Hello, mid-century modern!
Pre-Design
Greyhaven Designs is currently in the design stage of a mid-century modern home in Fayette County. The future homeowners contacted us a short while ago to request a meeting. To begin the process of pre-design, they supplied us with the address of their property (a good sized plot of recently in production row crop land), the plan of their current home, and pictures of a local house they admire.
Site Survey
In the process of our usual site survey, we found that the character of the land was typical of cropland, with large amounts of fairly nondescript rolling land where the crops had been, bordered by trees of varying species and maturity, and an old farm pond several hundred feet from the road. Knowing that it was important to visit the land at different times of the day and in several weather conditions, we documented its various presentations.
The pond’s banks were overgrown and wild with several thorn patches and some really vicious locust trees, but there were also some healthy specimens of desirable tree varieties.
Over the course of several visits, we discovered the true magic of the land: the pond. Its reflections of the surrounding trees and the ever changing sky are astonishingly beautiful.
The owners had not previously seen it to such advantage (they had even wondered if they should just drain and clear it), but responded with awe and enthusiasm to our photos. It was quickly decided to center our design around views of the pond. To help make this work, we met with one of the contacts on our Site Planning page to evaluate the health of the pond and to learn what species of fish would thrive there while keeping the mosquito population down, a definite requirement if the house was to be built nearby.
Design
Layout
Design Requirements
The couple are middle aged and preferred a sprawling single level home to ever having to climb up and down a flight of stairs, even placing their mechanical equipment in a central closet inside the home. Right now, the only set of stairs being considered is in the garage, where other design requirements have raised the roof high enough to allow for some attic space for seldom needed items.
The customers owned their own business and wanted to work from home, so we laid out the home in such a way so that the 2 offices with attached bathrooms and the master suite would add up to a 3 bedroom / 3.5 bathroom house.
An important part of the family are several beloved dogs for whom a special room was set aside, tucked into the private realm away from the living spaces because of their tendency to bark at guests entering the house.
Turning a necessity into a feature, we are exploring appropriate window and light spacings to turn the long hallways into galleries to showcase the owners’ love for art.
Solar Orientation and Design
In our pre-design interview, when asked what they did and did not like about their current home (which was also custom designed and built for them), they identified a lack of natural light as an significant flaw, so we determined to avoid the same problem.
The adjoining country road runs north-west to south-east. Typical suburb design aims to always orient completely to the street, but this often plays havoc with solar orientation, which is the most important thing to get right with home design. We decided to leverage the unconventionality of the mid-century modern style and the size of the lot by orienting the face of the large garage to the road, but turning the house 45 degrees to orient it to the all-important southern solar exposure and the pond, which lays to the east.
Conclusion
We have only fully drafted the layout, but look forward with keen anticipation to finalizing the details on this fine mid-century modern inspired home and seeing it built.