Week 7

Part One:

- Nicolas Schuybroek would certainly pay extra attention to the details that would go into a home ensuring that particular elements throughout the home are regarded with the highest standards possible.
- Nicolas's main focus when designing a home would also be the organisation of spaces and quality of materials used.
- Nicolas was born and raised in Brussels.
- Nicolas Schuybroek has been educated in English, French and Dutch speaking schools which have enabled him to work in these three languages.
- Nicolas attains a bachelor of Architecture degree from St Luc, Brussels and a masters degree in Architecture from McGill University in Montreal.
- In my personal opinion and when looking at the work of Nicolas Schuybroek, I instantly observe the clever use of space in his Architecture and how each internal space is so exquisitely detailed in terms or furniture, tone and form.
- I also believe that Schuybroek's Architectural work focuses on long vertical planes that one can argue are purposely used to confine a certain area or section in a home that Nicolas would want the user to purposely observe when interacting with the spaces.
- Schuybroek also tends to only use shades of white and grey as his colours of choice for wall paint to allow the furniture that is placed in that particular space to contrast and stand out and become the main focus.
- I think that if Nicolas Schuybroek was to approach me and seek my services in designing a home, he would strictly focus on the relationship and organisation of the various spaces, Architectural style and quality of materials.

Part Two:

For this project, I aim to design a modern looking home that will be built using modern materials and techniques and that would mainly focus on open plan living and strong connections between the various spaces. Below I will discuss the spaces that will be included in my home design and will also discuss the characteristics of each space and justify my reasons to why I will be designing these spaces in the form that I'm proposing.

Building Form

The main form / shape of my building will be made up of vertical planes that will help define spaces with large openings to capture and frame the surrounding environment. My design is inspired by the work that I have viewed by Nicolas Schuybroek who I selected as my chosen designer earlier in this semester.

Formal Living (maybe)

The formal living will be a space that will be positioned upon the entry to the house that will be mainly used to entertain guests who the client would not want to take into the more private spaces in the house. The size of the formal living will be enough to allow for a comfortable seating arrangement.

Family / Kitchen / Dining (Great Room)

These three spaces will be regarded as a single large space which I have also called a great room. My main focus with these spaces is to have an open plan living with limited partition walls to create a sociable experience for the client. In more detail, the person cooking the meals will be able to comfortably socialise with the person sitting down in the family area. the size of the great room will be generously designed to comfortably contain a family, kitchen and dining spaces.

Bedrooms x 3

The bedrooms in this house will each be reasonably sized to allow for a double bed and will also contain a large built in robe and a study nook. The arrangement and placement of these rooms will be mainly in one section of the home and best orientated based on the path of the sun around the proposed site.

Master bed

The master bedroom will also be adequately sized to fit a queen bed and also be large enough to contain a parent's retreat. The master bedroom will also contain a walk in robe and a large ensuite. My main focus with the master bedroom is to ensure that I have large openings to be able to invite some of the surrounding environment into the space but at the same time provide enough privacy.

Bathroom / Laundry

These two spaces will be positioned around the bedrooms and will share a strong relationship. The reason to why I will be placing the bathroom and laundry side by side is to keep the building costs lower in terms of the plumbing. Also, the bathroom / laundry will mainly serve the 3 bedrooms as the master bedroom already contains an ensuite but the bathroom will also be reasonably positioned so it shares a connection to the great room.

Play Area / Rumpus

This space will most likely be an open space positioned near the 3 proposed bedrooms. The sole purpose of this space is to provide the children living in the home their own retreat area to carry out their own activities. The most important factor that I must consider is to ensure that the parents can still supervise the children in the play area whilst being in the great room.

Alfresco

The alfresco will be a large outdoor space that will contain separate areas for an outdoor lounge, dining table and BBQ facilities. The position of the alfresco will compliment the position of the great room and will also be orientated as per the sun path.

Porch

The porch or deck will be located at the entry of the proposed home and will also contain elements that will make up the facade of the home.

Below I have placed a few images conveying examples of the living spaces mentioned above.

Alfresco - http://www.dalealcock.com.au/blogs/sneak-peek-stoneleigh-display-home-opening/055-3/

Bathroom - http://www.realestate.com.au/home-ideas/results-bathrooms-modern/list-1

Great Room - http://www.home-designing.com/2012/07/living-rooms-with-great-views

Master Bedroom - http://www.interiordesigninspiration.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Modern-Bedroom-Interior-Design-101.jpg

Bel

Experiment 1 Submission

As part of my submission process for experiment 1, I had to design a house based on 3 primitives and include a list of areas that would make up the house. We also had to adhere to a 250 m2 maximum floor space coverage and a total of 900 m3 in terms of the volume of the combined primitives. I decided that a box, pyramid and a wedge best represented my ideas and plans that I had in place for this house design. I also did not just want to create a double storey house for the sake of this experiment but I actually wanted to aim in creating a sustainable house using various techniques such as materials, roof top gardens and shading elements.

We then had to take our output such as floor plans, elevations, sections, etc and accumulate this material into a presentation board. My main focus with my presentation board was to allow the viewer to instantly feel the sense of sustainability through the use of colours and layout and also the design of my proposed house.

My final submission for this experiment can be viewed below.

All in all this first experiment has improved my skills based on many factors. I now have a better ability in the design side of things and  have experienced working with guidelines or restrictions such as the allowable floor space coverage and volumes. I have also challenged myself in designing a house that would meet certain demands which in this case is the demand for a sustainable design.

I have also improved my overall skills in using Sketchup and Photoshop and have developed new techniques that I will benefit from for future projects.