Laying the ground work

These are supplementary construction drawings for a renovation to a small boutique hotel. I often find it easier to add my intended details by hand to the CAD drafted 'frame-work' - I feel that it gives me better exploration and control, and it is also a way to double check the design.

For small practices, this is perhaps an efficient way to releasing construction drawings to the contractor - photocopied in A3, emailed as PDF files, with peace of mind that I have looked through and provided input.

Work sketches - up stairs down stairs

Work Sketches - One doing the work of two

I like to tell my folks that it is important for architectural elements to serve more than one function - that way they earn their keep and become a more integral part of the overall design.

Take this grille for instance - the original tender drawing called for a security grille for the utility space at the rear of the house. The laundry and maid's room are there, as were the air cond compressors - so we folded the steel rods into a shelf for the compressor. The horizontal bar which is used to tie all the verticals together, in turn become a rail for drying laundry.

At the lower portion of the grille, another fold becomes a shelf for detergents and clothes pegs.

 These photos are added in January, 2017 after the grille was completed (but not quite tested yet)