Brown Residence, Week 9
The perfect design concept – whether developing an extensive floor plan for your remodel, developing the exterior elevations of your home renovation or designing fine cabinetry details – all require the same process to get started.
When it comes to putting pencil to paper, I love the idea of free hand sketching. For me it’s the most creative and fluid way to fit the puzzle pieces together. With my roll of tracing paper in hand, I can feel a concept flow from my fingers right onto the page.
Developing a solid floor plan is not an exact science – yet requires experimenting with multiple concepts until you get it right.
In the Brown’s case the process starts with laying tracing paper over the
“as-builts” – and sketching some preliminary ideas, concepts and room layouts over the existing plans. I begin with bubble diagrams, sketches and scribbles (it’s very scientific). I
assess, evaluate and revise the layout over and over, until I feel it’s good enough to present to Liz and Mark for round one.
During this meeting, we review the layout together dissecting every nuance possible – walking through the space virtually in our mind’ eye and laying sheets of tracing paper over one another. I call this the “Mr. Potato Head” theory. I did mention that this phase is not an exact science, and since the floor plan evolves in a variety of ways, this is the best time to experiment with certain elements that may be re-sized, shifted or relocated entirely.
At the conclusion of that meeting with notes in hand I head back to the drawing board and the process begins all over again refining and revising – until a solid design concept and floor plan is established.
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Article by Lori Gilder, Architectural Interior Designer, Los Angeles, Ca.
© 2010 Lori Gilder. Interior Makeovers Inc
