ON DESIGN

2010-11-19T13:01:00.001-08:00

Leverage and Residential Design, Part Two

2010-05-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

This partial plan is an example of Design Leverage in Step Two. It is developed from a visual lines analysis of the existing plan as described in "Leverage and Residential Design Part One" (see below blog entry).

A minimal construction intervention of a closet and a built in dining console improves the entire front end and east half of a house. Notice how the positioning of the console is at the "hub", or the foyer wall. The console now becomes the focus of a location in the floor plan of high visual priority. It serves as the end point of multiple visual lines, improving the daily experience of everyone using the house today, tomorrow or next week.

The improvements extend to how it will feel to wake up, sleep, or read in a Master Bed centered in a comfortably proportioned width of 8'-0."

Leverage and Residential Design, Part One

2010-05-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

Peter Senge once wrote about how to turn the Titanic with the push of a finger, if you know where to push (answer = the side of the rudder). I don't know if it's true but he makes an important point. We all want effective results with design as with any effort, so how do you know where to put your energy and your budget to create great every day spaces? Spaces where you build your life, with loved ones, each morning, noon or night?

One way is to determine visual importance in a residence. Where does your floor plan create prominent focal points? If you think of features of your residence, such as a fireplace or a foyer or a staircase as the hub of a wheel, then you can imagine visual lines as spokes. Count how many times you can see your fireplace. If it's visible from the living room only, that's one spoke. If it's visible from the kitchen through an opening, and the living room , two. Also visible from the foyer? Great -- three spokes. You get the idea.

The more visual lines the more the item's appearance is going to effect the overall feel of your house. Every house has two or three hubs or locations that have the most spokes. Find yours as step one in creating the desired leverage. The design adjustments you make to these items of visual importance are going to make your house feel more and more like the home you want your loved ones to enjoy daily.

A Staircase Makes a House

2010-04-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

Staircase by Aymar Embury Architect, Springfield Vermont

Laura Ashley Chandelier in Dining Room Project

2010-03-14T17:43:00.000-07:00

Installed in a Dining Room Renovation in Texas per PHD recommendations.

House Addition Delmar New York

2010-03-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

Architecture by Patrick Hayden Design, Interiors by Delmar Interior Designs.

Green Excursion

2009-09-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

Perspective of Photovoltaic Array Field

Tassel Facile

2009-05-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

Comparing tassel heights between styles. First are American, second are French-style, made in California. Heights vary from a foot to fifteen inches. Dictionary.com defines a tassel as a pendent "consisting commonly of a bunch of threads, small cords, or other strands hanging from a roundish knob or head, used on clothing, in jewelry, on curtains, etc."

Here we have a "bunch of threads" transformed by facile craftsmen to the point of being an art form, not to mention beautiful and fun. How to pick the best of? I like them all but am partial to the ones at the left from Kravetz next to the ruler, as they are neither over nor under designed.

3-d in 2-d with Wallpaper

2009-05-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

My trip to Boston included a stop at the Schumacher Wall Covering Showroom, always a delight. Check out their 3-d looking diamond patterns and the new print pattern for Spring '09 -- a wallpaper wonderland.

Bulthaup launches B-1 Kitchen Series in USA

2009-05-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Bulthaup, the BMW of kitchens, launched the exciting B-1 kitchen line this week in Boston and New York! The lower priced of the kitchen manufacturer's lines comes in a friendly white laminate along with some other veneers in wood (ash and walnut) and aluminum.

The Mathema -tricks of the Ideal Villa

2008-12-16T19:58:00.000-08:00

Colin Rowe, a Cornell Architecture Professor, wrote an amazing essay I studied in college called "The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa." It compared organizing principles behind the best of Classical and Modern Architecture...if you can grasp it you can get what good architecture is all about. If you can't grasp it don't worry...just hire a good architect.

Rowe's book discusses 'phenomenal transparency' ... an analytical term attempting to explain how LeCorbusier's and Palladio's work is so magical. Rowe describes the thoughtful layering, proportion, and interaction of architectonics; the foundation of any good architect's design. While phenomenal transparency was challenging to grasp in school, I find being in practice stretches me in different directions. Clients' needs are different than architects', entering into the realm of what I call "value." The building has to perform once it's built, along with being delightful.

I know you aren't building Villa Savoye or Foscari, the two gorgeous classics pictured above. All you need is the home you live in to perform over time while you grind a fresh coffee, wake up to the calming effect of eastern light, worry about your adult children and grandchildren and enjoy the time saving conveniences of a well designed residence. And so in practice I strive for "The Mathema-tricks of the Ideal Villa", meaning a balance of theory and practice. If I spend time reading Rowe, then I spend time reading codes. Codes can be tedious. They can also be a great source of ideas based on experience. Engaging as proportion and light? No. Just as important? Yes.

In my infancy of architectural practice I come across clients and prospective clients who have already burned themselves with their first project. Two years post construction the un-forseen problems of their architect-less structures are keeping them awake at night. They realize they are burning serious maintenance money on square footage they don't need or don't like. The elevations don't work. The floor plan is awkward. Ring-less nail shanks are popping above the deck planking after a few moisture cycles. Ouch. Tough on the toes.

Consider the following "tricks" I added to my practice bag thanks to the 2006 International Building Code, Forest Products Association article and attending the '08 Build Boston Conference:

1. Keep pilot holes a maximum of 70% of structural bolt diameter.

2. Consider an oil based wood spray sealant in lieu of a silicone based caulk. It will stay pliable longer and maintain a weather seal around bolt openings more effectively.

3. Heartwood of Redwood, cedar, black locust and Black Walnut is naturally decay resistant. Redwood and Eastern red cedar are termite resistant. They don't have to be purchased in large quantities to be effective, just designed in the right locations.

4. Wood rots at a moisture content above 19%. Insist your architect specify paint applications per the manufacturer's recommendations when using it in exterior applications. Estimate your project based on these specs. The additional cost of Benjamin Moore's recommended specifications will be well worth it in the long run, especially in the extreme environments of Northern New England, where I live and practice.

5. OSB sheathing, if installed properly, is both a lighter weight and stronger diaphragm than plywood, although less resistant to impact forces.

6. Use hot dipped zinc-coated galvanized steel, stainless steel, silicon or bronze or copper fasteners at preservative treated wood assemblies.

Bored yet? Hardly mind blowing stuff. Yet the mathema-tricks of the ideal villa will keep you delighted and pleasantly un-surprised five, ten years down the road when the excitement of construction has died yet the delight of your well performing project remains.

Image: Villa Barbaro (Foscari) at Malcontenta by Palladio (right)

Image: Villa Savoye by LeCorbusier, Poissy

HVAC, Upstate New York

2008-11-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

This is a Space Pak air handling system used in the existing knee wall attic space. It has sixteen, four inch diameter tubes serving the new addition, two bedrooms, kitchen and living room.

These systems are great for getting through existing nooks and crannies and are designed to reduce humidity in damp structures as well. The system connects to an outdoor compressor.

East Window, Upstate New York Under Construction

2008-11-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

Upstate New York Under Construction

2008-11-04T08:22:00.000-08:00

Construction by Delmar Interior Designs

Hope you all had a Happy

2008-11-04T08:21:00.001-08:00

How Come Architects Need to be able to Draw?

2008-10-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

Because so much of design is about transformation...revising something from the past into a solution for the present. Here is a watercolor I did in Rome in the mid 1980s and a sketch from Renzo Piano's building at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) in 2008. Both record impressions, ideas, proportions. You never know when they will inspire something in the future. So when I see something I like I record it.

Addition Creates Bedroom "Suite"

2008-07-03T15:50:00.000-07:00

A bank of closets and a corner bookshelf reading area round out a "bedroom suite" addition in Upstate New York.

P.H.D. Incorporates Building Information Modeling

2008-04-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

Since 2004 Patrick Hayden Design has been applying 3D computer modeling to architecture projects. The advantage is a graphic database beyond two dimensional computer drafting, enabling more accurate construction documents for an improved construction process.

It helps us as well by creating a three dimensional "build" as opposed to "draft" environment, early in your project. As architects we are focused more on site conditions and ideal location, proportion, light, spatial progression and materials...considerations and technique benefitting both your wallet and enjoyment of your completed project. BIM helps us do more of what we do best.

"Put the money into the professional rather than the marble floor, because we can create magic out of concrete floors." -Margaret McCurry

Geothermal Heat Exchange and Residential Design

2008-04-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

P.H.D. is prepared to put together a Heat Loss Report for retained clients. This report is a function of your house's spatial configuration, square footage, wall/window/door/material specifications and predictions of owner/family daily activity. We forward it to the system engineer for geothermal heating and/or cooling and they translate the report into tonnage. Tonnage is the module, or nomenclature, subcontractors use in designing and estimating drilling and heat exchange system wells.

The technology continues to develop in exciting ways including waste heat storage for re-use in winter. Drilling through granite can now be done with ease and with no cost impact thanks to water cooled, carbon-tipped bits. Residential wells are typically 6" in diameter and filled with two PVC pipes carrying glycol (approximately 1.5" diameter each). Soft dirt wells are filled with grout.

Green-conscious clients can also request salvage specifications for construction site waste disposal. We can also specify re-used products for new construction and finishes.

Here's to geothermal wells in Granite Country!

Relic Chimney Foyer

2008-04-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

A relic chimney is all that remains of a 19th century colonial home that burned to the ground. The client requested a foyer connecting the replacement house with the old chimney. A greenhouse accommodates planting, light and visual focus on the brick. Glass gables echo the roof angle of the replacement house. Double doors access future gardens along an entry path.

Consultation: Residence, Charlotte North Carolina

2008-02-28T09:41:00.001-08:00

An existing "notch" is filled out with an East Facing
breakfast room and relocated bedroom above. The bedroom
level now has room for a laundry to better serve a young family of
six, and enabling the Eastern kitchen expansion below. A Family Room replaces the garage and a covered, colonnade walkway connects the new garage, office and guest suite.

Consultation: Residence, Charlotte North Carolina

2008-02-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

A setback off a cul-de-sac is exploited with a forecourt addition featuring hard-scape brick walls and lighting piers. A "cluster" development around an existing driveway "dead end" is enlivened with a two car garage, office, guest suite, a covered colonnade walkway and swimming pool.

Clustering the new construction frees the remainder of the site for a grilling terrace, gardens and wooded areas.

Addition and Renovation, Andover Vermont

2007-11-11T10:50:00.000-08:00