Feedback to the architect - round 2

We have finally managed to get our collective brain organised, and have compiled feedback on the second lot of sketch designs developed by the architect.
Attached below is a copy of the floor plans which we scribbled on, a summarised version of the feedback we provided to Neal-the-architect and some photos of other buildings and interiors which we have taken as inspiration. We had to make the floorplans larger so that they were legible, but unfortunately this means that they look a bit untidy on this page.
We would love to know what you think of the designs - or if you have any suggestions!



Ground Floor Plan with comments from Viktoria and the Android


Living room

• swap the full length sliding door for a window (allow some opening for ventilation)
• the fire place is to be a slow-combustion woodstove with a water boiler (Thermalux and Scandia are the two Australian ones we were considering)
• we liked the idea of the 'sunken living room' option discussed, and this may turn out to be more practical given the slope of the land

Flooring

• in the event that polished concrete is outside our budget, we have found a photo of the type of tiling we both like - large format, in a standard grid pattern, with matching grout (no white!)

Picture of the type of tiling we like

Desk / study

• move the desk from the end of the hall, and spin it 180 degrees so that it is facing the pantry wall
• the media hub / phone etc would therefore be nearer the kitchen area
• include an internal sliding door (emerging from the wall between the entry & pantry maybe?) so that we can keep the living / kitchen areas warm

Viktoria's studio

• what appears to be marked as a desk on the plan needs to be built-in floor to ceiling storage instead

Bathroom / Laundry

• we have decided to forgo having a shower-over-bath and just have a shower instead
• attached is a photo of a shower area we both love, and are hoping might be replicated to some extent (though probably not with a pebble floor) - it comes complete with built-in seating so that we can park our Zimmer frames in there when we are older

  

  Picture of a shower liked by Viktoria and the Android

Bedroom

• we are a little concerned that our large Victorian bed head won't be able to navigate the entry and around into the hallway - Viktoria re-measured the bed and at the centre it is 2330mm x 2130mm x 130mm. The posts at either corner are 1800mm high. Perhaps we need to have a sliding door in the main bedroom instead of a window so that we can get that big creature in? 

  

  Roof level plan with comments from Viktoria and the Android

  

The Android's Studio

• the Android is very happy with the rhomboid room-shape (apparently this makes for good acoustics)
• please omit the second sliding door to the concrete courtyard at the SE and replace with a high overhead window
• also add a window to the angled E wall (next to the stairs) - could this be a 'normal' window size?
• can the other window on the W wall be a high overhead window too
• and please include built-in floor-to-ceiling storage across the N wall (backing onto the carport)

Roof

• omit the courtyard off the Android's studio and convert to a roof instead
• where did our Greenroof go?

So that's where we left Neal... quite possibly scratching his head and muttering.
We'd love to know what you think - please leave a comment!

Visiting the architect's own home

During her lightning visit to Tasmania (ostensibly to choose a builder), Neal-the-architect also showed Viktoria around his own home (which, naturally, he had designed himself).
You can see on the JAWS website some photos taken of Neal's home during its construction here - although it's obviously in a far more advanced state of completion now than shown in these pictures.  And the photos really don't do it justice - it's quite a wonderful space to be in, with a logical sense of movement and pause, openness and enclosure.
Although it's constructed of robust materials (predominately bluestone block work and concrete) the curvilinear walls and integration of the bush setting lend the building a lightness and very human softness.
Viktoria cannot thank Neal and his family enough for making her feel so welcomed into their private home, and for the delicious barbecued Tasmanian salmon steaks we had for dinner. Mmmmmmm....
Actually, Viktoria ate like a king when she was there (yes, when Viktoria becomes king, even women will be allowed to be king).
If you are ever in the Hobart area and feeling hungry, we recommend stopping at Fish Frenzy at Elizabeth Street Pier, and trying the self-titled "Fish Frenzy" - a selection of blue-eye trevally, calamari and scallops with a generous serving of hot chips, wrapped up in a paper cone. It will feed one very hungry person, or two not-so-hungry people for AU $17.

The "Fish Frenzy" at Fish Frenzy

You can see from the reflection in the water in the photo above how beautiful and clear the weather was while she was there.
Viktoria stayed at Gattonside Heritage Accommodation in Battery Point which offered very reasonable winter rates - and was in very convenient walking distance to everything from the JAWS offices to Salamanca Markets and numerous coffee shops (as well as being in the beautiful historic Battery Point itself).


Gattonside in winter

Sadly, it will probably be some time before either Viktoria or the Android can return...

How to choose a builder

As mentioned earlier in this blog, the whole purpose of Viktoria making the lightning round-trip to Tasmania last week was to meet with, and hopefully choose, a builder. Neal-the-architect recommended that we get a builder involved in the project earlier on, due to the remote location and type of build.
As neither Viktoria nor the Android knew of any builders in Tasmania, Neal had short-listed three builders who were happy (or crazy enough) to agree to building on our site. This was a hugely wonderful thing for him to do, as a lot of the due diligence had already been carried out by the time Viktoria sat down with them. Again, we are running out of words to express our gratitude for all Neal has done.
Viktoria and the Android researched the three builders as much as possible from three States and a large stretch of water away, and decided that, much like choosing an architect, choosing a builder largely came down to who Viktoria thought she could get along with. And, as it would most likely be Viktoria and not the Android that the builder would be dealing with, it would also need to be the person that Viktoria thought would best be able to get along with her.

TIP: After researching previous projects & company history, choosing a builder is much like choosing an architect - it comes down to who you think you will be able to get along with when things go wrong.

Neal arranged for Viktoria and the builders to attend the JAWSarchitects offices in Battery Point. Donning his best "impartial mediator" guise, Neal would attend while Viktoria attempted to channel the universe to provide her with insight enough to make the correct decision.
Over two days, Viktoria met the builders, made lots of notes, and kept the Android updated. However, we knew it wasn't going to be a quick process, and we would have to sit down together before a decision was made. The process was drawn out because the Android had band rehearsals, Viktoria had to visit relatives, and both of us had to work.
Eventually, after many cups of tea and disjointed discussion, we picked Michael Lane from Cordwell Lane Building Pty Ltd, because:

• they had done a lot of block work before
• they had their own joiners
• they had their own glaziers
• they had worked on remote sites before

Viktoria also liked that Michael started thinking about how a revolving bookcase-secret doorway could be built, and didn't just make clever remarks about it.
So Corwell Lane Building it is. We have put together some pics of a few of their previous builds for you...

Cargo Bar; Paul Kelly Interior Design; Cordwell Lane Building

Basement; Preston Lane Architects; Cordwell Lane Building

Mt Pleasant addition; Cordwell Lane Building

Shearers' Quarters; John Wardle Architects; Cordwell Lane Building

The next things we need to do are:

• the Android needs to sort out getting the electricity connected to the site
• Viktoria will arrange for the geotec who did the initial soil tests to contact Neal to organise for some further testing on the final site
• we will collate our feedback on the second round of sketch designs for Neal (we will put these in the next post)
• Neal will arrange for the structural engineer to provide us with an idea of timing and costing for creating a rough driveway to the site

And that is where we are currently up to. When we have gathered our collective thoughts together, we will let you know how the house design is progressing and will post the latest sketch designs.

Visiting the house site with the architect

Viktoria has been to and returned from her whirlwind trip to Tasmania, during which she visited the new house site, met three builders, went to a French wine tasting, got sung at by a fellow guest at the B&B she stayed at, managed to run late for seemingly every engagement and ate some marvellous food.
First... the site visit (more on the other bits later).
Tasmania had turned on absolutely glorious weather, rendering most of the cold-weather clothing Viktoria had packed fairly useless. Which is partly the reason why a trip to the bush saw Viktoria attired in stockings, a black lace-and-boucle dress and calf-length Victorian knickers... and partly because one must never substitute practicality for sartorial excellence...
Between meetings, Neal-the-architect drove Viktoria out to the house site in the Huon Valley. While Viktoria was mentally congratulating herself for her forethought in bringing a pair of sneakers (the red suede platform heels she had started the day in could have been a little dangerous in the mud) Neal-the-architect deemed said sneakers unworthy, and thoughtfully provided her with a sturdy pair of wellingtons in which to march through the undergrowth.
Two things became rapidly obvious... firstly, Neal-the-architect is at least a foot taller than Viktoria and secondly, those sturdy wellingtons were about two sizes too big. So while Neal easily stepped over moss-covered fallen trees and waded through knee-high bracken, Viktoria rapidly lost ground to him as she followed with all the poise and grace of a new-born gazelle on roller-skates. Which also makes her sound like a completely ungrateful snot.
But we digress.
The following photos are taken relative to the position of the 'reference gum' noted on the site survey below. The 'reference gum' is about 50m from the road, and about 40m from the edge of the cliff (where the survey lines stop).

This first pic was taken standing around the middle of the site - the reference gum is the one in the centre of the image in the distance. This is roughly where the top level of the house (where the carport is likely to be) will be situated.

For this next photo, Viktoria turned 180 degrees - showing the position of the future-carport, looking up to the road. It was partially taken as evidence that the sun did in fact shine on the block, and once the undergrowth is cleared will actually be quite pleasant.

Having battled \the undergrowth to the edge of the cliff, this next pic shows the view back up the site from near the cliff to the reference gum (which is the tree in mid-image with the dark hollow near the base).

And finally, here is a rather blurry image of the cliff itself. The rock structure was one of three in close proximity to each other - they were about 10m in diameter, easily 20-30m high and almost perfectly cylindrical - looking like some Atlantian columns that had been forced from the depths.

Apart from a startled pademelon and twittering birds, the only sound was the rush of the waterfall in the distance. And Viktoria swearing as she stepped out of her wellington for the hundredth time.

Next we'll let you know how we went with choosing a builder, but for the time being we would appreciate hearing what you think.

Oh, and the feline hoard are all returned to health with Miss Daintyfeet and Captain Greatpants both back on deck (to the scarcely disguised disappointment of Mistress Surly).

Giving feedback to the architect

In relation to Neal-the-Architect's request for feedback on his initial designs (reproduced in our last post) a, Viktoria and the Android sat down with their crayons and their thinking caps, and this is the feedback we provided to him...

Hi Neal

As promised the committee has had many conversations, sometimes involving coloured pencils, about the floorplans etc and have put our collective heads together with some feedback.

Basically, the general consensus is that we are overall very happy with it:

• we love the interaction of the lines of the structure with landscape, and think it makes a very interesting and inspiring space to move through
• we love the stairs descending into the landscape, and are quite ok with the fact that it's not covered
• we also love the light garden

But because Viktoria is super-cautious and wants to make sure everything will fit, she has drawn your sketch onto graph paper, and filled it with furniture of equivalent size to that which we own. We make no apologies for its complete lack of architectural or graphic merit. Making a big assumption that Viktoria has interpreted the scale of your drawings correctly, attached is a picture of the scale floorplan with furniture added. From doing that exercise, we came up with some feedback / ideas / conversations. 

Essentially, what we discussed was:

1. Entry - we have seen several 'cold climate' houses that have a kind of "entry portal" (or airlock, if it was a spaceship) where you can leave coats, muddy boots. We looked at bringing the entry forward to have a small enclosed 'porch' before the main door.
2. This would mean that the coat storage could be removed, and instead the office desk & computer could be located in its space (it is highly likely that Viktoria at least will still be working , albeit remotely, and will need an office space which needs to be separate from her studio).
3. The pantry, kitchen/dining and living areas are fine the way they are
4. Viktoria's studio - doesn't really 'work' as a rectangle. I need a 'zone' with a desk where I do my design work, and another 'zone' where I can do painting. While I may not have as much sexy equipment as the Android, this is actually what I plan to be doing full-time when we move, so this space is pretty important to me.... I just don't take up as much room as the Android. We thought a solution may be that, because we aren't so prudish that the loo needs to be separate, we have moved the loo into the bathroom, included the ex-loo area into Viktoria's studio so that the studio is a letter "L" shape, and enclosed the former entry passage to the toilet so that it becomes storage for Viktoria's studio. Which means that the entry to Viktoria's studio will need to be through the wall that faces into the kitchen / dining. And Viktoria will be much happier .
5. The slightly crazy but "yes we really are serious" idea of having a secret entry into Viktoria's room through a bookcase (like in an old English stately home) we think will probably need to be discussed, rather than attempt an explanation via email...
6. The bathroom & light garden remain unchanged (except that the bathroom / laundry now has a loo, and there will need to be a cat door into the light garden).  
7. Now this is where all the changes actually come in.... neither of us were completely comfortable with having the Android's studio being next to our bedroom because:
• even with sound-proofing Viktoria can still hear him
• he gets sick of Viktoria whining about it being 3am and when is he going to turn the noise off
• it's a fair distance for him to have to cart equipment (potentially through rain & snow) if he is playing live
8. So, our initial thoughts at how this might be addressed were that the Android's studio is moved up onto the same level as the carport - this way he doesn't have to carry his equipment very far; and it doesn't have to be carried through the rain or snow; and Viktoria won't whinge at him (as much)
9. The space which was the Android's studio becomes the guest bedroom
10. the wardrobe space is made bigger (taking over some of the floor space from the now guest bedroom)
11. the main bedroom stays where it is but with a bigger wardrobe

Of course, all this means that we have just increased the footprint by 16m2, and also the cost.

And we have no idea whether it is feasible/workable and/or destroys the integrity of your design.

We just didn't want to come back to you and say "this doesn't work for us, fix it" and not at least have some suggestions (which either help or hinder)!

Similarly, if we have completely wrecked your design with all of the above, feel free to tell us off, complain bitterly about how difficult we are, and then do something different

We look forward to catching up with you.

Neal had a better suggestion of having the guest bedroom in place of the Android's music studio, but raise the music studio so that it is on top of the guest bedroom.
And he was quite comfortable with Viktoria's desire to have a pivoting bookcase "doorway" into her studio. You really know you have picked the right person when they don't baulk at increasingly nutty suggestions.
When we have some revised drawings, we will post them for you to see.
In the meantime, next week Viktoria is commandeering the shuttle to go down to Tasmania to (a) catch up with Neal and (b) meet with three builders (courtesy of Neal again) to see if any of them are just mad enough to take on our project...