Some of the light fittings...

We are trying to get as many products sourced locally in Tasmania as we can. Some, however, we will have to get shipped from the mainland or from overseas.
Following on from the two day workshop at the JAWS Architects Office, these are the light fittings we can confirm will be going into the house, and which we know we can get from a local lighting supplier Casa Monde:
In the bathroom...the light fittings for the basins couldn't be obtained by Casa Monde, but we could get the heater:


IXL Tastic Neo Heater Exhaust in Silver

 Then in the Living Room areas we have:

Brilliant Galaxy 54" Timber Fan in Antique Bronze with timber blades

There is also a lot of LED strip lighting throughout the house, particularly in the Living & Kitchen.
In Viktoria's Studio, the main light is:

Emac & Lawton Brassiere Overhead Lamp in Rust

 And in her window-seat, reading area there will be a small wall lamp:

Emac & Lawton Seattle Spot Light in Antique Silver

 For the main bedroom, there is again some feature LED strip lighting, as well as a wall reading light:

Emac & Lawton Lincoln wall sconce in Antique Silver

 And to circulate hot air downwards, or to cool us on those rare balmy nights, there is also a ceiling fan in the bedroom:

Hunter Pacific Aurora II in burnt copper (not pictured) with black blades

And so we can see what the cats are up to at night time, in the cat garden there is some low wall lighting:

Oriel Lighting Konis Tex LED wall light in Graphite

 All down the concrete hallway, we have these wall lights (Australian made too!):


Robert Kitto Magill wall light in antique bronze

And the final (confirmed) fittings are the exterior sensor flood lights (which look like they actually come with laser weaponry...)

Crompton Lighting LED Sensor Floodlight

We did have a front door light picked out, but Viktoria has decided that most entry lights (that operate on sensors) are fairly uninspiring and/or ugly. So we may have to go down the route of picking out an exterior light we like, then rigging it to a separate sensor (which we were trying to avoid).
Sadly, we have been having a few dramas with the access stairs to the mezzanine... it has been a very frustrating & drawn out process, thus deserving of its own entry... but at the moment it's been a bit too exhausting to put on page.
Suffice to say, the end result is that it looks like we have lost our mezzanine, because the Building Surveyor would not sign off of the access stairs (unless we were to make them a completely unmanageable size for the dimensions of the room). But more on that later.
And more also on the rest of the fixtures we have agreed too... and soon some drawings from the architects showing some of the interior details.
Early 2014... we should begin to build....
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Choosing house fixtures & fittings... and lots to do

Who's been really really slack at updating their blog? Could it be us???
Things are still going along, with hopes to have the Building Application submitted before Christmas.
Building Surveyor, Nigel Grice, managed to get some sort of commitment from the local Council that we would not be held responsible for upgrading the access road. We're sure he thought we were quite batty persisting with this as we did, but it's hard to shake off that mainland paranoia that comes from dealing with regulatory & legal bodies every day (as Viktoria currently does).
Council have confirmed (in writing) that the road leading to our property is a “Council formed Road”; therefore in accordance with the Building Code of Australia it would not be considered a “private access road” and there is no obligation for us to upgrade it to meet the requirements of the Bushfire Management Plan.
In addition, Viktoria has recently returned from (yet another) lightning trip to Tasmania, where two days work shopping the fixtures, fittings & electrical layout were spent at the JAWS offices. Contrary to popular opinion, this was actually quite stress-free and fun (for Viktoria, at least, though she may have left a few architects twitching at the mention of her name). 
A lengthy wish list has been left with a local Tasmanian lighting supplier, Peter at Casa Monde. We would like to use Tasmanian companies as much as possible, but there are a few...ummm... odd items on the list which he may not be able to source. Once we have it firmed up, we'll post some pictures of some of our "star performers". Hopefully we won't have to shop anywhere else.
Viktoria also has a bit of drawing to do, as we are hoping to integrate a "disintegrating" pattern into part of the block work (based quite ludicrously on a ceramics exhibit... but we're sure it can work on a [much] larger scale... with completely different materials... anyway, Neal-the-Architect build a scale model and it worked there).
In the meantime, all the hard and technical work around plumbing, structure, power, etc have been left with Neal-the-Architect and Catherine-the-Architect.
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Development Application... Approved!!

It's been a while since our last post, but we blame Viktoria...she started in a new role at her workplace which has occupied most of her brain, leaving very little to do other things (like update this blog) with.
However... the good news is that yes, we have Development Approval!
Naturally (as we have discovered with many things on this journey), this wasn't a simple, straight-forward process.
Within a week of submitting the Development Application, we received a letter from Huon Valley Council requesting further information.
To quote from their letter, Council requested:

"An amended site plan that shows the dimensions of the available sight distance from the vehicular access point in accordance with Clause 5.1.2. Please note that where available site distance is restricted by variable horizontal or vertical road alignment or vegetation the dimensions provided should be supported by photographic or contour information."

Given that our one neighbour who would actually pass by our driveway isn't really 'high traffic', and we could probably hear them coming, Council's request was a little perplexing.
A plaintiff cry-out to Neal-the-Architect assured us that this was frustratingly normal. Donning his cape and superhero outfit, Neal went out to the site that afternoon to take the photos and resubmit the amended drawings.


Looking north from the access point



Looking southwest from the access point (car is 44.0 metres away)

Within the week, we had that magical piece of paper from Council which said that our application was approved.
Of course, this doesn't mean that we can start building... first we have to get Building approval from the Council as well.
To get one of those we need to:

1. submit detailed construction plans to an accredited building surveyor who will issue a Certificate of Likely Compliance

The Certificate of Likely Compliance indicates that the proposed work:

• is likely to comply with the Act, Regulations and the Building Code of Australia (BCA)
• has adequate fire protection measures put in place
• is capable of receiving adequate light and ventilation
• is properly provided with sanitary facilities
• provides for the safety of users inside buildings
• Meets all requirements of the Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) (if required)

    2.  the detailed plans include:

• site plan
• floor plan
• elevations
• frame plan
• footings / piers / slab plan
• sections
• bracing
• plumbing and drainage plan
• internal
• external
• stormwater
• water tank location

    3. the footing and roofing plans need to be designed / stamped and certified by an engineer
    4. and there needs to be an Energy Assessment
    5. and because we are not on town water, we need a Special Pluming Permit

Viktoria and the Android need to coordinate their collective brains to finalise the wish list of fittings & fixtures for both the interior and exterior so that the detailed plans can be finalised (who knew there were so many toilets from which to choose?).
That requires a separate entry ...
But, because nothing goes smoothly, before any of the above can happen, we need to first get confirmation from Council that we won't be held personally accountable for the cost of upgrading the road to comply with the new building code (bushfire regulations).
That cost would simply be beyond us. If we don't get clarification, we may be in the position that we have built, but cannot get Occupancy Certification until we pay for the road to be fixed. And we don't have that kind of money (in any dimension or universe). Which would mean we would have to sell and try to start our lives again somewhere else...
So once again, we have left this in the hands of Neal-the-Architect, with the hope that we can continue on our journey, and not have to reconsider which direction we are heading.
As it is Armistice Day tomorrow, we will buy some poppies to support the returned soldiers, and try to keep things in perspective.
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Tips for engaging other consultants when building a house...

When it comes to designing a house, the most obvious specialist to consult is the architect.
As omnipotent as an architect is, however, there are some things that even they cannot do. This is where you will need to engage the services of other specialist consultants. Depending on your project, this could include a geotechnical engineer (for soil and site evaluation), a waste-water management engineer (if you aren't connected to mains sewerage), or a structural engineer (for designing the footings).
For our project, we engaged the geotechical engineer directly (because we had soil tests performed before we found an architect), but for the other consultants, our architect recommended firms or practitioners with whom he had worked before.
Now this will sound pretty obvious... but if you engage any specialist consultant, you should also get a quote and be clear on what you require before they do the work.
Not rocket science, you might think.
But when you are swept up in having to get things done within a particular time frame, and especially when communication is happening between you and the consultant via a third party (ie your architect) it is doubly, no triply, important to make sure you know what you are agreeing to, and how much it is going to cost.
If you have been following our journey, you would be aware of our ongoing driveway saga, as we try to reconcile the need to meet certain legislative requirements with the fact that our (increasingly expensive) driveway is going to be way more engineered that the actual access road to our property itself.
You would also know that we submitted the Development Application to Huon Valley Council on 20th September, and that part of that application included said monolithic driveway designs.
Now we had already agreed for the engineer to perform work on the driveway designs, and had agreed to an estimated cost of around $1,000. However, when the bill arrived ... it was in excess of $7,000.
Yes, you read that correctly. $7,000.
The engineer had to redraw some plans to satisfy the Development Application but didn't advise us that an additional charge would be involved and/or seek our approval for that additional charge. So our delay in updating this blog has been because we have been trying to sort out the account as amicably as possible with the engineer.
The long version of the story is that it caused us a lot of stress, involved the Department of Fair Trading, and at one stage had the engineer threatening to withdraw the designs from Council.
(Oh, and it turned out that we had already paid a significant portion of the $7,000... for which they were attempting to charge us a second time).
The short version is that it is now sorted, without us having to resort to medication to maintain our sanity.

TIP: Even if you have a quote, always check what is excluded. And if there is more work to be done, always check that this will be included in the quote.

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Indoor Cat Garden Design

One aspect of our house design which is a bit unique (and a lot self-indulgent) is that it has an indoor garden. But not just any indoor garden. Our indoor garden is principally for the use of our indoor cats.
So when it came to designing what the garden would look like, we had to put a bit of thought into it.
The following three photos formed the basis of what we were thinking of in terms of style...

But because it is a cat garden, it had to be not only cat friendly, but also provide stimulation for the little fuzzies too.
So we had the idea of fusing the above concepts with something resembling a big cat enclosure as seen in the (more reputable) zoos...

So while Viktoria was bed-bound post foot-surgery, she drew the following (using a 0.5mm Pacer pencil, as the Android wouldn't let her play with her willow charcoal in bed). This is what you would see if you were standing outside the house looking in....

...there are some big flat rocks for basking on, a selection of tasty cat-friendly grasses for chewing, and a recycled stump from when we cleared the land for climbing and claw sharpening.

In plan view, it looks a bit like this...





...the perimeter of the garden is paved to allow the human inhabitants an easier way to walk around. And you will be able to see into it from both Viktoria's studio and the kitchen.

As we are closing in on when we need to submit the Building Application, we will continue our metaphorical walk-through of each room to make sure we are happy with the details. As Neal-the-architect didn't recoil in complete horror from Viktoria's dodgy cat-garden sketches, we'll let you know how we get on with the other rooms.

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Development Application has been submitted!

It's official... we have actually submitted the Development Application.
The Huon Valley Council now has up to 42 days to consider our application.
Depending on the outcome, we can then submit the Building Application.
(A very tired and somewhat bewildered) "Yay!"
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Submitting the Planning Application ... nearly....

Neal-the-Architect has been busy busy busy getting the documentation together for the Planning Application. The biggest hurdle has, of course, been the driveway design (which needed to accommodate a turning circle for a fire truck).
But Neal, the engineers and a lot of work seem to have prevailed - we have the Planning documents! There is still the final blessing to be given by the bush fire expert, but given that the new drawings tick everything off his wish-list, that should be only a formality.
Apart from containing lots of engineering-type diagrams, the Planning drawings had some neat 3D images of the house, which we share with you now:


Overhead, looking South - the view seen by the local cockatoos



From the North, looking South - we love the way the glass unfolds the house



From the South, looking North - the side facing potential bush fires

And just because of the trauma that was involved (for Neal, mostly), here are the engineer's drawings proving that a truck can do a 3 point turn in the driveway:

Needless to say, it's actually starting to feel real, and we are very excited. The Android even did a little happy dance when he saw the 3D drawings.
Once again, it has reinforced to us the importance of having a great architect, not only who has the skill to translate your wishes into form, but knows how to negotiate the muddy waters of building documentation, and is someone with whom you can communicate. And although we are constantly being told that the worst is yet to come, we have been very happy with our decisions and the process so far.
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WARNING!!!

GRAPHIC PHOTO!!

DO NOT SCROLL DOWN IF SQUEAMISH

 

 

 

 

 

 

As indicated in an earlier post, Viktoria has returned from her period of confinement following reconstructive surgery on her foot. Nasty bone spurs have been chiseled away, and necrotic cartilage removed. The stitches came out just 4 days ago, and she is well on the mend (though a bit hobbly).

For a photo taken just before the stitches were removed, see below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Life doesn't stop just because you're building a house...

No matter how careful your plans, life sometimes has a habit of spoiling them.

We thought we were fairly well organised with our house-designing / building project, all things considered.

Despite us both working full-time jobs.

Despite attempting to complete a two-A4-page list of jobs to get our current house ready for market.

Despite trying to get a Planning Application ready for a new building three States away.

Yep, just the other day we were saying that really, the process has been quite fun so far.

Unfortunately, Viktoria wasn't really counting on having to get reconstructive surgery on her foot.

But apparently, because she:

1. did ballet for 16 years, or
2. performed an impromptu back flip down a flight of stairs while attempting to do a handstand, or
3. has a stupidly high pain threshold and ignored it, or
4. all of the above, or
5. none of the above

she now needs to get pieces of her bones chiselled off, or risk having to get her foot fused in future.

So very shortly she can look forward to 2 weeks of non-weight-bearing (medical parlance for lying on your back with your foot propped up) activities. Which means that the poor Android will be doing double-time on weekends to work through our home maintenance "To Do" list.

But on the bright side, it does mean Viktoria will have more time to research interesting products / architecture / interiors on the internet... and continue to distract Neal-the-Architect by making a pest of herself.

Now to convince the surgeon that wanting a photograph of the inside of your foot isn't as morbidly crazy as it sounds....

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Planning application...satisfying the bushfire management requirements...

You know how we mentioned we had some queries around the Bushfire Hazard Management & Onsite Wastewater reports? Well, here's the first of those issues...
The Fire Expert has come back and said that unless an 8 metre fire truck can do a three-point-turn so that it can access the fire tanks, then we won't get approval to even submit the application.
Oh, and did we mention that a fire truck would actually only attend at the property if it was a house fire, and not a bush fire? And how what would be the likelihood we will be able to set a concrete house on fire? Even with our dubious culinary skills?
Poor Neal-the-Architect was one fire truck away from opening a vein.
Initially, thought was given to cutting a turning road across from the build site where an old logging trail can still be made out through the undergrowth.
Needless to say, we weren't overly fond of the idea of spending money building another road for the express purpose of allowing a fire truck to turn around on the remotest of occasions.
So we had another look at the Bushfire report.
Here is a clipping from the report. The yellow outline shows the footprint of the house. The red outline shows the extent of land that needs to be cleared in order to satisfy the Fire Expert.

Then we had another look at the site.

Here is a 'photo-montage' Viktoria took on site during her recent trip down to Tassie about a month ago:

As the distance from the edge of the red outline is about 10 metres from the cliff edge, and as we have cleared enough trees, we wondered whether it would be possible to shuffle the house site down towards the cliff those extra 10 metres or so. 

In theory, that should leave heaps of room at the top of the house to landscape a suitable turning circle (in anticipation of a visit from a fire truck). And we are slightly less reluctant to dig around the existing site, than cut down even more trees & excavate somewhere else.

Armed with this, Neal has gone  back into battle.

Meanwhile we have honed our strategy on another front, with an extensive "To Do" list to get our current home ready to go on the market. Little wars will be waged while still working 12 hour days, 5 days a week.

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What exactly is a Planning Application?

**NB The following information relates only to the Huon Valley Council in Tasmania. Before undertaking any building works (or buying land that you intend to develop) Viktoria & the Android strongly recommend that you check with your local Council first.

Someone asked us what the difference was between a Planning Application and a Building Application. So here is our attempt at explaining the difference.
Generally, you will need to submit a Planning Application to the local Council when you are going to undertake a development (like, build a house), or change the use of the land. But you cannot actually start building until you have received approval in relation to your Building Application. And you cannot submit your Building Application until you have planning approval.

"Of course I got Planning Approval!"

As we are building on previously "unimproved" land (that is, land with no houses on it), we need to ensure that what we intend to do with the land (that is, build a house and live on it) fits in with the Planning Scheme in operation in the local area. This is done by the submission to Council of a Planning Application (or as it is often referred to, a Development Application).
In general, Councils tend advise that it's best not to just assume that you don't need to complete a Planning Application before you submit your Building Application... but to check with them first.
So we need to submit the appropriate form to the Council, attach all the supporting documents, and pay the relevant fees.
The supporting documents to be submitted with the Planning Application may include (but are not limited to):

• an explanatory cover letter which provides detail regarding the building plans and intended use of the property
• a copy of the Certificate of Title, together with any Schedule of Easements (if applicable)
• three copies of the plans including a (a) site plan showing the proposed building with all boundary setbacks, (b) floor plans, (c) the building elevations and (d) the extent of the site works (that is, any cut and fill, retaining walls, trees to be felled etc)
• (if necessary) a Site and Soil Evaluation and System Design if the property isn't connected to the mains sewer
• (if necessary) a Bushfire Hazard Management Plan
• (if necessary) a statement from a qualified person that the land is not vulnerable to instability

On receipt of our Planning Application, the local Council has up to 42 days (unless they ask for additional information, which can extend the time frame) in which to decide that our application is:

1. Exempt or Permitted as of Right - which means the development doesn't need planning approval and we can go straight to the building approval process
2. Permitted - a planning permit is granted, but it may have conditions imposed, like the need to have a bushfire hazard management plan
3. Discretionary - the planning application requires public consultation, where other individuals can comment to Council in favour or against the proposed development, which can then be approved or refused on the basis of feedback
4. Prohibited - what it sounds like...the development won't be allowed

And if you're not already convinced, here's another good reason to engage an architect...they help in getting all the documentation for submission of the Planning Application and Building Application to Council.
As we mentioned previously, we have a couple of queries in relation to the Bushfire and Waste Management reports which we have put to Neal-the-Architect...it would be a safe bet to wager that he knows way more about these things than us. We'll let you know how we go.
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Yet another trip to the southern lands...

One of the benefits of time travel is that you can make lightening-fast trips interstate, and be back before you even realise you've gone.
That's how Viktoria ended up spending a week in Tasmania recently.
But not with the Android; with her mother (yes, apparently someone does claim earthly responsibility for bringing Viktoria into this world).
Viktoria and Mother were able to do some wonderfully 'touristy' things - like climb the Tahune Airwalk in the Huon Valley (conveniently designed by JAWS Architects), visit MONA (the Museum of Old & New Art - which was amazing), stroll through the Salamanca Markets, catch up with friends and generally eat & drink a lot.
But of course, the main reason for the trip was to visit Neal-the-Architect. This was mainly to confirm the position of the rainwater & fire tanks, the septic tank & trenches, the redesign of the driveway and where we could site the shipping container. All these necessary (but not so exciting things) are required for submitting the Development Application to Council. But it was also nice to just catch up with him face-to-face.

TIP: The terms "Development Application" and "Planning Application" seem to be used interchangeably in architect parlance.

The JAWS office was very busy, so it was lovely that everyone took the time out for us, including Luke who took Viktoria & Mother on a 3D fly-through of the design which was really exciting.

And although Viktoria was mainly there to deal with the (relatively) boring aspects of water tank positions,  much to Neal's frustration, Viktoria still managed to distract everyone talking with Michael-the-Builder about the "look and feel" of the house. Like this picture of the 'pallette' that Viktoria and the Android have decided they want for the kitchen....

 ...or the feature light that we would like included somewhere (in addition to the LED lights which will be the main lighting)....

We also managed to make a few more "tweaks" to the plan - and yes, it is much easier to discuss a picture when you are in the same room as someone... but we think we've managed pretty well so far. So we have changed the bathroom a bit to have the basins on either side of the doorway, like this...

 ...and the bath will be a sunken concrete bath which will be built in situ when the slab is laid...

After catching up with Michael-the-Builder (who was unfazed by our stair-book-chrysalis), Neal drove Viktoria and Mother out to the site.
Viktoria had warned Neal that, after meeting Mother, he would understand why Viktoria is like she is. In mock disgust, Mother announced that she would not say a single word, so that Neal would know Viktoria was really a terribly disrespectful child.
That plan lasted right up until Mother asked Neal whether he had goblins in the trunk of his car...(those 'goblins' turned out to be a pair of gumboots and a bottle of wine).
Unsurprisingly, a cleared building site is a rather depressing, muddy, wasteland. And even though there were pegs in the ground, it was difficult to really visualise the size or layout of our future home as there wasn't much around by way of reference.
Now back in Queensland, Viktoria & the Android have had the chance to read through the "Bushfire Management Plan" and "Onsite Waste Water Management Plan"... two other documents required to submit the Development Application under Tasmanian law.
These reports have raised a number of questions (to which we are hoping Neal has the answers) which we will probably have to address before the Application can be submitted. We've left our concerns in Neal's capable hands, and will let you know where we go to from here, as soon as we know which direction we are pointed...
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Bookcase / stairs / mezzanine issue - solved!

If you have been following our journey, you would recall that one of the sad "first world problems" encountered in designing our house was the issue of how to access the floor-to-ceiling bookcase and be able to access the mezzanine in the living room.
The initial plan was for a rolling ladder, but as the mezzanine is likely to be for guest use, we wanted something a bit more accessible (for the older guest) to use.


Side view of living area with previous "rolling" ladder
along bookcase to mezzanine

It was over coffee and chocolate cake with friends recently that a very exciting opportunity presented itself.
These particular friends collectively form DavisThomas - a rather talented sculptural ensemble. To view some of their public commissions, just click davisthomas HERE.
Viktoria was secretly planning on asking Adrian (Davis) to maybe perhaps design something for the grounds once the build was complete, but on listening to her whine about the bookcase/stair/mezzanine design challenge, Adrian said he would like to have a go at it if we were interested. We couldn't say "yes" fast enough, as we have both always loved his work. And of course we wanted to pay him (though the cheeky creature is charging "mate's rates").
Several design sessions and even more coffee later, behold! Our bespoke staircase-book-thing (from the wonderfully warped mind of A.D) demonstrating what can happen when you ask a sculptor to design a bookcase and/or set of stairs for you:

View from kitchen through to back wall of living room

View (if you could see through the back wall) showing spiral stairs though bookcase

View from floating over the ceiling of the living room



View from standing outside looking through glass sliding doors

The clever boy has solved our storage and access issues, managed to maintain the floorspace, and given us a crazy-awesome chrysalis in the corner of our living room.
The plan is for it to be laser cut (and AD will weld the stairs) and flat-packed for shipping down with all our belongings, so that it can be installed after the main build is complete.
We were really conscious that we didn't want to upset Neal-the-architect by bringing someone onto the project without his input, but Neal was very gracious (as always) - and probably resigned to the fact that this committee at least, was bound at some point to run off and do something odd.
In the meantime, the less interesting but more important work around getting the Bush Fire Management Plan and Onsite Waste Water Management Plans completed and signed off has been progressing. Viktoria has feedback on the draft Bush Fire Management Plan which she needs to give to Neal (but email has been conspiring against her and she cannot seem to forward anything to JAWS). She will resort to faxing the reports this coming week.
Slowly but surely we are creeping ever closer to submitting the Development Application...
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Musings on our role as an architect's client ...

When Viktoria was a child, there was a new house built near where she lived. For some reason, she would rather cross the road than walk past it. Whereas a 1950's bungalow a few doors down, complete with faded tyre-swans and pastel mint paint, exuded a simple happiness from its fibro roof to its kitch iron gate.
Is a building's 'personality' formed like a collage from the lives of previous residents, or is something within the fabric of the structure itself?
When a building is abandoned, a sadness bleeds through. A longing for the passage of footsteps in halls, voices in rooms.

As we undertake this journey, we have been reflecting on the role each person plays in bringing our own particular building into existence. Especially, what is the real role of the client... of us?
The architect is the scientist-alchemist who samples the DNA of the landscape, translates the cuneiform of the environment. Blending and extracting the wishes of the client.
The builders, plumbers, electricians, carpenters and block layers assemble the skeleton, adding flesh. Pipes and conduits form arteries and intestines.
And what is the role of the client, the resident?
We think our role only truly comes into being once everyone else has parted... with Frankensteinean spark, we think it's our role to bring the building to life.
To make the house, our home.
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In memory of Russell Maggs

Russell Brian Maggs

6 Oct 1961 - 19 May 2013

"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." ― Hunter S Thompson, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas

The first design dilemma... the only way is up...

Further to the feedback we provided previously to the architects on the latest designs, we had (whilst not exactly a stroke of genius) a thought at least regarding an option for how we might be able to get up to the mezzanine / ceiling height library. Viktoria attempted to scribble her ideas to help explain...

Given that we have no idea what the Australian Building Code says about the minimum diameter of these things, we're not even sure it would take up less room than a traditional staircase...

Some random pictures of spiral staircases & mezzanine access

Fiona-the-architect had planned for a large sliding ladder to access the bookshelves and provide access to the mezzanine, as shown in the following plan:

Plan showing ladder access to shelving & mezzanine

While a sliding ladder would take up less floor space than a spiral staircase, access to mezzanine may be required by less nimble folks than ourselves though, which would make the spiral staircase a ‘safer’ option.  Neal-the-architect also suggested some kind of 'safety cage' on the ladder (stylish, of course). But this presented some other challenges. In random order, here are some of the things we were considering:

·         We both agreed that a plain ladder would not satisfy our safety concerns (particularly in relation to guest access to the mezzanine)

·         We also both agree that having a ladder / stair with a cage-type arrangement (no matter how stylish) will make getting anything up into the mezzanine a royal pain, so we weren’t really keen on the idea

·         The Android likes the idea of the ladder on wheels, which can be moved along the book case and allow access to the mezzanine – however, because we would like the book case to be floor to ceiling height, it would need to be a HUGE ladder or the books near the ceiling won’t be accessible (and there would still be the safety issue as mentioned above)

·         The Android doesn’t like the idea of a spiral staircase because he doesn’t want it to block the high ceiling ‘feel’, nor does he want it to block the view out the big windows

·         Viktoria likes the idea of a spiral staircase with a gangplank at the top of the stairs, which would run along the length of the wall (half way up the bookcase) – and because she can no longer have her revolving bookcase secret door, a spiral staircase would be a small consolation (said with bottom lip poking out)

Hence, the dilemma.  And for two people who are usually in agreement about these sort of things - this is a dilemma indeed!!

So we have handed our dilemma over to Neal-the-Architect to see what he can come up with.

We'll let you know whether we have driven him completely bonkers ...

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Still more feedback to the architect...

Wow... it's been nearly a month since we last posted, which is terribly slack of us.
Lots has actually happened, but not much of it seemed particularly noteworthy... but there have been some more house plan updates which we want to share with you. One of those was, however, that although the revised plans showed the main construction material not as blockwork, we have since crunched some numbers with the architect, and have returned to our original plan of blockwork, but built to the new design.
So bearing all that in mind, here's the feedback we passed onto the architects waaaay back on 29 April 2013....

"The Android & I have finally sat down and gone over the revised plans together. We have a bit of feedback, but overall, we both did a happy dance together when we looked over the plans. We particularly love the mezzanine.

I am now attaching a copy of the floor plan, which has been numbered according to the below musings:



Numbered Floor Plan from 24 April 2013



1.       We played around with some ‘to scale’ furniture for the living room, and don’t think that the current arrangement will really work for us. Mainly, where the desk is cuts our floor width in the living area to under 3 metres (and we won’t be able to sit that close to each other without fighting). So, with out brilliant lack of knowledge about building and engineering, what do you think about having the built-in bookcases along the solid ‘back’ wall (where #1 is), and incorporating a small desk area within that? The desk really only needs to keep a laptop off the floor, so doesn’t need to be that large. We would also like to have room for the TV etc to be ‘housed’ in the bookcase area (ie some of the ‘shelves’ will need to be different shapes). The attached photos kind of demonstrate what I mean & I hope make a bit more sense:

Ugly living room design, but has desk fitted in floor-to-ceiling shelving

More like what we are thinking, but with space for a TV

This one has a mezzanine too!

More like the 'look' that we are after

2.       Can we use the stairs to incorporate more storage too?

Possible 'stair storage' idea

3.       Just out of curiosity…What is this rectangle at #3? And what is the dark rectangle near it? (can you sense our ability to read floor plan diagrams?)

4.       While it saddens me greatly to do this, I think we need to lose the pivoting bookcase-door to Viktoria's studio (#4). I really would love to have one, as you know, but I just don’t think it will work here anymore, and looks a bit more like an afterthought. And if we can have the floor-to-ceiling shelving in the living area, we should get enough bookcase space for my million books there. So if you can incorporate instead a trap door, oubliette, or other eccentricity …. alright, all those things will just have to remain unfulfilled on my wish list L. But along those lines, we thought instead of ‘normal’ doors to the rooms off that corridor (ie bath, bed, Viktoria's studio) we could have sliding doors which would take up less room. Again, here are a million pictures to capture the ‘aesthetic’ we had in mind:

OK, this last one is completely inappropriate – but man it looks cool!!

If you could please let me know what you think, that would be awesome (I hope you don’t mind getting these rambling emails, but we seemed to work well getting the last lot of feedback sorted out together this way)."

And the response from the architects....

"Hi, thanks for the feedback. All is very do-able.

I am a bit sad that we are not incorporating your secret bookshelf, it doesn’t really suit the studio you are right but would be good to incorporate some secret door somewhere.

As for the black rectangles, you don’t have bad plan reading skills, we didn’t note them! The one near the kitchen is your tall storage element which will house fridge, cupboards and potentially storage on the passage side as well. The one between Viktoria's studio and the kitchen is the “cat fun house” which we envisaged as a play structure and cosy space between inside and the external courtyard. We can translate this to some additional storage if you would prefer. Anyway Luke is currently working on the changes and we hope to have them to you in the next few days."

We have since thrown another one of our 'brilliant ideas' at Neal-the-Architect, but as this post is getting a bit on the looooong side, we'll update you all with that a bit later.

We haven't heard tale of Neal beating his head against a wall over our constant input (yet)....

V&A