Santiago High School Craftsman Project by Sergey Varlitskiy (In Progress)

[smartserge_19]

I have this craftsman house that I am working on. I was wondering if you had any suggestions to improve the detail of the house. My front is ok, because I have been working on it mostly, but my back is not so good. What kind of detail - windows, doors, etc. could make it look good?

[Scott D Davis]

I would like to see a patio cover on the back of the house that is craftsman style. That will help to break up the large flat plane.

[Brian Myers]

While this may be a function of your development of the model in your CAD program, I believe your model really lacks the craftsman level of detail.

Here are some sites to look at for reference:
http://architecture.about.com/library/bl-bungalow.htm
http://www.craftsmanperspective.com/index.html
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~twp/architecture/craftsman/

Craftsman style has a level of symmetry (not symmetrical, but each part blends well with its other parts) and has appropriate trim and materials. Your front elevation feels forced, as if you designed a typical 2 story siding building and tried to add craftsman details to it instead of designing a craftsman with contemporary detailing.

Why does the front door come out from the front facade? The windows seem rather small for the facade, but perhaps not (they can be appropriate for a craftsman)... why did you choose those sizes? The deck and sliding doors are very forced... you should re-think it's design and likely bring it away from the front porch roof (these links show it handled much better, even if the situations are different: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~twp/architecture/craftsman/crafts1010023.JPG
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~twp/architecture/newphotos_june06/P5290063web.JPG )

In short... the key to designing a craftsman home is to design a craftsman and give it modern elements, don't design a modern home and give it craftsman elements. So decide on how you basically want your home to look (on the exterior via sketches) then arrange your floor plan appropriately for the style. Then adjust your elevation based on your plan proportions. You need to think of the design as a whole when designing and not just decide on an interesting plan and "force" a style that doesn't fit it onto the elevation. I realize you are in High School, so I won't be too hard on you or expect perfection in your design, but it feels as if you've been asked to design a home without understanding what the design process is.

1.) Look at craftsmen plans...
2.) Look at how the elevations reflect the proportions of the plans.
3.) Sketch out a very basic room arrangement... this could simply be bubble diagrams showing each space next to each other, only roughly to a scale.
4.) Now sketch out a craftsman elevation with big enough "areas" to appropriately hold each of these room "bubble diagram" spaces. Keep in your mind the Craftsmen details like shown in the pictures/pages linked above.
5.) Work the elevations and plans slowly blending the styling and function of the plan and elevations together. Designing a successful plan is give and take. The floor plan will reflect the elevations and the elevations will reflect the floor plans. Right now you are trying to make your elevations fit your floor plans instead of flexing your floor plans to mold and accommodate themselves to good craftsman design.

I hope this gives you something to think about and feel free to post and ask more questions... good design is a process and it takes a while to do it well, asking those more experienced is a good first step! A good hard critique of your design makes you a better designer and you'll get that both in college and in the workplace.

Also, and while this can be rather easily fixed, you have a drainage situation with your front porch roof draining into the side of your building (where the garage/second floor of your building comes out). Yes, the roof can be built up there for drainage, but there might be a better design solution available.

[dsk]

If you can get to Pasadena, California, visit the Gamble House by Greene and Greene. The house is open to the public with docent lead tours of the interior.

Web site:

http://www.gamblehouse.org/

[smartserge_19]

Thank you gentleman for your insights into the improvement of my house. I will look into your suggestions and post up new pictures as soon as I improve my house. By the way, any other suggestions and information you can give me, is always appreciated. Thanks again for your comments and check back in a few weeks for some updates on the pictures.

[reaper656]

if it were my house, i would like to see some windows on the rear second floor.

[smartserge_19]

The pictures at the top, have been updated on 12/19/06. I would appricient some more suggestions and comments to improve my house.

[.chad]

looks nice =)

something that will be helpful with the design process for all of these projects, is to always keep old versions of files, old copies of a rendering, keep that scrap of trace paper. it provides a good way to evaluate yourself, and allows others to see changes and help to follow the thought process of the design. without that point of reference, a reviewer can really only evalute these images as they stand - instead of being able to comment on areas that have improved, areas that may have been missed, or even regressed some. i can clearly see that there is alot of improvement - but i dont remember enough of the initial project to really know what has changed or how it has changed.

the process of design isnt a straight line, but is a very layered, overlapping, criss-crossing path that will frequently lead you to a conclusion you made in the begining, but were unsure of, or unable to validate and justify at that time. by being able to see where you have been, you will get a much more accurate image of where you need to go.

[Brian Myers]

It's starting to get better, I'm glad you removed the front balcony. 8)

A few minor suggestions:

1.) Your garage floor should be sloped as well as have at least a 4" step down into it from the house. Looking at your design it looks like it is on the same level as your front door.

2.) You still have a drainage issue at the front porch you'll need to overcome by building up the roof or some other feature. It can be done rather easily, but I wanted to point it out as you would have water leaking into your house as is.

3. You may be limited by your window styles (but I doubt it since you are working in Revit) yet I would suggest finding a common window style and sticking with it. (Similar sizes, same number of mullions, etc.) They currently are an eclectic blend that need to be more uniform to achieve the look and style you wish to achieve. Yes, picking the right blend of windows can really enhance your design.

4.) If possible, try to align your windows up a bit more in the rear of the building. Yes, it isn't always possible, but if a continuity is possible without hurting the overall design then you should do it. Also related to this, the long set of windows on the rear of the building (upper right from the rear view) needs to be shortened up. It's currently close enough to the edge to either provide structural difficulty or to just give that corner a weak feeling as you view it. The same thing goes for your garage door, it really should be roughly 2' away from the corner of the house for structural reasons.

All in all you are starting to understand it. Your material selections are getting better and you can tell you are starting to put some thought into it. Keep it up, you are heading in the right direction. 8)

[smartserge_19]

Hey guys, I want to thank you for your comments and suggestions. I appreciate it all. I have one request though ... can you also look into the following people ... they are students who I am working with, I am sure they would also appreciate your comments.

Some of them, have barely even one comment, so if you could take some time and answer their questions, that would help us out a lot. Here is the link to where we have our homes posted.

http://forums.augi.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&f=22&page=1&pp=20&sort=lastpost&order=desc&daysprune=-1

Everyone in class chose one of the following styles: Craftsman, Tuscan, Spanish, or Prairie.

Thanks again for everything.

[smartserge_19]

This is the latest update to my house. It was done 1-11-07. I've done a lot of improvements to my house.My question now is ... how can i fix 1) The roof in the front so that water doesn't leak into the house and so that it would look good. 2) break up the flat line on the backside of my house. Can you give me some suggestions?

[bill0246]

I don't see pictures????

[luigi]

He is updating his first posts...so his January 11 post is referring to the updated 1st post on January 11....




I don't see pictures????

[Brian Myers]

This is the latest update to my house. It was done 1-11-07. I've done a lot of improvements to my house.My question now is ... how can i fix 1) The roof in the front so that water doesn't leak into the house and so that it would look good. 2) break up the flat line on the backside of my house. Can you give me some suggestions?

Sorry for taking so long to respond... I just noticed this forum had been updated.

1) In general terms, you can create a triangular piece of roof that slope down and away from the house. As a result, this triangular shape creates a valley on the roof and drains the water away from the house (keeps it from standing or pooling against the building) and down the valley away from the side of your structure. It doesn't always look great, but it would be small and likely difficult to see on this structure. Another way would be to move your roof away from the building itself (on the right hand side) by about a foot.

2.) Have you thought of decks, covered porches, bay windows, or interesting window designs? Depth and use of shadows (may they be exterior or interior) are great for adding interest to a facade.

[smartserge_19]

Here is an update of my house. Sorry, I thought you could only put pictures on your first post and then only update them from there. I just recently found out that that's not true, so here are the pictures now.

[smartserge_19]

Hey Brian,

Its ok ... I know how things get so busy, thanks for the info and suggestions. I just have one question. How would I go about creating that triangular piece in the corner?

[Brian Myers]

Hey Brian,

Its ok ... I know how things get so busy, thanks for the info and suggestions. I just have one question. How would I go about creating that triangular piece in the corner?

That's a great question!

Its important to remember with Revit that its what I call a "representational" program. In other words, as long as it conveys your design ideas it doesn't need to be 100% perfect. In the case of the model I attached, it obviously doesn't show the flashing (metal strips) that would actually be against the house to keep the water from coming in and it might not come down to a "perfect" point at the end of the roof. But, it comes very close and is neatly enough drawn to definately and accurately reflect the design intent.

I created it by creating another roof. While it may look like a triangle at first (if your view the attached file in Revit 9.1) you can see it actually has 4 sides (also this can be seen in attached picture2)... just the last side is very small. It's this side that I created a rood pitch for. Feel free to adjust the roof pitch to make it look the way you want... in this case making it not quite as wide as what I've shown may be fine as well, it was just a quick sketch to give you an understanding of how it works. Oh, also I would advise to use a "thinner" roof for this triangle than what you are using for your other roofs. It will make it easier to blend into your other roof and look nice.

Hope this helps some!