May 2012, the month of the Computer



New stairway/landscape for a residence in Rancho Mirage

In May, I lost a motherboard on my CAD computer and a whole hard drive on my graphics computer.
Human Computer, in Palm Desert, saved my butt this month! I still got two sets of Construction Documents out! YAY!

And, while I couldn't be on the computer, I went on site often for this very special project. I want to ensure that I'm capturing the most views from the site.

A quick onsite study of a possible addition to the Master Bedroom patio

What Can My Dog Do?

(Really we only have 24 hours in a day?! I could use at least 6 more hours each day so I can get to all my fun work after my "real work"!) This project has been over a year in the making!)

Here's a sketch from a childrens book that I'm hoping to see in print and on my daughter's bookshelf... someday. I've sent off about a 1/2 dozen "dummy" books to publishers with all negative responses. The hard copy publishing industry is struggling against all the advances in digital media. And new authors/illustrators are last on their list of acquisitions.

I am, now, looking at a self-published version.

Accessorize

I never thought of myself as a "decorator" but when it comes to details on a perspectives, often it's the accessories that bring a space to life.

Similar to staging a home for sale, the small potted plants and table settings help my clients "see" the vision that will be their yard. 

The other day I created a perspective of a proposed barbecue area for a project I am currently developing. While I want to show off the contemporary lines of the counter at the barbecue, I stared at it afterwards thinking it was cold and uninviting.       

Enter the accessories: a potted orchid, succulent garden boat, and dishes with hanging towel.

To ensure the proper scale and perspective, these were drawn on trace paper directly on top of the original .

I scanned the additional trace paper and in Photoshop: multiply the layers, adjust the levels to blend them together, flatten ...and VOILA:  Short from putting their initials on the towel, the barbecue seems personal, inviting, and still shows off the clean lines of the counter.

Emergency drawings

Sometimes the pace of construction calls for emergency drawings.

Yesterday, I stopped by one my jobs to check out the forms for some outdoor stairs. Nowhere did I find my plans that I'd drawn up (perhaps the general had given his last copy of his plans to the irrigation team, or the electrician), BUT I found the contractor had drawn the layout for his laborers on a wall nearby. Ha! If it rains, the plan will be washed away... but sometimes the importance of the whole design can be emphasized the "graffiti" on the wall.  And in the immediate time frame, it works.

With the construction process, there are always changes, additions and revisions. Sometimes it calls for quick action. I end up drawing lots of quick details during construction.

Below you'll see a built bench and raised planter. During the construction, the homeowners wanted to add a seating area at their front door.  I sketched the design quickly onsite, took a photo of my sketch, and handed the hard copy to the contractor. Construction kept moving (as it should) and the bare-bones sketch allowed it to turn out perfect!

An entry bench and raised planter. Inset is my picture of my emergency onsite sketch.

A Modern gingerbread house... oh! the irony.

I have sweet spot in my heart for old blueprints and plans. Over the last decade I count myself lucky to have worked with the landscapes of and acquire copies of some great architectural homes.

Gorgeous plans... check out the hand drawn "swimming pool" label! What an awesome font!

My favorite plans in my possession are by Hal Levitt (a gorgeous home in Rancho Mirage) and William Cody's Cannon House in Indian Wells.  

The pieces before they were baked

This year I thought it might be fun to make a gingerbread house Bill Cody's plans. I traced the floor plan at 1/8" scale which gave me the dimensions of the walls. Then reviewing the elevations, I extruded those planes.  I used the trace pape, like a sewing pattern, and made the wall pieces.  Then assigned a code to each wall according to it's relative volume and cut the gingerbread accordingly.  The roof pieces were easy to follow on the "roof" plan.

Oh boy... it started out easy but the final execution was harder than I expected.  First, the pieces all rose and bubbled up during baking and their "flatness" was lost.

after baking

After cooling, I pieced it together, and realized the vertical scale was drastically exaggerated now due to the icing depth and the thickness from the gingerbread. Still, I was only slightly disappointed at this point, my real let down came next.  

While decorating, I felt deeper disgust with every piece I tacked on.  All the candy, gum drops, licorice, etc, was ruining the appeal and essence of the architecture. I had to stop!

the final product

Lesson learned: Now, I fully understand why Victorian houses refer to their decorations as "gingerbread".  Victorian style homes can wear the gobble-dy-gook (for lack of better description) with style.

A Modern home, however, is an arrangement of simple forms and volumes, usually linear in emphasis and void of excessive decoration.  Translation: A modern gingerbread house is an oxymoron.

... the Gingerbread houses of the holidays are by nature full of decoration and whimsy. 

I couldn't have the holiday without a proper looking gingerbread house...  here's our traditional one.

Evolution of a Design Development Drawing

Above is a page from a Design Development Presentation booklet. 

I thought it might be interesting to document the process a sketch goes through to get to the above layout. 

BACKGROUND: This limit of work shown on this project includes the courtyard pool... there is an existing pool that takes up the entire yard, and the homeowners wish to gain some patio space along with a new and appealing pool/patio style. The  courtyard is surrounded on three sides by the house, and one side by a 6' property block wall.  The architecture of the house is truly on the fence of (believe it or not) Hacienda and Contemporary stylings.  So together we chose one solid direction... Hacienda. 

Concepts: I go through several pieces of trace paper that I affix to the existing plan view of the house and property lines. This is done at 1/8" scale, and I note any existing "must-stay" like gas lines, electrical outlets, and any roof/surface drains.  Then I just start drawing any and all options that come to mind. I look for circulation routes from doors, views from the windows and desired relationships such as a outdoor kitchen near and outdoor dining area.  I'll block in priority areas/zones with colors. Often I sketch mini elevations or perspectives near the plans that start to "sing" to me.

initial concept plan

Design Development: Once a plan sings to me, I look at the design in the space, in all the corners and all at once.  Though this view is not a realistic vantage point (in that I, nor my client, will never be in the heights of the neighbors' trees), a birds-eye perspective explores the 3 dimensional connections between roof, overhangs, and patio planes.

initial perspective sketch

I'll do a couple rough drawn sketches, first in pencil, then trace in ink, and finally render in color..still on trace. With black ink outlines, I'll color, with markers (a combo of AD brand and Prismacolor), on the back of the trace; and then, still in reverse on the back of the trace, lay in the shadows.  I like the watercolor-esque attributes from the markers on trace paper.

final concept sketch 

Then I'll scan the image, alter the levels digitally to make true white (red, green, blue bell curves are almost equal) and add the necessary call-outs or photos to help describe the scene further.  

This particular plan may not look like there is much planting, so I made a point to have a page in the design development booklet for the client, focusing and introducing the planting opportunities.

Illustration and Bird's-Eye Views

I love illustration!  It's my way of story-telling.

My quick birds-eye sketch of a front yard design (above) tells the whole story of a single design idea.  (And it helped gain approval by an exclusive homeowner association yesterday, yay!) Just as a drawing in a kids book keeps the children interested and helps them "see" the story, exploring a design from all angles, such as plan view, elevation, AND the birds-eye view aids clients to see the whole story.  AND, helps me as the designer to generate details that otherwise weren't "seen" yet.  Though my clients may never see their finished project from this angle, it's a catch-all view that explains the interaction between all the elements... in essence, a picture is worth a thousand words.

BIRDS-EYE VIEW: an elevated view of an object from above.

According to Wikipedia, the term has been around since classical times, and before airplanes it was a drawn or photographed view taken from a high location, such as tower or mountain, and represents the imagined (birds) perspective.  Today, with satellite imagery and aerial photography, the term "aerial view" is often interchangeable, but aerial can encompass even the plan view of an object. Whereas birds-eye views are exclusively from an angle.