The Evolution of a Design

Often, a design may change significantly from its conceptual phase to the actual building process. This recent project is a good example, with clear reasons for the evolution.

We were asked to design an outdoor cooking pavilion for a beautiful, semi-adobe style home. We did a site visit, met with the homeowners, and went back to put our inspiration on paper. In this case, we decided to start with a sketch of the concept, in order to give the client a quick taste of what we had in mind.

We designed a long pavilion, with central cook area that would match the exterior finishes of the home, and pergola ends on each side for extra shade, and plenty of entertaining space. Details like the columns and exposed rafter tails under the eaves were drawn directly from the home's architecture. We added a couple of steps up to the pavilion area, to offer a change in elevation in the fairly sizable garden area.

The homeowners loved it, so the next step was to give it to a couple of contractors for preliminary bids before refining the design. Bids were high (sometimes, building costs still surprise us!), but conversations with the contractors led us to some ways to significantly lower building costs. These next images show the revised design, and how the structure would fit into the pool and garden areas, with new landscaping.

Dropping the structure to ground level offered a big cost cutting solution, so that idea allowed us to proceed with scale drawings for builders to refine their estimates.

The next glitch in the process was due to Mother Nature. Two trees on the property turned out to be grand oaks. This means that the trees have a 20' "safe zone" that digging is not allowed to be done within. There are construction methods that can sometimes be used to resolve this, but in this case a relocation of the structure seemed the most logical solution. This drawing shows the proposed relocation.

This new location will involve an asymmetrical design solution, which the homeowners like (well, at least one of the team!). But, as in most aspects of life, compromise is necessary, right?

The design options are currently in front of the city Parks Department for comment. Once they give us their word, we will make final changes to plans, then back to contractors for final bids...then we can break ground!

Yes, sometimes, it takes a village.