Architectural Vision Meets the Construction Process . . . and a Big Meeting on Building the Street

A few days ago Mateo and I had an interesting discussion on the relationship between architectural drawings and the construction process. In the best possible world details such as paints, doors, hardware, tiles, faucets, cabinetry, etc.--all the big and little items that go inside and outside a home--should be spelled out. Try doing all that in the real world, it drove my first contractor and I to part ways. Consequently the unspecified details are left to be decided during the construction process. In all my years of working with architects and designers I had never heard a discussion on the relation between drawings and building process.

Until now.

I bring this up now because as the paint vs staining issue was resolved last week, an issue that was never anticipated, it's pulling the house's architectural vision back into focus. The staining of the eaves, doors, and beams, as pictured in these pictures, is bringing the vision back. The roof lines were a major part of that vision but the details of the roof's materials was never specified. The doors pictured above were in the original design, but not their material. Mateo choose wood doors with glass and we're staining it to match the eaves. It's tying the vision together.



And in the great room, the beam in the middle of it was inserted by the house's structural engineer. I never realized this. So now, at the final construction stages, staining it matches the eaves and doors and ties everything together.

I'd like to see a class on architectural vision and construction. How do you teach this? Is this where the rubber hits the road?



THE BIG MEETING

Mateo says this is not unusual, but as the Casa is nearing completion, a meeting was necessary between the civil engineer, the street inspector, contractor and foreman, and client.

And the meeting turned out so well, (along with a visit that same afternoon to the permitting office) the curbs and gutter were poured the next day.

Finally, a Street . . . and Is Paint Pure?

The street improvement permit was issued and things are starting to move again. Within a few days a street inspector came for a pre-construction inspection, workers tore it up, and it was re-compacted and tested by the City.This is the street after it's been re-compacted. Even though there was a street there it has to be re-done in order to direct water run-off towards the other side and to city sewers. The drains on the lot are also directed this way.

Is paint "real"? In the original building plans all the eaves, like the three pictured below, were not detailed. I wanted strong horizontal banding to emphasize the Casa's sloping lines. I also wanted materials to be as "pure" and maintenance free as possible. That's why the walls, made of unstained stucco, will never have to be painted ("Just hose it down Fred!"). Going into construction Mateo thought the eaves would be re-surfaced so he used framing wood, as opposed to finished wood. Now that it's finished, it looks, well, unfinished. So last week he suggested painting it to give it a clean, smooth look. I agreed, until I saw a house in the neighborhood that I'd seen a hundred times before.

This house below has stained it's eaves (made out of framing wood) that matches the wood door, exactly as I had thought of doing. It also shows the unevenness and imperfections of the wood, but I'm more attracted by the match-up than the lack of smoothness (it looks worse in person). And I'm put-out by the idea that painting it just for evenness sake would be disrespectful. So I disagreed with myself. And for the record, I'm told painting and stain require equal amounts of maintenance.