House Plans - The Great Unveiling

"A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed and in the end must be unmeasurable."
Louis Kahn

It's about time we showed you a bit (okay a lot) of what went into designing our cordwood home.  I'd like to say we saw a set of plans, loved them, and said, "We're going to build that!"

We are learning that building a house is a lot like life itself...it changes over time.  Just like are influenced and changed by what happens to us in life - so the design of the home.  As we learn new things as humans, we try new endeavors - likewise the home design changes as new ideas come.  Sometimes we learn from a mistake or suddenly become aware of something in us that just doesn't fit, we try to move beyond that vise and become someone different - so it is with our journey with this home.

In the beginning we were very much sold on the "round home" idea.  We loved the uniqueness of it.  We liked the fact that it could have a living roof.  We loved the geometry and look.  So we began designing some round home ideas.  But as we progressed we migrated more and more towards a square design.

In all of the home designs we've worked on we knew that the kitchen would be the center of the home. We thought we'd post all of our different plans so you could see the progression. 

In all of the following floor plans you will see a number.  This is the number of the plan.  Remember that there were many sub-plans that went into making the final plan.  We try to give a brief explanation of what thoughts went into each plan.  Click on any one of them to see a larger version.

If you don't want to wade through all of the plans just scroll to the bottom of the post to see the final plan we've decided on.

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Round House #1 - 40' diameter

First Floor

Design considerations: 1st level bedroom, making everything fit

Round House #1 - 40' diameter

Second Floor

Design considerations:  a bedroom for each kid, making the stairs work

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Round House #2 - 40' diameter

First Floor

Design considerations:  square corners instead of pie shaped rooms, more storage

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Round House #3 - 40' diameter

First Floor

Design considerations:  getting the stairs into a space that took up less space - didn't work

Round House #3 - 40' diameter

Second Floor

Design considerations:  pretty much the same as before

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Round House #4 - 40' diameter

First Floor

Design considerations:  adding an entry way, bigger dining area, dedicated storage room, square kitchen

Round House #4 - 40' diameter

Second Floor

Design considerations:  stayed pretty much the same

Round House #4 - 40' diameter

Timber Framing

Just trying to see what the timber framing would look like

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We began to realize that we didn't have the skill sets to build round.  Even though we had visited some round cordwood homes and even had a book on constructing them, the time and effort would create too much of a hurdle for first time home builders.  We started looking into square designs that would maximize footage as well as be a bit more familiar to us as well as those helping us build.

These next homes are called the "Savich".  They get their name from the book "Energy Saving Houses" by the late Alex Wade.  This 1980 publication (on loan to us from a friend) gives some great ideas.  After we decided that the round home wasn't the way we wanted to go we settled in on a home that Mr. Wade designed for Vic and Carolyn Savich.  We liked the look and the general layout of the home...so we started tweaking it.

 original Savich home

Savich #1 - 24'x36'

First Floor

Design considerations:  a bit of a rectangle, stairs in the middle, front porch

 

Savich #1 - 24'x36'

Second Floor

Design considerations:  only 2 bedrooms with bay windows, storage room

Savich #1 - 24'x36'

Basement

Design considerations:  we later added a basement for cold storage and root cellar

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Savich #2 - 36'x36'

First Floor

Design considerations:  now square for more usable space, complete redesign with kitchen at the center as the "hub" of the home.

Savich #2 - 36'x36'

Second Floor

Design considerations:  same two bedrooms upstairs with no bay windows and with larger storage area, 1/2 bath added

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Savich #2.1 - 36'x36'

First Floor

Design considerations:  redesigned first floor storage

Savich #2.1 - 36'x36'

Second Floor

Design considerations:  no changes

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Savich #3 - 36'x36'

First Floor

Design considerations:  dining room to the center and kitchen to outside wall to allow more natural light for cooking, stairs to opposite wall

 

Savich #3 - 36'x36'

Second Floor

Design considerations:  stairs on opposite side - forgot to switch hall though

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Savich #4 - 36'x36'

First Floor

Design considerations:  living room to east side of home for better view, kitchen to south east corner, stairs to center

Savich #4 - 36'x36'

Second Floor

Design considerations:  stairs to center

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Savich #5 - 36'x36'

First Floor

Design considerations:  stairs back to west wall, kitchen to east wall and centered, storage behind bath, front entry to west side

Savich #5 - 36'x36'

Second Floor

Design considerations:  stairs back to west wall

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Savich #6 - 36'x36'

First Floor

Design considerations:  stairs back to center, bathroom shifted with storage space, weird small bedroom

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Savich #7 - 36'x36'

First Floor

Design considerations:  entry room on west side, bigger bedroom, cold storage on main level

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AND WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

Savich #8 - 36'x36'

Basement

Design considerations:  desire to have indoor cold storage and root cellar as well as utilities in basement

First Floor

Design considerations:  eliminate extra entry room

Second Floor

Design considerations:  Allow for larger 1/2 bath storage

 

 

Savich #8 - 36'x36' - 1st Architectural Designs

(some changes still to be made)