Monday, October 4, 2010

Concrete Pot - Small

I was in a craft store and found an artificial but nonetheless very realistic house plant in an unattractive clay planter.  It was expensive but I bought it, and decided to break it out of it's pot.  The result was a cube, 4"x4"x4".  I kept it unusually simple for me, with a half inch deep reveal at its base and a similar recess just below its upper edge.  The three pieces of the plant were cast in a separate block designed to be inserted into the larger "pot" block.  This inner block has dirt glued on the top of it to make it look more realistic. 

Garage Loft

Beginning in 1999 I started to work on a design that would add an apartment level on top of the existing two car garage behind my mother's house.  This design developed slowly over several years, and as it did so I built a model of it using Autodesk's 3D Studio.


When I finally had it developed as far as I felt I could take it, I hired a local architect to draw it up for me and seal the drawings to present to the town for approval.  Four variances were required, and they seemed willing to grant three of them, but the last one, to approve two primary structures on a single lot was the sticking point they couldn't get over.

Here are some floor plans of the second floor (main apartment level), and roof deck level,  and an elevation.  It's fairly complex for a space that barely amounts to 900 square feet.






 The floor plans and elevations aren't always that easy to understand so here are some photographs of the digital model.


View from the entry door.

View through the front looking at the rear of the main house.

View from the fireplace looking west.

View from the top of the staircase looking at the sleeping area of the loft.

View from the love seat in the living room.  Note the mantel clock.




 No renderings of the kitchen or bathroom were ever completed because they're relatively tight spaces that I never fully detailed.