Archive for July, 2010

Commercial Timber Frame Architecture

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

The Rand Soellner Architect firm has been recently asked to consider designing several commercial timber frame projects.  Soellner’s answer is: YES!  Just this last week, Rand Soellner was approached by a large manufacturing company to create a timber framed shop for them.  Also, Soellner was asked to consider a 9 acre retail – commercial – hotel – restaurant – nature development.  Due to client confidentiality, the location cannot be revealed at this time.

The clients want mountain – themed timber frame / post and beam design approaches.  For the timber frame shop, the client has also asked Soellner to create some exterior appearance renovations for the surrounding industrial structures to refresh a 12 acre manufacturing grouping of buildings into a timber-framed themed cohesive public image. (more…)

Shear Walls, Anchor Bolts & Hold Downs

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Not a very exciting topic for residential architects to be talking about is probably what you’re thinking.  We agree.  Only, we want our clients to never be excited about these things, because they keep the homes we design safe and sound.  The structural engineer, with whom we always coordinate, works together with us to determine the best locations for shear walls, the anchor bolt spacings and the shear wall hold downs.

What’s the difference between an anchor bolt and a hold down?  An anchor bolt, as defined by the International Residential Code: anchor bolts resist lateral forces that could cause a building to lift or slide off the foundation.  Anchor bolts must have sufficient embedment to resist pullout and must be spaced properly to secure the sill in place.  Washers must be capable of distributing a load across the sill without it cracking or splitting. (more…)

Compact Homes That Live Big

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

Rand Soellner Architect is receiving as many requests for smaller high-quality homes that live big as for larger residences.  Many people want to downsize, or simply pay less during challenging economic times.  Soellner has responded with a series of higher-quality compact houses that have spacious organizations that defy the imagination as to how small or large they are physically.

This is a perceptual art, refined by Soellner over decades; since his days working on his Master’s Degree in Architecture at the University of Florida.  He also has a minor in Environmental Psychology, in which he researched people’s reactions to space.  Soellner also designed projects for one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s main apprentices, Nils Schweizer, FAIA.  Wright was a master of overlapping spaces in residential design.  Soellner learned this while studying the buildings at the Florida Southern campus and designing for one of Wright’s main proteges. (more…)

Home Designs for Me

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

This is about you looking for home designs and what you find and what you don’t find and what you can do to obtain the home designs that satisfy your needs.

You and Home Designs

You look and look and look but you never find that floor plan that seems to suit your exact needs.  You might have found a style or “look” that appeals to you, but the exact plan just doesn’t seem to exist.  Why?  Because you are unique.

A floor plan is the graphic layout of one particular client’s desired lifestyle and response to their specific property’s characteristics.   Let’s say that again: any and ALL of the floor plans you are reviewing on the Internet were conceived for other people, not you. (more…)

Now is the Time to Design and Build Your Home

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

When people are moving through history, they seldom understand the significance of any specific period of days, weeks, or months.  Just more days, right?   However, it is a huge advantage to you if you have studied the trends and read what knowledgeable entities have to say.  This can allow you to take advantage of the present situation and not have to say to yourself later:  “If  I’d only known, I would have ___________.”

Entities to know and listen to today are Harvard University, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Warren Buffett. In particular, what these entities have to say with respect to the United States housing economy is important to us all here in the USA. (more…)