This image is taken from a strawbale home built by the Kennedys.
Maybe something like this which combines a cookin stove can work for us in our living space?
Utilities Room
We are going to need a utilities room that needs to accommodate diverse needs. Though it is not clear what systems we will actually be using for heat and energy – following our a few things we may need:
- Laundry machine.
- Freezer.
- Hot water system:
- Pressurized and insulated hot water tank (300-500 liters?).
- Extension tank (for pressurized water).
- Radiant floor zone distributor.
- Central water heater (for both hot water and radiant heating).
- Electric System
- Main electric box + meter.
- Battery array (though may not be installed at first – there needs to be a space for it).
Meditation Space
Though it is far from being the most frequented space in our houses to date it is a space that when properly addressed defines it.
- Quiet: It should be completely immune to the natural noises of the house – this way it does not impose on the actual functioning of the house. The house shouldn’t need to change it’s function to accommodate meditation and meditation should always be possible regardless of the activities in the house.
It should be completely immune to functioning noises of the house like the sound of running water in pipes, washing machines, doors closing. - Isolated: It should be a separate structure – removed from the house. The end of the road – there should be no other reason to move in it’s direction other then meditation.
- Connected: Yet it is a part of the house. The karma of meditation and other spiritual practices thrives on and supports life in the house. It should be connected to the house – so that it is accessible from the main house yet distinctly apart from it.
It should be possible to move to and from the house in cold weather without having to get dressed for the journey. - Minimalistic: It should be a clean and simple space, inviting but not distracting.
- Size: It should be comfortable in size. Not to small so there is space to move and be in it in more then one location. Not so large so that it supports and contains. (4×4?)
There should be space for physical practices and numerous niches for sitting both on the floor and in a comfortable chair.
There should be space for books and a place for a cup of tea.
It should accommodate up to 4 people sitting comfortable together. - Warm: It should be easy to warm regardless of the main house heating system.
- View: It should have a view undisturbed by other structures or movement (cars, people, etc.).
It would be nice for this space to have a small patio for the warmer seasons of the year – so that it is possible to be in a meditation space in nature. Another option is to create a meditation corner somewhere else on the grounds – a bench in the shade of a tree?
Though this is a primary element in our lives it may be put off during initial construction due to budget restraints. In this case there should be:
- An alternative, temporary space inside the house for meditation. A remote room that best fits the description. Most probably one of the “bedrooms”.
- A design that can be extended later on when it is possible to build a meditation space
Nice Bed & Bedroom
We like the sense of space, light and warmth in this bedroom. The bed is also very nice and looks like something we can create by ourselves. We came across it here.
Growth & Expansion in the Details
We recently came across this shape (at Starbucks in the Iulius mall) and it resonated deeply with us.
We see in it a symbol of growth and expansion built on a solid foundation. As we spent some time with it we realized it’s already been a part of our life for some months. We found it in a painting Andreea created in the months before we departed for Romania:
We would like for it to inform and feed the design process and manifest wherever possible in our house. We have imagined it as an outline for windows, doors, as a door-knob on cabinets … it feels like something we’d like to place all around our consciousness.
Homemade Plans V1.0
So we’ve been playing around on our own trying to piece together a vision of our home. It’s quite challenging as we try to balance out numerous themes:
- Function – getting in everything we want and need.
- Space – keeping a sense of space without exaggerating and leading into a house that is prohibitively expensive to build and maintain (keeping warm).
- Simple water circuits – we want a short and concentrated system of water pipes – this keeps construction simple and cheap, protects walls from potential pipe failure and makes it easier for us to deal with and process waste and gray-water
- Simple heating circuits – so we don’t yet know what they will be like we are hoping to achieve effective heating circuits through the general layout of the house.
- South facing windows for heat and a relatively sealed northern front.
- An “externa” non-heated area for utilities and food storage.
This design has not yet been seen by a professional architect (it will soon). We’ve sent this to family and friends and have already gotten some interesting feedback.
1 Floor or 2 Floors?
Our inital wishlist included an attic studio space – another kind of getaway place within the house. It is an indulgence not a necessity and it is also an added expense which we are trying to keep down. This also brough us to consider creating an attic that we can one day, if we need to, populate.
We did some sketches to see what such a place could look like using a 30degree roof with a person standing up. The full-line box surrounding the figure describes a 2 meter ceiling height. The dashed-line box surround the figur edescribes a 2.8 meter ceiling height.
In a basic configuration the space is very small- more of a crawl space that may be useful for storage:
It gets better with a wall extension of 50 cm:
It gets to be a really nice space with an extension of 100 cm:
We don’t know what the structural implications of such a “half-floor” would have nor of it’s costs. We did find this image of a timber-framed house which seems to be like what we were imagining:
Assuming a do-it-yourself building construction there is both a temptation to go for something like this because a little more construction materialsand work create a lot of future potential but when we break down the actual costs of flooring, windows … and the additional complication of work in high places … it becomes less attractive.
We also debated what would be more economical – a larger footprint and foundations for one-floor or a small footprint and two floors.
Our natural tendency and preference was and remains a one floor house. Here’s a good example of what we’d like to create – this is a hemp-built home:
Here’s another example – this one a straw bale home (just without the bulge in the middle of the house):
Front Entrace with Terrarium
So Andree injected another new idea into the process – a Terrarium – just like an aquarium but with earth instead of water. A terrarium simulates a stable environment in which specific plants can grow.
In our agricultural conversations the topic of a greenhouse has come up numerous times as a means of growing plants that cannot survive in the harsh winter cold that is so typical of Romania. The terrarium fit right in with that idea – a kind of small indoors greenhouse. Andreea’s idea is to create a space that isn’t completely isolated from the house by glass walls – but one that is connected in both form and function – more like an indoor garden. It would benefit from a relatively steady warm climate in the house, plenty of natural light from the south and the house would benefit esthetically and functionally – including two small citrus trees (which will have enough space to grow and give fruit, but will be cut down to a managable size).
With this in mind Andreea put together this drawing which demonstrates a possible front-side of the house with a sealed entrance space that contains a greeting terrarium.
Play, Work, Rest, Meditate
We’ve been trying to juggle lots of thoughts of how things need to be arranged inside a home. This morning we found some kind of metaphor which has been helpful in making sense of it all. It crystallized when we recognized the two extremes of play and meditation.
Meditation is best in an isolated and quiet space. We want it to be karmatically connected to the main body of the house but we also want it to be isolated. Isolation makes it possible for meditation and everything else (including play) co-exist peacefully. Isolation keeps distractions out of the meditation space without having to subdue the distractions.
Playfulness is engaged and noisy. It can be watching TV, listening to music, making love, having guests over, children playing and running around. It can happen in many places and should be facilitated (just as meditation is).
Work at home (as we experience it) is a diverse experience – from writing at the computer to working in the kitchen (of course there are other kinds which take place outside the house). Sometimes it thrives closer to playfulness (writing on a laptop computer while watching TV) and sometimes it thrives close to meditation (sitting with a notebook, pen and a cup of tea).
Rest is generally closer to meditation – but it generally less fragile. It can be relaxing in front of the TV or with a book in a living space and it can be napping in a bedroom or sleeping at night. Rest space should be somewhat removed from living spaces. It is a more intimate experience in spaces that are less frequented by visitors. It benefits from a certain degree of isolation and distance from the living spaces but not as much as meditation.
These four energies can be arranged on a scale which can and should be used in laying out our home.
<<- – - – - play – - – - - work – - – - – - rest – - – - - meditate – - – - – >>
Roof, Patios and 2nd Floor
We want an elevated house. We don’t want a house with a hollow space beneath it – mostly because it feels like an unhealthy and stagnant void. Still we wanted our house to be elevated for two reasons: (1) to protect and prevent water from reaching the hemp walls; (2) to offer reasonable protection in the face of potential floods which seem to be increasing in Europe and Romania. So we opted for cement (or other more ecological alternative) elevation.
Though the conversation branched out to numerous aspects of the house and Andreea came up with this simplified drawing which has a few aspects to it.
- Elevated foundations.
- A roof with a span larger then the core house to include potential patios around the house which (1) provides weather and moisture protection to the walls of the house; (2) creates a potential for building patios around the house which have both recreational and functional needs.
- Outer supports which we assume are needed to support the root – but not necessarily foundations!?
- An expanded potential space for a second floor – which becomes spacious and higher due to an increased roof span (without resorting to a ridiculously pointed roof). Here’s a useful link on creating attic trusses.
- If somethind can be done design wide to make it possible to gradually add patios that would be great.