Colour Selection and Light

by Adam Hobbs posted Oct 30, 03:28 PM

We are at that point in our project where we are finalising all those finishes selections that will ultimately assist in governing the ‘feel’ of the home internally. We always like to be involved in a full design capacity on all our projects, and as such play a large role in the internal finishing, joinery, colours and finishes selections. This approach allows for complete integration of the architectural intent throughout all elements.

It really depends on the client as to how involved they want to be, and we have had all spectrums of involvement. Some clients say ‘guys, come up with something and we’ll go with it’, right through to others who say ‘we’ll manage it ourselves and seek your counsel if we need’. On this project we sit somewhere in the middle which allows the personality of the clients to shine through with the assistance or input from ourselves where the original design intent needs to be understood.

As a result we have some very bold/exciting colours that will present themselves (for joinery particularly) on this project, that we are all interested in seeing finished! No more photos on this btw until then :)

Some things to keep in mind when selecting colours for your project:

1. The same colour will look different in the light (even when adjacent to each other, ceiling against wall for instance)
2. If you have a strong colour next to a white or subdued colour, the lighter colour will absorb coloured light from the stronger colour
3. The same colour will look different on different elevations of the building, or in different rooms due to the levels of light
4. The colour of your light globes will have a big effect on the colours within the home, warmer light softens colours for instance
5. Colours on sample swatches will look different on site and on different substrates and with different gloss levels

Based on all of the above, we always suggest, once preliminary selections are made, that you have samples painted on site in the areas they will be located, and in combination with other colours and finishes in the same area before final selections are confirmed. Only then do you get a true sense of the real finish that will result. Colour after all is simply a product of the light spectrum that it reflects/ absorbs.

Can’t stop photographing our brick screen, image in the sunlight to the left.

Changing the Neighbourhood

by Adam Hobbs posted Oct 9, 11:18 AM

More an observation, rather than advice this week….

We had a nice experience at this weeks site meeting. Neighbours from two doors up were admiring the house from the street and were full of praise for the building, which was lovely to hear. It was nice to see them acknowledge the building was making a positive contribution to the streetscape (and that they noticed some of the finer details :)…

The interaction reminded me of the way in which a new building can change the shape of a neighbourhood and engage with those around it.

In the case of our project we have removed a dilapidated (virtually unliveable home) that was staining the fabric of the streetscape, and replaced it with a building, that although presenting very privately to the street, offers some interest and detail that passers by can engage with.

Although as a single home it has limited ‘public responsibility’, it is nice to see that the ideas employed early on, are indeed having an effect, whilst maintaining the concepts of what the clients were after.

Every building in a neighbourhood has the capacity to either improve or negatively effect the established environment it enters into. It is nice to see in our case, the effect is positive, that the house offers something to the public realm and that our clients appear to have landed themselves in a lovely little neighbourhood.

Photo showing the view of the deck at the rear of the property away from the public realm. Enjoy your weekend!

When 'A Building Site' transitions to 'A Building'

by Adam Hobbs posted Oct 2, 11:37 AM

Most new homes we design and build take around 11-12 months to complete once work starts on site. To the frustrations of many, for 11.75 of those months the project looks and feels like a ‘building site’ and not a ‘finished building’.

Due to this, it is common to become overwhelmed with the process and concerned that the finished result may not meet the expectations set during the design process. After several months of work and hundreds of decisions that have been made what I call ‘decision, or design fatigue’ can set in. “I can’t decide anymore…I can’t picture it..” are statements we have heard in the past. “Why does it look messy, it doesn’t seem to be coming together” are also commonly heard discussions, even right up to the last weeks of a build.

Unfortunately this ‘building site’ aesthetic is a given, and it is literally not until the finishing touches are applied that the overall intent can be seen and the building starts to sing! A final coat of paint, the install of a tap set, or the introduction of joinery/ lighting/ carpet etc all start to make a building feel like a home. It is a function of the process that these sorts of works don’t really start until very close to end. Usually because they rely on other trades completing prior, but also because they can be easily damaged when people are crawling all over the site.

Advice for this week. Try to maintain your confidence in the process right through to the end and trust the decisions you have made. Continue to take the time necessary to ponder options and take your time with important decisions, particularly colours, finishes and joinery. Lean on your design and build team if you need further explanation or options to consider.

Photo of our brick facade in the afternoon sun, house number revealing itself. Enjoy your long weekend :)

Finishing Trades Underway

by Adam Hobbs posted Sep 18, 04:51 PM

The last few weeks has seen the finishing trades commence with work shifting primarily from the external to internal works. Internal linings are now in, painting underway, and tiling (of which there is a significant amount on this project) has commenced.

It has reminded me that it is at this stage that most buildings begin to start feeling like a ‘building’ now and less like a ‘building site’. The bones have all been covered up and the vision of the end finish can start to be better understood. We still have a way to go of course regarding joinery and detail carpentry, but for the first time the concept of the finished internal space can be seen.

On this point, it is important to understand that when we begin to talk about ‘level of finish’ there are many things to consider. As an example, plasterboard has several base finish options that should be specified by your designer. Level 4 is standard industry finish, level 5 is an upgraded finish. For the most part level 4 finish is perfectly adequate and we have specified this finish for most of the home. However for the walls and ceilings in the main living area we have specified level 5 finish. We have done this as the room will receive alot of light (mainly in the winter months) and it has an expansive ceiling, with large glass windows up very close to the ceiling line. The space is also adjacent to a pool that will provide some rippling reflected light into the space depending on the time of year.

Based on all of these factors there is a high chance of glancing light that will highlight any imperfections in a plasterboard surface. Hence the need for the top level 5 finish that removes this issue.

In summary, be sure to liaise with your architect to confirm level of finish specifications on your project including wall finish options, tile grout colours, tile setouts etc. These items when all is said and done play a huge part in how refined the building will feel and on that basis important to understand.

Image looking toward the future pool area through the large north facing glass wall, loving the porthole window from the hall into the pool area :)

Scaffolding Down

by Adam Hobbs posted Sep 4, 02:25 PM

This week we saw the scaffolding dismantled and removed from site. We enjoy this stage of a build because without scaffold, you start to see the main shape of the home, clad and enclosed with a full sense of the form now visible. Materials and finishes can now be seen unencumbered by the sea of steel sticks that have covered it all until now.

In the case of our Willoughby build, the strength of the forms and the sharpness of the concrete panel cladding have revealed themselves, along with the bespoke brick detailing to the front facade. From here things start to ‘clean up’ with the immediate focus switching to internal fitout and finishing, of which we are equally excited about.

It is not until a home is landscaped that you can really see the final vision in all its glory, but we are heading closer and closer to that time on a build that is progressing nicely.

Image shows detail of part of our brick screen as it presents itself to the public domain on the front facade. Very happy with this texture I have to say!

Riding the Emotions of the Project Wave

by Adam Hobbs posted Aug 21, 04:18 PM

Building or renovating a home is more than likely the largest financial spend of your life. With that thought in mind it is not unreasonable to expect that over the course of a project your emotions (and emotions of those advising you) are going to travel the full spectrum. Sometimes there are highs, sometimes there are lows, and most of the time things simmer along at a reasonable level. I often discuss this with my colleagues and quip that I could almost draw a graph of these emotional highs and lows over the course of a project, and they would be similar each time. To explain:

During the early design phases feelings are always good. The anticipation of whats ahead, the excitement of realising your ‘dream home’ are all front of mind. Money and time are of relatively little concern. Then we hit the assessment phase where council are doing their thing, all are anxious about whether things will be approved without amendment. There is a sense of the unknown, feelings of helplessness and frustration abound as your potential dreams are in the hands of somebody you have no control over.

Approval comes, happy days again and excitement reigns supreme once more. We work our way through detail design and the fun tasks of selecting inclusions and designing the details abound and all your dreams are real again. Then we tender the project and the reality of costs set in. Can I afford this? Do I want to spend that much on this build? Are we overcapitalising, is it really going to take that long!….again anxiety rears its ugly head.

We breathe, we negotiate, we work with our architect and builder and agree on a price, contracts are signed and the build begins. Hooray! Its real again and our dream is not far away. Then the weather interferes, delays our project, we find ourselves spending on items we could not have anticipated but need to be done for the project to keep moving and we are sometimes anxious about whether we have made the right design decisions along the way. But then , we save in other areas, we pick up time, we get back on track.

Then…we finish, we reflect, the world is at peace again, we made it and our home is fantastic!

For those who have not undertaken a build project, I am here to let you know, that this process is ‘perfectly normal’. It is human, and it is building. Any client when building, becomes a developer of property, and with that, potentially comes stresses, strains, anxiety, second guessing and all manor of concerns. But..on the flip side, comes excitement, happiness, and a project on completion that is all worth it.

To allow this ‘perfectly normal’ process to transpire make sure you choose your team wisely, interview their previous clients, see there previous work. Make yourself comfortable your prospective architect/ builder is aligned with your needs, and will safely and calmly navigate you through this stressful, happy, anxious, exciting emotional build journey to ensure that this ‘perfectly normal’ course of events does not fall into an experience outside of the above expectations.

Detail image of our concrete cladding panel installation continuing this week. Enjoy your weekend!

Are we going to finish on time?

by Adam Hobbs posted Aug 14, 02:42 PM

Apart from discussions concerning spending, conversations with clients concerning project timing are always high on the list. More specifically, when we get closer to the projected finish date, the age old question of whether things are going to finish on time or not!

In any building project they are multiple contractors involved involving lots of coordination, the project scope often alters due to variations (either unforeseen or client driven amendments/ additions), and of course delays due to the weather! As you can see many factors indeed that can and will affect the original project program on any building project.

Most building contracts have mechanisms within them that govern the ‘agreed’ completion date at the start of the project, and many make provision for the client/ architect to include a certain amount of time in the overall project program for inclement weather, before the builder can make a claim for delays. However, what is often misunderstood is the effect of delays or scope changes on the builders planned contractor/ trades coordination over the course of the job.

Most contractors will be doing more than one project at a time and will have committed a certain amount of time to each of those projects for a particular time frame. What can happen if a project is delayed due to weather or scope creep is the potential lack of availability of a contractor to complete their necessary component because they have committed time elsewhere. They may have planned to be on your job for April/ May for instance, but weather delays have meant they are needed in May/ June, but…they are on another project for June as part of a previous commitments.

Most builders realise this occurrence and either have a backup trade organised, or more realistically build reasonable contingency into their project program to try and accommodate for this possibility. However, sometimes delays are inevitable.

By example, on our Willoughby project we have lost 40 odd working days due to inclement weather to date, but had only allowed 15 working days in the original program. For the same time period however in the preceeding year where we were building on another project, we had lost no time at all. We can’t control the weather after all.

In summary, your building contract should make some reference to loss of time due to wet weather that is negotiated with the builder that will not affect your overall program. Your architect will also reasonably assess any claim for delay and ensure that it is legitimate, and importantly a delay that affects the critical path of the project. But remember, if it is unseasonably wet, or you add significant scope it is a certainty that the project will go longer than originally planned. This does not mean it is ‘late’, it just means that it took longer than could reasonably be determined at the time of signing a contract.

Last piece of advice. We recommend you always allow some contingency for potential cost increases whenever you consider a build project due to scope creep, unforsessen circumstances etc. You should also allow some contingency (as best you can, in the timeframe). You may never need it, but if you a renting while you renovate or rebuild, best to seek a lease that is a few months longer than your projected build time just in case!

Image this week of concrete cladding starting to be erected. Finishing trades commencing now. Enjoy your weekend.

Design During Construction

by Adam Hobbs posted Aug 7, 03:08 PM

This month has been a full one from our perspective and has reminded me of the importance of having a design thinker as part of the build process. Without one, the client sits firmly in the hands of the builder. As good as they are at what they do, builders are trained to think about ‘buildability’ as priority one. Designers are trained to think about ‘design’ as priority one.

Just like you wouldn’t give me a hammer and saw and ask me to build your home, you should probably also not ask your builder to go and design it for you, make sense?

Yes there are great builders out there (and we are lucky to work with some at present) who have a keen design eye, and probably architects out there who can wield a hammer and build. Doesn’t mean they should :)

Buildability of course has a huge part to play in any successful build project and should always be front of mind as it is in our design philosophy. However, just because something may be a little more difficult to put together from a construction perspective, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. If this were the case buildings like the opera house would never have been built!

I am not for a moment suggesting our work is comparable to the ‘opera house’ but it is filled with several ‘designed’ details that give our homes their personality and ‘architecture’ if you like.

In the case of our Willoughby house the brick detailing falls firmly into the basket of a little tricky to build but powerful in the architectural presence it adds to the home. It would have been very easy to have a simple opening to the garage door entry on the project like you would normally expect. However, given its frontage to the street and scale as an element we believed it should have a ‘presence’ and reflect the fact that it addresses the public realm. The result we believe is a little bit of love for a pragmatic component of the build, that adds strength to the building and elevates the function presenting as a ‘designed’ element to the street. Image to the left with a glimpse of said brick detailing in the afternoon sun. Enjoy your week!

Be Involved, Ask Questions

by Adam Hobbs posted Jul 24, 06:06 AM

A full agenda and a list of resolved outcomes were agreed at this weeks site meeting, reminding me of how important it is for the client to be present during the construction process. Over the course of our practice we have worked with clients who have left everything up to us and said things like ‘we’ll be back in 12 months when its all done!’ Although this sounds like every architects dream we find it to be exactly the opposite of what we prefer and promote with our clients.

It is hard to grasp if you are building or renovating for the first time, but there are literally hundreds of decisions that need to be made on behalf of, and with, the client during a build process. If you are not there to agree or disagree with your architects suggestion/response then how can you be sure that the outcome is going to align with your expectations. You can’t, its impossible.

Our advice, be present, ask questions, listen to those advising you and put your opinion forward if you feel the need to be heard. After all, its your home and it will only be better suited to your needs if it involves you.

By example, this week we have been discussing the final location of the dining room table, which will subsequently affect the position of bespoke pendant lighting to the same area. We as the architects have thought very practicably about this table and its location, the lighting position, and of course the aesthetic :). However, although we do our best to understand how a client will use a space during the design and documentation process, there is nothing better than walking through the space and mocking up elements at 1:1 to see how they feel with the client.

Although the table has ended up very close to where it was originally designed to be, slight adjustments influenced by the clients specific needs and thoughts on how they are likely to move through the space on a daily basis did positively impact the location. Had the clients not been available, and relied on our thoughts alone, things would have been perfectly ok, but now they are better suited exactly to the clients needs, because they were there to make it so.

Remember any build should be a team effort between the clients/ architect/ builder and all the involved subcontractors. Without being present this cannot happen.

This weeks image looking at our lovely brick archway to a secondary deck area. Excellent brick workmanship I must say.

Unfinished Business

by Adam Hobbs posted Jul 9, 07:33 AM

Thats not how I envisaged it?

We sometimes come to a point on a project, usually mid build, where a client sees an element of a project built, and…its not what they expected. This, as you can imagine, can cause some anxiety and stress for both the client and the architect. The architect is concerned that the vision has not been understood, questions whether things were properly communicated, and in some cases can’t understand why the client doesn’t share the excitement that they have for particular elements of the build.

The client on the other hand sees something that they feel they are seeing for the first time, and they don’t have the luxury of being inside the architects head to see the image of the finished product.

Architects have several tools at their disposal to communicate ideas to clients including computer modelling, actual material samples, photographs to demonstrate the idea, or even built precendents they can refer clients to see. However, notwithstanding all of this, visualisation can be a very difficult thing.

This is no body’s fault of course, it is simply a product of designing a bespoke detailed outcome. Sometimes you need to see the work actually built before you gain a full and proper sense of the intent, especially if it is out of the ordinary.

We always encourage our clients, as anxious as it can be sometimes, to trust the process, and wait for the building to be finished when all decisions can be more easily understood and all elements seen as a complete vision.

Our lovely brick screen which will add significantly to the quality of the space it bounds, and the narrative to the street, constructed as designed, is slightly more open than the clients expected. The good news is there are supporting design elements yet to be constructed along with additional supporting elements that can be easily implemented to address the clients concerns if need be that we are all happy with, that maintain the design intent. Either way we believe the end result is going to be fantastic and we all can’t wait to see it!

Tip of the week. Ask your architect as many questions as you need during the design process, no question is ever silly. Ask for pictures, models, material samples, whatever you believe you need to help you understand the vision they are working toward for you.

Image of our partly completed brick feature wall and screen adjacent. It is going to look great when the sun shines :)