

...But I know what you mean. ;)

Resistance is a few tiles.

You want compensation for work rendered. You want a portfolio that echoes your creativity. Maybe you want clients whose tastes echo yours, and yours theirs and vice-versa. Your lovechild is the design.

Sell your creative soul for soul-food on the table.

Reply to
Richard MacIntyre

From what I can tell, ceramics as a class are generally good (electrical) insulators, yes.

O-M.

Reply to
gruhn

how many times have i read statements from you complaining about the ignorance of clients, and how they dont really know what they want, and its your job as an almighty designer to show them the way? very hypocritical don.

now if you want to have discussions about why its better to invent and create within the rules of a traditional style, id be more than happy to show you the way.

as for that experience crack, id say to you the same thing i said to gruhn - ive got hundreds of years of time honored traditions to back me up. i directly benefit from the experience of thousands of master builders and craftsmen - from a time when detailing was everything, and everything was studied, refined, and built to perfection. these are aspects of construction that have been lost over the years - mostly due to cheap building practices. as an architect, as someone who lives and breathes the profession, i have made it my job to bring those sensibilities back, to continue the tradition of fine residential design and construction. you seem to laboring under the impression that these things cannot exist harmoniously with the wants of a client, and if thats the case, you couldnt be more wrong.

Reply to
steve

"Ken S. Tucker"

What about girly-girls or womanly girls or girly women?

Reply to
Richard MacIntyre

"gruhn"

Thermal too, if the space shuttle is any indication. Then again, there are the ceramic superconductors.

Reply to
Richard MacIntyre

The shuttle tiles are special enough that I'm willing to not use them as an example of ceramics behaviour as a class. iirc, you may have it exactly wrong. They aren't so much insulators as insanely efficient radiators. The one time I saw a guy holding one in his hand he was blowtorching the top and it was red hot. Do that for a few minutes and merely "insulate" and you'll find your front face melting off (unless the melting temp is really really high, I guess) which would be bad. But the deal with the Shuttle tiles is that they were able to spit that heat right off. So why didn't it also spit to the interior of the tile? Good question. I probably should just google it.

Reply to
gruhn

by the same token, i wouldnt design 30' fluted entry columns for a client that 'could' afford them, unless it was appropriate to the style.i have a feeling you would though...am i wrong?

and youre wrong about swaying a client don - thats a generalization, thats giving up before the game is even on.

again, you seem to laboring under the impression that the design principles i advocate conflict with budgets.... if anything, it helps clarify and prioritize budgets.

good. id suggest you start with reading "Creating a New Old House" by Russell Versaci. then at least we could have a framework to work within.

youve got to be kidding me. if i were sitting next to you right now id smack the back of yer skall with my T square. you read one book - though i commend you for at least trying - and thats it? from that you decided any further pursuit was pointless? do you really think vitruvius is the end all be all of design principles? dont get me wrong, we certainly owe plenty to vitruvius, but you havent even scratched the surface - especially if your buisness is residential design. have you really overlooked the vastly rich contributions american architects have made? lets see..... Benjamin Asher - ever hear of him?have you ever studied the "Country Builders Assistant" or "The American Building Companion" ?? or any of his pattern books for that matter? who else? off the top of my head, H.H. Richardson? Bruce Goff? A. Hays Town? im trying to use a broad brush here.......have you ever been to the habs website and poured over the thousands of drawings and details? honestly man, how can i take your opinions on this seriously? you have no idea what youre talking about, but that doesnt seem to stop you from plopping your two cents in every friggin thread.....really man, do your homework before you get on your soap box and preach to anyone about design. maybe you should go hang out at alt.irunmyownbiz

after this vitruvian development, id say your experience dont amount to a hill of beans, design wise. you may have the biz side of it down to a science - wonderful, but its only half the equation.

im sorry you got swallowed up with all the other little fish

im sorry you seem to have some aversion with learning from the knowledge of those that have mastered their craft. ive got more real world experience then you might think don, the difference between you and i is i started with a good well rounded education in architecture...to get the experience you have will only take me time, but you on the other hand, well im afraid you'll never have the experience ive had, unless you get off your soapbox and get out to that woodshed.

now, if you'll excuse me, its friday night, ive got a bag of goodies, a bottle of wine, and im gonna get it on right tonight.

Reply to
steve

The Guess Who came on the radio, the other night, and I said to my wife, "That's Burton Cummings singing."

Her response was, "No one else knows that crap, except you."

I can now tell her that, "Steve and Don also know that crap!"

Thanks!

Notan

Reply to
Notan

The first round's on me!

Notan

Reply to
Notan

"Don"

The Guess Who... Not bad... and Canadian. For a nostalgic listen, I just took out from our local library Simple Minds' first album that I used to enjoy in the early eighties, as well as a Red Hot Chili Peppers for their Breaking the Girl for my hard drive.

Reply to
Richard MacIntyre

Same here.

As a child of the fifties, they came along a little too late.

Notan

Reply to
Notan

RH King HS Scarboro ont. 1970... I ask "who's doing the dance?",

answer, "guess who"...

"who?"

answer, "No, guess who".

I was baffled, everyone I asked said "guess who" and being a math nerd, I had no idea...until a few days later...duh. what a silly name for a group.

Reply to
Ken S. Tucker

"Don"

That was their second. I only had their first album. Never crazy about their stuff after that.

Me neither-- just that one song. Same with Kate Bush-- just one song; Cloud Busting.

Reply to
Richard MacIntyre

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