Gottfried Green

Labels: floorplan, interiors

Click to enlarge.

It is day 3 of the site clearing. Everything that needed to go has gone and the site is being leveled with a swale running along one side of the house closest to the neighbor. The house corners have been pegged (not yet officially) and it seems massive but then when we picture the room walls within it doesn't feel that big at all. It is basically two pods. The main part of the house is the rectangle which is 1600 sf. The square pod is 400 sf. It is marked as storage but we will finish it later into a guest suite/3rd bedroom. I'll have freedom and more knowledge to try to incorporate some of the features of the prefabs and green homes I admire. I'd like to try to keep the square pod off the grid even though it will be connected to the main space through a shared doorway. Haven't quite thought that one through yet. Basically it would have its own water and power sources set up. I want to be able to try some of these systems on a small scale.

Labels: design, Energy, floorplan, siteplan

Our contractor said our house looked like a refrigerator box. I can see where he is coming from. I mentioned that we had considered the container house (here's one someone built in Canada) so this wasn't a far stretch. We placed high operable windows along the bathrooms and kitchen because we are hoping the breeze coming through the glass doors openings along the waterfront will help circulate the hot air through the house and up out of those windows.

Labels: design, floorplan, interiors

The BHG software I've been playing with offers furnishing options to place in the rooms. You can control the measurement exactly of your furniture and make sure everything fits. I've done a few rooms specifically but we don't have a lot of stuff and if we do we'll donate it. One of the things we want to accomplish overall, is to clean house and live with less. I know the bedrooms seems tight but they do open up to the outdoor space as well. We had a revelation that we never spend anytime in our bedrooms except to sleep and change our clothes. So we devoted more sq footage to the areas where we spend most of our time.

Labels: design, floorplan, interiors

The NY Times, offers some info on how to reduce insurance premiums.

"FLORIDA

Vacation homeowners qualify for discounts if they add hurricane protections to their homes, said Teri Johnston, the president of Fair Insurance Rates in Monroe, a consumer advocacy group based in the Florida Keys.

Hurricane shutters and improvements that help strengthen roofs are on the checklist of “hurricane mitigation additions,” or improvements that can shore up a home and trim insurance costs. By taking those measures, Ms. Johnston said, “you can lower premiums by 45 percent” off the highest rates."

They also provide a website, The Institute for Business and Home Safety www.ibhs.org which offers some guidance as to how you can protect your home from all sorts of natural disasters in general. Since our house will be built to the updated building codes and we'll have impact glass a lot of this is already covered for us. We'll be raised and reinforced although nothing is ever hurricane proof of course.

Important to point out about the roof is that it will slope. It will be 8ft high along the kitchen and bathroom side and it will be 10ft where it ends on the other side at the end of the lanai. This should further help the indoor/outdoor feeling as one large space.

Labels: design, floorplan, insurance, weather

These are the second floor plans. One is more accurate but not as clear and one I did on my BHG design software. The second floor is the living area which is made up of indoor and outdoor space that will connected with sliding glass panel doors. When the doors are pushed back the indoor and outdoor rooms will feel like one big open space. Although the house under AC is only 2000 sq ft, the lanai basically extends those inner rooms out another 12ft. The storage space on the side is the future guest room. We weren't really sure how we wanted to do that space and so we'll save a few bucks in the beginning and finish it once we see how it would best with the rest of the house.

Labels: floorplan

Since we were forced to raise the house because of flood elevations, the first floor plan is mainly going to be open spaces that will be used for cars and storage. The flood elevation on the ground is 6ft above sea level. 12ft are required so the house really only needed to be raised 6ft. The thought of course is once the house is raised to raise it enough to make the ground level space usable.

Labels: floorplan

In this new direction of working with the contractor, a draftsman and have an architect sign off on everything for submittal to the Building Dept. I began worrying that I wouldn't have enough of a solid picture of how things would actually look based only on floor plan and elevations. I came across Better Homes and Gardens, Home Designer Pro. It allows a 3D view of your floor plan, you can add furniture, fixtures, landscaping etc. I am also trying to tap into some CAD functions to offer even more insights. So far everything looks like I want it to look but for the sale price plus the rebate, the software was worth the investment.

Labels: design, floorplan, landscaping, software

Since we're off to the UK for Christmas we'll be back in the new year with gusto. We will miss FL and the thought of actually getting this house built. This is the house looking in from the water.

Labels: floorplan

Under the house it will be open except for 2 storage areas. We are not going to pave anything for driveways. We hope to use shell or it may end up remaining grass for a while depending on budget.

Labels: floorplan

This is the basic layout. The great room is split with indoor and open space by a fireplace shooting up through the middle. We hope to make that a feature. Slide away glass doors will close between the 2 spaces when the need arises. The sustainable design of the house allows sunlight to hit the right areas at the right time of the day. The design also caters to breeze patterns, air circulation etc. so we should not need to use AC and heat as often. Click on the picture to make it larger.

Labels: floorplan

This is the view of the other side of the house. The cars will park under the house. Although the scan came through slanted, the house will be straight, we hope.

Labels: floorplan

This is the house from the side looking in on the guest suite. It's actually a third bedroom but it is separate from the rest of the house. I got the idea from the Edison Ford Estates. They had a room off to the side where you had to walk outside onto the porch to get to the room. The large hatched area is the screened open space. The roof on the open space flows together as part of the main roof.

Labels: floorplan

Hopefully those receiving Christmas cards will be reminded to check in on the blog. I know I've not been keeping at it but with the new year will come the resolution to really get back on the blog project. It's not so hard to do as we move forward with getting some building quotes on the project. We should have them in January. 2007 will be a real jump in point of our green building project. This photo is the house as it will appear coming up the drive.

Labels: floorplan

We tried to keep the sq footage low. Right now this falls around 2100 sq ft. With the open air space angled to the point, the house overall is going to be a great mix of indoor and outdoor space.

Labels: floorplan

Our architects, Osborn Sharp Associates, really came through. It was better than we imagined. Some of the hardcore green technology full solar and complete grey water system will be added on down the road but the passive, sustainable design uses the sun, rain and breeze to its advantage and ours. I think it is a good start.

Labels: floorplan