I’m really excited about this project. I started it about a month ago and it’s off to a great start. The project is to remodel and expand an existing house in the Oakland hills. The house sits on a down sloping one acre site with a tremendous view of the San Francisco Bay. The house is approximately 1800 square feet built in the early sixties in what I can only describe as the California Ranch version of Swiss Cottage. It isn’t offensive, but it ain’t pretty.
The clients are a young couple with two young children. They entertain often. They have parents that come to visit from out of state. Both parents often work from home. The house is just bursting at the seams. The plan is to take the 3 bedroom 2-1/2 bath house and through a combination of remodeling and expanding, turn it into a 4 bedroom 3-1/2 bath house with a “great room”, sitting room, game room and home office.
Photo copyright 2015, David Locicero | architect
We are coming to the end of the schematic design phase. The phase started with understanding the existing house and the clients needs and desires. The image above is of some diagrams I created that help me understand the interrelations between the site and the developing plan of the house. This spread of diagrams was generated over about an hour of good coffee and good music in a quiet cafe.
Image copyright 2015, David Locicero | architect
The drawing above is an early version of the floor plan as it is developing. This drawing was completed after having come up with 4 different ways to accomplish the clients’ desires, meeting with them and their decision to move forward with this particular scheme.
You can see that I’m still trying to work out solutions to problems of making everything fit as well as testing ideas about alignments, transparency, and just how you make the connection between the driveway and the front door. This plan is early days in the process and it has already changed since this drawing was made. It’s an exciting and fun process.
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