the doctors round house

the doctors round house

This book is a compilation of sketches done by Kennedy Simbayi and Anees Arnold. The sketches represent the thought process of both of us as we tried to get to grips with the architecture required for our client, Dr. Phiri.

Contents1-3

4-8

9-12

13-18

19-23

initial ideas sketches

changes following client example input

reinterpreting the shape

arranging room layouts

3 house layout, section, models and quotes

Client requirementsRound/ Circular house7x7m Main bedroom7x7m Lounge7x7m Dining room

General guest toilet (Loo and basin)Guest bedroom General guest bathroom (Loo ,bath and basin)Guest Room / study (futon/sleeper couch)

Key RequirementsMain Bedroom to be away from the Lounge/ night entertainment areasBedroom to be self serving with En-suite bacthroomBedroom to have walk in closet Dining room is to open onto courtyard seating area that is based around a tree chosen by the client

Aunt Chao s Round house,

AKA: dr. phiri s house,

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The client instructed me to pursue a circular shape for the house. From the first sketch I drew it was apparent that a purely circular form would make the spaces inside gigantic, all the way across the building. Having a seven metre space in the least important parts of the building, would make very deep spac-es which disrupt the internal flow of the nature of the circle.

All it took to figure out what to do to this circle, was my collaborator draw-ing a sketch of his own which involved a tapering circle. This taper ensures that the least important spaces do not take up a very large space radially, and that the rooms feel nice inside. Immediately upon drawing the shape myself it brought up new ideas on how to separate the rooms and what could be with the outer wall.

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This meant we arrived at a sim-ple solution, which fulfilled all of the Doctor’s requirements, and also introduced the unwrapped nature of the outer wall.

At this stage it was very easy to see that we had found the right type of shape, all that was left is to find out if it would work

We sent to the Doctor two options to look at, showing different positions forpas-sage to the guest wing.

This decision would deter-mine whtether the curved walls would be experienced inside the rooms or in the public areas, and where the windows would go.

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Once we found the shape, a whole lot of questions popped into my collaborators mind.So as any sane person did, he started to sketch.

With his highlighter . . .with his fine liner …everything and anything that would help him come to the same conclusion that I had.

That this shape works and that it means that so much can be done with it inside and out

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And yet ...

with this understanding, he felt that the scheme required shape refinement, so off to Google, and of to ArchDaily, to find some precedent of a circular house.

It was in this search that he discovered that circular houses are not prevalent. He found tha though there was little precedent the rational space planning tied up with that of container styled holiday houses.

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So began his journey of accep-tance through attempting to find sufficient parallels in a form he was more familiar and comfort-able with.

I too began to question the abil-ity of a circular building, more so what to do to ensure that its roof was possible. Cue talks with friends... and some Googling and I was satisfied, as was my col-laborator, with the possibilities of what could become of the circu-lar sketch.

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Off like a dog a the races we now shifted our attention to how this shape could be changed, from being ordinary to being some-thing extra ordinary. What could become off the wallsand niches created by the unwrapped nature of the outer wall, and what of the dynamic spaces within the build-ing.

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My collaborators obsessive explora-tion shows just how many different ways one could tweak the design, and which I always feel is fundamentally the strongest sign of a good design, shape and building layout.

At this stage I was looking for pos-sible materials to be used and that is where I found an old favourite Rammed Earth. Cheap to do, regard-less of location, and can be done on a small budget.

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When we sent through the initial idea, the client responded with a request for future extensions as well as example of what she liked (via floorplanner.com).

We were not impressed with the design of this layout, but since it caught the clients eye, it brought out some immediate gut reac-tions of things we could inter-grate. This at a stage where we had begun to explore the tecton-ics of the roof, internal spaces, and the tricky roof cladding

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I became very interested in what would happen with the ceiling, its relationship with the roof sup-port, and my collaborator be-came invested in the materiality of the walls, and how it could be played with.

Ventilated bricks, poles and, any-thing that could contribute to a visual idea of faded connectivity was placed on the table for con-sideration. We realised that each room needed to be resolved at this stage, so that the functions and wall placement made sense

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Before we could sit down and think of this going room by room, we once again put or attention-towards the general plan at-tempted to impart some changes based on what the client had sent us and described; as well as the refined ideas we found, also specific changes brought about by the relationship between the building and the sun as seen in a rough model I had made in Ske-cthup.

The key and controversial deci-sion was to flip the unwrapping of the outer wall

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Cue my collaborator, to go off and do some more sketches trying to identify the positive and intrinsic changes that had happened to ones experience through rotating the wrapping direction.

You can see how he was trying to sort out the order of items in the house itself, as well as possible furnishing items

So began the focus on specific room fitout and spacial thought

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We started off by looking at the guest areas. The end room and toilet were eay fixes. The two closer to the lounge allowed for more play on corners

1 the initial sketch showing what was possible 2 focus on the bathroom and adjacent bedroom

3 another iteration of 2

4 bedroom with a recessed cupboard

5 Another sketch by the collaborator

6 Preferred sketch with recessed cupboard

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The next space that needed to be changed was the Main bedroom bathroom as well as the kitchen

1 we defined the furnishing and walls of the Bathroom and walk in cupboard with linen closet

2 feature element in the toilet

3 initial kitchen layout

4 alternate kitchen layout

5 alternate layout finally drawn to scale

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On this page you will see the end of the kitchen explorations

1 preferred kitchen layout with key

2 potential setup of breakfast nook

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The most important space to get right is the Main bedroom, and this is why we sought to do this as a challenge between the two of us: PRINciple architect vs the COLLABorator.

1 Spacial Arrangement (PRIN) 2 Spacial Arrangement (COLLAB)

3 Initial Spacial scheme (COLLAB) 4 Initial Spacial scheme (PRIN)

5 List of requirements (COLLAB) 6 List of requirements (PRIN)

In the end we found that our two initial sketches were the same, so we ended up working together on this

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A little further exploration led to the final preferred scheme

1 internal elevation of spaces

2 spacial arrangement and views overlay

3 idea of shifting the end plane

4 preferred layout with recessed wall

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The entrance walkway and lounge areas offered us anoth-er opportunity for exploration. especially since we rotated the unwrapping of the walls.

What we found was that this version meant that it was easier to make a passage that worked and we could make some nice intergrated shelving spaces

1 lounge arrangement with shelves on poles and amended outer walls

2 same as above except you can see an idea of how to make a seamless passage shelf

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New layout with all the amended parts combined

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With this new layout in mind, we began rethinking the roof con-struction. This was also assisted with the creation of a 1:100 and 1:200 model which enabled us to try out multiple versions of truss-es, and wall heights.

It became important to figure out the practical and aesthetic nature of what was happening above the occupant and we tried to split the spaces into 3 basic area:

Public areaGuest wingMain wing

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I wish i had a better camera so I could show you why these two models where so important in the thought process From confirming thoughts to, exploring multiple instances of for instance what to do with my aunts room, what to do with the trusses/ girders and thoughts on fenestration and bringing in light to the building....

All this is possible because of 7 pieces of scrap triplex and some grey card

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With the building of this model, and the sections being redrawn, we could finally attempt to reach a better understanding of how the building might look.

It became apparent that this would not be an ordinary house, as with clerestory windows, and proper roof construction, the light that one experiences in this building would be something quite phenomenal

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I never claimed to be a genius yet people assume I am... so I never correct them

there is nothing more beautiful than a detail thats thought through

Take your thought and write it down, cos someone else may see the beauty in-side you

Drawing is like erasing the white off a page

there is nothing more beautiful than a detail thats thought through

Take your thought and write it down, cos someone else may see the beauty in-side you

There are no mistakes, just ideas you never thought of

A good idea is a sketch

worth drawing

Drawing is like erasing the white off a page

hous

e lay

out,

sect

ion, m

odels

and

quo

tes

This book is a compilation of sketches done by Kennedy Simbayi and Anees Arnold. The sketches represent the thought process of both of us as we tried to get to grips with the architec-ture required for our client, Dr. Phiri.