A client came to me asking for a house concept.
After talking to him he said he had had another architect prepare a concept, but for whatever reason he came to me.
I looked at the other architect’s concept. It was plans and 3D images of the proposed house. It took me quite a while to understand the house layout. I didn’t understand the rationale behind it.
The site was a rear site, meaning accessed down a right of way. You entered the site proper from the north. Oblong in shape, the site ran north-south. It sloped down from west to the east.
I started with a site analysis. What was good and what was not so good about the site.
The north-eastern corner had a lovely long view across the valley. There was a very close and overlooking neighbour halfway down the eastern boundary, the southern neighbour was a block of sausage flats, and the western neighbour was a lovely big, matured gardened house.
I then developed sections through the site and added the planning rules which provided me with a building envelope within which I could build, without neighbour’s involvement.
Next, I considered several options for the garaging, a critical decision. Garage in the middle of the house with a long driveway down the eastern boundary, garage on the north with house behind, maybe a covered connection to the house. This pushed the house way back on the site and lost the northeastern view, replacing it with a view of the back of the garage. Finally, garage at the north with the main living areas above.
Now the swimming pool location. Initially I looked at the northeastern corner, exposed to sun and that view. This complicated the garage below and was quite exposed to wind and neighbours. The pool in the backyard with a pool house. No outlook and a long way to carry food for a barbecue. I realised because of the site’s slope, a couple of steps down from the living level and I was at ground level on the west boundary. The location would enjoy privacy and sun.
I talked the client through these options and why I ended up with the proposed layout. Open-plan living with the view above the garage, western outdoor entertainment overlooking the pool. As the boundary angled, we could have the master bedroom on the eastern side with a northern view and screened from the eastern neighbour.
The client said he now understood why the layout had developed.
I never gave him 3D images of the house as these will come later from the logical plan. There will be a lot more work to get the plan and image working together but the big issues are resolved. I also admit we may have very preliminary thumbnail sketches of possible image at this stage, but we don’t show the client.
The point is maximising the benefits of the site while minimising the bad using plan and section and not start the project with an image into which you force the house. Let the site suggest the solution.
Plan and section, not image.
paul@leuschkekahn.co.nz | 021 894 895 | leuschkekahn.co.nz
