BEFORE THE ARCHITECT – THE BIG PICTURES
MAJOR PLAN SETS, FRENCH COUNTRY STYLE HOUSE PLANS
"It's the house I've wanted to build all my life, " said the third-generation custom home builder/owner-in-partnership, whose patient participation and unusually high standards of form, fit, and finish made this enterprise worthwhile, memorable, an experience we house designer only dreamed about and NEVER came across until this time 'round.
High-end community. High-end house It is, again, French Country in Chateau Style, the French version of a manor house, a house fit for a lord or wealthy person, the major residence in a manor or village. Americanesque, if you're asking AG - permitted a stylistic relaxation, mixing levels of sophistication.
Manor house design tend to two shapes - L and H. In all our days, we've not designed or even remodeled an L-shape. In those same days, AG and The Miss have designed plenty of H-shapes. Cunning design boundaries to the H-shape -
 | The crossing element may be small or large, short or tall. |
| Same goes for the two ends. |
| The ends, themselves, may be symmetrical or not |
| With the French, principally steeper hips with a smattering of similarly steeper gables and lower sheds plus round-tops - majorly segmental and Roman |
| Can often lend well to sacred geometry |
It's the interiors of H-shapes present a duality of design opportunity - both to value and to vex.
Vex:
| They're naturally strung out, so that the physical relationship of spaces can challenge convenient functionality: something always gets separated some from that which AG and The Missus would prefer it didn't, almost always relating to the kitchen - Masters spaces and Kitchen, Dining and Kitchen being the two most likely suspects. |
| Stairs, if not a perimeter, can become inconvenient, especially to main level traffic |
| With size, multiple stairs or the compliment of an elevator become necessary passages |
Resolution to these matters comes in parts variously from design adaptations, recognition of the H-shape's realities, the majorly offsetting satisfaction in values gained all along the design path
Value:
| Function tends to arrange smartly with structure - central, or crossing element for entry and community spaces - either formal or informal or both, depending more often on depth; flanking elements for masters spaces or family wing and less formal function, including but not limited to office, den, family room, guest beds, laundry, garage (attached or semi-so), recreation, etc. |
| Perimeters and massing can flex with design, articulations can enhance visual interest |
| Roofs most often naturally signal important spaces |
| Levels can expectedly run up or down or both |
| 2nd levels over grade can be full or half-story |
| Deeper interiors in the crossing element can usually be daylighted in-style |
| Several opportunities can arise to let function to outside spaces - courtyard, veranda, or lanai, deck, patio, garden |
Let's look over a Front Of House facade of a high-end French Country to see what we can see of this custom home of about 105' frontage, 7800 SF habitable, 11300SF total.
Lay of interior: Masters wing on left; Gallery, Living, Dining, Lanai on center; Family, Breakfast, Veranda, Kitchen, Laundry, Butler's Pantry, Porte-cochere, Garage on right.
| Primary roof slope @ 14/12, secondary roof slopes @ 12/12; tertiary to approximately 7:12; multilevel eaves (w/ overhangs tuned to job site locale's latitude) |
| Trim: modest facia, cornice, and frieze board; simple head and apron to windows; board-and-batten shutters; exposed timbers for knee braces and posts, Classic gable-end treatment with closed returns, again, simply elaborated in trim |
| Finish clads: roof in (black) slate; walls in sand finish, hand-of-the-worker trowled masonry stucco over dry stack stone below watertable; colors yet to be finally decided upon as of this presentation |
| Characteristic features: multiple chimneys; chimney pots; segmental-roofed dormers (as clerestories); pavilion (with window for light well and clerestory; windows either true French casements or with mullion (double-doors are solely illustrative, yet to be designed); 2000SF driving courtyard of pavers (not illustrated, designed between the wings, with masonry stone wall consistent with the residence in height, method, and materials); porte-cochere, entering from the right between garage and residence |
The Back Of House is just as presentable at -
| Two levels |
| A curved, masonry stone-clad stair connecting grade at L0 to the |
| L1 veranda with wrought rail, roll-up screening, Rumford fireplace, and outdoor grill |
| 2 lanais - wrought-railed, 3 double-doors (true French) |
| A site falling off to two-lane country roadbed some distance below and |
| Opening directly across both levels to Southeastern mountain views |
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