loads of new construction

It has been a very busy number of weeks here with quite a few projects in construction and a few in development stages.  The postings to this blog have been few, but the activity here has been breakneck. The project shown above, in South Boulder, has been moving along and is another joint venture, design/build effort with ACI.  The project consists of the almost complete renovation of the main level and the addition of a second story.  An extremely tight set of constraints from our local Solar Shadow ordinance and Bulk Plane requirements largely determined the only possible location for the second story and we worked diligently to integrate the new and old and avoid the "wedding cake" look of stacked levels so common with second story additions.

Mintzer 01

Shown above, the new house we have under construction in North Boulder's Dakota Ridge neighborhood has passed the half-way point.  Built by Cottonwood Custom Builders, it is coming together nicely and with the installation of final finishes we are getting our first glimpses of final building held in our imaginations for so long.

Simmons 01

Simmons 02

The model images above are from a project in development as we are getting ready to submit documents to the County for approvals.  It is a cabin renovation and addition in the mountains west of Lyons, Colorado for a couple's use as a vacation home.  The new work on the existing building consists of a series of slightly skewed additions and a writer's shack that re-orient the building to views of the Twin Sisters mountains outside of Estes Park.

Battaglia 01

Also in development we have a new house for a young couple in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado.  Facing the challenges of an extremely steep site, this project's design has been a careful study in carving out space for living on the slope while minimizing impacts as much as possible.

HLF 01

The interior model view shown above is for a project with the exact opposite site conditions as the previous project.  This project is a newly constructed hunting lodge on the flat, damp banks of a large lake in southern Minnesota.  We have been studying old photos and documents to glean the essential characteristics of these traditional hunting camps and the vernacular architecture of the prairie.

Gelband 01

The last update I will throw at you is the recently commenced construction for a house in Boulder, Colorado partially constructed from shipping containers.  This project has just broken ground and delivery of the first 53 foot long container will soon take place.  Our client's desire to build as sustainably as possible along with severe site constraints suggested the use of the shipping containers and it is very exciting to see this innovation finally get a try-out here in Boulder.

Gelband 02

Architects of days gone by

Lundberg

Overly fussy designs:  check

Haughty pose: check

Little glasses: check

Lots of attitude: check

Some things never change.  Mr. Lundborg's visage was found in a 1908 newspaper down at the Carnegie Library for Local History here in Boulder, Colorado when I was doing some research on a project.  The buildings shown above are still standing, although greatly modified.  Mr. Lundborg shall stand forever I believe.

house construction and being local

wires

In many ways, building or remodeling is about the most local, job-creating activity within the economy.  Unless your construction is from very unconventional materials, they are most likely sourced relatively closely to the place of construction.  "Local" may mean the US, not the preferred 500 mile definition, but very few of the things consumers typically purchase can even say that.  Most of the wood in residential construction comes from the US or Canada (the importing of subsidized Canadian softwoods is a touchy subject for US manufacturers).

Almost all of the building stone and brick used here in Colorado is sourced within 500 miles.  The woods used for cabinetry and trim, unless exotic, are usually US grown, as is the drywall for the most part.  The most common import is probably tile, often from Mexico or Italy, along with countertops and roofing materials.  Each of those have readily available substitutes. ( If you really want to view the relative costs of  imports, take a look at stone importers.  It is less expensive to have stone quarried in China or Brazil and shipped over to the US than to source it locally.  This means that there are thousands of shipping containers carrying around the heaviest stuff imaginable - stone slabs, stacked like saltines, delivered across the US.  Stone is a natural product and much of the wide variety of available colors are due to this global sourcing and we have become so used to the variety I am not sure we could do without it.)(More about the excess of shipping containers in the US in a later post.)

trusses

For residential projects, labor costs represent about half the total hard costs of the entire project.  And of course, the labor of construction is most often local.  For residential projects, rarely do the subcontractors and laborers travel much more than 100 miles to the jobsite.  Of course, most of the soft costs of construction - architects, engineers, surveyors, etc. are also usually local as well.

wood

So, next time you see someone building a house or an addition, even a gargantuan edifice, remember that what you are seeing is the unconstrained and unforced redistribution of wealth.  From aspiring homeowners to local carpenters, masons, laborers, roofers, runs the stream of money like the braided channels of a river across a delta, from a single source to a thousand rivulets.

after the fire - Sunshine Canyon house completed

SZ LR 01

Eighteen months after the devastating Fourmile Fire swept away so many houses in the western foothills of Boulder, we have finally completed construction on a new home for Lynn and John Stasz.  Like all projects it has been an exciting, frustrating and time-consuming task for everyone involved.  This has been especially true for Lynn and John who did not decide they wanted a new house, but rather that decision was forced upon them.

These images are just some recent snapshots I have taken, not the professional photographs that lends so much to the look and feel of the house.  However, the photos do reveal much of the intentions of the project - to make a home again in the mountains that is simultaneously open and protective, light and airy but also firmly rooted to the earth and sheltered under the sky.

SZ Master Bathroom 03

A couple of weeks ago Lynn and John were able to spend their first nights sleeping up at the house, in the landscape that they have called home for 27 years.  We are really pleased to have been a part of making that happen and look forward to sharing a beer with them on the terrace.  Much thanks as well to Cottonwood Custom Builders.  Marc Anderson, Jeff Hindman and all their crew have taken the care and concern to make a nicely detailed, solidly built house and made the work of me, the architect, a little easier along the way.

SZ Master Bedroom 02

Congratulations Lynn and John and welcome home.