This is Day 225 of the Slow Home Project and we need you to join us in our quest to evaluate the design quality of houses in nine North American cities in nine months.
Welcome to September Slow Homers! Today is Wednesday, September 1, 2010 and today we have a “Chicago Design Challenge”! We need you to re-design the main floor plan of the “Grant”, a 2,430 sq ft single family home in Chicago and email us your scheme before 9am (MDT) tomorrow morning – Thursday, September 2, 2010.
Email your floor plans to john@slowhomestudio.com (don’t post them on the site!) – we will be awarding a book prize to the best scheme – which will be announced in a special “Live” Slow Home episode airing this Friday!
Last time we did a “Design Challenge” was in Miami and we received 39 entries so we are hoping to beat our record this time! Please send us your plans! We look forward to seeing them!
This house has several major problems including:
1. An front entry with no adjacent coat closet.
2. A back entry that is shared with laundry and no storage.
3. A side yard den that is only accessed through a back hall.
4. A poor kitchen design with a fridge outside the work triangle, no island and not enough counter space.
5. A separate and redundant formal living and dining space.
6. A family room with no focus or sense of how to place furniture.
Please leave the stairs and the exterior doors and windows and put back the following:
1. A front entry with a coat closet.
2. A back entry with a closet and a bench.
3. A laundry room.
4. A guest bathroom.
5. A well sized kitchen with a proper work triangle.
6. A decent living and dining area – both with focal points and logical places for furniture – you decide if you want to include both formal and informal living spaces.
7. A study that is conveniently located and has natural light.
Day 225 – PDF
Day 225 – Existing
Day 225 – Demo
Day 225 – Full Symbol Library
Good luck everyone! See you tomorrow for our final “In Detail” episode where we will look at parking in single family houses.
