Rohan Walters, our latest Signature Designer, loves the challenge of an "unbuildable site." His imaginative three story design, Plan 905-3, shown here, is a case in point. It was designed for a sloping lot with marsh-like soil next to an engineered road-embankment. He says: "Those conditions made it nearly impossible for a conventional house or structural solution. The solution I used was a house on stilts -- similar to boathouses on a rocky cove in lake country -- adapted to the city environment."
The tower form is simplicity itself, sits lightly on the land, and provides expansive views. The driveway is down the slope to the carport beneath the tower.
Access to the front door from the street is along a bridge or causeway -- like a drawbridge to a small modern castle turret. Wall panels painted in bright primary colors add a note of playfulness -- indeed, Rohan calls the building his "Lego Tower."
Inside there are three floors: living-dining area is on the first floor.
Note the clever use of a large roll-top glass door as a wide window that can open to catch summer breezes. The kitchen is tucked under the stair.
The main bedroom and bath are on the floor above.
Another bedroom is on the third floor, and there's a roof deck at the top.
The is design is adaptable: Rohan's Plan 905-4, below, shows how to extend the house at one end, making a rectangular tower instead of a square one, and adding more space at the back of the structure -- with room for a powder room, utility closet, and a deck off the kitchen on the main level.
Rohan says he has been inspired by some of the great world architects, from Karl Friedrich Schinkel in classical Berlin to the early Italian modernist Carlo Scarpa, and from Frank Lloyd Wright to the Dutch modernist Gerrit Rietveld -- in fact you can see similarities in geometry and color palette with Rietveld's Schroder House in Utrecht, shown below.
(Photo courtesy Arch Daily.)
And here is Rohan's Plan 905-4 from the front -- as if elements of the Rietveld design have been recombined to create a tower.
Rohan's design approach is about adaptation, what he calls "applied pragmatism," and a flexible modern aesthetic. Bravo Rohan! And welcome to the Team!
The tower form is simplicity itself, sits lightly on the land, and provides expansive views. The driveway is down the slope to the carport beneath the tower.
Access to the front door from the street is along a bridge or causeway -- like a drawbridge to a small modern castle turret. Wall panels painted in bright primary colors add a note of playfulness -- indeed, Rohan calls the building his "Lego Tower."
Inside there are three floors: living-dining area is on the first floor.
Note the clever use of a large roll-top glass door as a wide window that can open to catch summer breezes. The kitchen is tucked under the stair.
The main bedroom and bath are on the floor above.
Another bedroom is on the third floor, and there's a roof deck at the top.
The is design is adaptable: Rohan's Plan 905-4, below, shows how to extend the house at one end, making a rectangular tower instead of a square one, and adding more space at the back of the structure -- with room for a powder room, utility closet, and a deck off the kitchen on the main level.
Rohan says he has been inspired by some of the great world architects, from Karl Friedrich Schinkel in classical Berlin to the early Italian modernist Carlo Scarpa, and from Frank Lloyd Wright to the Dutch modernist Gerrit Rietveld -- in fact you can see similarities in geometry and color palette with Rietveld's Schroder House in Utrecht, shown below.
(Photo courtesy Arch Daily.)
And here is Rohan's Plan 905-4 from the front -- as if elements of the Rietveld design have been recombined to create a tower.
Rohan's design approach is about adaptation, what he calls "applied pragmatism," and a flexible modern aesthetic. Bravo Rohan! And welcome to the Team!
