Tim Saunders Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 I have been given the great task of coming up with a conceptual model for a large retirement center. all i have is a floor plan that the client drew up at home on his own autocad. i don't have any sketches or anything to tell me what the roof or walls might look like. the architect overseeing the project just said my guess is as good as his. i thought i would post my stage-by-stage progress and get some ideas from the forum. like i said, it is conceptual, so i'm not going to spend a ton of time making photoreal textures. and the client is real attached to his ploorplans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Saunders Posted July 28, 2005 Author Share Posted July 28, 2005 here's the masses, no roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 This happens a lot, but more to free-lance artists, who would typically charge extra for this type of service if they agreed to do it at all. There is danger in working this way because you have to get inside the designers head and figure out what he would do, not necessarily what would look best. Otherwise the designer will continually nit-pick your work because it's not how he would have done it which would create a never ending cycle... even though he didn't give you anything to work from. Now, if a developer were to give you something like this it would be a different matter. The developer isn't so concerned with the design so long as it looks good. A good illustrator can usually do that well enough, although an extra fee would be called for still IMHO. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Saunders Posted July 28, 2005 Author Share Posted July 28, 2005 the client did see some renderings a while back on another building that he fell in love with and wants a similar feel. so i doo have that to go off of at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeraldH Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 They can't afford me for design work...;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Saunders Posted July 28, 2005 Author Share Posted July 28, 2005 something like that. it's out of the ordinary for me, so i won't complain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 Tim, I dont know your background, but you are now doing design work. Your fees should reflect this along with any services related to visualizing. Design fees should be anywhere from $75/hr to $120/hr.... on top of your viz services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Saunders Posted July 28, 2005 Author Share Posted July 28, 2005 not much background at all actually. that's why i jump on stuff like this. i've only ween with the firm about 4 months and this is my first job in the field. i deffinately agree with you though. but with a couple of these (if successful) the salary change can be addressed and most likely accomodated. i see your point (everyone) that we cannot make a habbit of stuff like this so it does not become an expectation with my current pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Saunders Posted July 28, 2005 Author Share Posted July 28, 2005 now i'll add the windows. those are at least in the plans as far as where they go and how wide they are. you'll notice a couple little areas where the walls make a slight jog out a couple feet. not sure what to do with the tops of those. maybe just cary the jog up to the gable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisHolland Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Tim, It's is somewhat strange that an architect leave a big part of design in your hands without a good reason (understatement). On the other hand, it's a nice opportunity for you to take this concept and go all the way with it. One thing's for sure, you ought to keep your eye on the fact that this is pure design and not visualisation so focus on the price and make a deal for the total package... maybe just cary the jog up to the gable?Those are great objects to do something with different materials (another brick or plaster) and leave 'm in shape without pulling up to the gables. It looks good and harmonious right now so maybe give it a try? You're the designer now so this particular world is yours and the decisions to make are your responsibility as well. Grab that chance... Good luck with this project, post some wips... Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyder2411 Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 I'll place my 2 cents. As far as the exterior look of the building, based on the layout of the plans, I wouldn't be too stuck to the idea of a pitched gabled roof scenario. I understand that the designer left you hanging on the exterior, but there is also a possibility of utilizing a flat commercialized roof with a steel joist setup considering the magnitude of the building mass. This option would lend the exterior to a blue million other exterior possibilities that the designer and or the client may desire and remove itself from the typical "cracker-box with a triangle on top" style that everyone does these days. This all depends highly on what framing style the designer intends to use as well, if it's a wood frame then you're pretty much stuck in the rut, but if it's a steel frame get creative just don't waste too much time conceptulizing. Old folks like "purty" stuff too, don't send them to a oversized manufatured home bro! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 the client did see some renderings a while back on another building that he fell in love with and wants a similar feel. so i doo have that to go off of at least. An artchitect fell in love with that? And gave you a floor plan and told you to go ahead and design whatever you wanted? Are you sure this guy IS an architect? Sure doesnt sound like any architect ive ever heard of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Sure doesnt sound like any architect ive ever heard of. I wouldn't mind working in the UK then, because there are all too many over here. The thinking is get the job done as quickly and cheaply as possible so you can run with the profit and move on to the next one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Paske Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Doesn't sound like any architect I know of either, I guess I've been lucky that way. That building he "fell in love with" looks very developer-driven and not very architectural..ie the composition, material transitions - it basically looks like it was drawn in 2d without any massing studies which always results in an awkward looking roof. Nice peach door btw. I'd have a nice long chat with this "architect" and try to get it through his head that design is a process, and 3d is an invaluable tool to create better buildings (both in terms of aesthetics and constructability which saves $$). Coming from an architectural background, and doing quite a bit of design and visualization work, this is what I really enjoy. Find better examples of the building type and show him pictures of those. I know there are forces here at work that he hasn't communicated, or you haven't let us in on, but these scenarious can suck the life out of you (and maybe even get you sued) if you aren't careful. Charge hourly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Saunders Posted July 29, 2005 Author Share Posted July 29, 2005 don't missunderstand. the architect has treated it as something he doesn't want to spend much time on at this point, the one who fell in love with those old renderings was the client, not the architect. and i totally agree about avoiding too common roof gables, but that was one thing i was told about from the architect. the client wants lots of gables and dormers. that's the feal they want. the roof isn't all figured out at this point obviously. i'll still try other ideas too and see what we can get away with. i appreciate all your thoughts. keep them coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Saunders Posted July 29, 2005 Author Share Posted July 29, 2005 Tim, Those are great objects to do something with different materials (another brick or plaster) and leave 'm in shape without pulling up to the gables. It looks good and harmonious right now so maybe give it a try? You're the designer now so this particular world is yours and the decisions to make are your responsibility as well. Grab that chance... Dennis i like your idea of playing off those little mass elements. it looks like there would be several oportunities to throw in similar elements on several walls, especially at the ends ofd each large wing. i'm going to show this as a mass, and see if i can get some materials figured out. another thought i had was to keep a flat roof on each najor wing, and cary that a bit taller than the ridges of the dormer-gables. this way the gables would extrude from the taller flat elements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Saunders Posted July 29, 2005 Author Share Posted July 29, 2005 this is what i had in mind, except the flat roof tops wil be actual parapet roofs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyder2411 Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 One thing to keep in mind when doing the roof design, consider the laws of gravity. For instance, one of the renderings shows a turret feature with a conical roofline, if you look close enough there is a mass of the building that appears flat and would in turn cause a great deal of moisture issues. You may want to extend this massing element to the roof to eliminate this possibility. As far as mixing the styles of flat/gables, I haven't seen it done personally but it looks a bit strange. It would be nice if "in the perfect world" some architect would get a projects criteria and unleash it on this board. There's alot of design knowledge contained in this board that I think would astonish any architect, well except for the fact that they would have to pay! It always disturbed me how architects work like the skies falling and want everything yesterday for top $$ and little work. Guess that's 4 cents now!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigroo Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 One thing that seems more and more popular to add living space is to use the 'niched' areas and construct a balcony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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