Week In Review For Single Family Homes In Atlanta

Posted on: August 13th, 2010 | 15 Comments


This is Day 206 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.


Today is Friday, August 13, 2010 and we are reviewing the Design Projects that were submitted on Wednesday – thanks to everyone for taking the time to post a scheme!

Overall, the designs were excellent – but as always, there are a few that really stood out to us this week!

To see what the floor plan looked like before the re-designs, click on the link below.


1. Our winning design this week comes from Nicole! Her plan is so efficient, with the laundry, entry closet, study and guest bath forming a block close to the entry. This allow the rest of the space to open up and feel very roomy. Great work!


2. Tara has also submitted a great design – we think her layout is also very simple and light – but, we would like to know from other Slow Homers if there is a way you think she could re-work the hallway area to the laundry to make it more space efficient. Thoughts?


3. Jim Baer is an expert at zoning a floor plan. His scheme is worth a closer look because he has created a very open front to back kitchen/ dining/ living space with a great closet/ guest bath block. Tucking the study into the width of the stair way is brilliant and will really make this plan feel organized yet spacious.


4. Mid America Mom thinks outside the box, and in her plan she has added long term flexibility to the main floor study by creating a dual full bath/ guest bath adjacent to this space. This could act as a guest bedroom or a main floor bedroom for an aging relative – something that will be in high demand as the population ages.


5. Although we preferred Brad W’s scheme with the exposed toilet on the exterior deck, we also like with third design! His living room space is really the best we have seen this week – the proportion and furniture layout is nearing perfection.

6. And finally, Terri has a great entry space and the “U” shaped kitchen is really the best use of space given where she has placed it in plan – her living room grouping – with the sofa facing towards the view is really effective. Good work!

We are also posting two other great layouts with some comments and suggestions.

Well, the verdict is in and we have no eligible projects to nominate for the Slow Home Award for Best Single Family House in Atlanta. Atlanta has the dubious distinction, along with Miami, Philadelphia and Toronto, of having no single family house projects worthy to be nominated for a Slow Home Award.

However, we are pleased to be releasing the video of the Slow Home Award Winner – as voted by you – for the Best Apartment/ Loft Project in Denver! As you remember, this was awarded to the “Sugarcube” Residences which is located in the LODO historic district in downtown Denver. Enjoy the video and let us know what you think by posting a comment!

And finally, to reveal the name of the Slow Homer of the Week – click on the link below!

  • Andrew

    Nice work again, Nicole. You are the Slowhome queen! I really like your simple yet very effective kitchen. And I really like your plan, Jim, particularly the entrance and the portion in the center of the plan that includes the guest bath.

    And it’s disapointing that we don’t have any candidates for a single family home in Altlanta, but I can’t say I’m surprised after reviewing some of the plans.

  • Dan M

    Can’t say I’m surprised either; Atlanta gets a fail for single family.

  • sk

    I would like to try my hand at (re) design but I’m embarrassed to say, I don’t know how to use the
    pdf, existing plan, demolition and full symbol library. Do I need a specific program/file on my Mac? If I need a particular file do I drag the demo and symbol library on to it so that I can manipulate the walls and furniture symbols?
    Much appreciated.

  • Terri

    Nice work, Nicole, with your plan. I recognized the “block” immediately and thought, Why didn’t I think of that? ;) I liked your open concept, Jim B., and the flexibility of that den/bedroom you thought of, M.A.M.

    Atlanta really seemed to offer little in the way of innovation in design, I thought. Maybe it’s too easy for the city to expand outward. Then this same mentality is extended into the home where space is not a problem–just expand those rooms (and closets!) as much as you can. I find it a little disturbing, personally. (Or maybe I’m jealous since closet space is hard to find at my place!)

    Now to the Sugar Cube project video… Nick Koncilja’s discussion on the background information of the project as well as the history and future of the Lower Downtown area of Denver is very interesting. Learning about the thought behind these developments always offers more perspective on the planning. Oh, and the apartment looked very livable too–worthy of our award.

  • Grace Coulter

    Congrats Nicole, consistently great plans every week.

    I agree with the above comments made by Terri. The ability of a municipality to sprawl outward with few limitations seems to dramatically alter the type of housing. Looking back to Vancouver, the natural constrictions dictated the building form, ultimately creating a lot more “slow homes”. Good insight Terri.

    ready for a new city!

  • Tara

    Great plans this week guys – lots of good alternatives.
    Too bad that none of the single family houses in Atlanta could quality to be a true slow home….

  • Eric S.

    Hi SK,

    You don’t need a specific program on the Mac to participate. It can be as simple as Paintbrush (http://paintbrush.sourceforge.net/) or as complex as PhotoShop.

    Copy the symbols from the symbol library and place them into the your design. Save the file then upload it using the “Add an image” link in the comment form.

    We’re more concerned with the quality of the design submitted than we are of the quality of the file uploaded (resolution, etc). We’ve even had some submissions where the plan was printed out from the PDF and the symbols were drawn on by hand. Whatever you’re most comfortable with is fine.

    Hope that helps. Looking forward to your design project submissions. If you have any further questions, feel free to send me an email at eric@theslowhome.com

    Regards,
    Eric S.
    Webmaster

  • Franco

    Ditto with the congrats on the excellent designs! They really do work quite well:)

    It is a shame that Atlanta failed to yield Slow Home single family residences…I suspect that perhaps there may be cultural, historical or societal influences which promote housing styles/designs that clash with the Slow Home mentality.

  • Jamie L

    Great designs everyone!
    This is really a stunning building, and such a great addition to the Denver skyline. Actually little bit shocked that Atlanta’s apartment/lofts have a quality of design.

  • JPod

    Great work everyone! Some really good designs this week!

  • Steve in Van

    [img]atlanta10aug10.jpg[/img]

    I also liked the scheme used by Amanda, Nicole, Tara, and MAM (2). For myself, I think the laundry is better placed upstairs (stealing space from the primary ensuite) or in the lower level, which allows open views from front to back. For what it’s worth.

    As for Atlanta … I couldn’t find a floorplan to post, but I’m holding some hope for concourse E (eg. their 81 Weatherby). http://www.concoursee.com The pics suggest serious design intention and not the usual bag of fast tricks we saw so much of this week. But do you suppose they have a closet in the entry? :)

  • Terri

    Steve in Van,
    Nice find with the Weatherby 81 in Atlanta–the first green roof in that city?! Solar-heated water too–now that sounds more like it. The images show an open plan with good-quality finishes. I’m wondering what the price tag was…

  • Mid America Mom

    From what I saw this week, not having a finalist seems right.

    Atlanta needs to improve their transportation and address walkablity. They need more neighborhoods like the newer Glenwood Park. One of our townhome finalists , 454 Hamilton, was in that development.

    The Congress for the New Urbanism ( http://www.cnu.org/ ) had their annual conference in Atlanta this year. They showed a short documentary, of Atlanta, called SPRAWLANTA – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoVXoB6x3vM

    *******

    Great redesigns this week!
    Mid America Mom

  • Terri

    M.A.M.,
    Thanks for posting the link to “Sprawlanta.” Amazing to imagine what has happened there. I didn’t get to check into the single family homes there, but judging from the plans, I just concluded that land was pretty easy to come by in that area. Maybe in the future more Glenwood type of neighbourhoods will take over the developments being sold today. Some of those houses could be easily converted to business downstairs and living upstairs, don’t you think?

  • Mid America Mom

    Terri- Agreed.

    Mid America Mom