Keep this one to yourselves.

[Mike G]

Some while ago I mentioned an unusual house I am designing. Well, here it is.

This is the concept model:







The rationale is that the site had a windmill on it many years ago (there is no sign of it now), and the owner wanted something that rotated, and reflected the idea of the windmill. Well, that's a bit too literal for me, so I came up with this turbine-like shape which implies rotation but without actually looking like a windmill or turning at all.

The site is in what is colloquially known as green belt (protected from development). There are only very limited things you can build on protected land, one of which is the so-called paragraph 52 development, for "innovative and exceptional" houses. These have to be virtually self sufficient on the site to start with, but also have to be extremely special houses. You can't just stick up a grand pseudo-Georgian mansion under this rule. It is so rare that this local authority have never done one before, and had to consult with other authorities to understand what is involved.

Anyway, the client and local authority liked the concept model, and a structural engineer got really excited (curved in 2 dimensions glulams are extremely rare), so we are pressing on. I've drawn it on the computer in 3D, but this isn't an awful lot of use to anyone. I couldn't get access to a 3D printer, so I retired to the workshop for a couple of days to make a better model.

The big curved glulams are the difficult bit. Curving in 2 dimensions means it is very difficult to keep a reference when trying to cut them out. I laminated some ply, cut the top shape, and then stuck a temporary platform over that with the plan shape glued to it:



After each cut, I glued everything back together again with hot-melt glue, then took another cut:









In comparison, the central ring was dead easy. In reality this will be 4.8 metres in diameter (16 feet or so). This model is at 1 to 50:



Then I made the basement and the site (the plot is about 20 metres wide and about 200 metres long in reality, so the model only covers the part of the site with the building on it):



But fouled it up completely, and remade it:



With the ground floor in place:



With the glulam sole-plate in place:



A bit of cardboard and hot-melt glue for the ground floor plan:



Then it was time to assemble to frame:





But there's only 3 legs, Mike. Yep, that's because I'm a clumsy bugger:



There'll be 4 when the glue dries. I then glued those legs to the sole plate:



Note the very different shape to the original concept model. I have made the ribs a quite different curve, so that they get up higher quicker, giving the building greater capacity, particularly upstairs on the 1st floor (I'm not sure........do Americans call upstairs the second floor?). I have also simplified the internal walls because everyone kept telling me that curved internal walls would mean spending a fortune on hand-made fitted furniture (.......yes, and......?).

More tomorrow, I hope. This is why I have nothing to report on my house build at the moment, but this project is important, might end up on TV, and you have to earn a crust.

 

[tracerman]

Mike G -
1) Crikey .

2) Do we sense Kevin McLoud somewhere here ?

Steve

 

[Mike G]

There'll be a serious discussion about Grand Designs once we have Planning Permission.

 

[Rod]

Interesting stuff - is it going to be covered with some sort of fabric?
How will it be insulated etc?

I watched one of those GD programmes that built a house according to Paragraph 52 - very difficult to comply with it.
They managed to reach the required no. of points by doing some "green" landscaping.

Rod

 

[Robert]

I watched a BBC programme about Frank Gehry a few weeks ago and his designs with nothing straight and using aircraft design software to cope with the curves.

Hope your software is up to this design. Most impressed. I've done difficult 3d curved shapes in sheet metal in the past, sometimes taking on work our competitors baulked at so I know how hard it can be to get things right when complex curves are involved. Looking forward to the grand designs episode one day.

 

[RogerS]

In awe.

 

[Mike G]

Interesting stuff - is it going to be covered with some sort of fabric?
How will it be insulated etc?

Thanks Rod. The initial conversations were around covering it in sheet metal....zinc or copper, but I have come to the view that it will be better covered with plain tiles, and with major copper highlights (like a capping over the ribs, and around all the windows, plus the rainwater goods). One of the problems with trying to cover in a sheet material such as zinc or copper is that they need a ply substrate, and trying to cover that building with ply will be a real test.

It can't be done in a tensile material because of the valleys. Well, let's rephrase that. It could be done, but it would cost a small fortune.

 

[Mike G]

....Hope your software is up to this design. Most impressed......

Thanks Robert. Yeah, it's laborious in Autocad, but it is do-able. I'm quite good at 3D modeling.

 

[Mike G]

.....In awe.

Cheers Roger.

 

[Wizard9999]

Any thoughts on the build cost Mike?

Terry.

 

[Mike G]

I told the client to have a million pounds available. The basement alone will cost more than £200,000.

 

[chataigner]

Once again I'm utterly dumbfounded. Firstly by the vision and creativity, but also by the knowledge that the architect is quite busy with another project at the moment !!!

Hope it comes to fruition, it looks amazing.

 

[Mike G]

Thanks David.

 

[Mike G]

I got a few hours in on the model this evening. First, I did another 4 curved-in-two-dimensions glulams. The upper photo shows the pieces prior to the final cut:





The area below the glulams will be glazed:



These secondary timbers took forever! Each one had to have a plumb cut and a seat cut, and an angle to one side or other of the plumb cut.......and had to be adjusted multiple times to get the length right:









You'll note that I only did alternate ones on the left hand side. I was getting short of time, and I'll fill in the gaps tomorrow.

 

[DaveL]

Well this looks good, but you will definitely need help building this, unlike your current project. :lol:

 

[Mike G]

I finished off the rafters:



It took some while to work out the shape of the upstairs floor, but having done that, it was only a few minutes with a glue gun and knife and we had an floor layout done:



It's handy to have a bed to scale to give a sense of the size of the rooms.

Next came the solid oak stair :







The last photo shows that I cut a front door through the sole plate.

 

[Pinch]

This is very cool Right up my street - no puns.

Looking forward to seeing this one develop Mike - exciting!

 

[Wizard9999]

I told the client to have a million pounds available. The basement alone will cost more than £200,000.

Mike

So, based on my rule of thumb for Grand Designs that the actual cost comes in at twice what the architect says at the outset, that'll be two million then. I am sure that this tendency has nothing to do with architects wanting to get their wonderful creations built and therefore don't want to scare clients off with two big of a cost to start with.

Terry.

 

[Rod]

Twice as much and twice as long - but that's mainly when the Client manages the project themselves?
I'm sure it won't happen if you keep control Mike.

Rod

 

[Mike G]

It's rather the other way with me, Terry. I would rather scare them off starting something they can't afford.

 

[Mike G]

I built the dome quickly:





I think it's probably too tall, but it's good enough for the purpose of discussion at this stage.

 

[RogerS]

I preferred it without the dome, TBH. Looks a bit like a modern cathedral now, IMO.

 

[Mike G]

Yeah, I'm going to have another go at that........

 

[chataigner]

I preferred it without the dome, TBH. Looks a bit like a modern cathedral now, IMO.

:text-+1:

 

[Mike G]

I had another go at the dome. It's better, but I think I'll end up with more of a lens shaped glass clover over the occular.

 

[Rod]

Curvy one looks better to me

Rod

 

[Wizard9999]

Mike

Like others I'm not sure about the dome. Possibly the most unhelpful comment ever, but I think it needs something, just can't give you any clue to what the something may be.

It looks fabulous, but if I were the client my big question would be whether it can be built. I'm guessing there are manufacturers out there who can make the necessary beams with the various compound curves, but presumably the manufacturing tolerances would be very small for each part. Am I just exposing my own risk averse nature? Is making the components for something like this bread and butter for such manufacturers?

Terry.

 

[RogerM]

Mike
It looks fabulous, but if I were the client my big question would be whether it can be built. I'm guessing there are manufacturers out there who can make the necessary beams with the various compound curves, but presumably the manufacturing tolerances would be very small for each part. Am I just exposing my own risk averse nature? Is making the components for something like this bread and butter for such manufacturers?
Terry.

I reckon you should only ask how it can be built after you've designed what you want, otherwise you're putting an artificial constraint into the creative process at an embryonic stage. I believe that 99% of the time you'll find a way to build what you want, even if you don't know how at the outset. It might of course involve throwing more time or money at it than you have available - but then you have a choice - but at the conceptual stage - just let the imagination flow and let practicalities come later.

 

[Wizard9999]

Mike
It looks fabulous, but if I were the client my big question would be whether it can be built. I'm guessing there are manufacturers out there who can make the necessary beams with the various compound curves, but presumably the manufacturing tolerances would be very small for each part. Am I just exposing my own risk averse nature? Is making the components for something like this bread and butter for such manufacturers?
Terry.

I reckon you should only ask how it can be built after you've designed what you want, otherwise you're putting an artificial constraint into the creative process at an embryonic stage. I believe that 99% of the time you'll find a way to build what you want, even if you don't know how at the outset. It might of course involve throwing more time or money at it than you have available - but then you have a choice - but at the conceptual stage - just let the imagination flow and let practicalities come later.

Well, in which case count me in for a time machine, a 200mph car that runs on tap water and throw in a zero calorie cheese burger with them.

Sorry but I can't see how designing with no regard to if something is possible is actually designing, sure that is called dreaming? Or indeed, even if it turns out to be possible it is so difficulet the only way to build it means it costs ten times as much money as I have, surely that is just to torturing yourself?

Terry.

 

[Mike G]

Mike

Like others I'm not sure about the dome. Possibly the most unhelpful comment ever, but I think it needs something, just can't give you any clue to what the something may be.

It looks fabulous, but if I were the client my big question would be whether it can be built. I'm guessing there are manufacturers out there who can make the necessary beams with the various compound curves, but presumably the manufacturing tolerances would be very small for each part. Am I just exposing my own risk averse nature? Is making the components for something like this bread and butter for such manufacturers?

Terry.

Yes, it most certainly can be built. Those big curved glulams will be built by machine, and will have incredibly small tolerances..........but won't really need them. Were they to vary in length it might change the shape of the house a bit, (if the tolerance were larger than could be adjusted for at the stainless steel fittings which form the joints) but no big drama.

In fact, in consultation with the appointed supplier, it may well be that we have a trial erection of the glulams in the factory, when an inspection can be made prior to sending them to site.

All of the intermediate timbers are straight, and a jobbing builder could fit them easily (the glulams will be pre-marked, in the factory, for rafter locations).

In fact, the biggest problem I can foresee with this isn't making it all work accurately, but how to scaffold it. I reckon they could end up building it from cherry pickers, rather than scaffold, but we'll talk to scaffold suppliers to see what they suggest.

 

[Wizard9999]

All of the intermediate timbers are straight, and a jobbing builder could fit them easily (the glulams will be pre-marked, in the factory, for rafter locations).

Ah ha, my wonky eyes told me they were curved as well. Well here's hoping the client (and the planners) continue to like it so it can be turned into reality. Would you expect to be managing the build as well? I can imagine that would be a pretty full on job.

Terry.

 

[Mike G]

The beauty of being commissioned by another architect is that I can stick to doing the design work, and he will oversee the contract. I won't need to get involved on site at all, although I would expect to go to the monthly site meetings.

 

[Mike G]

Well, the client meeting today could hardly have gone better. They love it, they've got the money (and enthusiasm) to see the project through, and have some great ideas themselves. I suggested a spiral stair up through the middle from ground floor to dome/ viewing gallery, and we've settled on a 3 storey spiral, turning with the viewing floor, and the gallery floor to be made of glass. Great stuff!

 

[9fingers]

Great news Mike!

That dome will make a great solar collector for a heat recovery/ventillation system.
Spiral stairs will extend the rotation theme. This project HAS to go ahead and we need to have a wip thread. :lol:
Bob

 

[MCLUMA]

Very very very nice

even better when clients have money to pay for it

 

[Rod]

Fantastic
Are you allowed to say which part of the country it is planned for - with a viewing platform it must have a view?

Rod

 

[Mike G]

It's very close to me, on the Essex / Suffolk border.......and the view is lovely.

 

[Commander]

I think all i can say is wow! That is some out of the box thinking if I have ever seen any! I have to agree with the other comments, I would love to see this on Grand Designs as well as an extensive WIP!

 

[Mike G]

Thanks Erich. I doubt there will be a WIP, as I won't be involved with the build. But I might be able to post an occasional photo, if the project gets permission.

 

[AndyP]

Been away for a couple of week so just caught up with this. Wow!
As so many of the GD type builds I cannot see myself living there but it would not stop me watching it. It is just as well that you and you customer are prepared to push the boundaries of what us normal folk think is possible.
I hope we get to see the build.