17. Design Development Iteration

Discovering a spine.

Sometimes it is a good idea to suspend disbelief and try something new.

We have now lived in the house for about one and a half years. This has given us a chance to get used the existing layout, decided what we like and don’t like, and developed a remodel plan that we generally like. I have already invested hundreds of hours into developing the plan, so it would be reasonable to think that the plan is already set in stone.

Then the design plan exploded.

Throw in a wrench

But then what if some basic assumptions about the design were wrong?

When we first started thinking about doing a renovation, I told my self to not touch the kitchen. It is in relatively good condition and remodeling a kitchen is expensive.

In all the versions of the plan I have studied to date, I did not touch the kitchen. Then, over dinner one night I asked my husband, while sitting in our current, enclosed dining room, if you could do anything to this space, what would be it be?

He talked about how neat it would be to have this huge, open lounge area. I agreed. How cool would that be to have a large space that contained within it smaller hangout spaces. We are a family of six, and while our kids are young now, we could picture having four teenagers, each with a friend in tow, hanging out in this grand lounge. Could we create a coffee shop ambiance where we could all hang out separately, but together?

Just for fun I quickly sketched out an idea that opened up the kitchen to the rest of the space.

The design change was transformative.

Design Development

The design process is iterative. You may start with a basic sketch of roughly where you think you want everything. As you continue adding detail, you could stay true to your original sketch, but this may be a missed opportunity. As you add more detail to the plan, you are also learning more about the design. Zooming in to the details, it is good to remember to zoom out, and apply what you learned in the details to the big picture.

In our house design, there were, in fact, multiple details or wrenches that redirected the development of the plan. The first was the kitchen constraint I mentioned above. The second was my office space. Both my husband and I work from home, and we tried sharing an office, but realized we are both more productive in our own, dedicated office space. For now, I have my office set up in one of the main living spaces, and I had conceived of turning one side of that space into my future, dedicated office. It was a good solution.

But.

Now that I was already reconsidering some other major areas of the plan, why not reconsider where to put my office? The existing living room of this house is fairly nice. It seemed like a good room to leave as-is, maybe add some cosmetic improvements. But what if I could shift my office there? Wheels were turning.

Updated Design Plan

Here is development of the plan over the course of the last 18 months. Starting with the original condition of the house (2022), followed by three consecutive design iterations:

Why I like it

Why am I so excited about the latest design?

First let’s look again the existing plan. Pay attention to the location of the bathrooms and kitchen. Remember, remodeling these spaces are some of the most costly in a house. One of my wrenches was opening up the kitchen, but I am being strategic about it, keeping plumbing fixtures where they are and opening a wall that has the current cooktop. Another interesting room is the existing, secondary master bedroom bath. In this latest version, that stays as is. See, my latest design is saving money — I wish!

Existing House Plan

Proposed House Plan

Programmatic Bubble Diagram

Looking at a bubble diagram of this plan, you can see how this plan consolidates the main gathering spaces in the middle, and clusters our office space next to each other.

The circulation spine

The latest design has a clear circulation spine, previously you had to meander through the house. Now there is a single circulation corridor that connects all the spaces of the house.

Clear public / private divide

This plan also features a classic programmatic layout, one that could fit a small cabin or a big house: put private spaces on the edges and gathering spaces in the middle. I used this same design strategy on another one of my projects, a small cabin in Finland (Saimaa Cabin).

Here is how it works out in our latest plan. We have the kids wing, the parents wing, and a “demilitarized zone” in the middle. The central living spaces are an interconnected collection of spaces that would allow our family to spend time in a lounge like atmosphere; separate, but together. This central gathering space — the tupa (Finnish word for the main, large living space in a farmhouse) — is perfect for our big family.

My next step is to share some of my renderings from the interior!