Roof Top Dreams

In green design we tend to think more about the roof and it's potential for fulfilling multiple rolls. In a traditional design the roof surface is mostly ignored. As long as it fits this preconceived notion of what a roof should look like and sheds water properly there is no more to think of. I once heard one traditional architect say to one of his draftsmen about a house "just put a hat on it". This one sentence demonstrates an attitude towards the roof that it is just a functional peace of adornment.

All though the main purpose of a roof is to keep it from raining in your house there are many other rolls the roof can play. It can function as a surface for collecting solar energy both electric and to directly heat water. It can provide room for a roof top garden of wild flowers that will offset the foot print that the floor plan takes up. Creating spaces for native species of plants on roof top and roof deck surfaces can actually increase the square footage of a sites naturally landscaped environment while creating additional square footage of outdoor living space.

An Open Floor Plan

Opening up the floor plan is the best thing to come from modern design. With the use of new construction materials clear spans across entire floors can be easily achieved. This first floor encompasses the foyer, a family room, a kitchen, a library and office and the only room that is enclosed by four walls is the bathroom. The traditional way of delineating a floor plan is by starting out with a square or rectangular box and then dividing the interior of that box with walls that chop up the space and block out natural light. Instead a floor plan can be drawn by starting with the exterior wall keeping in mind human proportions. Delineation of functional spaces is made by the jogs of the wall.

One of the design principals followed in moder green design is to minimize the foot print of the first floor so the structures impact on the site is minimized. This includes the landscaping of the site. It makes no sense to have a small foot print if the yard is one big lawn. It is important to use native plants when landscaping and to incorporate fruiting trees, herbs, vegetables and wild berries. Native plants help to provide the right environment for native animals and insects. And growing your own food organically is healthy for you and reduces your carbon foot print farther by reducing the the need to transport food from other region. It's important to think 3 dimensionally when laying out a floor plan. You most think about its relationship to the sub floor below and the floors above. Cantilevering the second and third floors out creates more usable space while at the same time lessening the first floors foot print. You most also think about how these cantilevers will effect the natural lighting. There are some tricks you can use to bring the light down into places that would normally be shaded.

Re-Thinking the Foundation

A solid home and a solid design start with a well thought out foundation. The basement can be so much more than just a dank dark extra space for storage if it is incorporated into the finished living space of the home from the very beginning of the conceptional process. It is important to bring natural light into all parts of the house and the basement is no exception. In this design I have opened two areas out side so that they let light and air down into the basement space. One is located next to the front door and draws you down an staircase mounted to the foundation wall and open on two sides. You walk down under the glass wall of the library which is overhanging a 10 ft deep pond. The light filters through the water of the pond and two glass walls on right angles. One is parallel to the stairs and the other is parallel to the sliding glass door of the basement.

After you enter the basement to your left it opens up to a small bar with a peninsula sitting area. Across from the bar is a small wine cellar and in between is an alcove for a dart board. The other area of the basement that receives natural light is the den. In this design the den is the farthest away from the entrances but it is flooded by a halo of natural light. The den is a sunken area behind a dividing wall. The ceiling is 11 ft 2 inches and separated from the wall on three sides so the sun streams through the windows of the floor above.

The other main opening to the basement is on the other side of the home sunken into the patio next to the pool. When both entrances are open cross ventilation brings fresh air into the naturally cool below ground space. Another open staircase brings you down into a large vault open to the sky above. Under the stairs up against the wall is a large multi person outdoor shower. At the bottom of the stairs to your right is a set of sliding glass doors. As you walk through the doors you enter the pool house space which is built out under the patio. There a sauna to you right and a full bath to your left. Directly in front of you is a 12 ft by 12 ft sunken hot tub which is built in underneath the shallow end of the swimming pool. This unique design provides a naturally cool space to escape the hot summer days.

Designing Sustainable Spaces.

Designing is an act of meditation. To truly design a space that works with nature and integrates all the elements in harmony you must be in that space and imagine what it would be like if you placed a wall here or a patio there. To visualize a structure and its' relation to the natural environment of the site you must go there, walk the site, sit and sketch your ideas as they come to you. The best way to do this is to be there before the sun rises so you can see the changing colors of light from the first rays through mid day to the setting sun. You can't capture the small nuances of the topography of the land sitting in an office fare away from the site.

The first consideration when designing a sustainable dwelling is the size of the physical foot print of the structure. We must endeavor to tread softly on nature, building structures not on top of nature with walls that lock out the natural world, encapsulating us in hermetically sealed boxes but instead we must build structures which embrace nature, which integrate and emphasize a site's natural features. Minimizing the physical foot print (the space in terms of square footage that the structure will take up on the site) can be achieved in many ways. Part of the structure can be place under the ground or alternatively you can cantilever spaces out over open ground leaving a relatively large amount of the site to nature.