Hey, Eric here with 30 by 40 Design Workshop, working on a few quick plans sketches for
an upcoming client meeting and I thought I'd walk you through my sketch design process
as I work up an idea into a floor plan.
For context, this project is an addition to an existing residence, the existing living
quarters will be all replaced as the foundation is in really poor shape.
We'll be keeping a two-story portion over here, to the north on the site, and giving
it a bit of an exterior facelift.
Now, that building contains the garage on the lower level and a rather large master
suite above and, importantly, it has a stair which we have to maintain access to with our
new addition.
Now, before we can begin sketching the floor plan we need to know a few things: we need
to understand the local code and zoning restrictions, the ones that govern our design, things like
setbacks, the maximum building height, deed restrictions, things like that.
With the code checklist complete, we need to understand the physical characteristics
of the site: the Sun, the prevailing wind direction, views, topography, adjacent buildings,
access, utilities, vegetation all the existing site conditions.
And lastly, we have to work with our client to determine the actual spaces, their rough
sizes and we have to make sure that their budget corresponds with what they're actually
hoping to accomplish.
Now, I always make sure the budget is aligned with the program before I start sketching.
There's no sense in designing something your client can't afford, right?
Now, if you'd like to learn more about how I do this, check the video in the cards above.
With all this information in hand I start by printing out the existing site plan and
I do this so I can sketch over it.
Now, this is just my process, there's many ways to do this, so don't take this as being
prescriptive at all.
My favorite implements to have on hand when I'm doing this are a sign pen, an ultra-fine
point Sharpie, a red and black Pilot Precise pen and I like the v7 version of that, my
Muji sketchbook, and a roll of tracing paper.
You can check the cards for all the links to that stuff.
Now, I also drag out some of my favorite monographs and this technique comes from one of my all-time
favorite film directors Werner Hertzog.
Before he begins writing a script, he reads poetry - like ancient poetry - things like:
the Icelandic Edda, 9th century Chinese poems, really heavy stuff.
And he does this to fill his mind with the highest caliber language possible.
Then as he's writing he plays Beethoven and Wagner at an ear-piercing volume.
So as he's writing, he's mindful to always maintain that high quality; he's conscious
to never let his writing slip below the highest of standards.
And, so too, you can immerse yourself with the work of other masters: Kahn, Corbusier,
Ando, Zumthor; fill your head with these visuals before you begin sketching.
And then, for me, just add metal.
Now, we'll start with a diagram.
The diagram is a simple representation of what you're trying to achieve and how your
architecture is ordered.
The most basic diagram you can draw, if you're short on ideas, is one that divides public
and private.
More complex diagrams might talk about: light, movement, material, another ordering principle
like a courtyard, or an idea about massing.
I usually start diagramming in my sketchbook and not using any particular scale.
I'll also grab a few physical materials to have on hand to kind of set the building in
real terms and to start thinking about how it will actually feel to live there.
Here our diagram has to address how we're going to connect the two structures, how we’ll
locate the entry, and where the living spaces will orient.
Diagrams are quick and they're inaccurate, and I use them to describe general organization
principles.
Although there's an infinite number of diagrams that might work here let's keep it simple,
we'll use a bar diagram, and then another might be an l-shaped diagram, this will get
us started.
Now, I want to be clear about the process here, it's not important to locate doors and
windows at this stage.
We're not after precision yet, we're gonna start with rough shapes only.
We’ll allocate our public and private spaces according to our diagram, we want to locate
the entry and understand the basic circulation patterns, how we're gonna get from here to
there and that means hallways and stairs.
Sketching over the site plan is a good reminder about the important site features that you
need to consider: the Sun, views, adjacent buildings, the approach, whatever you flagged
as important on your site analysis.
In our program sheet you'll see I list pretty exact sizes of spaces, but at this stage I
sort of set this aside, I don't take this literally at all it's more important that
the design flow together rather than meet these room sizes precisely.
If you scale these out as exact sizes and collage them together you'll end up with a
mess.
This stage is searching for the larger guiding principles of the design: think about light,
think about how spaces relate to each other, how one moves through space, what does it
feel like to be in the place; to arrive to it?
What are the emotional aspects of the place that you want to invoke in your client?
Designing a floor plan is to establish order from nothing.
A grid is one of the most basic forms of order and I typically employ one in the beginning,
this keeps things sensible and it's just a hack that I use it may not work for you.
Later I'll choose where and how I want to break from it as I develop the plans further.
Now, grids don't have to be square necessarily here I'm using a 1 to 2 rectangular grid,
4 feet by 8 feet, which relates to common building materials and I find its granular
enough to be adaptable to many different residential designs.
But, you can design using a tartan grid, and intersecting grids, triangular grids, whatever
you choose.
Now, starting at a really small scale helps establish the big moves of your design, but
the technical details will naturally be ignored.
Now, what might work at a small scale like 1/16 of an inch equals a foot, may change
when you enlarge it to 1/8 of an inch equals a foot.
I started by sketching designs at 1/16 inch and quickly moved to 1/8 inch to test ideas
with more specificity.
Feel free to bounce back and forth between BIM, CAD, SketchUp, whatever you're using
to technically draw the building.
Sometimes I'll do a sketch layout then quickly block out the dimensions in CAD, overlay a
grid and print it out to sketch over again.
Working only in plan can be problematic, you have to consider the three-dimensional qualities
of space too, what architects call the section.
Now, I don't have my base material for the model yet that's all gonna arrive next week
so I just started sketching over the plan for now.
But to guide me, I've built the garage massing so I'm aware of just how large it is.
This helps provide a frame of reference when I'm designing the addition.
When we're thinking about massing for a home you'll want to have an idea about what program
spaces will be located upstairs and what spaces might have taller ceilings, these will have
impact on the sectional qualities and of course the massing of the residence.
But, this can and will likely change, so start by making a few assumptions and begin testing
them.
Now, don't make the mistake of hard lining your ideas too soon.
Forcing yourself to know where every last door and window is - in the beginning - will
keep you from exploring a full range of options.
Keeping it loose and sketchy, I think, allows you to more freely make mistakes and it's
often these mistakes that lead to design breakthroughs.
Architectural design is iterative, everything you do builds on your previous work as you
develop a deeper understanding of the issues affecting the design.
You'll start rough, you'll refine, retool, rework.
From the rough sign pen sketches, I roll out another layer of trace and begin using a finer
point pen.
I use the ultra-fine point Sharpie to make it more real.
I start scaling things and making bathrooms and cabinetry; adding in the detail and all
the real-world sizes of things.
And hopefully you'll see, that the sketches naturally start looking more like floor plans
and less like diagrams.
You'll keep layering on the trace and developing the successive iterations.
So, that's it for my diagrammatic floor plans.
Next step is to clean up the sketches and begin building the model in preparation for
the client meeting.
Now, if this has helped you in any way please smash that like button below, it helps me
grow the channel and to know I'm making the kinds of videos you enjoy.
Let me know in the comments: what are your favorite pens for this kind of sketching?
And hit that notification bell if you haven't already.
We'll see you again next time, cheers!