Patrick Hansford Associates

As I stated in my first entry, I am going to follow one of our residential renovation projects from the beginning of design through construction. This will not happen over a couple of weeks counter to what many people think. What takes a few episodes on This Old House actually takes months...... six to nine months. Unfortunately, television either never shows the design process. Hopefully you will get a better sense of that process by following a few of our projects. Here is the first project. A simple ranch house from the late 1960's -early 1970's.

Over the years, I have developed a design process that provides our clients the ability to be actively involved in the design, plus the process provides them lots of information during design. Our process affords our clients the ability to make informed decisions. Or simply stated......

Architecture is a process that allows our clients to make informed decisions.

It is that simple. I don’t need a big mission statement about how wonderful we are or how we improve the built environment with every stroke of our Sharpie marker. Isn’t that inherently understood with the profession of architecture. Does the Post Office really need to state they will deliver your letter efficiently and quickly when you drop it in the mailbox. That’s the basic charge of being a letter carrier. Same with architecture and architects. Our portfolio of work speaks for itself.

Before our first project meeting with the client, the project starts with us conducting some basic research and a little footwork. We have to research the local zoning ordinance for building setback requirements, allowable lot coverage, allowable height, and in some locations, allowable materials. For the project under consideration - a residential renovation in a rural township - this required contacting the Township Zoning Office.

Every community has its own zoning ordinance and every community is different. A simple phone call to the zoning inspector will get the information we need. With over 20 years of experience, I know what questions to ask.

The zoning information will help us as we begin to design. The existing house for this project is located close to the North property line. Any addition will need to respect the side yard setback.
    
The second thing we need to do is field measure the house. In this case, the entire house. This project will be a fairly large and complex addition and renovation. This isn’t just adding a great room. We also created a simple massing model of the existing house. The massing model will be used to study the addition as it relates to the existing form and massing of the house.

Field measuring and drafting the base drawings allows me to get a good sense of the house. I can start to see how spaces and elements of the house relate to each other. In this case, there is a large void behind the existing fireplace mass. That could either create problems or opportunity. We have located services and mechanical equipment. There is a lot of information here that we will now have easy access to for developing the design.

Here are the base or the existing drawings for this house. We completed the base drawing within ten days of the contract being signed, which was the middle of July.

Now its time to schedule our first meeting with the Owner. This meeting is the design charrette. The charrette is the part of our process that separates us from other architects and certainly from residential designers. This meeting as already been postponed twice by the Owner. So as you can see, the schedule is already beginning to lengthen.

My next entry will include some construction photos of another house renovation/addition we presently have under construction.