House model
My husband and I work in advertising — so like architects, we work with clients who give us a brief and a budget. Having already provided our architects with a brief and a budget for our house, we were both really looking forward to being on the other side of the table for once.
We arranged to meet with the architects at my husband’s office in New York. When they arrived, they set a large box down on the table. My husband and I waited expectantly. The wife began their presentation by saying that our project was the firm’s favorite. My husband squeezed my hand, smiling. “So what’s in the box?” he asked. “Your house,” they answered.
And with that, the architects removed the lid from the box and lifted out a three-dimensional model of our house — or houses I should say. We were awe struck. “Wow,” I said. “I’m amazed.” The architects beamed. “It’s great,” said my husband. We were looking at a large house and a small house — both with long sloping roofs and lots of glass. The large house was connected to the smaller house by a wooden deck. The design was not dissimilar to that of the Glide House — except that it was taller with a loft in the back.
Everything about it had been designed with our site in mind. There were “light catchers” on the roof — mini, south-facing windows that would channel light down into the interior of the house. And set into the the south side of the house were panels of Kalwall — a translucent, highly insulated type of wall that would let in diffuse light from the south. And everywhere, there were windows.
“So what do you think?” asked the architects. “It’s phenomenal.” we said. As the discussion turned to our budget, we realized it would not be possible to proceed with both houses at this stage of the game. But should we ever win the lottery, we plan to build the second one as well.
