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meandmyhouse
Joined: 30 Aug 2005
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Orkblork
Joined: 28 Jul 2005
Posts: 64
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 Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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The quick answer to your question is "hire an architect." This might sound terse, but I really mean this because solving this design problem successfully is going to take more than planting shrubbery or replacing a door with windows.
Basically, there are all kinds of "cues" at work here that suggest to the viewer where the entrance is supposed to be. If the actual location of the entrance is other than where these cues suggest, the house will never feel right. For example:
1. A centrally located, projecting gable tends to say "main entrance here." If you replace the door under this gable with windows, this cue will still be there and it will conflict with what you intend to be "read" as the main entrance.
2. Most people have seen this or similar house forms before, from Capes to Carpenter Gothic, and without consciously analyzing it they know that the entry is "supposed" to be in the middle.
3. A door that is elevated several steps above grade will tend to feel more like a main or ceremonial entrance than a door located directly at grade. Doors at grade almost unavoidably feel stingy and utilitarian, unless there are other cues to counteract this (and there are none here). Combined with #2, if you get rid of the "real" door it will be all too obvious that you were trying to get away with something.
4. The architectural element that most closely relates to the lower door is the garage door. As long as this is the case, the lower door will feel like another door into the garage, not an entry into a foyer.
5. There is no spatial definition between the driveway and the lower entry, no entry court, no architectural transition (e.g., porch) at the lower door. It feels stingy.
One more point: Based on what I can guess about the interior layout of the house, I suspect that after one has entered through the lower door, he still feels like he is wending his way through the service end of the house. So solving this as an exterior design problem only is unlikely to work.
Long story short, this is a solvable problem, but not an inexpensive one. Best of luck!
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fynrdzynr
Joined: 09 Sep 2005
Posts: 5
Location: Qld, Australia
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| Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 6:01 pm Post subject: Re: thoughts on exterior of house |
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| meandmyhouse wrote: | Hello,
I've been told that it LOOKS like a utility door entrance into the garage. Unforunately the garage and porch was an addition in the 1980's to a 1948 home and design back then was different, we all know that. But how can I change the appearance of the exterior so that my entrance stands apart from just being an addition or being the utility door? Please help!
Thanks for your advice in advance. |
Gabled Entry Foyer..
pm me for a pricing schedule.
BTW, whereabouts?
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Mike Welsh
Joined: 18 Aug 2005
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 7:15 am Post subject: new entry |
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Hi
I think I would try and make the new entry standout. Place a gable over the "new front door" being the same pitch as the existing entry. Place a box out column on each side of the new front door and place the new gable over. You might want to use some cultured stone as a base to draw the eye away from the older gables. I would also tone down the existing gables making them more bland and place a lot of plantings.
All in all I would tone down the main body of the structure and spice up what you want to draw more attention to, your new front entry.
Mike Welsh
Architect
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SDR
millennium club
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 1846
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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Easy and cheap solution:
1) Replace original door with window(s) as mentioned.
2) Plant large shrub(s) below those windows.
3) Make a prominent paved path straight to the "new" front door.
Draw this on a tracing of your photo, to see if the result would be effective. Hold off adding further structure (all of it merely decorative, therefore specious) until this has been done.
Mr Blork wrote: "One more point: Based on what I can guess about the interior layout of the house, I suspect that after one has entered through the lower door, he still feels like he is wending his way through the service end of the house. So solving this as an exterior design problem only is unlikely to work."
If this is true, then the advice to obtain the services of an architect is well-placed. I find the present structure's appearance to be better than disastrous, by quite a bit; the added garage was as well integrated into the original house as might have been possible, with the charming and asymmetrical (if quaint) arrangement of steep gables aiding in that integration. Certainly the larger first-floor windows to the right were a later addition, as well -- yet the whole thing still hangs together, somehow.
Can you dscribe the path from the new (lower) door, to the upper (first) floor? What does one pass through, and see, on the way up, and what are the stairs like?
SDR
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SDR
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Joined: 02 Oct 2004
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Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 2:47 pm Post subject: |
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The different-sized small gable windows are the icing on the cake, somehow justifying the hodge-podge of remaining windows (it's hard to believe that the right-hand of these gable windows is allowed its full shape, without intersecting the left-hand roof nearby!).
If more parking space is needed than a single driveway, then an area (of handsome cast paver-block?) could extend from the left of the garage door to the right side of the new entrance door, eliminating a separate walkway. This seems like a less "residential" solution -- it suggests a home-office business? -- and further divides the house into an "old" right half and a "new" left half -- but it is a possibility.
SDR
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meandmyhouse
Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:07 am Post subject: |
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Lots of comments and thoughts, thanks for your replies!
SDR, you were asking about the lower door to the upper door...things seen, etc. Picture this: when opening the lower door you are in the entrance approx 8'x8'. You then go up one step and to the right is the stairs to the basement. You go up three more steps which takes you to the main floor of the house. You immediately see the kitchen. The kitchen is on the south side of the house. If you're in the kitchen, looking north, you see a dining area, steps that lead to the up stairs (they are L-shaped) and the small area where the upper door is located. Where the big picture window is on the picture is where the living room is located. The bathroom and spare room are located to the left of the kitchen. Obviously it isn't an open space, there is a wall between the living room as well as the living room and bathroom and living room and dining area. Hopefully you can kind of picture the concept
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meandmyhouse
Joined: 30 Aug 2005
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| Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:11 am Post subject: |
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Lots of comments and thoughts, thanks for your replies!
SDR, you were asking about the concept from the lower door to the upper door. I've attached a very rough layout of the main floor of the house. Hopefully you can view the attachment.
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meandmyhouse
Joined: 30 Aug 2005
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| Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:13 am Post subject: |
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| Oops, I posted my first message accidently...it kind of makes sense!! :o)
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SDR
millennium club
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 1846
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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Hmm -- the document seems to contain only a list of words or terms. But I think I get the layout. So, your problem is only how to make the exterior more "convincing" (my term).
I hope some of out ideas will be helpful.
SDR
_________________
"I'm the commander . . . see, I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation." GWB |
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SDR
millennium club
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 1846
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 12:08 pm Post subject: |
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Golly, Bob -- That's a shame. We might hope for more enlightened home design from the East, considering the long history of practical and imaginative building types in the "Orient." As Beijing destroys some of its oldest city buildings in the name of "progress," others in the country seem intent on replicating the saddest examples of contemporary Western housing. Of course, this is being done in many places; Japan also has much of this "Western-style" housing in its current portfolio.
Perhaps it will be instructive to hear what architectural designers here have to say about this phenomenon; I am sorry to have to report my dismay. At a moment in history when fresh designs are appearing in many places, some continue to propagate what is seen as popular in the United States: rehashed amalgams of old ideas, jumbled together to make what is hoped to be "stately" and "impressive" (the term "curb appeal" came to us from the real estate business, notorious for misunderstanding history while seeking to promote whatever is being built, aiming for the lowest common denominator of taste, pandering to the perceived needs and desires of the mass of buyers).
With the wealth of fine, noble design from various points in its history, Asia today sems intent on throwing that history on the trash pile, in a rush to apeal to perceived American taste, apparently misunderstanding -- or, understanding all too well? -- that whatever Americans are buying, no matter how distasteful, must be emulated by those wishing to partake in the game. How very sad.
My specific criticism of the design presented above: The grand round-arched window is uncomfortably "protected" by a strange polygonal roof, which only serves to make its oversized presence on the facade even more awkward. Those seeking to emulate good historic models need to study those models carefully, and learn from them which forms are comfortably and correctly associated with each other. The excuse that "the flat top associates with the ridge line of the house, while the sloping eave on either side reflects the other roof pitches" is merely a verbal justification -- it does nothing to make these shapes actually resonate and combine into something convincing and "true."
The larger fault with what is presented, is that it slavishly repeats the current shame of American suburban domestic architecture: "Grandomania" (as Wright named it, many decades ago). Multiple window shapes, complex roof lines, and gratuitous decorative material choices, are seemingly intended to suggest a richness that is belied by the poor construction and unimaginative and impractical layout of rooms, etc etc. Triple garages, "broken up" with setbacks, end up appearing like afterthoughts or "double vision" optical illusions.
America has done better in the past; it is ironic that now, when we have lost our way, others are jumping over each other to emulate us.
SDR
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fynrdzynr
Joined: 09 Sep 2005
Posts: 5
Location: Qld, Australia
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| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 5:33 am Post subject: Arrogance! |
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If the built environment was left in the hands of architects like SDR 99.99% of the world's population would still be living in caves. Unfortunately my experience has been that practical architects are an extremely rare breed.
As the saying goes "The problem with common sense is it isn't!"
PS to Bob
Sorry the "professional" belittled you into removing your photo
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SDR
millennium club
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 1846
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 8:42 am Post subject: |
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I am not an architect; perhaps an architect would have been more tolerant than I.
We -- architects or no -- should not be encouraging bad design, wherever it is found. My point is to state clearly that allowing the bad building that is disfiguring the American landscape, to serve as a model for other designers and builders, is inexcusable.
I do not claim that only architects have the "right answers" to what constitutes good and honest design -- but that any derivitive (historically informed) design should be the result of honest study of the "originals." If the public demands recognizable "signs" (classical detail, etc) on their buildings, lets encourage the use of "the real thing": good proportion and correct detail -- even if economics now dictates that it all be made of plastic !
SDR
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JWmHarmon
Joined: 15 Apr 2004
Posts: 127
Location: Ohio
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SDR
millennium club
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 1846
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:34 am Post subject: |
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Yes -- That's perhaps as good as it's going to get. There certainly aren't going to be any other additions that would harmonize with the existing -- though a third gable tends only to emphasize the silliness of the steeply-pitched "witches-hat" roofs already in place. But you have met the owner's desire for a more prominent entrance, as requested.
If it were my house, I would go with the new windows (or, if affordable, make new sash with frames and trim [casing] that more closely matches the earlier work) amd leave the newer flatter roof at left, alone. "Less is more". . .
Thanks for the exmple, JW. SDR
_________________
"I'm the commander . . . see, I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation." GWB |
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