courtHOUSE by Mark Meyer (aka less than 1,000 square feet)

[lavardera]

Mark - that is a great development of your apartment! Lay some 3d views on us!


_________________
Gregory La Vardera
architect www.lamidesign.com
modern stock plans www.lamidesign.com/plans
modern workplace www.workalicious.org

[eamesdaedelus]

Greg,

You beat me to it! But here is a rough version none-the-less. The courtyard wall ([edit]used to be left off for clarity sake, but that proved even more confusing, so now the rendering shows a translucent glass wall[end edit]) It isn't less than 1000 s.f. but it is also more designed for a small family. I'll post other versions later with differing exterior materials like wood rain screen, corTen steel plate, Hardie-Plank, etc. Suggestions would be welcome.


Mark


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designSTUDIO
box 684742
Austin, Tx 78768

512.619.6962

[mfojas]

Okay, maybe it's just a personal preference but I always liked the idea of sliding doors as opposed to hinges. I love traditional Japanese house interiors. I like the idea of being able to open and close off privacy at will. Though privacy is very important, and having solid walls is important, is there somehow a way of conveying a sense of interconnection with the rest of the house while in one's private cubby hole? Does this make sense?

When designing the interior, could the outside design be reflected in the inside-- giving it the impression of one unified design?

What are your ideas about interior and exterior? Should they be markedly different?

Also, what do you think about the adaptability of this design to urban lots? Is it possible to close off the courtyard to the street, and yet allow light in?

[eamesdaedelus]

[lavardera]

[minimalist]

Mark:

The more I look at it, the more I start thinking about it.

As previously mentioned to you, but for the benefit of the forum, what about extending the left and right side equally out another section for a garage/storage on one side and studio on the other?

Additionally, you have an opening on the street between the garage/studio halves with opaque Plexiglas, core-10, or sandblasted glass, split opening. That creates, I think, a wonderful exterior anticipation for the courtyard entry, which could either be open the length of the extension to the courtyard, or closed off and have a two-stage entry experience.

As for whichever material I would use anyway, I would have both sides match for a complete minimalist exercise.

As for the doors off the hallway, I had an earlier home with Fin-Ply floor-to-ceiling sliders that were oversized and could close off the rooms when appropriate. They also can change the experience of the hallway with different uses, color of ply used, closed, half-closed all open...etc.

As for light, leave the sides blanked out and go with a couple well-placed skylights. You could use either square or round sonna tubes. (sp)

With a base of 60K I would thing one could then customize the home's interior finishes (kitchen, bath), and with full sliders would be stunning on the right lot.

Reference Ellwood's Hunt House, 1955-57.

You're really on to something. For 1200 square feet, no crap (give it away if you don't use it at least four times a year, no matter what it is)this design would be huge and adaptable to lots of living styles.

Rick/Minimalist
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Put anything in a room you like, as long as it's only you.

[mfojas]

I'd love to see the sliding door treatment on the hall bedroom.

Again, I'm not very mainstream but somehow the idea of a garage doesn't quite jive with me. I think as an add-on/extension or as a separate structure it would be fine... but I think it would just impose extra cost and size on a plan that is very clean at the moment.

BTW, though I try to use public transportation as much as is practical, I'm not anti-car.

Mark, even though the plans are in what you regard as a rough form, this design is beautiful!

I LOVE courtyards... and so does my wife. It's just enough space to stretch out, pray, meditate, or read, and yet not so much to handle that leaving for an extended period of time would pose a problem in upkeep. I really don't see the purpose in large yards when there are so many nice public parks in most cities.

[eamesdaedelus]

Well, I must say this design has really struck a nerve! I wish I could take full credit for it, but like I said before a lot of the credit goes to some un-named architect from Dallas, Tx that worked in the 60's. All the architects that have lived in my apartment before me have tried to find out who the architect was, but to no avail. I'll continue the search however.

But as a wise person once said, "good architects borrow, great architects steal!"

I've made some minor mods to the plans already, based on input from you guys as well as Rous (my client for the squareHOUSE) The bathroom is now way better, divided into a wet-room, and a lav-room, the hall bedroom has two 4' sliders that close off an 8' opening into the hall, as many pocket doors have been put in place as I can substitute for swing doors. LiveModern is down again today, so when it gets back up I'll post the newest plan iteration.

I'd like for some material requests from the audience. Here's what I have so far:

mini-corrugated galvalume
brick (a la the original apartment)
stucco
Ipe rain screen (which would allow the courtyard wall to be more screen-like)
Parklex (phenolic impregnated plywood panels)
CorTen sheets w/ exposed fasteners
painted Hardie-plank siding

I'll do some other renderings with different materials on request.

As far as garages go, I can see a seperate car-port/studio structure of the same material and similar proportions living happily adjacent to the house (maybe off an alley)

Mark
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designSTUDIO
box 684742
Austin, Tx 78768

512.619.6962

[lavardera]

I'm curious about the overall site plan of your apartment. Is your unit repeated? Or are all the units different?
_________________
Gregory La Vardera
architect www.lamidesign.com
modern stock plans www.lamidesign.com/plans
modern workplace www.workalicious.org

[mfojas]

Living in Israel (but hoping to repatriate to the Pacific NW), I am very familiar with stucco. I've seen it done very well (and expensively) and not so well (and cheaply). I can't say I'm very excited about it as a construction material as it seems to be very high maintenance during repair and replacement. I'm not against stucco, since it is a very attractive looking option, but I'm not too crazy about it in a long term relationship. Also wouldn't this be a nightmare if you ever decided to make this a prefab? Educate me.

I would think that Galvalume and CorTen would be more interesting, flexible and economical. I really couldn't see brick on the house itself. It would be nice to keep it as an option for more conservative tastes-- but then there would go the "flat roof" as it is doubtful more conservative tastes would gravitate towards this style.

As far as combining metal siding with an ipe rain screen on the exterior... I really would prefer glass and metal or even a seemless or patterned concrete (wish that LitraCon would get down to reasonable prices as this would be a perfect application for the courtyard wall). A Parklex or ipe sided exterior with a metal courtyard wall would be interesting as well.


Oh, and ditto on Greg's question. How does this work in a multi-unit setup?

[eamesdaedelus]

As far as the site plan of the multi-unit apartment goes, there are two parrallel bars of three units each, all pretty much the same (although due to the fairly well treed site my unit makes a jog so as to place an elm tree in the courtyard) Each unit is attached bedroom wing to living room wing.Then in the back of the site there are 2 two-story loft efficiencies with a shared wall, and a wall of glass facing north, then there is a tiny efficiency apartment that sits on top of one of the courtyard units bedroom wing, and the laundry room. The site is at the brow of a hill, and faces west, so the bars of courtyards run North and South and are pushed to the setback lines, making a terraced and landscaped circulation space between the units. There are a total of 9 units in the palce, with parking off the road, and parking off the alley.

I'm kinda noncommital on stucco myself. I think it can be done well, but usually it leaves me a bit cold. I think if this plan was modularized stucco would be a terrible idea for an exterior finish, as it doesn't like to move around much.

I do like the galvalum option a lot, especially the mini-corrugated stuff (which is half the size of standard corrugated metal. Very striking) CorTen plates could be very nice in the right setting. The original apartment actually looks quite good with the brick, there is something very protected about the feeling the brick gives the courtyard wall.

I've assumed the courtyard wall to be a continuation of the house wall, although for the right site it makes sense to use sandblasted glass at the courtyard wall. I think an Ipe rainscreen over the entire house (with awning style window shutters a la Sean Godsell) would be amazing, and Ipe siding would be nice as well (very tropical feeling)

I'm quite smitten with the parklex panels at this point. Peter Gluck is building a house in Austin right now (the Floating Box House) and they used the Parklex panels to great effect. see:

http://www.gluckpartners.com/

Mark

ps here is the updated 2 bedroom w/ studio plan...


_________________
designSTUDIO
box 684742
Austin, Tx 78768

512.619.6962

[mfojas]

Mark, this design is really getting me excited. It's just classy and efficient and dare I say it, sexy.

My vote for the first ones to be rendered are galvalume and ipe. You seem to be enthused about the latter material in particular, and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

[bearch]

Having responded to another thread here about max. length, how would you divide this plan up? 52' and 15'-3" don't seem to work with the standard modules whith which I'm familiar. Ideally you'd want to fit this on two trailers into a sort of three piece double-wide.

Also, I believe the sexy part comes from the idea of the people in the last two bedrooms hiking down 24' of glassed in hallway to get to and from the bathroom. The plumbing is not backed and stacked at this point anyway so locating the toilet closer to the bedrooms (and away from the activity hub) may be a better way to go. You're going to need another exit too, I believe, so that you can get people out some other way than only through the courtyard.

The inner courtyard makes this great for a high density or urban application, but perhaps, a little to introspective for a more open environment. I'd love to see some elevations. Remember too that because of the difficulties of craning the units into place, prefab is often a little difficult on urban sites.

Not trying to be a wet blanket, but this shows a lot of promise in enough ways that closer inspection is actually a compliment ... I hope.

[lavardera]

I don't believe there was any intent to do this modular - Mark favors panelization - correct me if I'm wrong. As far as module lengths - state to state laws are different, but 60-63 ft is not uncommon.

That floating box house - holy mackrel! There's your basic steel framed house. . . ?
_________________
Gregory La Vardera
architect www.lamidesign.com
modern stock plans www.lamidesign.com/plans
modern workplace www.workalicious.org

[eamesdaedelus]

Thanks Greg,

I was in the middle of a tirade defining the difference between prefab and modular when my browser crashed. You got my point across though.