I really enjoyed seeing his early work. It was a collection of small houses built for humble ship builders in his home town of which he was the self proclaimed village architect. No one took out mortgages, so many of the projects were additive in nature, all were very affordable. Spatial quality of a building is based on 3 things form, finish quality, and function. He had very simple forms, took advantage of the local trade of carpentry, and was able to focus of making very functional homes. The cost per square foot of some of these homes was as low as $80, yet they were still very well designed.
Over the years his practice and reputation has grown and MCL Architects is now been able to shift to realm of larger public projects. Theres alot more money in the work he does now so he's able to experiment with alot more than just functionality and the reconfiguration of common materials. While the scale of projects differed, I was impressed in the consistency of his design process. For each building he shared, he showed a early conceptual sketch, done in a bar or restaurant during a conversation with the client. Here are a few I found online.
These simple sketches convey so much information: massing, day lighting, view sheds, circulation, form. This is one of richest and most dynamic parts of the design process. It is an act that distills the entirety of a built work into a few scribbly lines and shades of color. There was one difference in how he treated the larger, public projects. The means of construction is different, each different aspect is done by a specialized worker. These buildings are made by a series of sub contractors, these trades he referred to as the "dirty arts". He focused on each one being able to do his stage of the project as efficiently as possible. He conveyed all his projects in a way that was very easy to understand, he did this by using alot of metaphors, explaining the buildings through things we already knew.
I'll also share some other stimulating thoughts. from the lecture:
-Globalization hinders sense of place
-There are an infinite number of ways to practice architecture, we should never settle for one that makes us miserable.
-Sustainability should be inherit in the design process not something that we have to talk about.
-Structure = noun, Construction = verb
-Silent buildings that have alot to say.
-The people in the office who can sketch well are always the ones driving the bus.
Kyle even came to visit.
We also had a large group of volunteers during this week who came down from Virginia Tech on spring break. We split up into groups began many things this week (and finished a few).
Some painted the soffits.
Some tyveked, (note that all these things take twice as long when you're working on an elevated house).
Some did interior framing
Some roofed (they finished)
Some did decking and stairs
And last by not least, some did siding.
I had done all these things last semester, so I floated around, answered questions, and made myself useful where necessary.
The rest of the semester on site will be spent finishing all these things we started. The summer students will finish all the interior finishes. Here is the house as it currently stands. (We also got all the windows and doors installed.)
One of the benefits of design build is the ability to change things on site. Here are some examples of that. The colors Ms. Dang wanted were a light yellow with blue trim. That would have looked very bad. We did find a way to give her both these colors, we did the siding and trim all yellow, but put blue on the underside of the soffit. It has a really nice quality to it, like being under the sky. The blue also masks the fact that the soffit is simply the OSB underside of the SIP panel, this is one of the things that helped us to get back within budget.
Another thing that changed was the ceiling in the master bedroom. Originally there was going to be an attic over the entirety of it. But we liked the way it felt unfinished so much that we left 2/3 of the ceiling vaulted, Ms. Dang was very excited about this. Note this picture the interior was at a really interesting point the space seemed very continuous with the lone mass of the second bedroom in the middle.
It would be interesting if the interior maintained this continuity (maybe I'll use this idea in a future project), but last semester we decided to maximize the function of the space by putting a loft over the second bedroom so her son would have a place to stay instead of the couch (Ms. Dang's mom will be in the 2nd bedroom.)
We've also started designing a house for the new clients. We're currently somewhere between schematic design and design development. I'll share that after our first pin up on Tuesday.
B. got a new outfit.
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