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SITE ANALYSIS + PROGRAMMING

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Ryan and Brittney,

In response to your questions and feedback, here is an updated set of plan diagrams that build upon the originals. For each of the three basic plan types (long bar, split bar, and short bar) there are sub-types that explore the possibility of a partial basement below or a loft above. I’ve tried to comment on any potential benefits or drawbacks, but they really aren’t drastic changes to any of the plan types and could also have the added benefit of creating a more compact footprint and creating some spatial variety.

These plan diagrams look at moving just one bedroom suite (bedroom, closet, and bathroom) down or up, but we cold also look at moving two so that you end up with your master suite and one child/guest bedroom on the main floor. IF that idea appeals to you, just let me know.

Once you have had a chance to look these over, let me know which ones you would like to pursue developing. Ideally, we would narrow it down to 2 or 3 in order to move out of plan diagrams into actual floor plans, but if we need to keep working in the diagram phase to consider more options, that is no problem. Its most important that we get the organization right and that we all agree on each step as we go forward.

I hope you are surviving the winter so far; its been really cold here as well but no snow. Hopefully we can find a time to get together in the coming year.

All the best,

The site is located at the corner of Mt. Bliss Road and Garner Road near the Jordan River in Northern Michigan and features mostly gently sloping topography, with its highest point near its southeast corner. Much of the site is cleared with an existing grove of apple trees, many of which are still productive. The northern third of the site is densely wooded, with a ravine and a seasonal pond. There is also a continuous stand of trees along the main road to the west at the lowest point of the site. Several neighbors have houses and farms nearby, suggesting utilities are readily available.

SITE DESCRIPTION

Fortunately the site easily supports an ideal building orientation, which is to have the long side face south, with shorter ends facing east and west. Sun control is achieve through the height and shape of the roof edge on the southern side. Summer sun will be limited, while winter sun will be allowed in for additional daylight and warming effects.

ORIENTATION

A humid continental climate is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. Humid continental climates tend to be found above 40° N latitude, within the central and northeastern portions of North America, Europe, and Asia.

Precipitation is relatively well distributed year-round in many areas with this climate, while others may see a marked reduction in wintry precipitation and even a wintertime drought. Snowfall, regardless of average seasonal totals, occurs in all areas with a humid continental climate and is more common than rain during the height of winter. In places with sufficient wintertime precipitation, the snow cover is often deep. Most summer rainfall occurs during thunderstorm s and a very occasional tropical system. Though humidity levels are often high in locations with humid continental climates, the "humid" designation does not mean that the humidity levels are necessarily high, only that the climate is not dry enough to be classified as semi-arid or arid.

CLIMATE

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VIEW

FALL/SPRING SUNSET

PREVAILING WINDS

FALL/SPRING SUNRISE

SUMMER SUNRISE

WINTER SUNRISE

SUMMER SUNSET

WINTER SUNSET

SOUT

HWES

T

SOUT

H

SOUT

HEAS

T

EAST

SUM

MER

SUN

RISE

SUM

MER

SUN

SET

SPRI

NG/F

ALL S

UNRI

SE

WIN

TER

SUNR

ISE

21 DEGREEINCLINATION

45 DEGREEINCLINATION

68 DEGREEINCLINATION

VIEW

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WES

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NORT

HWES

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NORT

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NORT

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SPRI

NG/F

ALL S

UNSE

T

WIN

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SUNS

ET

Due to the location of the site in Northern Michigan, every effort should be made to ensure the available sunlight reaches the various rooms of the house, especially in Fall, Winter and Spring. The configuration of the site allows for direct sunlight to reach the house throughout the year and throughout each day, with the exception of the summer months, when sunlight early and late in the day may be interrupted by trees nearby.

The panorama below indicates the cardinal directions, as well as the locations of the sunrise and sunset as well as the height the sun reaches at different times of the year. The design of the house should provide ample daylight to reduce energy use and promote a connection to the landscape and healthy lifestyle. For these reasons as well as more complicated ones regarding the topography and complexities of grading, a full basement is not recommended.

SUNLIGHT

Based on the spaces provided in the original house plans, a list of rooms and rough potential sizes is provided and drawn roughly to scale based on a 4’ grid on the following page. Service spaces such as bathrooms, closets, storage, and mechanical are shown in gray. In order to keep construction costs down, the overall square footage is limited to 2,500 square feet or less. During the design process, we will continue to try to reduce square footage.

If there are specific features in any of the rooms, please provide a detailed description so they can be incorporated into the design.

PROGRAM

Rather than draw fully detailed plans, plan diagrams are provided that indicate the relationship between spaces. Each have certain benefits and drawbacks, but each is a viable arrangement for your house, keeping within the overall square footage goal while addressing the features of your site.

Three basic schemes are shown and each is given a name, just to help keep them straight. A list of the features and advantages of each plan diagram is provided as well as any limitations. In each plan, North is towards the top of the page, so that side faces the woods. The driveway comes from the East, so you will notice the garage is located at the east end of the house in each case.

PLAN DIAGRAMS

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garage

24 x 24mud room

mud room

mechanical

mechanical

bedroom 1

bedroom 1

bedroom 2

bedroom 2

bedroom 3

bedroom 3

bathroom

bathroom

half bath

half bath

entry

entry

kitchen

kitchen

diningliving

living

porchmaster bedroom

master bathroomstudy

sf

576

space dimensionssize

9664

192192192

643264

192pantry

pantry

96128192192

2498

192

96master CLOSET 96

96

DINING

PORCH

MASTER BEDROOM

MASTER CLOSET

MASTER BATH

STUDY

garage

garage

24 x 24mud room

mud room

mechanical

mechanical

bedroom 1

bedroom 1

bedroom 2

bedroom 2

bedroom 3

bedroom 3

bathroom

bathroom

half bath

half bath

entry

entry

kitchen

kitchen

diningliving

living

porchmaster bedroom

master bathroomstudy

sf

576

space dimensionssize

9664

192192192

643264

192pantry

pantry

96128192192

2498

192

96master CLOSET 96

96

DINING

PORCH

MASTER BEDROOM

MASTER CLOSET

MASTER BATH

STUDY

The ‘Long Bar’ provides a relatively narrow plan to allow for ample light and view in every room of the house as well as natural ventilation. The straightforward arrangement of rooms allows for a very simple foundation and construction which will in turn be economical. The children’s bedrooms are located in the east end of the house, while the master bedroom is located at the west end. Since your children are old enough to enjoy a degree of independence, the separation between the bedrooms can be considered.

LONG BAR: ONE LEVEL1

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garage

PORCHPORCHMASTER BEDROOM bedroom 1bedroom 2bedroom 3

bath1/2

pantry

CL CL CLMASTER CLOSETMASTER BATH

STUDY

kitchenliving

DINING

entry

mud room

bath

one level

LONG BAR

The Long Bar with a partial basement keeps man of the best features of the original, but provides enough space on the lower level for a bedroom suite. It would be easy to expand this area somewhat for additional storage and mechanical space. The site slopes enough towards the west end to provide enough clearance between the ground and main floor to allow for decent windows, though an actual walkout may not be possible. If there is only one bedroom downstairs, then the walkout feature may not be worth the trouble anyways.

LONG BAR: PARTIAL BASEMENT1

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garage

PORCHPORCH PORCHMASTER BEDROOM

mud room

STAIR STAIR

bedroom 1bedroom 2

bathbath

1/2

pantry

CL CL

bath+CLOSET

masterCLOSET

MASTER BATH

BEDROOM3

STUDY

kitchenliving

DINING

entrybasement

LONG BAR: PARTIAL BASEMENT

The ‘Long Bar’ can also be paired with a loft that can be placed in several locations since it doesn’t depend on the topography of the site. Instead, the location depends much more on your personal preference and how you see yourselves using the space in the long term. Clearly, having a loft rather than a partial basement would offer additional ways to introduce light, but in the ‘Long Bar’ this should really be a problem anyways.

In these versions of the plan, the porch and study at the west end by the master bedroom are eliminated to help reduce the overall length and to take advantage of the possibility that the loft will become a study at some point.

LONG BAR: LOFT1

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mud room

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bedroom 1bedroom 2

bathbath

1/2

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CL CLmasterCLOSET

MASTER BATH

kitchenliving

DINING

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bath+CLOSET

BEDROOM3

loft

garage

PORCHPORCHMASTER BEDROOM

mud room

STAIR STAIR

bedroom 1bedroom 2

bathbath

pantry

CL CLmasterCLOSET

MASTER BATH

kitchenliving

DINING

entry

bath+CLOSET

BEDROOMSTUDY

loft

BEDROOMSTUDY

garage

PORCHPORCHMASTER BEDROOM

mud room

STAIR

bedroom 1bedroom 2

bathbath

pantry

CL CL

CL

masterCLOSET

MASTER BATH

kitchenliving

DINING

entryloft

STAIR STAIR

LONG BAR: EAST LOFT

LONG BAR: CENTER LOFT

LONG BAR: WEST LOFT

The ‘Split Bar’ essentially takes the plan of the ‘Long Bar’, splits it in two and overlaps it, thus reducing the overall length of the house, making rooms closer together and thus more connected. The principal drawbacks to this arrangement are a more complex foundation and the difficulty in getting natural light to the eastern side of the house where the ‘bars’ overlap. The latter issue isn’t necessarily a problem because the spaces on the eastern side of the house are primarily the children’s bedrooms which likely won’t be occupied during the day. The porch does help get daylight and natural ventilation to the children’s’ bedrooms.

SPLIT BAR2

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kitchenliving

PORCH PORCHMASTER BEDROOM

DINING

mud room

mX

STORAGE

bedroom 1bedroom 2bedroom 3bath1/2

pantry

entry

CL CL CL

MASTER CLOSETMASTER BATH

STUDY

one level

split BAR

The ‘Split Bar’ with a partial basement works much the same way the ‘Long Bar’ with a partial basement does with the bedroom suite being located at the west end below the Master Bedroom suite. Given the shift in the plan of the upper level, adding a basement to this plan risks having a complicated foundation that will be expensive.

SPLIT BAR: PARTIAL BASEMENT2

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basement

garage

kitchenliving

PORCH PORCHMASTER BEDROOM

DINING

mud room

mX

STORAGE

bedroom 2bedroom 3bath1/2

pantry

entry

CL CL

MASTER CLOSETMASTER BATH

STUDY

STAIR STAIR

bath+CLOSET

BEDROOM3

split BAR: PARTIAL BASEMENT

The ‘Split Bar’ can also be modified to have a loft in a number of locations, and the plan shown is just one of them. If this plan appeals to you, we can explore additional locations for the loft. In any of the plans, the loft gives you the opportunity to have some spaces with more height within your house, but the drawback is how heat rises such tall spaces.

SPLIT BAR: LOFT2

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loft

garage

kitchenliving

PORCH PORCHMASTER BEDROOM

DINING

mud room

mX

STORAGE

bedroom 2bedroom 3bath1/2

pantry

entry

CL CL

MASTER CLOSETMASTER BATH

STUDY STAIR STAIR

bath+CLOSET

BEDROOMSTUDY

split BAR: LOFT

The ‘Short Bar’ provides a compact plan that once again has a simple, rectangular foundation. Two versions are shown, with slight variation shown in where the porch is located on the southern side.

Version 1 uses the porch to separate the living room and the master bedroom, while Version 2 has the porch closer to the garage and uses it to set up the entry to the front door. In Version 2, the porch is also used to get daylight and ventilation to the children’s bedrooms.

There are many ways to organize the various rooms within either of these schemes; in fact there are many more, but these are a good place to start the discussion.

The previous schemes allow for the garage doors to be on the North side of the house, facing the woods, so they aren’t the first thing you or your guests see when arriving. Even though this is incredibly common in American houses, there are better ways to have your house greet its visitors. If you are interested in this scheme, the location of the garage will be something we continue to develop.

SHORT BAR3

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PORCH

PORCHMASTER BEDROOM

mud room

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STORAGEbedroom 1bedroom 2bedroom 3bath1/2

pantry

CL CL CL

MASTER CLOSET

MASTER

BATH STUDY

kitchenliving

DINING

entry

garage

PORCH

PORCHMASTER BEDROOM

mud room

mX

STORAGE

bath1/2

pantrybedroom 1bedroom 2bedroom 3

CL CL CL

MASTER CLOSET

MASTER

BATH STUDY

one level

SHORT BAR v1

SHORT BAR v2

The ‘Short Bar’ with a partial basement - shown in two different configurations - still provides a very compact plan. The basement is again placed at the west end of the house to take advantage of the change in topography. As mentioned in the cover letter, we can explore moving two bedrooms downstairs, which can then share a bathroom and other utilities.

SHORT BAR: PARTIAL BASEMENT3

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basementkitchen

livingDINING

entry

garage

PORCHMASTER BEDROOM

mud room

mX

STORAGEbedroom 1bedroom 2bath1/2

pantry

CL CL

MASTER CLOSET

MASTER

BATH

kitchenliving

DINING

entry

garage

PORCH

PORCHMASTER BEDROOM

mud room

mX

STORAGEbath1/2

pantrybedroom 1bedroom 2

CL CL

MASTER CLOSET

MASTER

BATH

STUDY

STAIR

STAIR

PORCH

STUDY

STAIR

bath+CLOSET

BEDROOM3

STAIR bath+CLOSET

BEDROOM3

SHORT BAR v1

SHORT BAR v2

The ‘Short Bar’ can also accommodate a loft quite easily. Each of the two basic plans have the loft placed in the northeast corner, but it could be placed in a number of locations. Just as a partial basement can potentially accommodate two bedrooms, so can a loft. If one of the bedrooms is eventually converted to a study, it could be designed so that it becomes less private than a bedroom and more connected to the main living spaces.

SHORT BAR: LOFT3

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loft

STAIR STAIR

bath+CLOSET

BEDROOMSTUDY

STAIR STAIR

bath+CLOSET

BEDROOMSTUDY

kitchenliving

DINING

entry

garage

PORCHMASTER BEDROOM

mud room

mud room

br 1br 2

bath1/2

pantryMASTER CLOSET

MASTER

BATH

kitchenliving

DINING

entry

garage

PORCHMASTER BEDROOM

bathpantry

bedroom 1bedroom 2CL CL

MASTER CLOSET

MASTER

BATH

PORCH

STUDY

STAIR

PORCH

STUDY

CL CL

mX

SHORT BAR v1

SHORT BAR v2