Architecture, Summer 2009

My first term of graduate school is over; I had to design a guest house, main house, and a tower. We were given a site on Mt. Baldy, a large hill in southwest Eugene. It’s on the Ridgeline Trail network, and the only access is by trail. We had to build our buildings for a family of four (plus a dog, Millie).

The site I chose was at the fork of the Ridgeline Trail, so people are walking along both the east and west sides of the property. There are no trees nearby, so if someone veers off the trail, they could be on the property without even knowing it. Because of this, I created a semi-protected courtyard space for the family.

I’m most proud of the floor plans; I think I made a narrow house feel pretty spacious (we were required to keep it under 16 feet). I had some helpful reviewers during my final review, and I picked up some tips on how to get even more out of such a narrow space. I’ll have to keep that in mind for next term.

I don’t really like how the exterior facades turned out. I tried to keep the facades clean and simple, but I think I got boring and unadventurous instead. Despite my aim for simplicity, I have too many different window systems at work. The boring facades had company: the flat roof was pretty bad too. I’d probably do a gabled roof if I could get a do-over.

If you’d like to see all of my drawings for the final presentation, as well as some work from each week before the review, download this (rather large) PDF and take a look.

Final Presentation PDF (20mb)