apartment house

Complete & In!

2011-04-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a long overdue post, but I am very happy to report that the Apartment House is complete and we are all moved in!

Thanks to the marvelous efforts from Steve Burdett, our engineer, the team at Donal Construction and all the marvelous sub-contractors who worked on the job, we have a beautiful, happy home.

The amazing Matt Biocich has photographed the house and his pics can be seen in all their glory on the architecture studio's website - David Weir Architects. While you're there, sign up to our monthly newsletter to keep up to date with our projects and our goings-on (I promise we won't hassle you or do anything untoward with your email addresses!).

I will continue to post photos on here as the house and garden settle and the seasons change, so come back every now and then to check it out.

Thanks,
David.

practical completion!!!

2011-02-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

That means the Apartment House is suitable for habitation...well, mostly. The floor isn't waterproof until Monday morning, which means we can't shower until then...but the beach is just down the road, so that won't stop us moving in.

I ferried chairs to the house this morning to signify occupation, but also so I could finally sit in the house. They are positioned where the dining table will go. It felt good. Good to know its ours and good to know that I have completed a ground-up, completely David Weir designed project. It's ours, it's mine and it's a glorious feeling!

floor update

2011-02-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

The builder has all but completed the resurfacing of the floors this morning. Originally intended to be a simple trowel-finished concrete surface, we have had to cover up some stains and mishaps that occurred during the build. The product used is a troweled on cementious mix, somewhat like a rough plaster finish, and maintains the movement and variation that a concrete floor has.

We think it looks pretty darn smart, and it also means that a move-in date is just around the corner.

Landscape Update

2011-02-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

The freshly-laid and somewhat-planted car parking area, designed by the very clever Z.A. Carboon.

And the freshly planted roof deck screens. Grow, wee little plants, grow!!

quick update

2011-02-01T17:54:00.001-08:00

The builder has given us a Date for Practical Completion of 18th February, due to the fact that we had to re-think and they had to re-do the entire floor of the house after it came out of the construction process stained, chipped and filthy. So the floors will no longer be a clear-finished, troweled concrete slab, but a trowel-finished 'X-bond' material (almost like a rough plaster finish, in a dark grey).

In the meantime, we have been taking care of the garden and the hardscaping. Zac has been in charge of the landscaping and came up with a brilliant solution to the on-site car-parking requirements. The original intention was to have off-the-shelf open concrete pavers, like a driveable lawn product, but that proved to be too pricey. In place we have collected stacks of breeze blocks of the sort common in North Perth, and Zac stumbled across some concrete stormwater products that look like stepping stones.

Arranged in a grid, these 'pavers' are strong enough to park on and the openings will allow our ground cover to flourish through, which will reinforce the concrete & greenery look that was our intention for the house.

leaps and bounds

2010-12-22T16:55:00.000-08:00

Well! I have been away for the last 5 weeks, out in the South Australian bush trying to have a break and calm things down before moving into the newly completed house...except they hadn't finished the works before I left, and they haven't finished the works now that I'm back either. No bother. There has been a lot of work done and now we are down to a few quality control issues and some problem solving. Christmas plans blown out of the water, but as I tell my clients, the only thing that can be guaranteed with a custom house build is that it will take longer than you think. Every time.

I'm not going to write too much because it is the 23rd and I haven't even begun to prepare for Christmas celebrations, but here are some photos of the house as it stands today, including the beautiful and happy little garden planted by Zac in my absence. The Flame Tree is my Christmas present. Beautiful.

Have a Happy Christmas and a safe New Year.

Balustrades are on, concrete steps are in!

2010-11-15T02:04:00.000-08:00

Things are grinding to a halt at the Apartment House...too bad the place isn't finished yet!

The last weeks have been slow and full of canceled tradesmen. It is a strange thing indeed to experience; I can't think of another industry where the participants find it acceptable to book in a day, not turn up at the allotted time, then wait to be called by the supervisor at which time they advise that "sorry, I can't make it today...maybe tomorrow"... If anyone else did business in such a manner they would be out of business within a month, but with trades for some reason it is acceptable. Our supervisor is working himself grey trying to keep them all in line and on time!

Anyway, the trades that have turned up have done a chunk of work - the balustrades, roof screens and stair treads are all in (the screens and balustrades require their mesh still, but the frames are up) and the 'verandah' deck and the concrete steps have been poured and acid-washed. And it looks aces.

Plus, the scaffold is finally down! The grey box is revealed in all its grey, boxy glory!

Door detail

2010-10-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

A not-especially-good photograph of the sliding door from the Bathroom into the Bedroom, through the wardrobe. I am glad we finally got all the lines to ...line up.

I am working on the assumption that my photographer, with his knowledge of cameras and what-not, will be able to get better shots of this house when it comes time, but the spaces are such that it is hard to get the distance to take a full photo of an object, hence the mash-up...

Bench-tops & blue boxes

2010-10-21T21:54:00.000-07:00

The Kitchen bench-tops went in yesterday...and they are awesome. There is something very special indeed about having work surfaces made up of fossilised prehistoric sea creatures. I imagine it to be not unlike the feeling Vader would have experienced encasing Han Solo in carbonite...

Apparently the stone masons all grappled to do our job in the factory as it was the first time in over a year that they had worked in anything but man-made stone - I don't care if it is harder-wearing or easier to clean; stone made out of the entombed skeletal structures of tiny, tiny animals is waaaay cooler.

You can also see in the photo that our very limited ceiling has been installed - just enough to deal with exhaust fans and what-not.

Most exciting of all, though, is the Bathroom skylight. Its a big...blue...box. And its bad-ass! The light inside the Bathroom is amazing and the presence of the box on the roof deck is just downright good fun. Plus you can see it from the street, which is cool. I was somewhat worried that this house would come off as far too serious and wouldn't have enough joy in it, but the box puts that to bed.

Plumbers next, then electricians, stairs and cleaning up...

Tradie Explosion!!!

2010-10-11T18:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was probably the biggest day on site for the last 6 months! Painters, carpenters, cabinet-makers, sparkies, stone-masons and plumbers! The most of the cabinets have been installed, save for the doors and a damaged piece in the bathroom (doors don't go on until the end due to the high risk of damage). So the kitchen looks mostly complete, the retina-damaging yellow of the bedroom is now apparent (hopefully it will be a happy start to every morning) and the boys' blue bathroom is taking shape.

Fitting the Kitchen shelves

Kitchen taking shape

The 'Study' end of the Kitchen cabinets, complete with filing drawers

The door to the Bedroom slides back to reveal a storage cupboard for brooms etc

The view of the Bathroom/Laundry pod from the Bedroom

The other side of the Bathroom/Laundry pod

The carpenters fixed on our door furniture, which means we can finally lock up the place, and can take to site all our lights, plumbing and what-not that have been cluttering up the boot of my car for weeks and weeks.

The place is starting to feel like it can be lived in, and I can finally see if some of the little interesting details worked out the way they were intended...it seems right now that they do.

3 and a half weeks to go.

Cabs are in!

2010-10-07T02:15:00.000-07:00

The interior of the house is starting to take shape! Today the carcass of both the bedroom wardrobe and storage AND the kitchen arrived, and by early afternoon were fitted into place! Scarily this building site is starting to feel like a future home, and that means I have to move in...and I hate moving.

The bedroom cabs are the most vibrant canary yellow (see the floor kickers) and will make the room absolutely explode!

The kitchen is the deep grey-green you can see on the panel leaning against the wall, and will tie into the marble benchtop. Overheads shelves are yet to come, but from right to left is the (not yet completed) fridge hole, the little pantry, the oven with microwave nook over, then dishwasher, sink and oven, with filing cab drawers for the 'study' cantilevering out at the end of the row. In the background you can see the storage cupboard which will be hidden behind the huge sliding door.

The bathroom/laundry pod isn't yet painted so has not arrived on site. Next is ceiling, paint and electricians.

3weeks and counting

2010-10-06T00:31:00.000-07:00

The builder tells me we are on target for and October 29th Practical Completion ...notwithstanding the landscaping, which we are doing ourselves, I think it may be a slight case of wishful thinking. Still, good luck to him!

Doors, doors, doors!

2010-09-27T00:04:00.000-07:00

The last of our doors is hung (hanged?), and the north doors have been glazed (mostly)! On Friday 4 of us lifted the 170kg bedroom door into place and the glaziers came by to fit the enormous panes of 10mm thick glass into the external sliders...of course, in true glazier fashion they managed to mess up 2 of the 6 panes, so the house isn't water tight just yet. Still, it almost looks like a house and a lot less like a building site.

Also, the ceiling has finally been cleaned and we have achieved close tot he desired finish. It's not perfect, but it still feels right.

Date for practical completion is 5 weeks away...we are going to miss it...but by how much?!

Post at Last! Post at Laaast!

2010-09-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought it was about time for an update, but can't believe it has been 1 month since the last! Lazy blogger. Well, a bunch of goings-on have gone on - external frames are in, internal doors are mostly hung and the external stair has been fixed to the side of the house. In addition to all this, my office has shifted to a newer, cooler, far bigger and far more disjointed space than the last (hence the month long hiatus). Still, here's some pics...

Movement on Site

2010-08-18T03:53:00.000-07:00

There has been a heap of movement off site over the past few weeks, and today there was a bit of movement on site too. Zac and I ducked out to the cabinet makers today and saw the carcasses for the kitchen and the bedroom wardrobe, presented here today for your viewing pleasure.

Also, sliding door tracks have gone in today...not reeeal exciting, I know, but it's something.

august update

2010-08-04T20:09:00.001-07:00

Someone asked me the other day whether the project had stalled. No it has not; we are just busy in workshops and factories preparing all manner of bits and pieces. The big job of perfecting and building the cabinets is underway, the north wall of sliding glass doors is being built and the staircase and screens for the roof are measured up and in fabrication.

Hopefully this means that in the next couple of weeks there will be an explosion on site of all the bits and pieces that will take the project from a grey concrete box to an interesting house...

roof formwork is down

2010-07-01T02:42:00.001-07:00

Formwork for the roof slab came down yesterday, and despite to fact that it is covered in rust, despite the form being cleaned twice, it looks great! The space and the openness of the house is now apparent, and the light into the bathroom through the skylight is magnificent.

My grandmother is very pleased that we have a 'verandah', as you just don't see them often enough any more.

Next is electrical and plumbing work, then doors and privacy screens on the roof.

roof finish

2010-07-01T02:34:00.000-07:00

The roof is complete and the aggregate has been exposed for what it is! We had a celebratory drink on the roof to celebrate.

Below is a lovely, artistic shot taken by Phil.

fine weather and roof slabs

2010-06-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

After last week's on-again, off-again wet weather, we have finally had a couple of days of clear sun and a chance to pour the roof slab! With a vast bevvy of grano workers tramping all over the very carefully laid structural reinforcing and electrical conduits, the day began at 7.30am and lasted for 6 mini-trucks worth of concrete.

The neighbours all stuck their heads in to have an inspection whilst enjoying their (disrupted) morning coffee, but no complaints, and one of the tradies asked if this was actually a house: "I thought it was going to be a club-house or something"...everyone's a critic.

Tomorrow they wash it to expose the aggregate and by the weekend we should be up there enjoying a glass of something and a sunset.

rainy days...

2010-06-14T23:08:00.000-07:00

Work has slowed somewhat on site with the onset of winter in Perth. Rain, rain, rain. However, the reo is in for the roof slab, and the electricians are on site today laying conduit and chasing walls.

There have been a couple of your standard construction 'bumps' over the last week, but that's par for the course, and our builder is doing his utmost to rectify everything to a high standard.

With any luck the slab can be poured first thing next week...

city views!

2010-06-04T00:48:00.000-07:00

Zac & Phil survey the work.

Notwithstanding the fact that I don't necessarily believe in the idea of houses as merely economic currency, those that do always subscribe to the 'location & views' mantra. Well, listen up, real estate agents - we just discovered we have city views! Two, to be exact.

One occurs if you stand in the very north-east corner of the roof deck and look down our laneway: in the distance like a beacon of real estate gold stands the Bankwest Tower. And the second, somewhat less neighbour-friendly view comes when we look straight through the first floor windows of our southern neighbour. In respect of retaining at least some of their privacy, I will not post any photos of that view.

And of course the formwork is now all but complete. Concrete pour expected in about ten days...

photo shoot for the bird

2010-06-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

In a side note, last night I went into The Bird with Matt Biocich, this great photographer I spotted at an exhibition last year. He took some photos of the bar for the office portfolio and some great shots of the owners Mike & Brenton. Keep an eye out on the PrevostWeir website for the results.

formwork for roof slab

2010-06-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

Formwork supports for the roof slab went up yesterday, so we can now see the finished extents of the box that is the apartment house. We have decided (for the time being) to leave the internal ceiling as exposed soffit to see how we go with concrete floor and concrete ceilings...so the office kids designed up a layout for the form-boards and lighting conduits...hopefully the boys on site follow the plan first go, or I will be on site with a crow-bar!

Zac also managed to clamber on top of the building in the early evening to snap some pics of the view and the sunset - turns out we have an even better view than we hoped. Good progress.

bricks to plate height

2010-05-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

The handy thing about building a house so small is that things happened very, very quickly. Within 3 days of brick-laying (including one day off for bad weather) the external walls of the apartment house area all but complete, and the bathroom is all but bricked-up. The steel columns to support the roof and the north facade are also in place.

The space is really starting to take shape, though the roof will make a major difference to the feel and the light when it goes on in the following weeks. But for now we have distinguishable rooms and some sense of accomplishment ...

first day's bricks

2010-05-26T17:31:00.001-07:00

Zac swung by the block yesterday afternoon to check the progress:

brickies, brickies everywhere

2010-05-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

After a 2 day delay, and just in time for the rain, the brickies have arrived on site. Met them on site this morning with the builder, Chris, and talked through the tricky detailing issues that result from using uncommon face-finish bricks. The solutions should present as nice little details in the finished walls.

Depending on the weather, the bricks should take 4 days to complete...cross fingers, people.

slab party

2010-05-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

Last night Zac and I threw a small Slab Party to say thanks to our families, friends and colleagues who have helped us get this project off the ground. So it was champagne and beers on the slab under candle-light (power not hooked up yet). The photos aren't great but they commemorate an important stage in this undertaking.

concrete pour day

2010-05-10T02:36:00.000-07:00

Well, we have a floor...we have big, wet ground floor. A couple of hiccups with the pour but all-in-all a straight forward and successful day. You can see where the bathroom will be and the pipework for the sanitary ware and the kitchen appliances - who would've imagined that pvc piping could be so exciting!

Curing, then steel, then blockwork.

footings pt.2

2010-05-06T23:57:00.000-07:00

Footings are done, termites are done, reo is done. Nerves haven't dissipated yet, but I couldn't stop it if I wanted to! Bring on the floor slab, people!

footings pt.1

2010-05-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

The boys are on site this morning digging the trenches for the slab footings and the plumbing works. I will head back over later in the day to see the footings themselves going down. There are a few tricky little bits and pieces with columns and what-not but it should all happen smoothly...or at least it should happen...

Slab Monday.

flat site...

2010-04-27T23:20:00.000-07:00

Our block has been levelled and cleaned! It is now level and clean! It is like an enormous, sandy, blank piece of paper. Let's build a house, shall we?

extra/ordinary architecture conference 2010 - on the subject of project housing

2010-04-26T22:34:00.001-07:00

This post is a digression from the normal documentation of the apartment house process, but i thought it pertinent to the very nature of the design and planning of the apartment house to comment on such things.

At the national architecture conference just finished this past weekend, West Australian based landscape architect Richard Weller presented on a topic close to the 'apartment house' project's heart: the suburbanisation of Perth, Western Australia and the country as a whole. He has recently published an enormous tome entitled Boom Town 2050 - Scenarios for a Rapidly Growing City. It is a brilliant and important piece of work and one that I encourage you to seek out and read, or browse, or simply marvel at.

It is a work based on significant and deep research into the goings on and statistics of how we live in this city, and the hypothetical futures that we must consider in order to avoid the unsustainable and destructive future that will certainly arrive if we do not.

Among the discussions on planning policies, ecological scenarios, energy, transportation and population, there is a chapter dedicated to the effects of 'project housing' on our city. In his conference presentation Richard Weller scarily referred to one man as Perth's most important architect; this man is Dale Alcock, project home magnate. Now there's a scary notion.

There is a school of thought that says architecture and planning, the making of homes and towns and cities, the passive or active creation of cultures that spawn from these homes and town and cities, and the welfare of the people who inhabit them and the habitats in which they exist, are important tasks to be undertaken with a great deal of care, consideration, altruism, strong will and moral fortitude. There is another school of thought that says this is primarily a retail industry.

In a direct quote by Dale Alcock in Boom Town he states the following:

"Home builders cop a lot of flak and are accused of producing housing that is unimaginative, lacks innovation and is of poor design. The reality is that home builders are retailers and provide an affordable product to a consumer. The biggest challenge is to get consumers to be more daring and challenge the status quo. Consumers, who demand a well designed, adequate, energy efficient and responsive home will ultimately be served this. Our livelihood depends on meeting our clients' demand."

Dale's quote suggests that the public is asking him for housing that is unimaginative, lacks innovation and is of poor design, and affordable. That's what he provides (or at least he does not present any rebuttal of this claim) and it so follows that this is what his consumers are demanding. This is what happens when a base necessity of life and the higher aspirations of a society are viewed as a retail undertaking. Retail suggests profit and Dale's quote suggests that he will happily make his profit from poor product if that is the market that is presented to him. In this brief quote, and in the volumes of tract housing he produces, he does not suggest that he will push the boundaries and show the world that there are better options; he does not suggest that we can live in a house that does not only tick enough boxes to allow it to be built; he does not suggest that he will strive for something more. He suggests that if no one asks for better and if he doesn't offer it, then he can go on making a 'livelihood' without putting in any more effort than is required. I would be interested to see if Dale has ever put his profits on the line to attempt to create something of importance and innovation in the state that has given him such a fantastic livelihood...and charity homes of the same dubious architectural quality as every other home he produces do not count.

It is a sad situation if this man is 'the most important architect in Perth'. It is a scary situation that no one is taking a massive and loud stand against this. It is no small inspiration for the apartment house that it is an opportunity to present an alternative way of living in this city.
The apartment house is in-fill development and respects its site and its neighbours; it pushes the limits of the planning codes and it has managed to eke out a couple of bonuses by thinking hard and knowing that the project can be approached in a manner outside the status quo. If there was a tree on the block we would've kept it.

I find it immensely worrying that such business people as Dale can view their undertakings only through a lens of profits and 'his livelihood'. In one fell swoop such actions are capable of undermining the future of a society.

building licences and site works

2010-04-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

just got back into perth after a week in sydney attending the national architecture conference and have found on my desk a shiny new building licence. these are happy days indeed! i also dropped in to the site this morning to find site works underway - for me this is the sign that real construction has begun.

bobcat, big truck and a porta-loo. this house is getting built! to top it all off, the builder has pre-ordered our steel structure. i am very excited indeed.

trench work completed

2010-04-15T04:19:00.000-07:00

the builder told me today that all work in our trench has been completed. this now means, whatever happens next, at the very least we can pitch a tent on the block and have ablutions, a cup of tea and watch cable! which is much more usable than some dumb old block of sand.

but no more work can be undertaken until we have a building licence. which hopefully happens tomorrow or monday. so please everyone cross fingers.

flying out to sydney for a family wedding and a couple of conferences tomorrow also - the national architecture conference and designex. should be good, educational fun - the best kind! hopefully i won't find anything for us to add to the house...

services are in, building licence is out!

2010-04-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

well, it looks like things are underway. the plumber AND the electrician have been on site over the last 2 days, and have laid down the sewerage plumbing and the electrical/comms wiring in our trench. we even have a meter box!!

the bad news is that after being advised 3 weeks ago that our building licence was squared away and ready to pick up, yesterday the builder was refused the licence with no explanation. on further investigation it seems that yet another civil servant had become involved, and he has asked for a whole bunch of new information to be provided before he will sign off on the licence. no problems providing the info, just wish it had been requested weeks/months before, or that we had not been told the process was complete. anyway, most of it has been provided bar a soil test, which i am following up as i type. so maybe site-works will start next week...?

trench weekend

2010-04-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

zac and i decided to take on the job of digging the services trench (sewer, water, electricity and comms) to save ourselves a little bit of money and to be a bit more involved in the actual construction of the house. a small walkway leads from the bulk of the block to our primary road, where all our service connections are located.

so this weekend, with siteworks pending, zac and i, my folks and a few friends (jeromy, davey and scott with the refreshments) got on our tiniest shorts and our work boots and dug out 8.4 cubic metres of soil to make way for our services.

the work turned out to be slightly tricky, with 2 sections of steps and 1 concrete ramp to maneuver under. we managed to get under 1 lot of steps and the ramp, but the monolithic concrete steps at the front of the property proved to be too big a job for anyone without a concrete saw. so we are going to pass the last task over to our builder to complete.

all in all, however, it was a good start to the construction of the house, and i think we are all very relieved that things are now underway! site works next week.

first site visit!!

2010-03-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

just got back from site with the builder (chris), the electrician (paul) and the plumbers (bruce and damian). zac and i have been given our instructions as to how and where to dig the trench for all the services, and we sorted out some issues in regards to location of meter boxes and the like. too easy. the easter weekend will be dedicated to digging said trench. can't wait!

first site meeting tomorrow

2010-03-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

on site tomorrow morning at 7.30am with the builder, the plumber and the electrician. we are going to discuss requirements for the trench that needs to be dug to allow for plumbing, electrical and communications requirements. this is it. no retreat, no surrender.

prevostweir architects website open!

2010-03-19T00:51:00.000-07:00

my office has just finalised its new website! there are a few more projects to go up, and a bit of tweaking to do, but for all intents and purposes we are live on the interweb!

check it out here - www.prevostweir.com

finance complete

2010-03-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

that is it. papers signed and submitted. we are in. it is done. i feel all light headed and dizzy. and may vomit. well, no turning back now.

the builder has informed me that site works will start in a matter of days, and he is setting up a meeting with the electrician and plumber to determine where zac and i need to dig the trench...trench party, anyone?

...i just vomited a little in my mouth thinking about slab pours and such things...i've done it before but this one is MINE. i'm good at what i do so i shouldn't be worried, but i am anyway. i have good builders and good consultants so it should all go as smooth as any build does...let the countdown begin!

finance? hurry it up!

2010-03-09T01:26:00.001-08:00

every bit of paper possible is in to the bank. they have promised us more papers to sign in 1 week. after that i am of the understanding that we get to build our house. the builder is getting anxious and so am i - it is beyond time to build this house!

floor plan - better quality

2010-03-09T01:18:00.000-08:00

needed to load up a decent quality plan...here it is.

building contract

2010-01-09T23:28:00.000-08:00

on the last day of last year, zac and i signed off on a contract to finally, FINALLY, build our tiny house. the deal isn't yet done, however, as the lovely folk at the bank need to agree to everything and give us some money before we can proceed. however, this is the real-est it has been since we embarked on this project so many, many months ago.

if things go well then i will be able to return to blogging the project on a far more regular basis, with photos and what-not. fingers crossed.

builders

2008-09-17T03:39:00.000-07:00

i have dealt with 3 builder's since my last post.

builders are draining and they cost too much. this is my opinion. and through no fault of their own, they are not in love with your design the way that you are. they don't hurry themselves because they want to see it built. they don't want it as bad as you do. so i've been sitting around on my hands waiting for prices and responses. but i think we have found one...

second meeting this morning on a cold and rainy site. we located the service points and discussed footings. we discussed how to go about building it and what it is going to cost. and i think we have found the right builder for our situation.

nothing is signed yet and we have to speak to our bank man again, but i think we might be looking at going forward sometime before christmas. which would be brilliant.

next stop is the money man...

jo pickup doors

2008-08-08T02:45:00.000-07:00

jo came back to us a few weeks ago with the designs for the painted doors, in the colours that zac and i have selected (unfortunately these do not come up very well...). we have had to think about rationalising the cost of the job, so are only going to paint 2 of the doors - the door from the study to the bathroom, and from the study to the bedroom. this will create a little corner of art, which is a nice consolation. not sure which 2 we will go with...whatever jo suggests will be the go.

interior sketches and pricing progress

2008-08-08T02:38:00.000-07:00

i am now bored with this drawn out tender process.

i feel like the house is now in the hands of people who have more important things on their plates and our project is not being shown the love it has recieved up until now. of course, that is only because it is our project and it's the most important thing int he world to us. and we have gone with a big builder who understandably regards our job as a small one.

so to stave off boredom and to reconnect with the project i have been so intimate with up until it went to the builder, i have been sketching the interior spaces to try and get a feel for it and convince myself it's still a good design!

prices are due back end of next week, so until then, here's my scribbles. note the simplified cabinet on the wall in the living room (this one has the cabinetmaker stumped - it's made up of 26 boxes of 4 different sizes in 5 different colours). i've also included the beautiful sofie refer lights that we are intending to use in the dining area and over the breakfast bar.

a view towards the study, without the study. open doors give a view to the wysteria-covered carpoert and the laneway beyond.

living room from the 'front door'. requisite plasma and split-system on the wall above the boxes...

sofie refer's beautiful bulb pendant.

view of the bedroom. those wardrobes are supposed to be yellow/mustard...this blog thing isn't very good with colours. the gap in the wardrobes is the door to the ensuite.

builder price...

2008-07-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

the fellow who is supposed to be pricing our job at the builders is apparently on holiday until monday...so no price to celebrate with my birthday tomorrow. hopefully we'll have something mid next week...

builder response

2008-07-06T23:34:00.000-07:00

have just spoken to our prospective builder who has said we will have an initial price in our hands by the end of the week. this is great news. things have been slow of late with the plans being in council and the builder considering whether they will be able to do the work. even if they come back with the wrong price, at least it'll mean i get to do some work (wheeling and dealing or re-drawing), and won't feel so impotent.

the target is $2000/sqm with not a lot of wiggle room at all! can't wait to get into it.

zac and i have just booked a europe trip for feb, so i want to get the house rolling so we have somewhere to move back into!

building license + builder feedback

2008-06-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

after submitting to council for our building license last week, we got some very quick feedback from our planning officer (i'm actually very impressed with the attention paid and the speed applied to the project by the planning dept). it was really just in the form of questions about how the building license drawings differed from our planning approval set (my own drafting errors) but it was good to see they were getting into it.

there was one question about setbacks and overlooking and our ingenious solution to avoid the full height screens the whole way around our roof deck. we have decided to push the balustrade on the north side of the house back to a 7.5m setback, thereby avoiding any kind of screening. it really doesn't mean we can see less of the neighbours' yard, but that's what the codes allow for, so that's how we will play it.

meantime, the builder told e yesterday that despite handing over documents for costing 2 weeks ago, he hasn't had a look at them yet! he's been on holiday in bali! well, i'm having dinner with his boss soon so i plan to lean real hard, talking up the pros and ease of the project and how it can slip easily into their busy schedule.

will let you know as soon as we have any info at all.

d

tender?

2008-06-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

my uncle has told us from the very beginning that he will build our house through his company and by calling in favours. he's coming in this morning to pick up a 'tender set' of drawings. i was at the office until 11pm last night trying to tweak them enough that i wouldn't be embarrassed handing them over...didn't get as far as i wanted, and realised that there are still several unfinalised parts of the interior design, and several selections unselected.

i am hoping he can price it for the most part and hand it back with a list of items remaining to be costed...i don't know the process...this is the first tender i've done!

we are trying to build for $2000/m2 which comes to $186,000 budget. it has no give in it at all. i'm actually just slightly terrified that it's going to blow out a large amount and we will either need to re-specifiy the whole thing, build it ourselves, or redesign it. crap!

will post as soon as we have any information back.

building license submission

2008-06-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

it's in.

all the boxes ticked, all conditions met. this is my first building license so i'm hoping that that is all they need from us. that and a whole heap of hard-earned.

at the last minute, after receiving our aluminium quote, we changed all the windows and doors to timber. we are hoping this might save us a bit of money as we can be a bit more clever in the design. aluminium came in at 35k plus, so i'm going to lean on our joinery carpenters to come in a bit better. zac has always wanted timber doors so we might just push ahead with them now anyway. when i figure out how to load plans and drawings well i will post some new elevations.

final engineering!!!

2008-06-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

our final, signed copies of our engineering drawings came through yesterday! i have no more excuses - it's time for building license submission and it's time to talk to the builder. crap! it's all gonna become a reality with banks and concrete and early morning site visits very, very soon...i'm hoping they're gonna let me scrawl all the building details on the floor with crayon, cos i'm very much over drafting.

i'll attempt to complete my specification and supply schedule for the builder tonight so i can sit down with him and not look like a complete tool. i'm very scared that i'll forget to add something like a dishwasher and get caught out in 6months time when it's not in the documents and the bank won't give us any more money...which would suck...

as soon as the BL submission is in (this afternoon? if zac can get out in his lunch break to sign the application form) and as soon as the specification is complete, i'll post a list of some of the features and maybe some new interior elevations. fingers crossed.

engineering, take 2

2008-05-19T03:09:00.000-07:00

i have sent off the latest drawings today to our engineer, in preparation for our building license submission. they will come back to us with a final design to make our house stand up...which is handy.

so that means building license is looming. i spent the weekend playing silly buggers with internal elevations and lighting design, which doesn't help get us through building license but is fun...i'm going to go draw a section now...

elevations

2008-05-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

i've been getting back into all the fun of building license drawings this week in an attempt to keep my mind of my impending APE3 exam (the final registration exam in australia to become a full-on architect). i've resolved some issues in section and detailed up a couple of tricky little elements of the house, but i've also been distracting myself further by playing with some unnecessary drawings.

the drawings below show the northern facade as a diagram of how much the side of the house opens up (used to convince zac that he would have a very open house after i denied him his bi-fold doors), and a concept drawing of the facade with jo pickup's designs over-layed.

(does anyone know how to get rid of the poor colour on my images?)

i am not sure if we are going to be able to do the pickup facade, but last week i met with jo to start the design process for our internal doors. she has told me we will have a few things to look at in about 3 weeks time, so as soon as she gives us something i will post.

have also been looking for fans for our whole environmentally-friendly/passive cooling jaunt. i've had it in my head for a while that we will mount 2 fans in the 2 rear corners of the house - bedroom and living - to force air to circulate around and back out the louvres on the front of the house. chad's post at 100khouse inspired me to actually get a move on so i've been speaking to heat australia this morning and they have suggested the fan below.

obviously not all of them at once, though that would make for one sweet in-house sou-wester.

so that's where we are today. zac is out trying to pin down the creeper that will form the majority of our deck screening and i am going back to my books.

PLANNING APPROVAL!

2008-04-30T20:07:00.001-07:00

it's in, it's done, it's through! as of 10am today we have conditional planning approval for the apartment house!

apart from the standard bits about cross-overs and what-not, the only condition we have had placed upon our project is a matter of screening the roof deck. this isn't so bad. we can tweak the design a bit to accommodate everyone's concerns and still maintain the spirit and usability of the deck.

i am, however, going to approach our neighbours and discuss it with them also, because i think we can come to a better arrangement than what has been described in the approval. let's hope they get into the spirit of mutually-beneficial design!

so it's through and now i can start blogging again. we have just started getting some prices from windows and doors and screens and what-not, so we are working up an idea of the direction we need to proceed in. as soon as possible i will submit building license drawings and then sit down with our builder to figure out what he needs from me. that'll be exciting. i think we may still be on track for a house by Christmas. fingers crossed...

progress

2008-03-14T00:53:00.000-07:00

nothing much to report at the moment. the plans (with several modifications and additions) are in planning and should be up for neighbour comments at the moment. hopefully we won't have any issues. and if all goes well we will having approval in a week's time.

need to get a wriggle on and have my drawings ready for tender. we want to get this done sharpish and try to be in by christmas and summer. zac seems to think that it's not a cool idea to put a blow-up kid's pool on the roof for summer lazing...i seem to think it's a fantastic idea and am planning on also adding truckloads of beach sand for additional summer-fun-ness.

1 week more...fingers crossed.

the bathroom

2008-03-01T20:51:00.000-08:00

the interior of the apartment house has been designed for a while - bar the details and issues that i come across while drawing up the building license set - but i haven't had a chance to post any of them. following on from a post about a bathroom fixture i thought it was necessary to show where it was going to be fitted.

this sketch is the most recent thing i have for the interior of the bathroom/laundry, viewing from about the point of the laundry cabs (check the plan to see how it works):

concrete floors, tiled and painted walls, opening to roof skylight, in-floor grate for the shower drain, sliding door into the bedroom through the cabinetwork, no shower door, just a little screen to stop the majority of water spilling out...i wonder if i can get blue glass for that screen, to match the tiles and cabs...might be a big blue room...will need to colour-coordinate toilet cakes to match...

planning application: take 2

2008-02-29T22:23:00.000-08:00

so-armed with levels and survey information i have just completed my second attempt at drawing up a planning application for the house.

a little annoyed that it has taken this long (mostly at myself for trying to subvert the system, a little at the suveyors that drew up the lot 5 years ago and couldn't manage to track down the drawings 4 weeks ago), but that's now by-the-by. this is going in to council on tuesday and it is going through, dammit!

t minus 3months, 3days and counting...

50khouse / 100khouse

2008-02-28T23:05:00.000-08:00

few people know this, but the apartment house started out as the '50k house'. i was and still am damn sure i could build a house for 50 thousand $ - it was small and it was timber but it was only going to cost me 50thou, and it would've been hot. anyway, one thing followed another and all of a sudden the project blew out to the 'apartment house'.

well, a few weeks ago whilst looking for kindred spirits, blog-wise, i stumbled across the 100k house! chad in philadelphia, usa, is building his very own apartment-sized house for 100k (twice as tall, twice as big, twice as costly, and presumably twice as water-proof and comfortable as the old 50k house)...and he is keeping a very up-to-date and detailed blog while he does it. so link on over and take a look. it's a very sexy little building and has some great drawings and images in the albums. and his architects - ISA - are impressive too.

...this blogging thing is fun...

survey

2008-02-28T20:31:00.001-08:00

and now we have our survey info! hooray!

therefore i can augment my existing planning application (which have been on hold at council for a month already...the project has at least been given a council reference number, which is exciting, i guess) and submit it to join the rest of the drawings. then wait for approval...or otherwise...they say 3months but i'm hoping there won't be too mcuh deliberation and it might be a bit quicker. we'll see.

in the meantime i will press on with my construction set of drawings in preparation. i'm sure plenty of issues will come up in the meantime. i've already found 2...

floor plan

2008-02-28T20:08:00.000-08:00

the floor plan...

there you have it. that's why it's the apartment house. it's small. i mean, it's not that tiny (in fact, my research turned up that you would need to pay over a million $$ to get an apartment 10% smaller and share it with 2 other people at least, in any of the current developments in the area), but it's not big.

the footprint is in the vicinity of 93m2, but the roof deck allows for about 150m2 of outdoor living/entertaining area. 93m2 is more than enough for 2 people to inhabit very comfortably, and the living space alone is bigger than most flats and plenty of new apartments.

so it's open plan living/dining/kitchen, with a couple of moveable kitchen benches to allow for different capacities or scenarios. then there's a small study nook with beautiful northern light from behind. from there it's into the wc/ensuite/laundry with its skylight chimney, massive shower and communal basin. through into the bedroom which is vast and which i'm sure will incorporate a small lounge area when it's done. there's a full wall of cabinets and wardobe that conceals the ensuite and bedroom sliding doors behind. then back through the big slider (the jo pickup door) that also acts as the door for a storage cupboard accessed from the study side. that's the tour. it only takes a moment. as i have more interior sketches i'll post them to see how the inside feels.

the north facade is all sliding glass and operable louvres with a beautiful big eave to keep the joint cool. this glass opens on to the vine-covered carport and the big slab deck and shade tree. around the corner is the access stair to the roof. and down the walk to the mailbox.

the engineer called it 'cute'. i'm going with 'compact'. or 'succinct'. it's going to be beautiful.

*re-posted the floor plan with the revised one for the new planning app.

sanitary

2008-02-26T20:24:00.000-08:00

sanitary selections - done!

that little hassle is out of the way and we came through under budget...which is nice. i managed to convince zac to let me have the sink i've been dreaming of since day 1 - the vast catalano zero75 from rogerseller!

look at the size of it! like 10 people can brush their teeth in it at once! that's a lot of teeth brushing. you could probably have 10 people flossing there too...not at the same time...you'd have to have some sort of rotation system...

so yeah. big sink. big shower head. presumably standard size toilet. a robe hook.

i'll see if i can track down an interior drawing or sketch so that the full glory of our enormous basin can be basked in.

engineering

2008-02-26T20:13:00.000-08:00

right. we've got our engineering. our brilliant engineer has banged out 2 pages of sketches and we are done. we've got a big fat slab and a couple of skinny columns.

so that's nice and simple and easy to incorporate into the drawings...in fact it hasn't changed much from the planning application drawings...which means tender-able drawings can't be far away...lord, i hate drafting...

jo pickup

2008-02-06T16:24:00.001-08:00

i have a theory about mixing architecture with other artistic and design disciplines. it's not very complicated; it goes something like "it's good to mix architecture with other artistic and design disciplines".

there's something subtely, and sometimes overtly cannabalistic about architecture with its constant and ever-distilling practice of 'reference'. let's ignore, for a moment, that this house has a phillip johnson idea at its heart, and instead...um, well, let's just ignore it. i like the results that come from design cross-polination - shoes and artists, clothing and product designers, art and architecture. the apartment house is mostly driven by budget and heated compromise, but i believe in the benefits that can be achieved through mixing architecture with just about anything else. to that end, zac and i approached one of our favourite artists/designers - jo pickup - to enhance the house with a couple of integrated pieces.

jo works with ink and textile and screen-print and produces some amazing stuff, so we were very glad to hear she was up for mixing it up with some architecture. at this point there are 2 ideas on the table - the first is pretty straight-foward and entails screen-printing the 3 interior doors to create some huge 'murals' (i'll try and post some sketches of the interior spaces and where these prints would go); the second is to produce a privacy/shading/indicator strip on the glass facade by turning a design into vinyl transfers to be stuck to the glazing. i had to stand up and argue this one on the grounds that yes, it could be done (coincidentally, after the conversation i spotted a similar application on a work by one of my favourite architects, andrew maynard) and that yes, it would look awesome. having won that argument it'll probably be scuttled by the budget, but it's a moral victory...the internal doors, though, are definitely a go. if i can't actually integrate with art, then i'm at least going to allow the house to be a canvas for it.

so jo and zac and i need to sit down and work out what the plan is, and i have to be able to convince the builder that he needs to allow lead time for pretty screen-printing of doors. when jo has an idea of what she is going to do i'll ask her if i can post it.

progress

2008-02-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

ok. after a slow start we are well under way. the plans have gone to council for planning approval (nb: if your boss, associates and other learned professionals tell you that you can get away with doing a d.a. without getting a survey...get one anyway), the retro-fitted, survey-enhanced plans will be going to council as well next week, the engineer has started working on my expansive roof slab and we are making selections left right and centre.

so far we have pretty much nailed down appliances, sanitary, lighting, stone for bench-tops and a mature tree for the courtyard. but of course that will all change next week, if not when we see something sexier, then at least when the final quotes come through!

in the meantime i am working up the lighting plans and the cabinets for the kitchen (i keep forgetting to locate a rubbish bin...), and trying to figure out what a 'burnished' concrete floor looks like. if anyone knows where i can see one i'd be most grateful for the information.

on it rolls...

and the rest...

2008-01-31T21:12:00.001-08:00

thought i'd post the rest of jamie's lovely renders...

d

the design

2008-01-29T19:41:00.000-08:00

so...the overwhelming response to my last post has been something along the lines of "so david, nice site...bit small...but it's not a house". how astute (and kinda rude). so with limited further ado, let's see what the proposed joint looks like. we're a bit past sketch design now, having already submitted for council approval, but it hasn't changed too much from day 1, just grown and matured.

it's 93m2 (perfect for zac and i) with roughly 200m2 useable outdoor space, including a huge roof deck (perfect for open-air dinner parties). the north facade is all operable glazing to allow for efficient heating/cooling/lighting, and the rest of the walls are grey cement block. they in turn, match the floor, which is a polished concrete of some sort, the deck, which is also concrete, and the carport, which is concrete council pavers. concrete is the material of choice this time around...in case you didn't spot that...

in addition to that grey, grey exterior, the house will have some huge 'green screens', for privacy, shading and general sexiness. and a lovely green carport...for porting cars, i guess. the roof has access, up an exterior industrial staircase, to water the plants and sunbathe.

the interior is as yet unclarified, but the gist is that the house is sliced into thirds (3 panels each on the glass facade). the first three, closest to the r.o.w. and the green wall in pic 1, is the huge master bedroom and reading room. the middle is the ensuite/main bathroom (situated at the rear with a chimney-like skylight open to the sky), the small study and the kitchen. the last 3rd is the living and dining free-for-all area. this area can then be opened up to the deck to allow for al fresco something or other...

for those archiphiles out there, the little house is, to some extent, based on phillip johnson's first residence, which i hope bodes well for my future career. look it up, it's beautiful.

so that is that, until the concil tell me i can't have half of it. thanks to jamie for the lovely renders. comments and critiques are always welcome, but i'm pretty sure it's pretty awesome.

site

2008-01-22T00:07:00.000-08:00

the site:

so this is the little bit of earth that zac and i now own. it's a very strange thing to realise that you are in possesion of a bit of 'the earth'. of course there are all kinds of people and regulations that tell you what you can and can't do with it, but still...i know it's a corny sentiment but when i first stood on it i had a sense of responsibility and respect - that this was a piece of ground that i would need to treat well and take care of it...well, like a caretaker... it's a blank slate and i'll try my best to do something worthwhile with it, but after that i have to pass it on to the next person. is that what everyone else thinks when they get land? anyone else? anyway, here are the stats:

241sqm, inner suburban perth, subdivided rear lot (it's an old backyard) with right-of-way access. it's on a hill with a nice landscape-ish slope to it, and has some very close, very character-y neighbours. my favourite part is the dinky path down to the letterbox at the front of the old house. it's a long way to walk to pick up our mail in my y-fronts, but still, it's cute.

so that's the site. i'm looking forward to tearing into it with a bobcat.

apartment house

2008-01-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

this is a blog about a small house. a small house that is going to be built on a small block for (hopefully) a small amount of money. it's small like an apartment, hence 'apartment house'. it's also having a bit of a difficult birth at the moment (both this blog and the house itself) - it has taken me two days to get this first post online! i'm going to avoid any further exposition at the moment, in preference for actually getting something recorded.

so that means that THIS is the first post, which means that i am going to have to go backwards to cover events and incidents that have already occured, as well as going forward as new events unfold. don't worry, it'll be just like a david lynch film!

things that i will be coming back to:

- the block
- the sketch design
- the block party

things that happened today which are still too irritating to be recorded in a coherent fashion:

- the submission of planning application

so unfortunately, instead of some grand, clever first post, this is all i've got. don't be too concerned - it will get better (at the very least because there are pretty pictures to attach!).

d