final rendering

some pre-rendering pictures of the schematics of the building.

with the design nearing completion (exterior design) i began to take some screenshots. the following are the *near* final images of this project that i started merely 2 days ago. 

 as you can see, i built a deck mainly out of 2x4's and the same post system found on the front of the house.

 

today was particularly efficient and brought substantial changes in the design-phase. the pictures below should help explain more than words. 

 this was my vision before the roof design took place.

 the roof is obviously taking shape during this stage of the design. 

 this is the final roof design. it took some minor modifications but i am satisfied with the outcome. 

after tackling the roof, the driveway and environment began to take shape as i began to tackle the problem of how this house would engage with its surroundings. because the garage is a floor below the first floor, this created some interesting problems (design-wise) but also has the potential to create a pretty creative structure for the back porch. 

view from the backyard without any structure. more pictures and ideas to come.

i'll keep this post short but provide a lot of visual explanation. i had to overcome the challenge of connecting the front door to the garage area, especially because the garage is a floor beneath the front door. so here is my solution. 

as you can see, the outside staircase hugs the external wall of the building and is eventually going to connect to the front porch area. the design is beginning to swing into a 'bungalow' feel.

now comes the challenging part for me - designing the front of the house. columns are a must in bungalow design so my design as far has resulted in this:

a front view of the unfinished house provides this view:

okay. i've begun to develop my basement idea further and the following pictures should begin to paint a clearer picture of the progress i've made since this morning.

obviously an unrealistic section of the earth, but still should convey the motion of depth especially in the z-direction. the slope of the driveway down to the basement was a central theme of the design process and the retaining wall followed in conjunction with that idea formation.

this is a human's perspective at the 6' mark of what it would be like to stand in the driveway looking up towards the road.

materials usually are chosen last, but i cannot help but select particular materials because i love to finish pieces of the house while designing other pieces. i'm a bit of a multi-tasker. 

so today is truly going to be a focus on the landscaping and retaining walls found in and around the basement. this is a tricky area because i'm trying to maintain a visual repetition with the brick and the windows which can only truly be completed if the lower window on the front side of the basement level is visible. here is a picture to demonstrate this.

As you can see, the lower basement window (attached to the garage) is an important focal point which cannot and should not be deleted from vision.

so now the question becomes, how do i form the driveway to slope down to the garage while maintaining the visual integrity of the window at the basement level.