designSTUDIOmodern

lightBOX studios

We are pleased to release some sneak peek renders and prelim information about a new venture for us. We've decided to expand upon the lightBOX carport studio we designed and built, and turn it into a line of backyard studios. These will be fully SIP construction (floors, walls, and roofs) with a few exerior siding selections and a limited number of layouts, all of which are based on the 8' structural bay of the original lightBOX studio. The sizes will range from 10'x16' on up to 10'x24' and the larger size can accommodate a kitchenette and 3/4 bathroom as in the original lightBOX. The 16' version would make for a lovely backyard office, cabaña, or artists studio. Base prices will start at $150/s.f. installed.

 

 

lightBOX 160A

 

lightBOX 160B

 

lightBOX 160C

nearing completion

the lightBOX addition and studio project is nearing completion. Just working on punchlist items now.

 

closer

it is starting to look finished.

topped out

lightBOX officially topped out with the final installation of the roof panels today. Now you really can get a sense of the exterior form and interior space and light quality. It lives up to its name.

lightBOX framing coming together

Just some quick pics of our progress with the glulam frame that defines the overall structural parti of the lightBOX addition. The spatial qualities and light quality are starting to coallesce. The weather, though fickle, is making for some lovely light.

The glulam columns had to be threaded through some of the existing walls and floor structure of the existing house. The connection is a surgical procedure performed on the existing house to graft the new structural language onto that of the original little stick-framed system. All the original services had to be shifted to make this possible.

The connection detail between the glulam columns and the second floor beams is through a hidden cross-dowel connection, like giant IKEA furniture. Cool!

The souther glulam framed wall will be infilled with sliding doors and fixed glass that opens the interior of the box to the yard, perfect for entertaining and livng an indoor-outdoor life during pleasant weather.

The 3x6 tongue and groove floor decking compresses the floor structure to a minimal depth and forms a consistent material palette within the new kitchen and dining core of the addition. This space becomes central to the life of the updated house.

The new double height living space allows a decompression from the tight and dark spaces of the existing house, prior to exiting to the outdoor decks and the back yard. The modulated light, coming in through clerestory windows, the extensive southern glazing and the double-height translucent wall, will make for a gradated transition from the shadowy interior of the existing house to the harsher Texas light of the outdoors.

A second story master-suite nestles itself against the gable roof of the existing house. This helps the addition recede into the background from the street, but proclaim itself proudly to the alley-way, a welcome surprise for the suddenly vibrant social life springing up with all of the alley-flats in this block.

Hairway to Steven

Last week was a watershed for the lightBOX. The existing house's floor level is now connected to the level of the new slab, and the overall space is starting to be better defined. With the bulk of the North walls up and the vantage point offered by the new floor level, the scale of the addition becomes apparent. It will be an interesting juxtoposition of scale from the enclosed nature of the existing house into the more open and spacious scale of the new living spaces.

Once the old pier and beam floor of the existing kitchen was taken down to dirt and we moved around all of the existing electrical circuits and demoed back the defunct kitchen plumbing lines, a new LVL girder beam was inserted from which to hang the new floor trusses as they span across to the addition slab. That was immediately followed by 1 1/8" tongue and groove subfloor over the floor trusses. We'll now be able to extend the existing hardwoods in to the new kitchen before transitioning down to concrete at the living space.

As soon as the floor was decked, the interior walls that define the stair core and kitchen/utility core were put up. These few walls are conventionally framed and serve to seperate the stairs to the master suite from the more public areas of the expanded downstairs, as well as make space for the under-stair utility room and a mechanical chase that serves the upstairs master bed and bath. The stair framing followed quickly behind the wall framing. Now we wait for the rest of our missing glulams to show so we can finish the rest of the framing.

Going UP!

walls coming down, walls going up and a bit of concrete work.

It looked like the kitchen emptied itself of its contents and shed its enclosure to get ready for the new floor framing and the walls.

First the base track gets laid out and bolted down to the slab.

and then the wall panels are erected and screwed into place.

The carport driveway was also ramped up and smoothed out. A small perimeter foundation was poured to hold in the gravel approach from the alley.

structural millings

Work on the ligtBOX has been shifting from on-site demolition and prep for framing to in-the-shop milling and sanding of the structural glulams that form the exposed frame on the south wall of sliding doors and fixed glass.

As mentioned before the structural glulams will be assembled using Timberlinx post connectors. In order for this to go smoothly on site as the frame goes up, we've been laying out and milling the glulam pieces. This included making a jig that is set up for most of the connection conditions we have.

 

The jig is made to easily locate the brass bushing that makes for a nice perpendicular 1 1/8" hole in the beam end. A large auger bit attached into a strong electric drill makes for a fairly straight forward holw bore.

The perpendicular bore holes have to be pretty close to perfectly align for the pin connectors to correctly seat, and the jig and brass bushing fitting make this an easy job.

Since the glulams are exposed on both the interior and the exterior we've also taken the time to sand their exposed faces down for a good coating of exterior-grade oil sealant.

demolition man

The addition at Ave F has started up in earnest, finally. Materials are on the ground, demo has started, and some final details are getting wrapped up on the studio. All in all it's been a productive week. Having a new crew on site has really kicked things into gear.

4"x2" "horse panel" has been installed at the deck handrails as well as the first run of stairs and the landing. This material, where installed at the lower run of stairs will support the existing passion flower vine that dominates the fence to the north side of the lot. In a year or two the entire space between the studio and the house addition will be a lush oasis of tropical vines and weird flowers.

Since the clients are going to be living in the house while the construction is ongoing, we've been coordinating the material deliveries so that we have most of what we need on site as we need it. We've taken delivery of the wall panels (the same ones used in the studio), the glulam beams and columns (which make up the framing for the wall of glass tot he south of the addition), the floor trusses that span between the existing peir and beam and the living room slab, and the other miscellaneous framing material required to get the shell of the addition up as soon as we can after demolition is complete. Needless to say there is considerable logistics involved in all of this, espaecially taking into account the fact that all of the services for the existing house are located in the one room we are demolishing down to the ground. Tricky to say the least...

shower power

lightBOX is moving forward, though most of what has been going on is all behind the scenes paperwork. Materials are on their way for the construction of the house addition. The Ultra Frame wall panels from Transcon Steel should show up next week, our floor trusses and the glulam framing package will come soon after. We are also awaiting a big package from Timberlinx that will be full of all of the mechanical fasteners we'll be using to put together the exposed wall of glulam framing and then we can jump into the bit of demo on the existing house to make way for the addition. It should get really interesting really soon. Lots to do and lots to think about and lots to get ready for. The big push is on.

Over at the carport/studio, most of the exterior paint is in place. It makes a huge difference to the finished look of the place just by covering up the "primer red" of the steel and the weld joints. The colour is a wonderful dark purple-y grey. It works well with the white carport ceiling along with the grey of the metal siding. The handrails and stair structure are all to be the same colour as well. It should look great against the wood slats that will screen the top run of stairs.

 

The bathroom is awaiting a full width 2' tall mirror that will sit atop the tile above the sink,with a horizontal cabinet above that. That will mean that the simple circular IKEA wall fixture will sit atop the mirror. We'll also switch out the exposed PVC plumbing all plumbers seem to want to install with a good old-fashioned chrome P-trap.