A Country house

A rough sketch I did for a client who did not continue our design conversation, perhaps he didn't like my idea of retaining the existing single storey house.

Sean has been asked to design a house for Sam (she is the client) in Batu Kawah. A minimalist house with perhaps one room and another which is the study and guest bedroom when friends come to visit from far away, interns from overseas, for Sara during confinement, for me during isolation or exile during failed attempts to dominate my wife. 

I would like to have it built before I turn 60. The house will have a wall for books and an Italian coffee machine (a real one, not an Nepresso), built from hardy materials for the inside and outside. Lock up and go convenience, and a built in music system - songs from the rafters. 

One thousand ringgit per sq metre and about 80 to 100 sq metres of enclosed space. We will have to sub divide the plot as Ho and Constance owns one half of the 2-acre lot.

WK showed me this photo (of Richard Lepastrier) years ago, and said this is me when I am old - still sitting and drawing - I would like a space like this.

More soon.
 

Garden Studio

Recently Sam and I decided to set up a small studio to teach architectural drawing; a dying trade in our part of the world. So I decided to make use of a small portion of our garden for a studio.

The drawings for this project are done when there is time in between work and play and between projects and tutorials. I am showing them here to demonstrate to our students friends that the design process does not stop after the project goes on site, nor do the drawings need to confirm to conventional paper size and draughting techniques such as CAD.

The butter paper sketches were for the aluminum and glazing contractor to use as a reference to measure up on-site and order the material and products required.

The other drawing is a 'parallel projection' of a SketchUp section for me to add details for the steel fabricator to understand how I want to install the Breezeway louvre windows. I am installing them vertically and up close against the brick lace wall. I find it easier to add the enlarged details by hand.

It is not neat and pretty, but it does not have to be for things to work.

 

This is a view of the study just below the apex of the roof; I imagine a loft with a spare bed would fit in well. The washing facilities are at the far end; I plan to put in a small cooker for coffee and such.

The floor screed goes in early next week after that the glazing and plumbing.