patriece'shome

I’m Floored

December 15, 2022

It’s been a minute since you’ve heard from the Patriece’s Home team.

A perspective view of a the house's exteror that is comvered in green sheet panels and black windows.

We last left them in the middle of their window installation, and since then they’ve finished! The fenestrations definitely gave the home its facial features and the wonderful Pella-donated windows filled the interior with beautiful light. 

a male student uses a screw driver in a door frame
a female student used a saw in the wooden frame of a door
barrel with a fire inside of it

The team also installed the Pella-donated exterior doors. The doors have integrated windows to give the home even more exterior daylight and now the team can lock up the house when they leave for the day. 

With such lovely natural light, the team met with designer Thomas Paterson of Lux Populi again to finalize a complementary artificial lighting plan. The group selected fixtures and bulbs that won’t attempt to replicate daytime light but give a different type of warm cast and task light for differing interior program.

three students stand in three corners of a room. two students opposite of each other hold a light above thair heads
two students stand in a dark hallway. one student holds a light above the corner of a wall.

With the stairs complete, it was easier for the team to bring tongue-and-groove plywood to lay the subfloor within their attic truss. 

plywood sheets are being laid down on the floor of an open attic space.
two students lay down plywood sheets on the floor of an open attic space.
all plywood sheets are laid down on the floor of an open attic space.

Once the subfloor was complete, the team could then finally finish their interior framing! The upstairs rooms have taken shape, and the team got very excited about the possibilities for flexible room at the top of the stairs. 

a perspective view of stud walls in the upstairs attic space.
a student frames stud walls in the upstairs attic space.
a student frames stud walls in the upstairs attic space.
a perspective view of stud walls in the upstairs attic space.

They also put half-inch plywood along the interior walls of the stairs to later attach a durable layer of tongue-and-groove cypress boards. With a surface to cast light on, the team got even more excited about the exterior light from the windows at the top and bottom of the stairs. 

a view down the stairs
a view of a window at the stair landing

With all the walls established, the group began looking toward wall fillers in preparation to enclose them with drywall (and with endless miscellaneous blocking). 

a man sledgehammers the base of a shower into place
a student puts batt insulation into a wall
a student screws in concrete sheets on the walls around a shower base
a veiw from the home's trusses, of two students standing next to a shower

We enjoyed installing the downstairs shower and upstairs bathtub base. From there, the team began fitting together the PVC drain, water, and vent system to the stub outs connections from the main drain in the concrete slab. 

a student puts adhesive on the upstairs subfloor
a student spreads out adheisive
a male student poses next to a foam on the studs around a bathtub
a student points to a shower wall while two other students can be seen working on the stair railing behind
a student works from within the tub

With the chunky PCV filling the walls, the group began routing flexible PEX tubing through the house. These water supply lines connect to their various fixture stub outs in the bathrooms and kitchen. 

a student and instructor discuss drawings pinned to a wall
PVC pipe fittings are arranged on the ground
PVC pipe is arranged in a wall
a student in a dark room works on an electrical box with a single light on their work
an electrical outlet is nailed into the exterior wall between a window and a door
a student nails in an electrical outlet box

Then it was time for electrical boxes and outlets to find their place in the wall. With the supervision of some expert help, the team installed the two electrical units. These separate outlet boxes offer the opportunity for power to be individually accessed and maintained. With all the wire strung, the house is ready to be plugged into the meter on the temporary power pole outside. Just like decorating for the holidays. We might as well: the house is already green. 

a student works next to plumbing fixtures in a wall
a student works overhead on plumbing fixtures
a student stands next to rough plumbing in the upstairs walls
plumbing running through a stud wall
two students sit behind a plumbed stud wall.

Speaking of holidays, Soup Roast snuck up on the team so fast! The four tidied up for the visitors and started the special day’s project tour with a quick presentation of their home. The crowd got to wander around the home. It’s safe to say it was well received! 

a crowd in costumes watches students give a presentation indoors
two people discuss drawings on a table with a light overhead. other figures walk upstairs in the background
four students are hanging out on the stair landing
a crowd wanders around the home's interior
a crowd wanders around the home's exterior

The team has a lot to be thankful for in their second holiday season at Rural Studio. The opportunity to build, the wonderful community that supports them, delicious food, and a home now ready for insulation and drywall! Check back here in the new year for more big updates on Patriece’s Home!

a crowd is clapping around the front exterior of the home.
four students wave from the front porch of the home
a perspective image of the back corner of the home
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This House is Lit

April 13, 2022

Howdy from the Patriece’s Home team! The trees are turning green here in Hale County and the 5th-year projects are emerging from Winter with pent up energy and an excitement to build!

A computer modeled image of the house with wood interior porches and light grey medal siding.
three students look at drawings on a table
A computer modeled image of the house with wood interior porches, dark grey medal siding, and a red door.

Since their last blog post, the team completed a soil test at their site and starting identifying the home’s location on the site. They’ve also been busy developing a landscaping strategy, pushing forward with a zero eaves strategy, and designing warm, wood-clad porches.

one male student holds wood while another male student swings a sledge hammer to drive it into the red clay soil.
two students and one reviewer point at drawings pinned up at the fabrication pavilion.
one female student uses a post hole digger in red clay soil.

Rural Studio students have a myriad of consultants and reviewers checking over the designs and advising the projects. Recently, the Patriece’s Home team had a visit from Pete Landon and Cameron Acheson of Landon Bone Baker Architects in Chicago, IL. The students received feedback on how they could consider detailing the column and headers of their wood-clad porch.

a screenshot of a zoom with the team, their professors and two reviewers. A plan with wheelchair clearances is displayed on the shared screen.
a screenshot of a zoom with the team, their professors and two reviewers. Plans and elevations with artificial light are indicated on a shared screen.

Next, the team met Cheryl Noel and Ravi Ricker of Wrap Architecture in Chicago, IL, for a successful code review of the home, The team then proposed the home’s lighting strategy to lighting designer Thomas Paterson of Lux Populi, from Mexico City, Mexico. He advised the team that the light desired in a home at night is not the same character of light desired during the day.

A computer rendering of the house with light gray siding is photoshopped on an image of the site.
A computer rendering of the house at night is photoshopped on an image of the site.
An exploded axon on the home shows the daylight inside the house.
An exploded axon on the home shows the fixed light inside the house.
An exploded axon on the home shows the task light inside the house.

The students decided to take a trip to the 20K Model Homes at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. to review the amount of daylight the windows provide and test what ideal nighttime lighting would be. For Patriece’s Home, the team is designing wall-mounted lighting to cast general light into a dark room and layered task lighting to illuminate highly used surfaces and spaces.  

two students use paper and a light bulb to mock up a pendant light over a table.
a student used a light bulb to mock up a light above the kitchen sink.
two students use light bulbs to mock up two wall mounted lights on the same wall.
two students use light bulbs and cardboard to mock up lights on a porch.
two students use light bulbs and cardboard to mock up lights on a porch.

Patriece’s Home most recently met with Rural Studio’s structural engineer, Joe Farruggia from Chicago, IL, for advice on when it is best and most economical to use laminated veneer lumber (LVLs) instead of dimensional lumber in the headers of the home. The team is also getting extremely detailed in the design of the cabinet and electrical plans, imagining how to design spaces for the hundred-year lifespan of the home.

A scan of sketched elevations of the home's kitchen cabinets.
Three students, and two Advisors talk next to a table with construction drawings.

The Patriece’s Home team is sprinting toward Pig Roast, Executive Review 2.0, and graduation, all in the next three and a half weeks! The students will begin buying materials, moving dirt on site, and constructing a full-scale mock-up of the home’s details. Stay tuned! Thanks for checking in on the project!

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A Site in Site

March 8, 2022

The Patriece’s Home team continues to present, question, revise, and present again their designs and research for an adaptable, two-story home. Visiting architects from across the country helped the team see opportunities to make an even better design!

A sketched perspective of the upstairs flexible room from the corner opposite of the window.
A sketched plan of Patriece's Second floor
A sketched perspective of the flexible from the top of Patriece's home stair.

The team decided to keep a defined room for living on the first floor that is open to the entryway and kitchen. This led to establishing two closed off rooms upstairs for bedrooms and an open space at the top of the stairs for more nuanced uses. For example, a desk could make it a study or office space, or a twin bed could turn it into a fifth bedroom. The team also realized that there is a 6-foot tributary area between the doubled-up trusses for the stairs, so they widened the dormer so that the open space can benefit from its light and the nook it creates.

However, when the team mocked up the dormer flashing detail, they began to question whether the benefits of the dormer could be achieved without the complexities created by breaking the roof plane.

A collage of the skylight diffusing light with polygal, and a wide window underneath it.
A collage of the clear box skylight and a tall window underneath.
A sketched perspective of the home's exterior with a skylight

That’s when help arrived from Mike Newman of SHED Studio and Katrina Van Valkenburgh of the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CS), both based in Chicago, IL. Mike suggested using a skylight to bring light upstairs without breaking the line of the roof. Katrina also suggested the team spend more time looking closer at the kitchenette and entryway to add opportunities for more storage in this home’s tight design. The visitors stayed a second day to host a mini workshop with the team and mock-up the skylight and storage. The outcome was the idea of having the skylight and window next to each other on the second floor—one for light and the other for framing the view as someone ascends the stairs.

Team members pose as scale figures in the blue tape mock up under the fabrication pavilion
Mike, Katrine, and Andrew Pose in front of the kitchennette mocked up in blue tape on the side of the fabrication pavilion shear wall.
Team members pose as scale figures in the blue tape mock up under the fabrication pavilion

Immediately after Mike and Katrina left, the team began preparing for the Studio’s go-to guy for masterful details, Dan Wheeler of Wheeler Kearns Architects in Chicago, IL, “Detail Dan”. The team showed him 1:1 detail drawings for the dormer and skylights, then drawings on how those changes might affect the cladding strategies for the house. They also discussed possible ways the interior stairs can be finished with a heftier material to show their significance to the home and to combat wear on this heavily used surface. Dan reviewed the team’s eave details and gave advice about the construction and expression of home’s exterior. Dan also suggested that the team streamline their window strategy by using the same few windows throughout the home, aggregating them in different ways to create repeatable details.

Team member gather around white paper and individually sketch a charrette
Dan Wheeler sketches on a drawing during their review under the Fabrication Pavilion. The team is watching him and a dog is seated watching the team.
A image of the details pinned to the fabrication pavilion that the team has hung for their review.
An interior elevation of the kitchen looking toward the dining room window.
an interior elevation of the stair wall

After all this helpful discussion, the team concluded that a low, wide window without a dormer already gives the upstairs significant light and excellent sitting views in the nook space.

Adam looks through the site level
on the right a student records infromation, in the middle a student hold the story pole, and on the right a student looks through the story pole

As an appreciated change of pace, the team lugged out their equipment and spent a day surveying their home’s site! They found out that the slopes drain well and that it is located on a road with lots of other houses nearby (good for the corner porch and a gable end approach).

Now there’s always more to do for the upcoming Executive Review in mid-March! We will get see where the home is best placed on the site and how the team is designing the foundation. They will keep drawing those 1:1 details and fine tuning the home’s systems to get the house to its best thermal performance come summer or winter! Thanks for the read, and come back soon!

three students pose in front of their drawings pinned up for review
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