House design and construction

House design, viewed from SE

Here is the design for the house we will be building. It's windows are oriented to the east and south, to make the most of the view of the pond and for light/solar gain respectively.

It has a footprint of 1956 sq.ft, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. There is a central living/dining and kitchen space. I chose to go with a single-slope roof to get a more modern feel, and to allow more light into the main living area where the ceiling is vaulted (12' to roof truss, 15' to roof panels.

View from North West corner of lot towards pond

View from the East over the pond towards house site

We are using prefab insulated steel panels produced by Kokoon homes in Toccoa, Georgia.

So with hundreds of thousands if not millions of house designs out there and readily available on the net (I would know, I spent an average of 10 hours a week surfing through them over the last 9 months) why did I choose to come up with my own design? For two reasons,  firstly, wanting a design that made the most of what the lot has to offer and secondly, to do it affordably.


House design links / inspiration / interesting sites:


Rocio Romero, modern design and prefab architecture

Blue Sky Homes – Modern, Eco Friendly, Steel Homes » BSH 1,000 o2

FabCab Kits « FabCab

Noble Home | Modern Kit Homes | Energy Efficient, Environmentally Friendly, Sustainable, Prefabricated Houses

Longhouse

A Contemporary Sustainable Long House | Self Build, Renovate or Convert Your Own House | Renovation | Home Building & Renovating UK

C3 cabin

Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture | Mod.FabTM

The Shell Villa Contemporary Japanese Design by Kotaro Ide / ARTechnic architects - 

House Plans - The Kingsbury Architectural Classic Series Custom Home

Modern, Contemporary, Interior, House, Home Design on Home Design Home

Small Cabin - Plan, Build and Enjoy your Small Cabin

Tahoe | Log Home | Mountain Style Home

Unit One® Cabin & House Kits for Owner-Builders from Shelter-Kit®

Self-build homes : Chalet design modular timber house kit

Do it yourself Homes, Self Build Homes - Double S Homes BC Canada

House Plan 45395 at FamilyHomePlans.com

House Plan 98380 at FamilyHomePlans.com

> inHabit <

Glidehouse

ma - ma system

AJIA.CA - Prefab Recreational Homes Delivered Anywhere from BC, Canada

Passive Prefab House Kit - Cabin Attitude In The City.

The big move

Vanessa and I after a predawn walk up the Peak (HK)

April 2010: Vanessa and I had been living together in Hong Kong for a while and things were going great. We both loved being outdoors, hiking, running and exploring new places, so we we got hooked on the idea of moving to somewhere we could enjoy all that stuff on a more regular basis and of moving away from the polluted, overcrowded and overpriced features of Hong Kong. We did a lot of internet research on affordable land and began to slowly narrow it down to somewhere in the southeastern USA - where Vanessa's American side of her family are from.

We found a couple of good potential lots in North Georgia and made the trip over to view a shortlist in June 2010. When we got to the lot we eventually bought it was completely overgrown and wild, but we could see the potential and beauty in the place that made us want to move over here even more.

Our first view of the land in June 2010

So we completed on the land in August and spent our last 6 months in Hong Kong sorting out various odds and ends - US immigration labyrinths for me (being a UK citizen), selling our Hong Kong apartment, organizing shipping our pared down belongings (The two of us and our two cats moved into a 320sqft apartment! - the motel room we are now in feels luxurious in comparison :) ), researching house designs and eco-friendly technology. Oh and learning to drive!

Panorama of our 320sqft apartment in Hong Kong

First Post!

So I've finally gotten round to starting this blog. The main reason being my wife Vanessa just started hers about running and good food (you can read it here: http://gourmetrunner.blogspot.com/
To try and make this blog a bit more reader friendly and to give it a better context, I'll start from the beginning...