Some while ago I mentioned an unusual house I am designing. Well, here it is.
This is the concept model:
The rationale is that the site had a windmill on it many years ago (there is no sign of it now), and the owner wanted something that rotated, and reflected the idea of the windmill. Well, that's a bit too literal for me, so I came up with this turbine-like shape which implies rotation but without actually looking like a windmill or turning at all.
The site is in what is colloquially known as green belt (protected from development). There are only very limited things you can build on protected land, one of which is the so-called paragraph 52 development, for "innovative and exceptional" houses. These have to be virtually self sufficient on the site to start with, but also have to be extremely special houses. You can't just stick up a grand pseudo-Georgian mansion under this rule. It is so rare that this local authority have never done one before, and had to consult with other authorities to understand what is involved.
Anyway, the client and local authority liked the concept model, and a structural engineer got really excited (curved in 2 dimensions glulams are extremely rare), so we are pressing on. I've drawn it on the computer in 3D, but this isn't an awful lot of use to anyone. I couldn't get access to a 3D printer, so I retired to the workshop for a couple of days to make a better model.
The big curved glulams are the difficult bit. Curving in 2 dimensions means it is very difficult to keep a reference when trying to cut them out. I laminated some ply, cut the top shape, and then stuck a temporary platform over that with the plan shape glued to it:
After each cut, I glued everything back together again with hot-melt glue, then took another cut:
In comparison, the central ring was dead easy. In reality this will be 4.8 metres in diameter (16 feet or so). This model is at 1 to 50:
Then I made the basement and the site (the plot is about 20 metres wide and about 200 metres long in reality, so the model only covers the part of the site with the building on it):
But fouled it up completely, and remade it:
With the ground floor in place:
With the glulam sole-plate in place:
A bit of cardboard and hot-melt glue for the ground floor plan:
Then it was time to assemble to frame:
But there's only 3 legs, Mike. Yep, that's because I'm a clumsy bugger:
There'll be 4 when the glue dries. I then glued those legs to the sole plate:
Note the very different shape to the original concept model. I have made the ribs a quite different curve, so that they get up higher quicker, giving the building greater capacity, particularly upstairs on the 1st floor (I'm not sure........do Americans call upstairs the second floor?). I have also simplified the internal walls because everyone kept telling me that curved internal walls would mean spending a fortune on hand-made fitted furniture (.......yes, and......?).
More tomorrow, I hope. This is why I have nothing to report on my house build at the moment, but this project is important, might end up on TV, and you have to earn a crust.