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feeling yellow and blue
: : I like these images inspired by Sweden's colors, yellow and blue, by Lo Bjurulf for Elle interiör (found via .design delight.)Category ›
New Dutch Colonial House Plan Unveiled!
Simply Elegant Home Designs has just made the "Tonka Dutch Colonial" house plan available for purchase. The home was designed by Ron Brenner in Stillwater, Minnesota. Ron Brenner; who has been featured in a number of National and Regional publications has gained a reputation for designing charming and functional modestly sized homes. You can obtain more information on this house plan by visiting the following link:
SHIFT Boston
There is a very cool competition happening in Boston. Read below. More information on SHIFT Boston's website .here.
THINK PLAY THINK NEW THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX
The SHIFTboston Ideas Competition 2009 is calling on all innovators to submit the most provocative ideas for the City of Boston. SHIFT would like competitors to think: WHAT IF this could happen in Boston?
SHIFT seeks to collect visions that aim to enhance and electrify the urban experience in Boston. Innovative, radical ideas for new city elements such as public art, landscape, architecture, urban intervention and transportation. Competitors could explore topics such as the future city, energy efficiency and ecological urbanism.
YOU TELL US.
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Revit House Plans
It's taken me a while but I am really convinced that Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Traditionally buildings have been drawn using 2 dimensional CAD technology - or by hand drafting. But with BIM you create a 3 dimensional "virtual" model of the building. In order to communicate the design to client and contractors you then generate various views from the model (plans, elevations, sections, etc). I'll show you an example of how this works below.
Here you can see an axonometric view of the 3 dimensional model of this house plan. The model was created using REVIT software, by Autodesk.
Now I have "sliced" a view from overhead looking down onto the plan. What is great here is you can see the relationships between the various elements (windows, doors, trim and even furniture) so that you can better evaluate the design.
Here is another sliced view, but this time from a side. You can see the roof, ceilings and the decorative trusses.
The section below is just another "slice" taken from the model. The walls, floors roof and ceiling profiles are all in precisely the correct position. To make it into a construction drawing you just need to add the pertinent detailed information.
Here the virtual model has been exported into Google Sketchup, which is a great design tool. In this case all I did was added the materials, colors and a little entourage. Isn't this a better way to convey the interior design concept?
All images above are of the "Hudson Cottage" house plan which is available for sale at Simply Elegant Home Designs.
It takes a while to learn and become efficient at BIM. But in the end I am convinced it is a better way to understand your design, a better way to communicate the design and a better way to assemble the construction drawings.
Afraid of Color?
apartment therapy - an interior design blog is having their fifth annual contest called "Room for Color 2009". In October they are looking for the most colorful, beautiful room on the planet.
It's a good idea because adding color is one of the most affordable ways of changing a rooms character. But many of the folks are afraid of using color. Well as you can see from the examples below some of these folks really are not afraid at all.
photos courtesy of apartment therapy
You can see more entries at Room for Color. Check it out - you'll find lots of ideas. Some bold and crazy; and some simple yet sophisticated.
Housing Industry Needs to Reinvent
The housing industry (builders and designers) is in dire need of a new system / approach to building. I'll list a few reasons here:
- Construction costs and land / development costs have gotten out of control in recent years.
- The housing bubble has dramatically dropped the value of our homes.
- The fact right now is that you cannot build a new home inexpensive enough to compete with the glut of existing homes on the market.
- If we are seeing an economic recovery it's a small one - and the job market is not expected to improve for several years.
- New buyers are having difficulty getting loans or do not qualify for enough loan to build the kind of house they might have a few years ago.
- Home buyers are becoming much more aware of "value".
- Home buyers are increasingly environmentally conscious.
- Home buyers are more "hip" and expect good design and construction quality.
Indeed, times are tough and it is truly a time of survival of the fittest in the housing market. The housing industry needs to pull their collective head out of the sand and adapt. I believe that the industry needs to look at things fresh and perhaps create an entirely new business model.
In looking for new ideas I have looked to old ones. What about the old days when a fellow purchased a house from Sears Roebuck Company? The house was shipped to them and they built it themselves, or had local tradespeople construct it. Why did that business model go away? One reason I think is because people stopped being handy. They no longer had the skills to put anything together as complicated as a stick framed house. Even if they could it would take forever; and banks don't like that.
Enter a new system devised in Germany called HIB. HIB is a building block system that goes together like Lego's. They say that the simplicity and speed of putting the system together makes it an ideal candidate for an owner built project. The company also touts the product's insulating capabilities, sustainability and economy.
Sounds too good to be true honestly. But I am inviting a company representative in to discuss the product further. I'll let you know what I find out.
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