colonial times

our next project involves the analysis of vernacular architecture (architecture built by the people at its very beginnings). Being assigned "Cold Climate" vernacular architecture i chose to research and analyze colonial houses of new england. going back to the vernacular architecture of colonial times takes me to the saltbox homes and the cape cod type housing. these homes were simple in their designs and reflected the people way of life at that time. no rooms were established that were not absolutely necessary and privacy was a luxury and very scarce. much of the designs were to temper the harsh new england weather. sloped roofs to minimize snow build up and to counter the wind, north facing windows were absent to keep in as much warm air, and a central fireplace was the only means for heat and light at night time.

from my overall research i need to ultimately boil my analysis down to one specific building. which building i will choose i am not sure yet, but i will ultimately be designing a building program to fit this cultural identity. as for right now i need to provide 4 presentation boards: 3 for my cultural/vernacular analysis, and one board for an abstract expression that conveys the cultures internal spirit. what that means exactly i will need to clarify, so for now i am focusing on laying out my boards in a concise manner to express, once again, only the main ideas of my analysis. this project will be due next wednesday and from then i will be given a building program which i am very excited for.

final design proposal for robie house

my final critique for the addition project was due yesterday and i must say that i did not disappoint the jurors to say the least. my addition was a subtle notion that rested right above the entryway to the house. i added a library/studio/patio space that was hardly 3 distinct rooms but rather one large space. i felt that the house did not need a MASSIVE addition like many of the other projects tried to do because the house was already a huge success (not to mention the lot did not really allow for a large expansion).

the one thing i think made me stand out from a lot of people in the eyes of the jurors (since they were our studio instructors) was the amount of evolution that occurred on my project from wednesday to friday. the instructors held a preliminary pin up on monday and gave us till friday for our final design proposals. i tweaked a few ideas but was pretty much set until i talked with my instructor on wednesday and he made a few comments that really challenged my ideas. for this reason i realized that what i previously had designed did not work well with the house so i took a chance and decided to change my design. i ended up staying up the entire night on thursday to get all of this done but it came out great and im really happy that i took the chance


for my final design i received such comments as "this is a very nice gesture above the entryway" and "the whole composition of the piece to the house is a beautiful one."however it wasnt just these comments and the jurors approvals that made my design a success but the whole project itself made me learn a ton! it simply taught me the process in designing. sketching/researching/model making. these are all part of the process and although i had done them before i never really knew why i was doing them. learning this process is going to guide me into future projects in school and in the real world when i work on actual designs so i cannot say enough how much this project helped improve my skills as an architect.

also, a lot was learned on presenting information. i learned a lot about synthesizing all my information and only showing the most important aspects of my analysis. i did so much research on the house and looked at it from all angles, whether it was researching the architect or looking at the wind patterns of the site, i looked at every aspect. so although i researched all of this i knew i didnt need to show all of it on my presentation. i simply showcased the main aspects that influenced the design of my addition.


-preliminary addition design



-quick perspective sketch of first design



-idea for materials to be used



-white model of house and its 60' x 180' site lot (3/32"= 1'-0")




-basswood model of the addition hanging over the entryway (1/8" = 1'-0")



-final board for part A. highly refined from previous boards to simply show the main points of my analysis



-final board for part B. my layout matches part A so that a comparison and correlation can be easily defined



-rendering of the addition. this one drawing shows the section, position, and floor plan of the addition.

taste of my newest design

i changed my design to reflect the building a little more and i believe it is still just as successful in enhancing the entryway which is one of the main aspects i am trying to accomplish

change of plans

my project has taken another turn in the design process and i have actually changed my mind on my addition. i have altered the design of the addition and upon a mediocre critique i am altering the layout of my boards. i need to recreate my boards for the original case study analysis along with the new boards for my addition. i've spent many hours trying to figure out which material was best to provide on my boards and i feel that i now have a good understanding of what will be presented. on top of the boards, i need to build a basswood model as well. i already have a foam core model of the entire house and its lot so for the basswood model i am going to increase the scale and focus on the entryway where i will be placing my addition. this way i can really show the relationship with the addition to its immediate parts of the original house. luckily our due date got changed to this friday so ill have a little extra time but it doesnt help that i have two midterms tomorrow!

little taste of whats to come

here's a quick snapshot of the new addition i designed onto the robie house.