interior home: architecture

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Popular Home Features in 2015

The NAHB’s Economics and Housing Policy surveyed over 3,000 builders, designers, architects, manufacturers, and housing marketing specialists to forecast the characteristics of the average single-family detached home in 2015.

Can you guess the results? Take this quiz and see how well you do (answers posted at the bottom).

1. Size: The average new single-family home will be:

a. Larger, between 2800 and 3000 square feet

b. Stay the same (2496 square feet)

c. Smaller between 2000 and 2,400 square feet

2. will be a top priority in a home built in 2015.

a. Landscaping

b. Technology

c. Appliances

3. New home will have more green features, low-E windows, engineered wood products, and:

a. Use water efficiently

b. Solar energy

c. Radiant heat

4. True or False: Two-car garages remain high on homeowners’ priority lists.

5. True or False: The formal living room will be either combined with another room or completely disappear.

6. True or False: First-floor master bedrooms with walk-in closets will be a priority.

How did you do? BoninArchitects has various architectural services to help you design, build, or remodel a home that fits your priorities – now, in 2011 or in the future. Call or stop by to set up a free consultation!

Answers: 1.c; 2.b; 3.a.; 4.True; 5.True; 6.True.

Design Your Home Before You Find Property?

Once you decide to build a home, it’s hard not to think about it. There are many design elements to consider, and your architect will guide you through the decision-making process. Some of these you can decide on before you find the perfect piece of property; however, there are some decisions that will be influenced by the characteristics of your land.

Design elements to think about before you find property:

Specialty rooms for hobbies or activities;
The number of bedrooms and bathrooms you will need;
Storage space requirements;
Design details such as a gas fireplace vs. wood;
The theme of your interior design (colors, light, textures)

Wait until you find your land to determine these design fundamentals:

The home’s size and number of stories: site or local restrictions may limit the size, height, or even the placement of the home on your property;
Type of foundation: the type of foundation system you choose may be dependent upon local or state codes, the lot size, slope, and soil type;
Walkout basement: a sloping lot can allow for a walk-out basement, providing more usable square footage for recreation areas or additional guest bedrooms.

If you’re excited to get started on planning your home design, we suggest you create a binder of clippings and samples you are collecting. Include design elements and details you do not like: sometimes these are more valuable to your architect than features that you do like.

Ready to get started? Call or stop by to schedule a free site visit!

Three Reasons to Use an Architect

Thinking of building or remodeling? Consider using an architect. Why?

Reason #1: Architects save money.

An architect's services are a wise investment because a well-conceived and designed project can be built more efficiently and economically. As ideas evolve, changes can be made on a computer screen or paper much less expensively than when construction is under way. Other ways architect-designed projects save money include:

Designs that take full advantage of solar heat and natural lighting to save on energy needs.

Flexible design solutions that accommodate future growth and usage needs.

Accurate construction costs based on detailed drawings and specifications that result in quality materials and workmanship at a fair market price.

Materials, finishes, and design solutions that reduce maintenance and replacement costs.

Homes that sell faster and increase in value at resale.

Reason #2: Architects solve problems.

The architect is the one professional who has the education, training, experience, and vision to guide the design and construction process. This broad knowledge helps architects focus individual home owners' needs to maximize their investment in livable square footage on time and within budget.
Architects stay abreast of advances in roofing, brickwork, floor tile, paint finishes, and other building materials to ensure a smooth and cost-effective building process.

Reason #3: Architects see the big picture.

Few people realize how complicated it is to build until they find themselves lost in a maze of design options, building codes, zoning laws, and contractors. Architects don't just design four walls and a roof; they create total environments, interiors and exteriors that satisfy specific needs and functions. If a project requires engineering or other construction services, an architect can coordinate the team of experts.

An architect sorts out complex building codes and zoning laws and can locate qualified contractors, visiting the construction site to ensure that the project is built according to plans and specifications.

Source: www.aia.org

Glenwood Residence Design Architecture by Wernerfield

Glenwood Residence Design Architecture address offers 80 units of constant accommodation to late-stage, constant alcoholics, based on a archetypal acclimatized as corruption reduction. Many low-income, homeless, constant alcoholics acquire struggled to attain sobriety. The Glenwood address is organized about a axial basin courtyard. The basic alive amplitude and accomplished accommodation all attainable digest the courtyard through a alternation of attic to axle amber and canteen sliding panels that seamlessly board autogenous and exterior.

Glenwood Residence Design Architecture by Wernerfield

Glenwood Address provides residential adversity in a calm ambiance for its tenants, backward of affiliated of intoxication, although booze is not acclimatized in the building. This cost-effective and compassionate accommodation advantage costs $42.98 a night. A night in detox costs about $218. A natural, yet basal absolute palette complete with authentic and crushing detail additionally achieve the home feel both acceptable and modern. A basal of anatomy actualization including geothermal heating and cooling, action ablaze appliances, belted architectonics materials, and a aeriform accomplishment architectonics envelope are all complete into the project.by Wernerfield

Modern House Architectural by Belmont Freeman

Design modern communicable Kowalewski Residence amid in Atlantic Beach New York, aggressive with the attenuated face alone hardly added than the above abode on the lot against the street, with the acceptable ancillary driveway and rear garage. Siting the bunched brand at the arctic bend preserves a advanced ancillary garden with complete trees. In anatomy and abstracts the abode recalls the village�s Art Deco heritage.

Modern House Architectural by Belmont Freeman

In interior, the arch apartment all accessible assimilate the garden. The arena attic has an accessible plan for accidental active and best affiliation to the outdoors. The additional attic a alley with connected skylight leads to four bedrooms and three baths. A sun allowance on the third attic opens assimilate a ample roof terrace with across-the-board angle of the island and the ocean.by Belmont Freeman Modern Design Architscture

2009 Trends Report: Residential Design & Build

Residential Design & Build magazine’s 2009 Trends Report has the latest data on home design and building trends (reporting on 2008).

One of the charts in the article lists items, features, and materials where clients cut back when their budget is tight. Not surprisingly, our history in dealing with architectural design clients indicates these are the same areas where our clients make adjustments when going through budgeting and cost comparisons.

The biggest adjustment we see clients make to meet budget requirements is reducing the overall square footage of the home and only designing as much house as they need.

Homeowners are willing to cut down on the actual living space to cut costs. Small homes generally cost less, which means less money financed; require less energy for heating and cooling, which means lower energy costs; have smaller, more efficient systems (furnace, AC, plumbing, etc.), can earn points toward energy program certification for small size, and will require less maintenance.

We have several small home designs that meet our clients lifestyle needs as well as goals toward energy efficiency.

Raised Ranch House Plans by Architects Magnus

Raised Ranch House by Architects Magnus

Raised Ranch House Plans

Raised Ranch House interior plans

Raised Ranch House Plans Design by Architects Magnus This avant-garde abreast aloft agronomical appearance abode affairs abstraction architecture by Architects Magnus close based in San Diego, abundant active congenital on the acropolis over a all-inclusive and nice basin with Pacific beyond its distant. The interiors are avant-garde and contemporary, with a absolutely rustic element. Natural elements are the absolute analysis for an admirable accomplishment bean floor, board wardrobes and beam and a attic plan architecture accessible and able-bodied ventilated. If you are attractive for a architecture a aloft garden, this abode has a ample backyard to become esplanade and garden with admirable landscape.

Raised Ranch House Plans

Then, with the roofed abode congenital bendability of the metal in avant-garde architecture and accomplishment of bottle doors and windows from attic to ceiling, is absolutely the abode is cooled to a almost affable temperatures during the summer day. Below are best photos of agronomical appearance abode attic affairs with natures of stones and wood.

Raised Ranch House Plans

Modern architecture house ideas designs pictures

Modern architecture house designs pictures

Indian Modern Contemporary Home Design

Indian Modern Contemporary Home Design photos

Indian Modern Contemporary Home Design pictures

Prefab home architecture LoftCube Four pictures

Architect Home Design: The First Step

The very first step in working with Bonin Architects for designing your new energy efficient home is the process of gathering information through a series of questions. Some of the things we want to know can be broken down into categories:

Budget Budget for new home, excluding land and site work (driveway, etc.) costsThe SiteSite location, view, characteristics, and condition
Existing utilities
Snow and wind loads
Special considerations (Shoreland Protection, restrictions, land use, etc.)

The Home LayoutNumber of stories
Ceiling heights and type
Special considerations

Living requirementsNumber of bedrooms and locations
Number of bathrooms and locations
Master bedroom location and features
Kitchen features (pantry, appliances, island, countertops, fixtures)
Dining area (eat-in, separate, nook)
Living area
Fireplaces, wood stoves, etc.
Outdoor spaces
Other rooms and functions
Miscellaneous (basement, garage, mudroom, recreation room)

Building SystemsFrame type (timber frame, SIPs, conventional)
Insulation system
Foundation type
Heating and cooling
Water efficiency

Materials and Green BuildingRecycled and reclaimed materials
Windows and doors
Flooring
Lighting
Siding
Roofing
Renewable energy systems (solar, geothermal, wind)
Waste management

These points of discussion, along with others, are the beginning steps in working with Kim and Jeremy Bonin on your new home design. If you are starting to think about building an energy efficient house, give us a call or send an email with your questions!

AIA Architects: Billings Index Sending Positive Signals

A new press release generated by the American Institute of Architects reports a positive change in the number of inquiries for possible new projects, calling this “an early signal towards a recovery for the design and construction industry”.

The AIA uses its Architecture Billings Index (ABI), a leading economic indicator that provides an approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending, as a means of gauging an increase or demand for design services.

The October ABI new projects inquiry score was 58.5, following the 59.1 mark in September (any score above 50 indicates an increase). The October ABI rating was 46.1, up sharply from 43.1 in September. This score, however, indicates a continued decline in demand for design services and the AIA remains cautious, saying “it is far too early to think we are out of the woods.”

Using our very accurate BA&A index, we can report a significant increase in new project inquiries for new home construction and green building, especially from people building in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

If you are thinking about building an energy efficient home, visit our website to learn about our Design Services and Architectural Fees (yes, our fees are listed on our website!).

10 Questions to Ask Your Architect

If you are building a new home, hiring an architect for the design and project management of the home can make the whole process go smoothly. Here are 10 questions you will want to ask the architects you interview for your project:

What does the architect see as important issues or considerations in your project? What are the challenges of the project?

How will the architect establish priorities and make decisions?
How busy is the architect?

What sets this architect apart from the rest?

How does the architect establish fees? When will fee payments be expected?
What are the steps in the design process?

How does the architect organize the process?

What does the architect expect you to provide?

If the scope of the project changes later in the project, will there be additional fees? How will these fees be justified?
What services does the architect provide during construction

Bonin Architects & Associates offers full architectural design services, limited drafting services based on your project needs, and optional project management services. Our architectural design services and fees are listed in detail on our website. Give us a call or send an email to tell us about your project and let's discuss how we can work together!

Questions courtesy Boston Society of Architects / AIA

Home Renovating

Consumer Reports magazine recently polled subscribers on their home renovating trends (yes, they do more than just review products), and the results are interesting!

Many folks, instead of adding a bumpout or home addition, are cutting costs by renovating their kitchen, bathrooms, and outdoor spaces to make better use of the space, open up sight lines, and make the areas more livable. Quality, not quantity, “is the new standard”, according to CR.

According to CR’s poll, two-thirds of homeowners have changed their remodeling plans and given up appliances, specialized features, and extravagances that will not add to the home’s value. Sensible doesn’t mean boring, though – many of CR’s top performing appliances are in stainless, which consumers still crave. Bamboo flooring beats oak, and plastic laminates look like real stone for a fraction of the cost. Instead of adding deluxe whirlpool tubs, homeowners are opting to add luxury by way of handheld body sprays with powerful jets and pulsating massage settings to conventional tubs and shower stalls.

Homeowner trends are leaning toward spending more on products they interact with every day – namely, appliances. (Interestingly: “subscribers who scrimped on cabinets, countertops, and showers wished they had spent more” while at the same time “almost 60% of readers opted for ceramic tile over pricier stone.”)

Almost two-thirds of homeowners plan to do the renovating themselves. Working with an architect has advantages, though. CR recommends using professionals and adds a warning: “Remember that local building codes will probably require an architect's or engineer's sign-off.”

Top renovations include increasing energy and water efficiency. Eighty-four percent of those polled bought energy –efficient appliances, 43 percent picked out water-efficient appliances, and 38 percent chose fluorescent lighting for their kitchens. Water-saving toilets and low-flow showerheads were installed in 62 percent of bath remodels. Paints with low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are popular, as well.

If you’re planning a home renovating project in the near future, consider the benefits of working with a green architect to design your home.

Architect Fees

Architects use various methods to establish their fees, depending on the type of services they provide, the location of the firm, and their personal preference. In some instances, more than one method may be used to calculate their fees, based on the type of the services provided. Some methods to calculate architect fees include:

A percentage of construction cost
An hourly rate, also called “Time and Materials”
A lump sum
A lump sum plus expenses
Unit pricing based on the area of the home
By the Sheet (the number of drawings generated)

Other factors architects consider are the size and complexity of the project, the difficulty of the site, the timeline, and what services are provided. Architects provide services far beyond a designer or draftsman. Architects are trained to correctly interpret their clients’ dreams, visions and objectives, explore all possibilities, study and respond to the site and its environment, and translate these into a home design that exceeds expectations.

Perhaps you have already designed your home and require little changes and/or aesthetic or structural expertise: in this case, a draftsman’s or designer’s services will most likely fit your needs.

However, if you would like to combine your wants, needs, and aspirations with your goals of energy efficiency and sustainability to successfully match your project objectives, research and interview green architects in your area. Hiring an architect is well worth your investment to ensure the end result is exactly what you wanted.

AIA is Walking the Walk in Green

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is changing the way we think about buildings, specifically with regard to energy usage. Buildings currently account for nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions, a fact we simply cannot ignore. AIA architects are leading the way by integrating sustainable design practices in all of their projects, thereby being able to reduce energy consumption to less than half.

This is a strong stand, but a necessary step toward achieving a 50% reduction from the current consumption level of fossil fuels used to build and operate new and renovated buildings by the year 2010. To meet this goal, the AIA started the "Walk the Walk" movement by saying, "We strongly believe that the time for talk has passed, and now it is the time to walk the walk.

AIA architects are uniquely poised to provide the leadership and guidance needed to provide solutions to reduce our national and global carbon footprint. By using sustainable design practices and techniques, such as proper siting, building form, glass properties and location, material selection and incorporating natural heating, cooling, and ventilation and day-lighting strategies, architects design building to operate with far less energy than today’s average home with little or no additional cost.

AIA Architects "walk the walk" on sustainable design. Bonin Architects & Associates is helping you to walk the walk. Are you building a green home in the near future, or thinking about building an addition to your existing home? Call us or visit us at one of our upcoming events, including home shows, green events and seminars, and a Home Tour (May 16th )of an energy efficient home built with SIP Panels by Murus. Learn more about how you can lower your home’s energy consumption and play an active role in, well … saving the earth.

Home Design Room Layout: Sketches Work Great!

Sketches on tracing paper in the preliminary design phase come in handy to see alternate room layouts and spatial relationships. Clients love the artistry involved and the human element to their design.

The client was unsure about whether to have the wood stove centered on the gable endwall or in the corner. The sketches were quick and extremely helpful in showing various furniture layouts as well as window and door options.

Current Home Design Trends

Trends in home design are moving away from specific rooms and space to materials and energy efficiency. This delightful (and beneficial) competition between neighbors, communities, and states to become more energy conscious and less dependent on fossil fuels has resulted in thousands of people reducing their carbon footprint.
Here are some of the current trends in home design:

1. Reduce, reuse, recycle: More and more homeowners are looking to purchase recycled building materials to use in their new home. Timbers, siding, decking, trim, doors, brick, and stone are all great materials to reuse. Simple, bio-degradable materials are replacing resources that harm the environment.
2. Here comes the sun: Solar energy systems, particularly solar hot water heaters and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to produce electricity are extremely popular. The current tax credit is 30% of the total cost (product + installation), with no upper limit. (see ENERGY STAR for details)
3. Size and flexibility matter: Small home designs are more popular than the rambling, spacious mansions of the past. Homeowners are addressing changes in lifestyle by replacing separate dining and living areas with large, multi-purpose family rooms, and adding sliding or pocket doors which allow flexibility in living space. First-floor bonus rooms which can be used as a home office or additional bedroom address changing needs.
4. Save a buck: Let’s face it: low maintenance is in. Popular low maintenance materials include green flooring, tankless water heaters, ENERGY STAR appliances. Low-maintenance landscaping using native plants has a positive effect on the site by reducing irrigation, pesticides, and fertilizers – which means less time you will spend taking care of it.
5. Accessibility: Universal home design address the comfort of people of all ages and abilities. Features that may be eliminated are spiral staircases, sunken or raised living rooms, and high cabinets or shelves. Wide hallways and low storage areas are incorporated into the home design without sacrificing the home’s beauty and appearance.

Going green makes $ense: with green technology and materials flooding the market, prices continue to come down, saving you money over the life of the material. Green home design is the start of the home’s life cycle – and undoubtedly its most important phase, as the home’s space, features, and systems are designed to work together as a whole for your benefit and comfort – and the environment’s.

Green Home Design Reduces Carbon Footprint

A green home minimizes the negative impact on its environment through its home design. Here are a few considerations your architect takes into account when designing a green home:

1. Site: Evaluations and analysis of access, slope, ledge, soil, bodies of water, and vegetation in order to limit the home’s impact on the site environment. This includes the site location (farmland, wetland, protected species habitats) and proximity to public transportation, parks, schools, and stores.

2. Size: A green home is efficiently designed to keep the square footage to a minimum. This reduces the amount of energy to heat and cool the home, lighting, and the quantity of building materials used.

3. Solar: Whether or not you plan to install a solar energy system to heat your water or produce electricity, there are several other solar considerations in green home design. Designing the home for passive solar makes the most of solar energy by harvesting it into the homes’ natural energy flows. Passive solar systems include day-lighting strategies, heating and cooling control techniques, and natural ventilation. When a whole-building approach is taken, energy savings can be great both in terms of reducing the home’s carbon footprint and the costs associated with heating, cooling, and maintaining the home.

4. Energy: Lighting, heating, and cooling systems are an important consideration in green home design. Renewable energy systems such as solar, wind, and geothermal systems use the earth’s natural energy to heat and cool your home, as well as provide electricity to run appliances and technology. Water usage, including toilets, showerheads, and sink faucet aerators, is another important green home design consideration.

Of course, you want your new home to use minimal amounts of fossil fuels, last a long time, and cost you less money. Many home design strategies don’t cost a dime in materials but can save you hundreds of dollars on heating and cooling costs. The result is a beautiful, healthy home – both for your family and the environment.

Why Hire an Architect For Your Home Design?

Architecture plays a unique role in our everyday life. An architect has the expertise to combine your wants, needs, and aspirations with your goals of energy efficiency and sustainability to successfully match your project objectives.

Architecture affects people every moment of every day. We reside in homes where we sleep, cook, eat and spend time with our families; we typically travel to a building to work or a school to learn. Architects address requirements such as function, aesthetics, economics, environment, safety, and regulations and translate these into a home design that matches each owner’s personal taste and family dynamic.

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards defines the role of an Architect as "the primary building professional qualified to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public through the enhancement of the quality of the built environment and the richness of space and form”. Buildings inhabited during those functions are essential to our lives and our health. Architects are ethically bound to continually better that built environment.

For instance, Architecture entails more than just a physical building. It involves:

· Correctly interpreting the client’s dreams, visions, and objectives
· Exploring all possibilities
· Studying and responding to the site and its environment
· And translating all these into a home design that will exceed expectations

Sustainable architecture or green building is only a small part of a greater whole. It has been said many times that “sustainability” is a good short term goal for home design. Sustainability is simply the equilibrium, a tipping point where we are no longer damaging the planet that we inhabit with the effects of our daily lives through manufacturing, power production, construction, transportation, agriculture which affect our global ecosystem. Sustainability, by definition, is actually the point at which we cease to harm the environment. Beyond sustainability is where we begin to repair the damage done, which, ultimately, is the goal.

There are many great minds working toward both of these goals with ideas and solutions far greater than most people’s typical reach; however, anything that can be done better and is financially feasible should be done.

Green architects enrich the design and the project through integrity, conscientious design, environmental awareness, and the application of skills specific to their trade – keeping the ultimate goals of energy efficiency and sustainability clearly in view. Should your home design be anything less?