Style

Neither of us considered ourselves huge fans of modern architecture, but we were both fans of Frank Lloyd Wright. My parents were big fans of Mies van der Rohe as well as the arts and crafts movement. My father even made mid-century modern furniture, so looking back I am not surprised we have ended up with a modern house plan.

With Landus’ focus on building science, we had to practice what he was preaching. There are many elements of building science research and best building practices that have driven much of this design decisions.

The Roof

The roof is a large mono pitch roof with a 2/12 pitch. It will consist of Glulam beams, 2″ tongue and groove ceiling 2 layers of rigid foam insulation – hoping for R30. Then there will be a stacking grid of wood strips running vertically to make a drain plane and then running horizontally to serve as purlins for the roof. Finally, the metal roof will be attached and the sides of the “roof sandwich” will be wrapped in the same metal as the roof.

What is important to note: We will not allow for any penetrations through the roof. We will have no chimney (A wood guy with no fireplace???!).  First and foremost, this is a place for us to grow old. It is coming on us fast and furious and we want to have a low maintenance home that is easy to manage. We’ve decided to install an electric fireplace.

Our hope is to remove any chance for water to penetrate the roof.

The roof is key to our design and is swiftly became important to many of our decisions regarding the house and its design.

With a mono pitch roof, we logically put glass across the back facing the lake. Then it became important to define which rooms have a view of the lake. Landus is 6’2″, so tall ceilings were important. A large open Living/Dining/Kitchen has taken up most of the square footage.

The basic H with wings started out symmetrical, but the rooms were way too big. We did not need the space, nor did we need to pay for it. The symmetry is implied and unless you get out your tape measure we hope the size difference in the wings will not be visually noticeable.

The wings include a master bath and laundry on one side and a sunroom on the other. We were going to have a screen porch, but it made sense to call it a sunroom and claim it as a third bedroom in order for the appraiser to locate comparable properties.

Ultimately the house has been refined to 1851 square feet.

elevations

For most of my life, my mother and I would look at and draw house plans. I have always wanted to do this and so has my Mom. I’ve never been more excited about something and yet so sad I cannot share this experience better with my mom.