Blog Post #18 - Solid Schematic Design

These final design drawings were most similar to the kind of drawings I produced for

EcoDwelling concentration assignments. They show actual dimensions and are drawn true to scale. Wall thicknesses and furniture placement are shown. This design is the first step toward placing a solid structure on the ground, yet it is not so detailed as construction drawings, which are working plans that an unfamiliar crew could successfully build from.

As mentioned earlier, this Core House design emerged from a square design developed during the more symbolic process. Its simplicity appealed to us. By dividing the square plan into sixteen parts, I could designate to each section of the whole a certain function. The middle four squares (25%) were assigned cooking and eating. Sleeping spaces on the sides accounted for three squares each. The bath was placed in the center of the north wall and covered two squares. Finally, the entire south side, all four squares, was given to a sitting space within an attached greenhouse providing passive solar heat.

In the final schematic design, the cooking space is pushed back against the north wall. A woodstove separates the cooking space from the eating area as it serves two functions: both cooking and heating. Beds are also pushed back into the corners where they take advantage of an otherwise awkward space. This follows the bed alcove pattern. The bath tub and shower, on the other hand, are pulled up to the front where they can receive solar exposure for water heating.

A full wall separates the bed alcoves from the cooking space which then slopes down to a half wall between the dual sitting areas and the central eating space. This design element is to provide for some privacy and separation while simultaneously preserving air ventilation and an open feeling to what might otherwise be felt as a cramped space. Finally, most of the southern half of the house is glass, that is, the south facing wall as well as the southern halves of the east and west walls. The northern wall, on the other hand, is two feet thick, designed for three rows of adobe bricks with light slipstraw insulation in between. The northern halves of the east and west walls are one & a half foot thick with two rows of bricks.

The effect of this wall design and placement is to create a feeling similar to that of a cave. The front is open, exposed to southern sunlight, and available for distant viewing and landscape scanning. The back, on the other hand, is solid earth, protecting against cold northern winds, and providing a secure feeling for curling up in bed at night.

Next, I completed an elevation drawing. The walls themselves are not hard to imagine from the plan view, but that perspective gave no indication of what might be intended for the top of the house. I decided that a hipped roof, slanting down to each of the four walls, is the most appropriate. Unlike a flat roof, the slant on a hipped style provides for both solar electric generation and rainwater catchment. This kind of roof also allows walls to remain flat all around, unlike a gable roof, which requires the walls to rise up to a point. Although a shed roof would be simpler to build than a hipped one, I decided against this style as well since it cannot be oriented for both passive solar gain and solar electric generation.

These drawings were originally completed on 14 by 17 inch tracing paper. As mentioned, they were drawn to scale, that being one inch to two feet. Yet when these drawings were reduced, as the others, that proportion was lost. The adjusted scale is about one inch to 3+3/8 feet. As with the other drawings, I reintroduced color to the letter sized reductions afterward.