Cabin Homes 10, Highlands WNC, Cottage Architects

Cottage Architects Designing in Highlands North Carolina

Appalachian Style Small Home Overlooking Grand View.

This was a tightly configured site that required close attention to building setbacks and driveway geometry.  The solution provided by the cottage architects was a beautiful design with timber frame features, in a timeless Appalachian tradition.  The home is a 4 BR, 3 full Bath, 2car enclosed attached garage.

floor plan modifications are typically part of the design process with this cottage architect. (C)Copyright 2003-2010 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Role of cottage architects includes planning.

The role of the cottage architects included programming, design, construction documents, and bidding services.  The cottage was designed with a galvanized steel farm roof in a pale green shade, a native rock stair tower facing the front of the house, timber frame detailing at the front porch, including a 4-poster corner column bearing on a rock pedestal.  Poplar bark shingles were planned for the walls.  Large glass areas were designed to maximize the views.

To create the site plan for this cottage project, the designers examined a rearward approach and a diagonal frontal street approach.  After examining cost and quantity of paving surfaces and fill and entry slopes, the architect determined that a diagonal front entry driveway was the most economical and most direct entry.

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The architect examined different layouts for the cottage interior.

Various interior alternate cottage planning approaches were examined to satisfy homeowner requests.  This was a compact house with 4 bedrooms.  The Hearth Room with tall ceiling gives the cottage a spacious feel.  Soellner enjoyed creating this unique cottage that delivers the program of a large luxury home within the shell of modest cabin.  That is a lot of bang for the buck.  Some people believe that a cottage is too small of a residence in which to have upscale design features.  This is not the case in a Rand Soellner cottage.  On the contrary, he feels that the smaller a house becomes, the more it needs higher quality features to make it enjoyable and livable.

Cottage designers delight in conceiving smaller houses with great views and substantial functionality.  Much of this comes from Soellner’s background as a designer of HUD housing for governmental programs, back in the 1980s.  This was in an era where 650 sf  to 1,000 sf had to comprise an entire house.  Soellner has cottage designs of 1,000 sf to 1,250 sf that offer 3BR/2Bath layouts that feel like a luxury house.  They Are a luxury residence.  They just have more efficient plans with no wasted space whatsoever.  Every square inch is used to give the feeling of spaciousness in a compact cottage.

Some clients of Rand Soellner’s ask if he will consider designing a house of a particular size.  Let it be known that Soellner’s firm designs small, medium and large houses.  Size can be whatever you want it to be.  Some of Soellner’s project involve 390 sf mother-in-law cottage suites above garages, 2,500 sf to 4,500 sf mid-sized comfortable homes, all the way up to 11,000 to 16,000 sf castles.  The Soellner firm handles residential architecture of any size.  What is important to the company is that you, the owner are happy with your design.  This begins with programming the list of your dreams and functional needs.  Then the project is schematically designed, then more of the design is developed.  Then the project goes into Construction Documents.  At each stage in Soellner’s approach, you as the owner are invited to review the developing design and make comments and approve the design as it moves through its natural course of development.  This becomes very important in smaller designs, because everything is there for a reason.  Soellner finely tunes the design to suit your lifestyle and your views and other environmental and functional and aesthetic needs.