Usonian Dreams – Our Family's Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired Home Project
David
'New-sonian' blog
Right. But this is a more honest (and Wrightian ?) approach than another Jacobs-based home-brew design we've seen, from the other end of the Earth, where the flat roofs were given a slight tipsy-tilt -- I'd say.
As the owner is no doubt thinking of snow, this time, should we counsel going all the way, a la Prairie-period design, and moving to 100% hipped roofs ? There's nothing intrinsically anti-Usonian about them; think of, for instance, the Hayes house . . .
Surely this will be no Wrightian exercise by the time it's done -- with a mix of oak and fir inside, and a (gulp) free-standing garage. Let's just be glad there's a real fireplace in the plan !
SDR
As the owner is no doubt thinking of snow, this time, should we counsel going all the way, a la Prairie-period design, and moving to 100% hipped roofs ? There's nothing intrinsically anti-Usonian about them; think of, for instance, the Hayes house . . .
Surely this will be no Wrightian exercise by the time it's done -- with a mix of oak and fir inside, and a (gulp) free-standing garage. Let's just be glad there's a real fireplace in the plan !
SDR
The main problem which I see is the awkward meeting of the two roof types. It would be nicer if the flat roof plane was separate and lower than the hipped roof portion...
I can't recall seeing a Wright house with a flat roof and hipped meeting in the same manner as what he has shown here. Of course, for many of today's autos, a too low carport roof becomes problematic.
I can't recall seeing a Wright house with a flat roof and hipped meeting in the same manner as what he has shown here. Of course, for many of today's autos, a too low carport roof becomes problematic.
I agree that the combination of roof types is discomfiting -- but Wright did it, several times, typically maintaining the roof fascia line while transitioning. Lovness (single-pitched main roof), Schaberg (double-pitched) and Berger (hipped) are examples. This doesn't count the many cases where a roof extension -- sometimes pierced -- extends from the main roof, pitched or not. The marvelous cantilevered bedroom wing at Wingspread has a hipped roof which extends to a flat-roofed condition before it terminates -- again maintaining the same eave fascia.
The flat-roofed central masonry block always seems to have a flat roof, so we can't complain about that, I suppose.
I can see the case for introducing a flat roof at a lower level, leaving the pitched roof to itself. Others have done it often. As one moves toward the structure, the shape of the roof becomes less apparent until it disappears altogether, leaving the visitor with a view of the fascia and soffit only.
SDR
The flat-roofed central masonry block always seems to have a flat roof, so we can't complain about that, I suppose.
I can see the case for introducing a flat roof at a lower level, leaving the pitched roof to itself. Others have done it often. As one moves toward the structure, the shape of the roof becomes less apparent until it disappears altogether, leaving the visitor with a view of the fascia and soffit only.
SDR
Last edited by SDR on Sat Jan 12, 2013 2:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
As designed, the flat roofs are a problem.
The common bathroom location is also awkward, as it forces a person to move from a guest bedroom across a hall in easy sight of the kitchen and living room. If I were forced to take the shell of his design, as is, I'd move that bathroom to where he has the kitchen, his kitchen to the utility space, and the utility to where the common bathroom is located. This doesn't take into account the unnecessary separation of utility lines, which could be consolidated fairly easily by carefully manipulating the plan.
Additionally, if he's planning a double garage and a carport, they should be combined and integrated into the design.
The common bathroom location is also awkward, as it forces a person to move from a guest bedroom across a hall in easy sight of the kitchen and living room. If I were forced to take the shell of his design, as is, I'd move that bathroom to where he has the kitchen, his kitchen to the utility space, and the utility to where the common bathroom is located. This doesn't take into account the unnecessary separation of utility lines, which could be consolidated fairly easily by carefully manipulating the plan.
Additionally, if he's planning a double garage and a carport, they should be combined and integrated into the design.
In the first video it is stated that the Jacobs house cost $5,500 and that today's cost it wound be equivalent to 87,00 (which is laughable).
I'm not a builder but I'd say the home he is designing would come in (with his proposed built-ins at least $200,000.
I guess the part of the country that it would be built could raise that number even higher.
In N.E. Ohio 200,000 does not get you much of a house, let alone a one of a kind design he is proposing.
I'm not a builder but I'd say the home he is designing would come in (with his proposed built-ins at least $200,000.
I guess the part of the country that it would be built could raise that number even higher.
In N.E. Ohio 200,000 does not get you much of a house, let alone a one of a kind design he is proposing.
On an earlier post (July 2012) the Usonian Dreamer is a bit more realistic about costs:
"I have been doing estimates on our home after refining the design over and over and began to think what it would cost to build the Jacobs home in today’s dollars in our area.
It has been awhile since I have posted and I will give an update soon but I wanted to get this out first.
Here are the rough material costs:
Foundation: $8,600 (slab construction)
Brick: $5,500
Board and Batten and Overhang wood: $10,000 (pine)
Framing: $10,000
Roof: $3,000
Plumbing, Electrical and Fixtures: $10,000
Cabinets: $10,000
Windows: $5,000
Heating: $8,000
So that makes around $70,000 in rough materials. Some substitutes would likely need to be done according to local building codes.
That is not including any permits, architect fees, utility hook ups, labour or land. If I had to guess based on a small lot (maybe a half acre), and standard labour rates around us, I would expect to pay around $150,000 more for the rest. That is about $220,000 when the average 3 bedroom raised ranch is going for $170,000 around here. Still not too bad."
I admire him for trying!
Rood is right about the inefficiencies and problems of the plan...
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"I have been doing estimates on our home after refining the design over and over and began to think what it would cost to build the Jacobs home in today’s dollars in our area.
It has been awhile since I have posted and I will give an update soon but I wanted to get this out first.
Here are the rough material costs:
Foundation: $8,600 (slab construction)
Brick: $5,500
Board and Batten and Overhang wood: $10,000 (pine)
Framing: $10,000
Roof: $3,000
Plumbing, Electrical and Fixtures: $10,000
Cabinets: $10,000
Windows: $5,000
Heating: $8,000
So that makes around $70,000 in rough materials. Some substitutes would likely need to be done according to local building codes.
That is not including any permits, architect fees, utility hook ups, labour or land. If I had to guess based on a small lot (maybe a half acre), and standard labour rates around us, I would expect to pay around $150,000 more for the rest. That is about $220,000 when the average 3 bedroom raised ranch is going for $170,000 around here. Still not too bad."
I admire him for trying!
Rood is right about the inefficiencies and problems of the plan...
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Berger roof:
Good photos are presently on line from the various real estate sites marketing the Berger house, showing the juncture of the hipped and flat roofs. As noted above, that juncture is awkwardly handled in the house as built. It appears that both the carpenter (Mr. Berger?) and the roofer struggled to meld the two forms together at the eave. What is not clear is how Mr. Wright designed it. The floor plan reproduced above and the floor plan published in Storrer are quite different on how the carport roof is handled. The plan above (published in the fine Bernard Pyron article on Berger, but without citation) shows a different design for the shop and end of the bedroom wing and a much deeper carport, that could have resulted in a different eave junction. However, it is impossible to tell because the Pyron plan has a cut line between the bedroom wing and the living wing of the house. The Storrer plan shows the end of the bedroom wing generally as constructed, but a different carport design than either the Pyron plan or what was actually constructed. Storrer shows a larger shop (constructed), an apparently deeper carport (not constructed), and a roof overhang on both the shop and the blank (east) end of the master bedroom (not constructed). Has anyone seen the "official" plan as designed by Wright?
Good photos are presently on line from the various real estate sites marketing the Berger house, showing the juncture of the hipped and flat roofs. As noted above, that juncture is awkwardly handled in the house as built. It appears that both the carpenter (Mr. Berger?) and the roofer struggled to meld the two forms together at the eave. What is not clear is how Mr. Wright designed it. The floor plan reproduced above and the floor plan published in Storrer are quite different on how the carport roof is handled. The plan above (published in the fine Bernard Pyron article on Berger, but without citation) shows a different design for the shop and end of the bedroom wing and a much deeper carport, that could have resulted in a different eave junction. However, it is impossible to tell because the Pyron plan has a cut line between the bedroom wing and the living wing of the house. The Storrer plan shows the end of the bedroom wing generally as constructed, but a different carport design than either the Pyron plan or what was actually constructed. Storrer shows a larger shop (constructed), an apparently deeper carport (not constructed), and a roof overhang on both the shop and the blank (east) end of the master bedroom (not constructed). Has anyone seen the "official" plan as designed by Wright?
Jim
