archi-update

A few randomish tidbits:

We hired a landscape architect! We found a dude who does modern drought-tolerant landscaping and whose ”service stream” fits our needs at this point (we need a master plan so we can build in any electrical/hardscape needs into the house build, not a commitment to do it all at once). We met him at the lot and spent an hour talking about our yard program. He hopes to get us a draft for review late next week.

The electrical plan progresses! Tidbits include:
 - moved washer-dryer to western wall (thanks Devon!).
 - ixnayed cable in the garage and kitchen (thanks Peter!).
 - added cable to the mega-pantry for a centrally located wifi station.
 - decided to run land lines: gives later owners options on phone and data.
 - need to research how to hide plugs under cabinets/shelves.
 - and various other stuff too detaily to mention.

Dealt with ceiling height issue! The architects originally wanted eight-foot-tall ceilings in the two-story volume of the house and ten-foot-tall ceilings in the single story volumes. The bride didn’t want a kitchen with 8-footers (I agree, but she's adamant), so we bumped the first-story ceiling heights to 9 feet. However, while working on where the ductwork would go, the architects ran into a problem on getting the ductwork to transition from the two-story volume to the ”Usonian wing” (dining-living-entry) of the house. One option was exposed ductwork in the Usonian Wing, but the bride is not a fan of exposed ductwork (not sure how I felt about it, but she felt strongly, so I didn't have to explore my feelings...). Another solution was having the first floor at the same height throughout. Then the question was: 9-feet or 10-feet ceiling heights? Niners strike us as too low, but tenners were going to require more steps to the second floor (which meant a slight redesign and greater cost overall cost) and potential issues with McMansion (i.e. height restrictions). 

The final solution? Keep everything the way it is but lower the ceiling in the dining room to 9 feet to get the ducts jumped over to the roof trusses in the living room. This keeps everything else the way it is yet allows for some ceiling height changes to add interest to the space. And it’s not unusual to lower the ceiling in the dining area anyway to make it cozier.

Mondrianization of the living room window! Architect 2d mentioned that they’ll soon send over the window design a la Mondrian for the living room (can you say: Neoplastic!).

That’s all for now. Carry on.


[photo by mwah; Waco, Texas]