Inspired design embraces site's uniqueness

A home and the land it sits upon are inextricably joined in a marriage that can be as fulfilling as it can be fruitless.

Designers and architects understand this connection and make site planning the first order of B business when designing a new home.

Be it a rolling pasture or a precipitous cliff, every house is joined to a site that should directly inform its massing and layout. The unique characteristics of a property are essential cues in the formation of a design and should be seen as opportunities to embrace rather than obstacles to overcome.

Many of the finest examples of residential architecture are inspired responses to distinct qualities of a unique site. Arthur Erickson's Smith Residence built in West Vancouver in 1964 boldly bridges two granite outcroppings that, to a less gifted designer, might have been seen as a hindrance rather than an inspiration.

Supported on huge fir beams that bridge between the two outcroppings, the fully glazed living room floats above the surrounding landscape and spans the courtyard entry below. It's a masterpiece of residential design, revealed by the challenges of a demanding site rather than in spite of one.

I was approached recently by a couple wanting to build a new home on a small, steeply sloping site, facing the ocean. The 25-foot-wide and 100-foot-long site was distinctive enough because of its tiny footprint but the fact that it dropped almost 60 feet over its length (imagine a doubles tennis court tilted at 45 degrees and you get the picture of the site) made the property truly unique. The clients wished to create a small, efficiently designed home that would capture expansive views to the ocean while still maintaining a sense of privacy from directly adjacent neighbouring properties.

The unique site profoundly shaped the design of the building with its mass sliding down the steep site and terminating in a dramatic cantilever extending out into space to the ocean. Large openings facing the water mixed with strategically located horizontal windows on the sides of the house provide a stunning panoramic view while still shielding views to adjacent properties.

The main living spaces feel like they're floating above the ocean, fully capturing the surrounding beauty, while still maintaining a strong sense of privacy. What at first glance looked like an impossibly difficult site to work with proved, in the end, to be the catalyst for a distinct building expression.

Looking for the essential "CUES" from your site is an easy acronym to remember when approaching site design:

• Capture views and sun. Layout your house to best utilize view corridors and sun. Don't build your house on the sunny spot of your lot but rather adjacent to it. Try to maximize those south facing outdoor spaces. Look to bringing that winter sun into the house while keeping the summer rays at bay.

• What's Unique about your property? It might be a cliff, a view or a just a big, bright yard but this special feature can play an important role in the design of your house. Embrace this uniqueness and treat it as an inspiration rather than an obstacle.

• Understand the Essence of the site. Try to work with the site rather than force something on it. The placement of structures, roads, gardens and outdoor areas should enhance the site rather than take from it.

• Be Strategic in the placement of your house and the landscaping. Use the building itself to screen unwanted views and create private zones. Be creative with your landscaping. It too can work as an effective tool to separate public and private areas.

Dream home nightmare

Photograph by: NEWS photo, Cindy Goodman

Spending the Christmas holidays in a cabin, snowbound with friends, is the ideal way to unwind and relax, allowing one to take stock from the year passed and make plans for the year ahead.

Setting aside the stresses of daily life for a time is the raison d'être of a holiday retreat after all, but not for close friends of mine.

Their dream of building a cabin on the slopes of an Okanagan ski resort was realized a couple years back as they eagerly anticipated years of fun and relaxation in their newly built winter retreat. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

They undertook their construction project the right way. They hired a reputable designer to help them with their plans, they submitted drawings to the municipal authorities as required and they hired a seemingly competent builder to construct and oversee their project until completion.

As most folks do - and should do - my friends depended heavily on the competence and professionalism of the builder to see the construction of their home done right. Their builder was strong on the charismatic end and was very good at selling his services but, as it played out, had little else to offer.

As the project moved through construction my friends would discover that the original budget issued to them by their builder was simply a low-ball guess rather than a considered estimate, and by the end of the project would see it grow to double the original amount.

Sadly, the problems didn't end there. This particular builder didn't follow the construction documents issued to him and simply omitted or 'forgot' features as he saw fit. The plan was altered, a dumb-waiter was forgotten and the wine cellar was included in the in-floor radiant heating system (it's currently being heated and cooled simultaneously to achieve its required temperature).

Fundamental construction details were botched as well. The main roof drainpipe, which runs down the centre of the house, wasn't buried deep enough at grade and consequently was affected sub-zero temperatures. Water in the pipe would freeze and create a dam, backing up drain water onto the roof, creating ice dams and roof leaks. The problem got so bad that the ice poured over the face of the house and worked itself into the exterior walls.

There are scores of other issues with the house (too many to discuss here) but the definitive proof that this builder was the classic "cowboy" was in the detailing of the roof supports.

The three-storey building has exterior columns that support the roof structure above and intermediate decks between. The columns run from roof to grade, one atop the other, transferring the considerable load of a snow-covered, flat-roof to the foundation below. It was discovered that the columns at the intermediate levels were not continuous but rather sat atop a layer of half-inch plywood at deck level with no blocking or structure below to transfer the load to the column beneath it.

This scenario is as sobering as it is scary, creating the potential for structural failure of catastrophic proportion. This wasn't a simple omission either. It would be discovered that this detail was standard for this builder on a number of similar projects.

Fortunately for my friends they're covered under the National Home Warranty service and their construction issues are being rectified, but the project and its problems are a wake-up call. Where was the designer in the building process? Where were the inspectors? Where was the structural engineer? There are many questions still unanswered but at its basics, there was an individual overseeing the construction of this project that was in no position to do so.

Rumour has it that this fellow is still working but I suspect this latest fiasco will put his construction career to rest (there are a total of five projects on the hill with similar issues created by the same fellow).

In stark contrast to builder above, the qualified builder or general contractor is a professional who takes an architect's and designer's conceptual ideas and makes them into a built reality. They'll have a track record of successful built projects to their name and a list of happy clients to back up their claims. They'll never start a job without first signing a contract and they'll always carry the necessary liability insurance and worker's compensation coverage to protect their client and themselves. Through it all, the builder will assume complete responsibility for the contracted work and will provide a full warranty for it when it's done.

I encourage anyone embarking on a construction project to do their homework and find an experienced and reputable builder to work with. Do this and one will have the peace of mind at the start of their project that their job will be done right, on time and on budget.

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Homes provide a necessary retreat from outside world

There’s something about Christmas that brings out a desire for security and retreat like no other.

It could be the shorter days and cooler temperatures or maybe just the spirit of the season but the idea of being nestled around a cozy fire enjoying the company of family and friends has an almost irresistible draw at this time of year.

What's being touched on here - this desire - is our instinct for security and retreat in our lives. Our homes, in a most fundamental way, embody this need by creating a physical shelter that affords us protection and security from the outside environment while providing an equally important psychological disconnect from that world as well.

Think about it: kids hide away in tree houses, secure in their position of height, revelling in the feeling of being the untouched observer while us adults race for that cosy corner seat in the local cafe to anonymously observe the drama of daily life acted out before us. We all have this desire within us.

Your home may be your castle in a metaphorical sense but few of us want it to feel like a fortress. A well designed home will provide opportunities for its occupants to capture a sense of security and shelter while still enjoying a private association to something beyond.

Frank Lloyd Wright understood this intrinsic human need and provided for it in many of his earlier Chicago homes. By raising the place of retreat from the area it overlooked, Wright was able to increase the feeling of physical separation while enhancing the sense of private association. Primary living spaces would be located on the second floor in order to separate them from the street below and deeply set, low-walled patios would afford views to the street while still maintaining a sense of visual privacy to the occupants within.

In a design for a new home recently constructed in West Vancouver I created a covered porch that fully captured a view to a sunny, south-facing front yard and the ocean beyond while still providing the residents a sense of privacy from a busy street adjacent. By placing the patio above street level, enclosing it on the street side with a low wall and providing a fully glazed railing to the garden I was able to create a space that allowed the residents to move about the patio and overlook the world outside without being observed from the street below.

Human beings like to visually participate in the world around them while being situated in a place of perceived psychological security. The well-designed home is not only a creative response to the corporeal requirements of physical safety and security of its inhabitants but also an answer to their psychological needs as well.

Know your building codes, bylaws

For those of you who've had the pleasure of dealing with a municipality regarding zoning and building code requirements, you've no doubt discovered what a frustrating and confusing experience it can be.

Photograph by: Cindy Goodman, North Shore News

One will often find themselves wading through a quagmire of limits and boundaries that appear, at first glance, to exist simply to confuse and restrict the process but a closer look will reveal a far more coherent explanation.

In a descriptive broad stroke, zoning requirements are unique to a given municipality and are the means by which that community can control and shape the development that takes place within its jurisdiction. Building code requirements work on a provincial and national level and are created to control design, construction and material use in the building process based on health and safety standards.

Understanding the regulations that govern a given site is an essential first step for anyone embarking on a residential project on that property, no matter how small.

In general terms, building code requirements are set in stone. They're the law. Building code requirements need to be met or you don't move forward. Truth be told, there is a means to argue unclear building code requirements if what's being proposed meets the intent of the specific contravened code regulation but arguing such a point is a long and difficult process and is not something one would normally do. For the average homeowner, assume code requirements to be unchangeable. Zoning requirements are a little less succinct.

Every district and municipality has their own set of zoning requirements. Something allowed in the District of West Vancouver might not be allowed in the City of North Vancouver, or vice versa. Be it commercial, multi-family or single family residential, a particular piece of land will be governed by zoning regulations that define its place within a community plan. These regulations dictate the size, shape and location of the building on its site in order to ensure that what's being proposed is in keeping with its context. By setting restrictions on fundamentals such as setbacks from property lines, maximum building heights and permissible built areas, zoning bylaws quickly define what can and cannot be built.

Zoning bylaws are there to shape a community in a positive, predetermined way. On occasion, these bylaws move beyond being reasonable rules and thwart the best and most sensible design solutions. Unlike with building code requirements, one has recourse. Through a variance application process an individual can plead a grievance before a building committee and if their case is deemed justified, the contravening design will be allowed. The key for success in a variance process is for the appellant to successfully demonstrate that undue hardship would be caused by the application of the zoning bylaw requirement.

Here are a few key zoning regulations a homeowner may need to address before embarking on a building project:

Setbacks define buffer zones around the edge of a property in which a building is not permitted. Most bylaws allow certain elements of structure like overhangs and chimneys to protrude into the setback but not always. Accessory buildings such as garages and storage sheds are generally permitted within the main building setbacks but fall under their own individual requirements.

The height of your home is calculated differently within every zoning district. Some measure from average grade height while others measure from the highest façade up. For sloped roofs, maximum heights might be taken to ridgeline or to the median height of ridge and roof spring line. Regardless, this is something that should be established from the outset otherwise the repercussions could be disastrous.

The floor space ratio, or FSR, dictates the maximum amount of floor area permitted on a given site. It includes all floors but often has exceptions for areas below grade. The calculation process can vary widely between municipalities.

If you have intentions of undertaking a residential project, big or small, drop into your local planning authority and get a full explanation of what building code and zoning regulations might affect you.

Parallax brings dynamism to design

It was my final project review in second-year architecture at McGill University and a guest critic commented on my nice use of parallax in my project.

It's always an uncomfortable moment when you've done something you had no intention of doing but, because it was evidently a good thing, I accepted the praise, feigned an understanding of the word and quickly directed the topic to something else.

I went home that evening and looked up the definition of the word so the next time I employed parallax I knew I was doing it.

Parallax is defined as "an apparent change in the position of an object resulting from a change in position of the observer." Imagine sitting on a moving train and how objects in the foreground move across your field of vision much faster than those in the background, with distant mountains appearing stationary while utility poles clip by in a blur. The relative movement of these disparate visual elements created by the movement of you on the train is parallax.

Parallax is an interesting occurrence that may seem a little esoteric at first - in an architectural sense anyhow - but is a dynamic in design that if correctly used can bring a space to life.

Older homes with lots of enclosed rooms connected by corridors don't afford the observer much, if any, sense of parallax. Views are confined and opportunities are few.

But in more open layouts where enclosing walls have been removed (partly or completely), where columns, stairs or millwork begin to define living spaces, one will find that parallax becomes a discernible component of the design. Various elements within the plan will move relative to one another and their backgrounds, creating a sense of movement within the space.

Frank Lloyd Wright intuitively understood the dynamic nature of parallax and enhanced its quality by incorporating a hexagonal grid in the layout of a number of his homes. The oblique angles of the walls and components provided wonderful opportunities for diagonal views through the homes and increased the sense of movement between elements.

The concept of a diagonal view is important when thinking about parallax. Diagonal views are used in both film and theatre to add energy to a scene, and can be used in combination with parallax - as seen in Frank Lloyd Wright's work - to create dynamic architectural spaces as well. The perceived size of a rectilinear space will always seem bigger looking across the diagonal and the illusion can be used in a layout to make a modest space feel larger.

Understanding and utilizing the phenomenon of parallax in design is a wonderful way of bringing energy to a space.

Demystify the building process

Building a new home or undertaking a major renovation is likely among the most financially daunting tasks the average homeowner will ever face.

In most cases, the homeowner has never been involved with a large-scale construction project before and is unsure what to expect from the designer or architect or how the whole process works.

Photograph by: Mike Wakefield, North Shore News

The design and construction of a new home or renovation is divided into five distinct phases: Schematic design, design development, construction documentation, bidding and negotiation and contract administration.

Schematic design is the fuzzy beginning of a project. This is the time when the design professional obtains whatever they can from the client to help shape the dream. A scrapbook of favourite images and a detailed wish-list are very important to this end, but so too is an understanding of the personality of the particular client.

This is the less obvious aspect of the designer or architect's job but is one that can't be overlooked. Are the clients organized by nature or should the architecture assist to this end? Are the homeowners private and reserved or are they the natural life of the party?

Getting in tune with the more subtle habits of the client is very important early on and can play an important role in shaping the design.

Once collected, the information is digested and design begins. Like a painter putting their first strokes to the canvas, this is the exploratory stage of the project. It's the time to consider the larger ideas of overall form and relationship rather than fret about detail. There's little point in worrying about

where to put the fridge if you haven't decided where to put the kitchen.

By the end of schematic design the homeowner can expect rough floor plans with sketchy elevations and a loose 3D building form. The wish-list will have been addressed in addition to other dynamics such as siting, sun orientation and zoning. One will have a sense on what the home will look like but won't feel inhibited to make changes. If the design concept is met with approval the designer will move forward into design development.

Design development is exactly as it suggests, taking the schematic design and developing it further. Like a sculptor who's mocked up a rough form in clay, the design professional or architect now begins to shape in detail the different components of the work. A structural engineer will have been brought in by this point and their input will begin to inform the design. The schematic sketches will likely have made it to the computer by this point but a sketch pad and 3D software remains close at hand as countless details will need resolving.

This can be a very time-consuming phase as the magnification of focus brings ever more issues to the fore. It's very important at this stage not to lose sight of the original concept first developed in schematic design. By the end of the design development phase, the schematic design drawings will have become a set of very readable plans, elevations and models, with the client becoming perfectly clear on what their finished product will look like.

If the work of design development meets with the homeowner's approval the design professional will be given the green light to move into the construction documentation phase of the building process.

In this phase the designer or architect takes on the role of construction expert, transforming the artistic concepts generated in schematic design and design development into a set of technical construction documents that can be submitted for a building permit and used by general contractor to build the home from.

The original planning strategies and design concepts are put to the test as they are detailed with an eye to their technical robustness and structural integrity. New issues will come to light, details will be massaged and ideas will be tested. The designer will need to keep a sharp eye on the original design concept, always aware of the tendency to be pulled off track by the onslaught of technical considerations. An active dialogue between the designer and the engineer will be going on throughout the construction documentation process as the final structural design is completed.

At the end of the construction document phase the homeowner will be presented with a set of technical construction documents sufficient in detail to obtain a building permit and to undertake the construction of their home.

A set of construction documents for a home will include dimensioned plans, elevations, sections and large-scale construction details, and will typically also contain reflected ceiling plans (to clarify ceiling shape and form and to locate lights and other ceiling elements), millwork drawings (detailed drawings of built-in cabinetry), interior elevations, specifications and finish schedules.

Once the construction documents are submitted for permit, the process moves into the bidding and negotiation phase. On larger projects this is typically referred to as a call to tender, where invited builders are issued a tender package and are asked to bid on the project.

For residential projects it works a little differently, as builders rarely commit to a fixed fee for a project, preferring instead to work to a cost-plus arrangement. A builder will submit an estimated cost to complete the project and will add on a management fee at the end - the fee running typically somewhere between 10-15 per cent of the total construction cost. I will often ask for the management fee to be fixed to offset the perception that it would be profitable for the builder to have the overall budget creep higher.

During the bidding and negotiation phase the design professional will answer questions and clarify details to help facilitate the process. They will help select a builder, review the contract between the owner and builder and they will ensure that a reasonable construction schedule is in place and that insurance policies are in order.

Once a contract has been awarded, the building process enters the contract administration phase. During this phase the designer or architect will make routine visits to the construction site to ensure the general conformance of work with the contract documents. They will review and process claims for payment from the builder and will certify that payment reflects work done. They will be available to respond to questions as they occur and will issue site instructions as required.

As the project nears completion the design professional will carry out a substantial performance review and issue a substantial performance certificate.

The final certificate of payment is issued upon the completion of all deficiency work by the builder. A 12-month warranty review is typically carried out by the designer one year after the date of substantial completion.

Understanding the five phases of design and construction takes the mystery out of the process and provides the homeowner with clearer expectations as to what to expect from their design professional.