Pre-Construction Party 11.11.11

Thank you to all our wonderful neighbors who attended our pre-construction party on 11.11.11.  It was Ross's birthday as well as the day we recieved our permit, so definitely a good day for us!

We had the idea to try and set up our 'dining room' on the lot and we served wine & cheese to our 25 guests.  This was a great way to meet our new neighbors before construction began and we are so excited to be part of such a great neighborhood. 

I tried to snap a picture in the dark during set up.  It didn't turn out, but you get the idea.  We did actually end up being able to plug in the lamp and that made a big difference!

Finally . . . . . it's official!

After spending another 4 hours at the city (on top of the 4 hours already spent) we finally recieved our construction permit today!  There were some hang ups due to the FEMA 100 year flood plain line moving, but it's all been worked out now.  We are thrilled that it is being issued on 11.11.11, which also happens to be Ross's birthday!  We haven't had much more time to work on the renderings, it's so hard to find time to do work for yourself, but updated drawings are below.  You should be able to click on the images for a larger view.

Floor plans and Elevations - Slight update

Just a small update with the final plans and exterior elevations . . . .

First Floor Plan

As you can see we've tried to make every bit of space functional by minimizing circulation spaces that aren't part of the room as a whole.

Second Floor Plan

Front Elevation (facing East)

Side Elevation (facing South)

Back Elevation (facing West)

Rear Elevation (facing North)

Preliminary Design

Okay, so it's been a really long time since we posted anything.   We have been working like crazy on the house drawings, (every night and weekend) and are now up to 27 sheets.  Although, the work we are currently doing isn't exactly pretty pictures.  Below I am posting a few of the preliminary drawings just for fun and we'll try and update everything soon.

Preliminary Site Plan:

The premise behind the Urban Reserve is a neighborhood of urban, custom designed, modern, LEED certified residences.  LEED or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design was created to help implement strategies for sustainable design and construction.  Points are given for each sustainable credit you meet with the certification levels ranging from Certified to Platinum.  One goal is to choose the smallest site and build on the least amount of open space possible.  Therefore, our lot is only 40' wide by 125' feet long.  The West portion of the site drops down a pretty steep slope, therefore the back portion of the house will cantilever over the edge. 

Preliminary First Floor Plan:

Ross and I had so much in mind when designing this floor plate.  You are only allowed to build on half of the lot, so our home could only be 20'-0" wide.  We wanted the house to feel spacious but needed to implement the most efficient use of space possible.  (This plan will be updated with color as soon as I have the chance.)

Preliminary Second Floor Plan:

Preliminary front view:

This is a front view of the house from the very first sketchup model Aaron did in our initial design phase.  As you can see the exterior is clean and simple with a fiber cement board rainscreen.  The plan as changed and so has the model.  So look forward to interior views as well!

This view shows how the houses work together.  The fence for our home will extend to the wall of the neighbors house.  One of the design rules of the Urban Reserve is that you cannot have Northern facing windows in which a person could look down from, only clerestory windows.  Therefore, our side yard will be our own private outdoor courtyard.

UR 45

Just so you can get an idea of things, here's an article on the home of one of our "neighbors".  And yes, the DART train does run directly behind our lot, although our house will be a little further away from the tracks than this one.

http://greensource.construction.com/features/bestgreenhouses/May2009/1.asp

Well it's started

We're both sitting in the living room with laptops on our laps and a notebooks in our hands.  We're trying to decide if we can build the home we want at the Urban Reserve. http://www.urbanreserve.net/  The Urban Reserve was developed as the first neighborhood in Dallas specifically for modern single-family LEED certified homes.  It's a truly unique development near the DART rail as well right off the cottonwood trail which runs from North Dallas to White Rock Lake.

It's a dream to have the opportunity to build in this development, it's modern, architecturally significant and why not put our LEED accreditation to use?  Building a green home often has more upfront costs, although the reduced energy costs typically end up paying for themselves in less than 10 years.  Our biggest task will be picking and choosing which points we would like to try and achieve.  We currently think LEED Gold is the tier we would like to shoot for, but if we're able to go Platinum we will.

For now here's a couple of pictures of the property we're looking at, it's Urban 37.  It doesn't look like much now,

but just wait.

The straight on view.  As you can probably tell by the trees the yard drops down the hill where the grass ends here.

There are actually two lots shown here, we're the first lot so this house won't be our next door neighbor.

Love this sign, UR is still pretty new so tends to attract onlookers