A Sacred Place in the Well of Imagination

This sketch I share happened when I was thinking alot about sacred places and spaces after I traveled to Jerusalem during the Summer of 1994.  I visited many spaces there which felt like this and somehow it resonates still after all of these years.  Perhaps its the cupping shape of the dome overhead which embraces or its proportion width to height.  I don't know.  But intuitively it feels like a space for contemplation....

Net Zero House Watercolor Sketch, Work on the boards

Watercolor rendering by Stephen M. Frey, AIA

Design Process

I've been working on a house for a friend over the last half year.  Here's a recent watercolor sketch snippet of it. This post focuses on the design process of the watercolor sketch. 

3d Rendering by Bensonwood Homes

3-D to Watercolor

The 3-D perspective massing was built from a basic model from Bensonwood Homes which is collaborating with the owner and I on the project. They built it from the 2-D drawings I had created in AutoCADLT.  I imported it into Sketchup where I used it as an underlay with shade and shadow.   I created a pencil sketch where I embellished the finished materials such as siding, windows, and heavy wood timber framing followed by landscaping around the building showing how it fits generally to the site.  The building is partially about how it is situated in a clearing on a gentle mountain ridge with great views to the West.

Part of the fun of this kind of presentation sketch is creating a sense of heart and soul for the project through the act of rapidly synthesizing by hand site plan information, building orientation, and traditional architectural drawing info.  This avoids excessive computer modeling time noodling around with plantings, topography, contours, and model lighting within the computer.  For me, it's also about bringing the design idea, in this case, a home, to life through the hybrid actions of 3d modeling, hand drawing, and watercolor painting.

After creating the watercolor, then comes scanning the image into Photoshop and adjust the scan to match the liveliness of the watercolor work on paper.  I do this by manipulating contrast and tonality.  You can also touch up the image with color fills which I didn't do to help with shade and shadow.  Once you've scanned the image into the proverbial "box" there's lots you still do.  ....Or not which is the case here.

I'll be creating additional watercolor rendering images in the coming weeks of this project and sharing some of the backstory here.  What do you think about this drawing though?  Any suggestions on areas to improve?  Other techniques I should try?  Tell me about your favorite architectural illustration and why it was successful...or not so favorite.  What do you think about this composition?  Does it convey the idea I was hoping for?  Don't be shy.  I want to continue to learn and cultivate these abilities and compositional strategies. 

Interested in learning more? 

You can find us at www.arocordisdesign.com, the website of our Montpelier, Vermont-based residential architecture firm practice. If you want to contact us there, click on this link. 

#netzero #homedesign #arocordisdesign #vermont #vermontarchitect #architecture

1st photoshop sketch with my Bamboo Pad and Magic Pen

I live in Vermont.  It's a nexus of the slow food movement, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy with Wind and Solar. So I share with you a quick sketch composition with a barn, solar tracker in the foreground and ridge mounted wind turbines in the background.  As many of you know it's a great place to visit and be inspired.  Or if you live here you're likely participating in the conversation about all of this and doing great things!

Thanks to my brother and sister in law for the Bamboo Pad and Magic Pen Christmas present!  Sorry it took so long to get into it.  I think I was a little scared by it.  Seriously!

However I dove in today and boy was it worth it.  As a visualizer and artist among the many hats I wear these days, this tool rocks!  The pen's touch action to the pad was very intuitive with a pretty slick ability to manipulate the Photoshop CS5 menu, tap on various tools, widen brush width on the fly and vary opacity of the brush strokes.  I did this sketch in about 20 mins.  Doing the first part before dinner and the latter after.

The tip is pressure sensitive so the linework can vary whether making lines or erasing / subtracting shading.

One of my favorite things to do with Photoshop is the create various layers of shading and modeling and vary their intensity of opacity and fill to create more variation in visual surface appearance.  I did this here with the background of the Mountains and the foreground gray shades.

Tell me what you think?  Do any readers out there use Bamboo Pens like this?  What do you say!

Sketching the Vernacular of Vermont

A couple of years ago I drew this sketch of a twisting, yawing barn outbuilding in downtown Waitsfield, Right off of the small park by the library. It was a sunny that day but very comfortable sitting under the shade of the maple trees above.

Over time, the building sagged, curving to meet the impress of time. Beguiling asymmetry of the short facade with small square windows and an attic doorway. The roof is tin and reflected the sun intensely.

This was sketching as meditation.

Acre, Israel - Travel Sketches

In the summer of 1994, I also traveled into northern Israel to the coastal city of Acre. It was a former crusader era city in one of its many lifetimes. The jumbled up sketch records the impression of the very confusing but really interesting old city area with minarets, crenelated fortifications, smooth stone streets and aromatic smells of turkish coffee....interconnected Souks or interior narrow shopping streets lit from above with small holes for smoke in the domed roof.

Acre is a city for Sound. The city vibrates with the daily calls to prayer from mosques dotting the city....sounds of the ocean surf, arabic music blaring and amidst the calls of street vendors......

Travel Sketches_Rome

Here's a few memorable sketches from a trip I took to Rome while traveling in the summer of 1991 with fellow graduate school students and instructors from the University of Colorado at Denver, College of Architecture and Planning where I graduated in 1992 with a Master's of Architecture. Examining these early sketches done almost 20 years ago I smile and hope they inspire others young and old alike to dust of the sketch books and passports and get out of dodge.

My current sketchbooks lack drawings and have many words whether from meetings, project observations or notes from conferences. It's encouraging to me see once again how powerful the acts of hand-sketching and synthetic thinking truly are. To inspire creativity and innovation, drawing is an essential act and should not be forgotten amidst our laptops, i-phones, android phones, smart phones and screens in general. Remember we're architects which is a mix of artist, scientist, engineer and anthropologist.... among a few. We must sketch to think!

An Earth Sheltered Net Zero House Sketch, an unbuilt project

An Earth-sheltered Modern Home Design

So often we’re inspired by nature and the earth. Here’s a watercolor, pen, and pencil sketch from years ago where firm principal Stephen M. Frey, AIA explored an earth-sheltered, nature-near home design on a south-facing hillside site with a lifted and separated curving green roof.

On an ideal site, the house would be a two to three-bedroom, two-bath residence with an open and interconnected kitchen, dining, and living space with three distinct zones with a great room feel. It would be a net zero home, a residence that produces the same or more energy than it consumes. We organized key bedrooms on the ends of the rectangular home volume with view windows to the outside.

A nearby garage and or barn space would supplement the home a short distance away. It could supply parking for vehicles, workshop and craft areas, accessory dwelling units, and long-term storage. To complete the integration with exterior design, a vegetable and flower garden would be nearby as well as other landscaping would be installed.  

Highlights of the Home Design and Space Layout:

The living areas front the building volume with easy exterior access to the continuous arbor-covered terrace and ample views of the surroundings. In a later design step, we will study the amount of glazing through energy modeling. Overglazing might cause overheating of the house and having to size up the air-conditioning system at a higher cost and energy use.

Biomorphic Structural System

The wooden glue-lam ribs of the home are akin to bones that spring from the earth! The residence transitions from the solidity and darkness found within the earth to the lightness of a forest canopy along the continuous south-facing porch and terrace area. An overhead wood timber frame arbor with solar control helps minimize summer glare while supplying a place for vines to grow. Timber frame posts and supplemental beams would abound in and out.

Solar Systems and Energy Independence

We imagine photovoltaic ground-mounted solar trackers in a nearby solar orchard a short walk away. They would tie into a nearby independent standalone timber frame structure that houses the whole house battery system and inverters. The building would bring power safely to the semi-underground home.

Daylighting, The Sun, and Nature Near

The south-facing window wall area and short ends would connect to near and far views of the site and beyond. We would tailor the home and site design to frame near and far views with window and door openings.

Dynamic top lighting from skylights and roof monitors activates interior spaces such as bathrooms, kitchens, and internal areas. Overhead, top daylighting from triple-insulated prismatic skylights lights these spaces during the day. At night, architectural LED lighting will highlight the underside of the curving structure. This will bring a day and night difference to the spaces within, activating them in unique ways at each time of day.

The Building Enclosure and Performance

The building enclosure would be super-insulated, suitable for the local climate and building traditions and regional preferences. It would follow at a minimum (R5/R15/R20/R45/R80) for windows, below slabs, walls in below-grade foundation conditions, walls above grade, and the ceiling as recommended by Joe Lstiburek, Ph.D., P. Eng. of Building Science Corporation. Windows of this home would have triple-insulated high-performance glazing with low-e argon-filled units with thermal spacers set within fiberglass and wood frames. Operable awning and casement windows would act in tandem with ceiling-mounted fans to circulate healthy fresh air in warmer times.

We envision the doors as made from fiberglass frames with thermally broken edges. The nature near Green Roof could be extensive or intensive depending on the client’s desires and structural capabilities, cost, care preferences for the plantings, etc. It would help with stormwater management capturing and filtering rainfall. Construction would follow aggressive air-sealing standards to further reduce energy loads by minimizing energy loss through cracks, corners, and joints.

The exterior rain screen siding could be cement-plank, cedar, or metal siding such as metal panels, corrugated metal, or 12-inch ribbed siding. Depending on the preferences of the client, we could mix and match artistically, connecting the home to the earth. Site-harvested flagstone, if available, could enclose lower portions of the exterior walls and site terracing.  

Interior Systems, Mood, and Character

A radiant polished concrete slab with decorative insets would supply heating. Air-air wall-mounted heat pumps would supply cooling and supplemental heating.

We would choose simple and restrained interior finishes, using local milled rough-sawn lumber or, if a client wants a more modern interior design, we will use finished hardwood standing and running trim with a contemporary design. Hand plastering or drywall would complement the interior. The doors and kitchen would have simply rubbed bronze hardware and pulls. Paints would be no or low-volatile organic compounds. (VOC).

Appliances would be high-performance Energy Star models to reduce energy use. We recommend all-electric, but it is important to have backup generators onsite in case of power failures and depletion of any home batteries. With Vermont’s increasingly warmer winters with wet snows damaging power lines, it pays to be prepared for anything and to keep climate resiliency in mind when planning and constructing this home.

Lighting

High-performance LED lighting would like the interior and exterior of this house and its site. We would specify a mix of dimmable low-voltage architectural lighting emphasizing the ceiling and exposed Glue-lam and timber-frame structure, as well as downlights, wall-washers decorative pendant fixtures, and sconces. A thoroughly thought-out lighting design like this would amplify the enjoyment of this home for years to come.

Local Materials

We envision focused areas that would have locally sourced stone areas using Vermont slate, granite, or marble. One could specify soapstone counters for the kitchen and bathroom vanity counters. Another area to plan is to use solar color shades and blinds from nearby manufacturers on the south and west-facing windows to control overheating and glare. We advocate the use of local milled lumber as well.

Next Steps

In our design for this unbuilt Vermont net-zero home, we seek to capture nature’s beauty with our sustainable and artful living mindset. From the curved green roof to renewable energy, and interior and exterior site connections, every detail supports living in harmony with the environment. 

If you’re intrigued, let’s discuss adapting this design or aspects of it to create your dream home. Let’s design and build a place and space that reflects your style and values while honoring Vermont’s landscapes and sustainable living ethos. Contact us to begin this journey! 

You can find us at Arocordis Design, our residential architecture firm's website. Our home studio is located in Montpelier, Vermont. Happy to connect.  

Single Family Home Design Sketch

Overview

Here is a simple one-level plan residential sketch done a while ago which entailed a spirited sketching process.

Notice the solar electric PV's on the south-facing entry roof.  Skylights punctuate interior spaces with dazzling daylight.  An arbor covers a west-facing terrace with great views of surrounding hills.  There's a classic progression from open communal areas to quiet spaces such as bedrooms and home office areas.  

A contemplative garden with morning sun directly connects to the master bedroom.  

The approximately 2,000 sf horizontal design could add a loft or story and a half for additional bedrooms and living spaces upstairs.  A detached garage and garden barn would be a short walk away.  Expressed heavy timber framing in the living area and master bedroom brings in a rugged mountain aesthetic.

Interested in learning more? 

You can find us now at www.arocordisdesign.com, the website of our Montpelier, Vermont-based residential architecture firm practice Arocordis Design. If you want to contact us there, click on this link. 

#netzero #homedesign #arocordisdesign #vermont #vermontarchitect #architecture #climateaction