Love Volkswagon’s thinking on this one. Not only because it persuaded 66% more people to take the stairs rather than use the escalator. But also because it’s about rethinking the everyday and making the most of every moment.
Archive for October, 2009
Taking the stairs
October 30th, 2009Hearth and Home
October 30th, 2009
Adding an extension to your home can be a wonderful way to spread your living over a larger area. Creating places for different activities, moods and moments. But there are a few things you need to consider to ensure you’re happy with the results.
Firstly, where is the existing hearth or heart of your home? Often, but not always, the kitchen fulfils this role: it’s the place where family and friends gather together to share food, stories, and each other’s lives. Often, it’s literally where the hearth is, or perhaps where the flat-screen television is!
Do you want your extension to become the new go-to place for your home, or is it simply about creating extra space to breathe? If you decide to make the new extension the heart of your home, you’ll need to be sure that the rest of your home doesn’t become unloved and unused. Conversely, if you already have a successful home heart, will the new area be appealing enough to break habits? Will it attract attention and become useful and enticing to you?
Being conscious of this dynamic and the way that your home works already is vital in the design stages of your project.
Think integrated
October 19th, 2009
Often when I visit what is a beautiful period house, I make a disappointing discovery. The owners are living the vast majority of their lives in a poorly designed, multi-function room tacked onto the back, whilst rooms at the front of the house lie dormant.
It’s often the case that the owners bought the house this way and they’re aware it’s a problem, but are overwhelmed about how to rectify things. In other situations it has, unfortunately, been a problem of their own making.
It seems that many house extensions from previous few decades are ill-conceived add-ons that draw the life-blood from what were once great rooms. If you have the opportunity to add on to a period style house, it’s crucial to consider the following…
A successful extension isn’t just about the creation of additional space. It’s about designing connecting zones that integrate seamlessly with the way your home works already. Clever reconfigurations and interpretations of the spaces that lead onto a new extension will help ensure the entire house is lived in.
So instead of settling for a ‘box tacked on the back’ that you might have inherited, or created yourself inadvertently, consider some clever creative surgery in the connecting zones. By doing so, you’ll create an add-on that integrates effectively with existing zones, encourages flow and ensures you make the most of your additional space.
It’s about designing thoughtfully, not just designing bigger.
Robert Harwood
Director | My Architect
Saturday’s Age gives us a mention
October 17th, 2009
My Architect was here – No.1
October 10th, 2009
The brief:
The owners of this Edwardian house wanted a rear extension home with clean, contemporary styling that gave them more living space, greater flow through and more natural light.
The solution:
- Upper level highlight glazing provides a skyview and a source of natural light from another angle. Light from more than one direction creates a richer, more dynamic ambience.
- Raising fireplaces and televisions off the floor creates more floor area – ideal for narrow floor spaces
- Changes of floor level and ceiling heights creates the sense of rooms within rooms
- Supersize floor tiles give the space a grander, larger feel
- Broad, uninterrupted vistas to the garden achieve a greater sense of space
- Narrow window frames are more elegant, maximising the openness and connecting to the outside
- Tall skirting boards help tie a contemporary space into a more traditional style home.
Like to talk to us about your project? Visit the My Architect website, call 130 321 119 or email us.
How My Architect works
October 8th, 2009
1. Make a booking
Call My Architect and tell us about your project. We will then arrange a suitable time for one of our architects to meet with you.
2. The first visit
Your architect will meet with you at your home. He/she will listen to what you want, inspect your property and provide professional advice and concept drawings of possible design directions for the project.
This visit takes 3½ hours and will usually include a sketch survey of the property where work is planned, as well as a proposed new floor plan. Quick hand-drawn sketch views and plans (see above) will also give you a real feel for the potential new space.
By the end of this meeting, you will have explored options and design directions with a set of drawings that can be used for initial discussions with planners, neighbours and even builders. Your architect will sum up with advice on how the next steps will unfold.
3. The follow up
You will receive a set of your drawings within a week of the meeting. A ‘Next Steps’ form will list the services that follow from this initial meeting should you wish to proceed further – all in a clear, simple, pay-as-you-go format, so you always stay in control.
My Architect features in Architecture and Design
October 7th, 2009
Iggy Peck, Architect
October 5th, 2009
Young Iggy Peck is an architect
and has been since he was two,
when he built a great tower – in only an hour -
with nothing but diapers and glue.
So begins Andrea Beaty’s 2007 children’s classic, ‘Iggy Peck Architect’- the tale of a little boy with big ideas about designing buildings. His architecture-phobic grade 2 teacher, Miss Lila Greer, forbids him to follow his passion. All that changes, of course, when he masterminds a brilliant solution to a problem that leaves his teacher and fellow classmates floored.
David Roberts’ intricate illustrations complement this fun and funny tale that paints architects as problem-solving, humanitarian, out-of-the-box thinkers rather than cravat-wearing egotists! Budding designers of all kinds will love this book.