Lemonade

I worked on the "ferry" floor plan a lot, but couldn't ever get something I liked. It solved some of the problems in the "straight water wall" plan, but introduced some new issues, especially around the flow of the house. If I put the kitchen sink on the south side of the water wall, then the kitchen juts out in to the living area. Then the path through the house gets long and complex; it breaks the flow. Also, I never found a good place for an entry area.

After pushing and pulling on the shapes and not feeling good about the results, I decided to table it and try something different. I went back to the straight water wall plan, and pushed and pulled. A few things started to fall in to place. Finally things started falling in to place. I now present to you the result of that effort, the "lemonade" house. (The name is pretty arbitrary; I was drinking lemonade at the time.)



 Strangely I ended up with a U-shaped water wall like the ferry house that I had discarded. I think having it only 6' deep made things work out much better.

Things that work well:

- flow from one end of the house to the other is simpler than before
- kitchen isn't crowded against the South wall, nor is it so far back that no south light comes in
- It's 1246 sq. ft. heated area, so it should qualify as an ADU, if I understand the rules correctly
- 49'8' width is what works out well if I put 8" x 8" full-dimensioned posts on 7' centers, which is pretty arbitrary

I have some ideas about how the kids room will work out. Maybe a couple alcoves for beds, so the kids have their own spaces without having separate rooms. Maybe some closets in the middle to separate things a bit. Maybe we start simple and add more later. I need to understand the code requirements better, especially around septic system sizing, before I decide.

I wish the middle space was a little bigger. Our current house (which fits us fine) has about 100 sq. ft. more dedicated to the living room / dining room / kitchen. My drawing makes better use of that space, and part of the current living room is used for kids' toys, which could move in to the kids' room. On the other hand, making the public space as attractive as possible is good for bringing the family together.

I am thinking about the main entrance on the South being through a greenhouse. Imagine French doors to the greenhouse, which are kept open much of the time. Attaching a greenhouse to a cordwood building works well, as the thermal mass of the cordwood wall will moderate the temperature of the greenhouse (something greenhouses often struggle with). The greenhouse would help us capture a little more heat in the winter, and clean the air. It could also function as a mudroom, leaving that interior space open. It would be a beautiful space that makes a transition from the outdoors to the indoors, both emotionally and thermally.

I have spent almost 0 time in greenhouses, so I don't know how it would look, or how to make it beautiful, or if they're pleasant to be in.  Even thought I don't plan to actually build the greenhouse until well after the house is complete, I'd like to make the best plans for it I can.

Also, an interesting note about post strength. I ran through the math on the weight of the roof structure + snow, and looked at how strong the posts need to be to carry it according to code. For #2 Douglas Fir, the total cross-sectional area of all posts in the whole house, put together, needs to be about 7" x 7". Yeah, that's not much. Of course, the girt/girder/rafter/joist spans to hold all that weight would be insane...

Anyway:

- How would you adjust the spaces in this floor plan?

- Where would you put some doors?

- What do you think?