square – Page 5

a ranch home

2017⋅01⋅03 NS ColemanLeave a comment

While studying for my latest licensure exam, I came across a simple section of a ranch-style home, which I couldn’t resist but take stab at. The hearth above is the result of that drawing, and the plans below are the further explorations thereof. The floorplan references Mies’ linear homes of the mid 1950’s (McCormick, 1952 & Greenwald, 1955), with a linear series of kitchen, dining, and living spaces separated by casework storage and toilet units, while long porches flank full-height doors. Because my first plan neglected to include the bathroom in particular, the bottom sketch notes how the bath, murphy bed, and storage unit works out.

porches, squares, and circles

2016⋅12⋅092016⋅12⋅09 NS ColemanLeave a comment

This project stems from a building I passed by every so often living in New Haven, CT. Two or three Victorian and Colonial homes had been repurposed as a school, with one long porch wrapping all of the various buildings into one. My proposal here places two opposite forms – one square, the other circular – against one another, united by a shared central staircase and a wrap-around porch, as one house with two identities. The bottom elevation shows a variation, with a larger second floor and attic, but the basic idea is lost. . .

a modern courtyard

2016⋅12⋅07 NS Coleman1 Comment

My brother is kind of infatuated with mid-century modernism, with volumes on Palm Springs and Neutra strewn about his house. So naturally, I began to tinker with what I might do with the tropes of ‘MCM’, and how I might incorporate it into my own tendencies of modular, square plans. This plan again plays on ideas of four and nine-squares, with brick walls surrounding three sides of a square, one half of which is dedicated to the interior domestic spaces and the other is given over to the exterior with a brick patio, wood deck, gravel garden, and a pool. The timber-framed living volume is flanked by a service bar in which a small entry courtyard is situated.

I’m not happy with the pool, and am tempted to try it on center rather than the side. . .

old man mies had a basilica

2016⋅11⋅07 NS ColemanLeave a comment

Beginning with Mies’ chapel at IIT, this quick project extrapolates his frame-and-infill, steel-and-brick, pavilion into a basilica form, with a full apse and a hipped roof. A square skylight orients the modernist square volume, while dormer gables pierce the trabeated apse. A more exuberant roof study follows.

generic offices

2016⋅10⋅282016⋅10⋅28 NS ColemanLeave a comment

Taking cues from the Craig Ellwood project I featured a few weeks ago, this generic office building places a large glass box off the ground, ringed at grade with reflecting pools. The drama is in the circular courtyard hidden inside, which is conical in section, flaring open to the sky above. Corner staircases echo the circular motif.

a barn, of sorts

2016⋅10⋅272016⋅10⋅27 NS Coleman1 Comment

Taking cues from the myriad of agricultural and vernacular forms I spotted on my trip up Yosemite-way the other week, this small square structure features a prominent gable on two ends, with a raised, ventilated mini-gable at the center bay, and a lantern above that on the center bay. The eaved sides are treated as small colonnades, with single doors running each length.

taking a spin with ellwood

2016⋅09⋅19 NS ColemanLeave a comment

From last Friday’s foray into Craig Ellwood’s Scientific Data Systems building, I offer a revised take, with a large standing seam copper hip roof, and a skylit rotunda in place of the cubic atrium, and rounded out the panelled masonry walls along the east and west axes. Placing a large hip roof on a square form may be a subtle nod to Thomas Beeby’s Baker Institute at Rice University. The detail at right shows a new cornice with dentils and beads rendered in brick. Maybe something fun could be done with those columns. . .

ellwood makes a square

2016⋅09⋅16 NS Coleman3 Comments

Driving through El Segundo the other week, I ran across a nice Miesian office block. A quick internet search for the name ‘Xerox’ which was left stained on a concrete wall and I stumbled across an all too familiar name – Craig Ellwood (Originally built for Scientific Data Systems, which was later bought out by Xerox). A floor plan confirmed my suspicions – a perfect square on 64 columns, raised one floor off the ground with a directional access given by two long walls on the east and west facades, and storefront gazing on the north and south, all centered on a cubic central atrium. The details are almost perfect derivatives of Mies’, but the vertical window mullions stop at the spandrel panels rather than continue full height as MVDR would have done (see Murphy’s Daley Center compared with Mies’ IBM tower). The whole project is undergoing a less than inspiring renovation by SOM, with absolutely no heed for the building module and planted ‘green’ walls. Too bad.

simply canadian

2016⋅07⋅072016⋅07⋅07 NS ColemanLeave a comment

This post is simple – the building is simple. This is a small motor pavilion at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC. The neo-gothic style of the main hotel is reinterpreted in a small square glass and iron pavilion. What I’m showing here is merely there clerestory roof volume with half of a reflected ceiling plan and an elevation. The copper standing seam roof has aged wonderfully on the salty bay air.

two square bathrooms

2016⋅06⋅29 NS ColemanLeave a comment

I was sketching up a bathroom for a small house renovation when I began to ask ‘four square or nine square?’. These two simple rooms are the answers to those problems. That is all.