DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

WHAT MIGHT GENERATE A DESIGN LIKE THIS?

Planning regulations, building regulations, Rescode are technical documents to be complied with but they don’t generate a design. Design is about much, much more than regulations. Our beginning point is why.

Why are we doing this?

Our purpose is to create a beautiful, complete, relaxing living environment that is a delight to live in and to return to each day. A place where you can recharge. A place that is filled with natural light and feels close to nature.

TO ACHIEVE THIS WHAT MIGHT BE SOME DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS TO REFLECT UPON?

Possibility

The possibility of creating a dwelling that is both beautiful, practical and durable.

Character

Why are so many of our dwellings bland and lifeless? Dwellings are not a mechanical apparatus, they are not “machines for living in”. A dwelling is an ensemble of rooms of all sorts of characters. How do you design a dwelling with rooms of various characters as was done in the past? Rooms from the expansive and lofty to the cosy and intimate, some elevated and some grounded, each with different roles in your life.

Passing beyond

Design is about working with what you have to create something beyond the possible. Being able to clearly see inherent possibilities without preconception and prejudice. Being open to the possibilities of the situation and the moment and avoiding prescriptive ways of solving problems. Adapting to your preferences and the exact conditions of the place to create satisfying, practical, safe and attractive environments. Allowing for a far richer environment than through imposing preconceived ideas.

Character of place

That each place has a unique character and that this character is its design opportunity.

Wonder

The possibility of creating magic. Creating a journey that is filled with the unexpected.

Motion

That a dwelling is about movement. That its spaces can unfold through a process of entry, public spaces and the very private, each with different natures.

Light

Natural light illuminates us and creates delight. Light from above can be used to regulate spaces and mood and track the passage of the day.

Elevation

That a dwelling can have rooms on the ground with gardens and elevated rooms with vistas of distance. One is about the earth, the other the sky. Each with different and complementary characters.

THE DESIGN

A dwelling is not a floor plan. It exists in three dimensions as a form enclosing space that you inhabit. Resolving this design began with asking “How might I” and then developing a form that:

• Accommodated the brief and the spaces required
• Worked within the heritage design guidelines
• Does not overshadow adjoining private open spaces
• Allows views of distance and close scenery
• Surrounds a private garden
• Embraces Fels park whilst maintaining privacy
• Opens to the sun as it passes from sunrise to sunset
• Develops in response to the historic form of the existing house
• Is filled with natural light from above

As with all of our work this design form was resolved using 3D carboard models

Buildings exist in three dimensions not two, so this design was developed and resolved using a combination of drawings and carboard models. Models permit the rapid adjustment and refinement of the form with a certainty that a drawing or computer representation does not permit. When a model looks and feels right you know that the real building and spaces will work. With a model you can also study how natural light will work within the internal spaces.

Why is the building this shape?

In this urban setting we wanted to create a design that revolved around a courtyard garden with verandahs that the spaces could open onto. A design with first floor distant views and a balcony onto the park. And most importantly to “borrow” views of the beautiful trees in the park to make them part of the design of the internal spaces. But, with an existing dwelling like this in a heritage zone you don’t have a blank canvas to work on.

The Rescode and heritage design constraints on such a small property are very tight. Initially it looked like this was going to be an almost impossible design problem to resolve. How to create the required first floor spaces and still have an attractive ground floor courtyard garden on the south side of the house?

Any new first floor had to be set well back from the street and well away from private open space on properties to the south and the east to avoid casting shadows onto them. How to get enough floor space up there? On a small site like this there was also a danger of the new first floor rooms overpowering and overshadowing the new ground floor courtyard garden and verandah. This garden is vital to the ground floor spaces which all open onto it.

Like solving a Rubik’s cube puzzle the new first floor spaces were positioned, adjusted and pared back until finally everything fitted. The internal planning of the ground and first floors worked. The first-floor park balcony was realised and eventually the council planners and heritage consultants were satisfied.