Foundation

The house has crawl space under the long rectangular section - only the added-on BA and BR (mocha) are slab on grade. BTW, it doesn't sound right to say "on grade" about the BA-BR addition; the slab's top is at least 1.5 foot above grade.

Here is a picture from the crawl space:

Human scale - spaciousness without pomposity

My former home in Emerald Hills/RWC was bigger than most 2BR/1BA houses built in the same era. For instance, the hallway was 5' wide, not 3' as is most often the case; the ceiling height was full 8' throughout and 11' in the living room. Without being pompous it provided a sense of roominess, headroom, breathing room. A visiting architect once commented that it had a "human scale"; I think that is a great concept.

modernity and pastiche

I grew up with the Friis and Moltke modernism in architecture - with their designs as well as the somewhat "flattened" reinterpretation that made it into the "typehus" developments of the 70s (F&M are Danish architects, their work sometimes called the "Danish brutalism").
Danes have been less inclined to reproduce the older and foreign classic building styles when they build a new house, as opposed to the rampant pastiche work over here - producing new houses that looks exactly like craftman style homes and victorians, and mid-century (the last one, that is) Tuscan villas.

It is not that I don't like old architecture; I enjoy it and I have happily lived in it, like my Copenhagen apartment for twenty years, on 3rd floor in a building from 1850, in the old, inner part of town (inside the moat). And my Mediterranean style home in RWC from 1927.

But if I were to build my home from scratch I would not want to miss out on new architectural opportunites.

That said, there is a lot of modern architecture I don't like. A lot seems over-designed, as if being different is a quality in itself. For me good design, good architecture, is so much the thought and wisdom that is put into the basic workings of the living space (the functionalism), the beauty of the structure, inside as well as outside in interaction with the landscape, and - not to forget - the humor and surprise that lift everything up. Yes, I know, I am such a romantic ;-)

I tend to go for the softer touch in modernity, for instance where steel AND wood balance each other. Though, I have seem so amazing buildings like the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver where concrete, glass and steel all by themselves were made to interact in a way that felt warm and welcoming. [BTW, I never thought that a city with skyscrapers could be beautiful before I saw Vancouver; it is amazing what can be accomplished when you let the architects loose]

Materials

Wood is beautiful; fake wood is awful. Why? I guess it is because I don't like when materials pretend to be something they are not. Plastic! There is also a practical aspect to it: fake stuff often get worn and start showing their "other nature" - Whereas wood age gracefully.

I like surfaces that age gracefully. Like weathered wood, weathered steel/iron/copper, worn hide, etc. Just think of the difference between flaking paint and greyed weathering (is that a word?)

think of multiple uses

A towel bar should not be just a towel bar; it should be strong enough to also function as a support bar. Regardless of whether there are handicapped people around... we are all occasionally, momentarily handicapped so we would all benefit from this way of thinking.
The case about the towel bar is rooted in an actual experience: some years ago, a couple of days after hip surgery, I happened to lean towards such a bar and -- ouch! -- landed with full weight on the "new" hip when the decorative towel bar gave way. Luckily nothing went wrong

Casements without cranks

I just cannot make myself love the American crank system that all casement windows seem equipped with. I really prefer the old-fashioned latch system or - as a second - the tilt/turn (I am not alone "In the high-end and custom residential markets, casement hardware is reverting to simpler designs and European-inspired functionality.")

Natural air conditioning; green roof?

It would be cool (in several senses of the word) to have a grass roof. My old infatuation with the Faroe Islands may be sneaking in here. I wonder, though, if green roofs are ally feasible in a climate like this, with regular drought periods.
Also, thinking of the nice cool basement in my RWC home, it would be good to think in ways to do natural cooling.

I have never come to terms with the forced air heating in this country. I don't like the noise and I don't think it is healthy to whirl up all the dust and other stuff. It isn't just floor heating I am talking about; I would like to have "radiators" (that's what we call them in Denmark; people here talk about baseboard heaters, but they do not seem to be exactly what I am alluding to).

Danfoss has passed their sleek heating designs over to Meinertz
General intro in: http://www.meinertz.com/convec/english/index.html

Danfoss floor convection: http://www.meinertz.com/convec/english/dok/FloorLine_wiringguide_web.pdf
Danfoss wall heater: http://www.meinertz.com/convec/english/dok/InLine_productprogramme.pdf

But there are more goodies, like I am showing on the main blog, Golden Oak

There are also amazing radiator designs from UK and Germany. See for instance, http://www.bathroomstuff.co.uk/decorative_radiators.html
and http://www.runtalnorthamerica.com/
Here are some examples:
http://www.bathroomstuff.co.uk/c2/uploads/adelphi%20_%20large%20website%20image.jpg

http://www.bathroomstuff.co.uk/c2/uploads/jeux%20_%20large%20image.jpg
http://www.bathroomstuff.co.uk/c2/uploads/massimo%20_%20website%20image.jpg


More modest designs are
Riva Vertical 1800mm x 224mm x 4 tubes 456 watts 1556 btu £187.00

Really colorful designs: Crea Therm; Prices from £184 to £1151 (RRP excluding VAT and delivery)

But back to the important point: I often feel so-o-o-o cold in Californian houses; it is partly becasue the builders seem to be in denial of the temperature fluctuations that actually happens here. My Californian friends are bemused, suggesting that my Danish background should have made me used to cold houses. They couldn't be more wrong.

Accessible and green design

I have been home-bound for a couple of weeks after menicus surgery. It became absolutely clear that half of this house is unsuited for handicapped people: the doors are all very narrow and the hallway makes a narrow S-bend that make it impossible to navigate a wheelchair.
That is what is so hard about design - at least for me as an amateur: it is hard to remember all these concerns I really would like to observe.
It is the same with green building, etc.
I would hate to build something that doesn't also address issues like accessibility and sustainability. I am not fanatic about it; I just want to have it considered.
To help me remember some of these issues I started another blog called fewfavorites

Landscape design ideas: deck and pool

Given that the major value of this home is primarily in the view and the beautiful location among redwoods and oaks, I should really spend a good amount of attention and money on making the outdoors truly heavenly.

Two ideas are working in my head these days: a lap pool and a multi-level deck. Here is a sketch of a new multi-level deck PLUS areas with groundcover and stepping stones.



Deck
The deck needs to directly extend the floor of the house, visually and practically. The existing deck is some 20' from the house; between it (and retaining walls on both sides of it) is a flat dirt surface (now covered w/ wood chips). It and the deck are both 1'6" lower than the house floors.

One thing I would like to do is to have the deck "flow" down into the redwood grove. That will serve two purposes: the meadow area will become more accessible and included; and the space between the redwood trunks, under the combined canopy will be a perfect place to hang out when the temperature gets up in the upper 90s.

The deck should be broken up in sections, like one for an extension of the kitchen for BBQ'ing; one for entertaining; and a more private area for the master bedroom.

And there should be "built-in" benches, doubling as rails or just dividers.

Pool
I would love to have a lap pool; I am thinking of a size like 10' x 50'.
After a couple of rough estimates it seems like I would incur a cost of $80-90K for a gunnite pool - and I need to add another 20K if I want details like vanishing edge. And I know only a fraction of the investment will be recovered if/when I need to sell the home. An "alternative" is membership of the local swim & tennis club - which will cost me a one-time membership of $18K plus monthly fees. The membership is not transferable and will not be paid back if I move out. Other alternatives are: "endless pool" (too noisy), a fiberglass pool (only saving 10K or so).

I was thinking of putting the pool up at the level of the house. If it was the type with vanishing edge, it would look amazing outside the LR windows. If not, it would be better not to clutter the primary view and instead put it along the bedrooms.

I had first thought of putting in down in the meadow, but it may be less used if it is far away from the bedroom (???). Here is a sketch of the pool with vanishing edge, in front of the LR windows. Note that the existing deck needs be removed to allow for a 0-50 ft pool.

Landscaping - Mr Deer and his large family

So far so good. Liquid Fence seems to be working; at least all 80 plants are still intact - and several generations of deer have been passing by. The other day I had group of 5 bucks visiting - 3 of them made it to the first picture; the two others were even closer.