Finally, someone is building Greg La Vardera's intriguing Porch House plan. I always pictured this house in my home state, Michigan, as a summer camp on a lake up north, but this one is being built in Texas! It sounds like a neat project, one with some nice green touches, and the possible addition of a Plat House down the road. Nice.
Via Materialicio.us (here and here).
Image credit - LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog
Several of my favorite blogs posted interesting homes yesterday.
On the ever-cool BLDGBLOG Geoff Manaugh points out the compact Single Hauz from front architects. They remind him of the billboards outside his LA home. You can put them practically anywhere, even in the middle of a lake, which is what Manaugh says he'd go for. Personally, I've always wanted to live in a meadow.
Jetson Green brings us a sleek Cape Cod beach house by Independence Energy Homes. At 7,000 square feet it's probably not quite in my price range. I also usually frown on very large homes, but this one uses geothermal heating and photovoltaics to meet all its energy needs. It also has an air exchange system and low or no VOC materials for good indoor air quality, a permeable driveway, water conserving fixtures, and is built from "rapidly renewable materials." Very nice. Still, give me a 2,000 square foot, $200,000 home with all these features. Now that would be an accomplishment.
Finally, on the LamiDesign blog, Greg La Vardera shows off a final pic of the completed Vermont Plat House. You can follow the entire process of building this house, from start to finish, on Greg's blog. I think it turned out really well.
Image credits - architects sites
A few days ago I was daydreaming of the Eames House and posted up some newer homes that give me the same vibe. I mentioned the 6040 and 6030 EcoSteel houses designed by Greg La Vardera, but somehow I overlooked his Steel Case House. I wanted to bring it to the attention of all you Eames fans out there, because Greg directly references CSH#8 as a point of reference for this design:The Steel Case House has emerged out of requests from early visitors to the site for a steel house that was a "simple box". This request has been repeated many times. For inspiration we turned to the Case Study houses built in the late 1940s and 50s by Arts and Architecture magazine. Case Study house number 8, the Eames House is probably the quintessential "simple steel box" and is a point of inspiration for this design. When the Case Study houses were built it was hoped that the industrial might of the US built up during WW2 could now turn to producing modern houses of standardized industrial components at a scale that would make them affordable. As we all know that industry never materialized, and stick framed houses remain the status quo. We see this design as an evolution of the Case Study goals. By combining readily available residential building components with a simple steel frame we hope to arrive at a hybrid that makes the house easier to realize.
This image of the house takes me right where my mind's eye wants to go ...
... and I like the floor plan too.
The interior spaces are really roomy for a house of 2,000 square feet. It looks like it would live much bigger than its footprint. Not too many houses that size have three bedrooms and a double height living room. There's a more intimate nook off the main living area too, just like the Eames House. And I really, really like the roomy kitchen and dining space. I could go with this plan with very few changes.
With tons of glass on three sides, this house was meant for a site with good views - maybe not urban infill lots. If you think this design might not be appropriate for your cold climate (like mine in Detroit) take comfort in the fact that there's a SIPS version with much more insulating value in the walls - around R30. And if the steel frame isn't your thing there's also a another version called the Timber Case House that utilizes engineered lumber members. Additionally, the Amount of windows can also be varied to suit the climate and site conditions for optimum energy efficiency. A very well thought out home by Greg, and an option I personally would seriously consider.
The legacy of the Case Study Homes and Eames is very much alive and well!
Image credits - LaMiDesign
So hard to get back into the swing of things. I'm one of those people heavily governed by inertia. When I have momentum I keep it until something slows me down or changes my direction. When I have to build up speed again it goes sooo sloooowly.
To make things easy on myself I'll recap some interesting developments that happened while I was away:
Michelle Kaufmann and her firm MKD introduced a new model of her very green, prefab homes - the mkLotus. As usual, top marks for modern style, sustainable design and materials, and viable prefab. Love the green roof on this one. Via Prefab Wednesday on The Good Human.
Image credit - MKD site
Today is a banner day, as architect Greg La Vardera's work and his excellent Vermont Plat House have been featured by the New York Times in the Great Homes section. It's a nice article about great architects who bring quality design to stock home plans, plans you can buy right on the Internet.
Greg does awesome modernist homes. I've mentioned the Vermont Plat House several times on this site. It's a modification of the standard Plat House plan, shown here. What can I say, beautiful house, great plan, amazing look. Soooo cool. It's little wonder this plan is a huge hit.
Here are a couple of other homes from his stock plans that I really like:
The Tray House - really nice floorplan. Absolutely nothing missing in this plan. I'm super picky about floorplans and yet I can't find any faults with it. This house would easily fit right in any suburban neighborhood, where I think modernist houses actually look out of place because everything else looks so McMansionish (at least here in Detroit), and where they are often - sadly - not welcomed by suspicious and closed-minded neighbors and their evil homeowners' associations. I don't mean to insult the design by saying it could fit in such an environment, I just mean this home has a very universal appeal (and as such is very appropriately categorized in Greg's "Zeitgeist House Group" of plans).
The Cube House - a cool three-story design. Another great plan, packing five bedrooms and a study in 2400 square feet! If you have big family this could be a great option. What kid wouldn't want to have one of those rooms on the third floor? I could also fulfill my Star Trek fantasy of belonging to the Borg Collective (where do I plug myself in?). Just kidding - I really love this house. I think I can safely say it's my personal favorite.
There are many others, and Greg introduces new ones from time to time. Check out his Modern House Plans site to see more. And don't miss Greg's great blog for lots of updates on his projects and many great pics of his work.
Want a totally custom home? Greg does that too. Give him a call or drop him a note. He's a super nice guy and a real talent. I think he'd be great to work with.
Congratulations Greg on the great recognition in the NY Times! Pretty cool. Well done.
Image credits - LaMiDesign
