Chapter 2: Adirondack Cottage on the Lake Site Planning

View of New Adirondack Cottage on the Lake

Doing a site analysis and the subsequent site specific design that an architect can bring to a project is showcased in this design. The client had lake side property, with a gutted 1950s ranch home on it, and wanted to create a contemporary Adirondack style cottage where they could enjoy the lake year round, and into their retirement.

BEFORE: View from Street Side

BEFORE: View from Lake Side

The existing house on the property was very small and in a state of incomplete interior renovation. It was located very close (only 3') from the NE side property line and the rooms didn't take advantage of the lake views as one would hope. It had a front-loading 2 car garage about the same size as the house. It was determined early on that the engineering to change what was there into what the clients wanted was going to cost more than building new. It was the location, on the side of a peaceful lake, that was the important thing, so we set out to create a new design that took advantage of that.

Site Plan for Adirondack Cottage on the Lake

The town planning and zoning boards were happy to see our proposal to center the new home on the width of the property. With special permissions from The Department of Environmental Conservation and the Zoning Board of Appeals, we kept the construction footprint a bit closer to the back-lake side than was standard, so that an established tree in the front yard could stay. The clients wanted to keep an attached garage, and one of the "Aha" moments came when I suggested rotating the garage entry to the side, instead of having the doors face the front, so the house could look more traditional by "hiding" the garage. For other posts about how architects deal with the unsightliness and impossibly large massing of a garage near the house, click HERE and HERE.

Lake Side with Door to Recreation Room below Living Room

The grade slopes down from the street to the lake with enough vertical change that a the Recreation Room in the cellar can have nice windows and a door out the back, and the cars can drive into the attached garage from the front. This large change in elevation can make the living levels - which are at the level of the street- feel an unfortunate separation from the lake because they are at a a much higher elevation.

The new design works to mitigate this separateness with some re-grading with retaining walls to create a usable level area at the base of a large deck accessed off the Dining and Living Rooms. The choice of a "One and a Half Story" cottage style, in which the second floor is located within the roof space and dormers provide the window space, also serves to minimize the height of the structure. This type of massing also provides for a greater square footage on the ground level, and less upstairs, which works perfectly for the client's wish for a ground-level Master Bedroom Suite. The new Living Room, open to the Entry, Kitchen,  and Dining is to be a soaring high space with a balcony above and many, many windows toward the lake view.

There are always trade-offs, and unfortunately one large tree that was close to the back wall of the former structure did have to be removed . But amazingly, the sewage treatment system (aka septic leach field area) was able to fit outside of the 100' wet lands buffer established around the lake, and this new system will be a major improvement in terms of the health of the lake.

View from Street

Click here to see the previous post about this project:
cwb-architect.blog/adirondack-cottage-on-lake-1

Family Room Addition to a Village Home

View of Addition from the backyard

Here is a glimpse into a small project I designed. Let's call is the New Family Room Next Door. :)

The existing home is a small historic two story village home. Like most village layouts, adding off the back was really the only option for increasing living space. (side yards are small or non-existent in village-type zoning where houses are placed close to each other and close to the street/sidewalk)

The home already had a single story kitchen addition all along the back of the two story structure, and then a covered porch off the back of that.

To keep the project economical, we used the area that once was a covered porch and changed that space into the new family room. We reused (and added more) the pier foundation from the porch for our new room, and kept the low-pitch shed roof in the same configuration as what existed, so second floor windows were unaffected.

The new room will still connect the kitchen to the back yard and back porch (we kept a small section of the existing covered back porch as a driveway-side entry for bringing groceries in to the kitchen). The new room will be able to be a bit more contemporary than the rest of the historic home can be.  The new room can someday become a first floor bedroom if age or illness requires it. And in the meantime, the new room will offer much-needed additional space for entertaining and relaxing with family, right near the kitchen. Since the large back porch was going away, I suggested a new large deck off the back of the new room as an outdoor connection and link to the back yard.

Before Photo - View from Backyard of Existing Covered Porch

Small section of existing covered porch remains as back entry

The new family room and new deck expand 1st floor living area A LOT

Lots of light and glass doors into new room

Higher "cathedral" ceiling in new room & light from 3 sides makes it special

Porches for the House on the Lake

The work at the family house on the lake is continuing with the framing inspection complete and now roofing and siding being applied and porch floors and roofs built.

Framed New Screened Porch

This house is all about the continuity of the family that has owned it and used it - first as a full time residence of grandparents starting in the 1920s - and now as a seasonal gathering place for extended families of multiple generations from throughout the country. Some aspects of the home that exist and have existed for as long as many can remember were not negotiable to change in the redesign. One of those elements is the green metal roof- which isn't that old, but lends real character to the home. Another is the white cedar siding which is very traditional and likely original to when it was first built before this family even owned it.

The other thing this house is about is gathering and enjoying the lake. This fact makes the back screened porch the most important "room" in the place. As the largest space, it is one of the few that can accommodate a large group- be it baby shower or marriage celebration or weekend reunion. It is literally the best place (other than sitting on the dock?) on the property to view the lake.

I changed the dimensions and orientation of the former screened porch, as well as how it connects to the house. I made it much deeper- before it was under a long continuation of the main roof and was limited to 9'-10" -way too narrow for comfortable outdoor furniture. I also increased the width by 2' and rotated the roof and removed any flat ceiling so the space is vaulted up to 12' tall at the center roof beam.

Framing of the New Screened Porch

Structural Ridge Beam allows for soaring high space

In addition, since I was giving the space it's own lake-facing-gable roof, not sharing the main roof, I could slide the whole space over a bit. This movement accomplished two things: One, even with the new porch 15' deep instead of 10', I could show the Town's Zoning Board that we hardly were building any closer to the edge of the water. This was important as the existing structure was already encroaching on the allowable 75' setback from the rear/lake. The other important gain of sliding the porch toward the east was that I could connect the kitchen to the screened porch. The old plan lacked this connection, so this will be a great change.

The home has a traditional street-side wrap-around front porch which remains and now ties into the new first floor bedroom with a glass door.

Door to Front Wrap-Around Porch from New Bedroom Addition

Wrap-Around Porch ties into new first floor bedroom addition

Lastly, there is a new small side porch that provides a way to get to the yard from the screened porch and from the yard into the kitchen/back of the house. When a porch is higher than 30" above the grade, the code requires a guard rail for safety. Since we don't want to obscure the lake view with a bunch of solid wood posts, I specified a cable railing system that becomes almost invisible and lends a sleek, nautical element on the mostly traditional exterior.

Side Porch connects house to yard and screened porch

Cable railing system

In addition to the functionality of these porches (outdoor rooms!) the site slopes down toward the lake, leaving lots of storage space under the almost 400SF screened porch. Some of this area will be tall and some low to store boats and other gear. The perimeter will have a traditional lattice treatment and a custom hinged door to easily access and keep hidden that storage space.

Lattice Detail (from another project)

Site Analysis for the New House Next to the Pond

In the first post about the NHND to the Pond, (read it HERE ) I mentioned how an architect-designed house such as this one starts with a site analysis and a program analysis.  Through the analysis of the site I review the legal, natural, man-made, and physical conditions of the specific building site, as well as the climate/solar path/prevailing winds. The "program" is the architect's term for the rooms or spaces needed/wanted (pretty standard in residential architecture) and where they should be placed in relationship to each other on the site.

Proposed Site Plan

First let's talk about legal restraints. These include required zoning regulations such as setbacks from property lines, water, etc. This information can help inform where the building or driveway/curb cut can be placed (without having to get a variance from the town or special permission from the DEC, for example). The zoning regulations will also set limits on the footprint size, maximum lot area to be covered, maximum and minimum building square footage, and maximum height of primary or accessory buildings so that something completely out of character with the neighborhood cannot be constructed without input/review. Some laws can also include "pattern" books or suggested materials or styles- this is mostly found in village centers and historic districts, and not relevant for this project, which is located outside the village boundary on a rural road.

Open Meadow by the Road

The natural features of the site were then examined. This site is large with a stream, pond, wetlands, rock outcroppings, wooded and meadow areas.  There is a lot of grade change and a surveyor was engaged to create a topography map so we could read how water drains off the hillside. This map helps the designers figure out where the rock outcroppings are and where the land/soils might be most suitable for the house, the well, and the septic (SDS) system.


The man-made features on the site include a old farm path leading up the hill, a rudimentary stream crossing (which did not meet current standards and needed to be upgraded), meandering old stone walls at some property lines, and utility poles along the edge of the road. These features are all shown on the survey as well. In a neighborhood or a smaller site, neighboring buildings would be taken into consideration, so the placement of the new building fits in (see NHND post showing a site plan in a village HERE ) but on this site, we have no "context" like that that we need to be sympathetic to.

The physical conditions, like soil type, were looked at by the engineer to determine the design of the SDS system. He also determined the volume of water (design is always for the worst case - the 100 year flood) that will be coming down that hillside so as to design proper drainage for the driveway, and around the structures. This helps set the finish floor elevation and the garage slab elevation so that the building is up enough to be dry, without having its foundation sticking out too much. It also helps us figure out the grading into the garage for a car and setting that so that we don't need an excessive amount of steps between garage and house.

Correctly designed overhangs let in winter sun and block summer sun

 One of the most important things I look at during the site analysis is the solar orientation. Following the track of the sun across the sky helps layout what rooms might go where and informs the orientation of the long axis of the building. When at all possible, it's best to have the long axis north-south with an eave overhang for shading in summer. Creating a diagram of the height of the sun in winter (when we want to let the sun it the house) and summer (when we want to shade the house from the sun) informs the size of the roof overhangs.

Site Analysis informs design of house

So the site analysis of this pond property showed that what at first glance looked like the best building spot - the level meadow by the road- was not legally allowed, as it was within the DEC wetlands buffer. Therefore, a long driveway would have to be constructed up the hill to a building site in the woods. We elected to have the driveway come from the road at the southern edge of the property, even though this meant crossing the stream, because it meant not crossing through this wetlands buffer, which a driveway from the northern edge would have to do. (the engineer stated that steam crossing would be the easier permit to get). And this way we could re-use the existing farm lane as our driveway, therefore requiring less clearing and re-grading than a new driveway from the north edge of the property.

The SDS system and it's expansion area were placed where the soils could handle the percolation required. The house site was decided to be on a level-ish area not-too-far up the hill in the woods with the house oriented such that it's long axis faces south for ideal solar advantage. A walk-out basement recreation room could be incorporated in the northwest corner where the grade slopes down toward the pond. The garage could be tucked behind on the north, not blocking light or the view of the beautiful house as one approaches. (us architects always want to hide the cars/garage) The south/front of the house can have the porch my clients want while also functioning as the entry, and the west side- near the pond- can be the place for the screened porch. Now we are starting to get into program analysis - and that can be the next post.

New House Next Door to the Pond

Thus begins another New House Next Door!
Don't worry, I'll continue giving updates on the New House Next Door to the Mountains as well.

The design and engineering of this project started years ago and it's exciting to see the construction phase beginning this spring. Once the framing crew gets on site, you know it will move along to completion FAST.

The site is large and wooded with a meadow by the road and a small pond fed by a running stream. Even with the spring-flowering trees, and the bright green new meadow grass, the photos don't do it justice- it's a really beautiful spot.

The site has many restrictions as to where a building could be located and the solar exposure and pond views are, unfortunately, in opposite directions - so orienting the house and planning the fenestration (window location) was challenging!

Site Plan

The site plan shows the house located up the hill on a level spot, with the driveway crossing the stream and following an existing old farm lane. The thick, dashed line surrounding the pond and stream indicates the wetlands buffer, where no construction can occur. The two funny lined boxes on the top left are the septic area located in the meadow down the hill behind the house. The small dashed rectangles between the septic and the house are the original proposed house locations, which were rejected because of the steep, rocky, topography, poor solar orientation, and concerns about drainage flowing down from the higher ground. The front long face of the house faces south to allow sun to shine in. The garage is tucked behind the house - to the north. Exterior living spaces jut out to the south and west for fun in the sun or in the evening listening to peepers at the pond.

 By hiring an architect, one of the many benefits clients receive is a "site responsive" design. (the opposite of choosing a house plan from a book in which the designer never even saw the site and the building is just plunked down without much thought as to views or sunlight- mostly the only thing accounted for is how the car drives in)  As I blog about this project over the next months, I will discuss some of the site analysis (and "program analysis"- architect's word for the required rooms and how they relate to each other and the site) and how that early research informed the final design and placement of this house on this site.

Concrete Box Culvert with Wings Creates Stream Crossing

  Site work began over this mild winter with tree clearing at the building site and for visible sight lines at the road curb cut. A driveway with an Army Corp of Engineers approved stream crossing (aka bridge or culvert) has been the major work so far, along with a graded, landscape-fabric-lined driveway.

Beginning of the hole for the Foundation

Next the hole for the foundation is being dug out- and the encountered rock is being hammered out. The G.C. (general contractor) plans to have the foundation concrete poured this month.

View through wood to Pond

Graded Driveway Base heads up from road

Adding Space by Detaching the Garage

After almost half a year hiatus from posting, I'm back! Happy 2015 Everyone!

I want to try to steer this blog into a new direction.  I won't be following the chronological progress of one project, like when the New House Next Door to my house was being built and this blog was born, but rather, this blog can be a bit more "free form", talking about lots of different architectural projects and ideas.

Today's Topic: Pulling the garage out of the house

Some clients want an enclosed or covered space for their car(s) and have never had one, and hire me to design them a garage or carport. But some clients have a house with an attached garage space and when they wish their home had a bit more space, rather than designing an addition, we can redesign this unfinished garage space to become part of the house.

In some cases the garage becomes a a studio or work space. Sometimes a spacious master bedroom suite is created. It can be a family room or exercise space- whatever is needed. In this way, the living space of the home is increased relatively inexpensively. And then we design and build a new detached garage to provide storage for the car.

New  Garage on Left, Part of House that was Garage on Right, Porta-Potty in the Middle

 Depending on where they are placed on the site in relation to the house, detached garages can help define outdoor "rooms". They can be set back (a requirement in many zoning codes) so that the home and it's front door are primary, and the car doors are secondary.

If the owner is always going to arrive home by parking inside the garage, then this new space and how it's doors are arranged in relation to the house entry will become part of what architects call "the entry sequence." This coming and going can be made pleasant by good design, positively affecting our day. Or, if poorly thought out, it can detract from our happiness, possibly by being too cramped or too abrupt. (click HERE to go to my website and read about re-designing an entry sequence in "Transition Zones")

Entry Sequence: Pergola Connects Garage to House, Garage Has Covered Side Door

 Detached garage buildings can be placed on the site so they are hidden from view inside or they can be placed so a window inside the house frames a view of them. Usually the style mimics or coordinates with that of the house, but the opposite can be true, as well. Choosing paint colors or trim details that don't mimic the primary structure can add uniqueness to the new building. Detached garages can look like a quaint, charming cottage, or a rustic wood shed, or a modern, functional box, depending on the owner's style. Unlike most attached garages, they are not just trying to blend in or be invisible - they are "design-ful" in their own right. (I just made up that hyphenated word!)

Two Car Garage Built Beside a Ranch

I cannot find the source, but I remember hearing the saying that the attached garage is the "un-invited guest who never left" in American homes. Click HERE read my previous "soap box" post about why garages are better detached than attached to our houses.

The New Workshop Next Door

Work at the NHND is moving slowly now, getting the final fixtures installed and such.

But! Here on our property, we have started a new outbuilding project that's in the early framing stages and is moving fast. This building will be a two-vehicle car port and a one room wood working shop/studio space. (click here to go to first post about this project)

The foundation and site work is very low-impact by design. Piers reach below grade to frost and support a wood floor system. 2x4 walls support a scissor truss (higher in the middle) roof. The truss is also designed to perform well in terms of energy code, by having a "raised heel" to have more space for insulation above the wall (that spot is traditionally a weak link in the insulation/thermal barrier). The walls will be sheathed with continuous insulation, as well as insulated within the wall cavity. This 23'x23' space will be high, and dry, well lit and warm - all things DH's current workshop in the basement is not. Yay!

In terms of zoning and site planning design, this building was designed to meet the Village's codes and pattern book. Since the one end of the structure is for cars - although not a technically a garage, I located it back 20' from the front of the house, to keep it secondary - as an outbuilding should be. The workshop part will have a front porch facing the street, and our driveway became a circular shape, with two entrances/exits. There are always restrictions regarding how much of the site can be covered by building footprint, and we were careful to meet all requirements and presented our site plan to the planning board for approval last year.

Concrete pier foundation with wire, fabric & gravel under building

Wood framed floor system for workshop/studio space

Raising the last wall of workshop

Roof trusses

The New Garage Next Door

Ah - the garage - I think America is in love with this giant room for their car(s). If detached from the home, it can look like a charming outbuilding or barn set back on the property and be built quickly and easily. The Tivoli Pattern Book (and general good zoning and planning) require that the garage be detached (or semi-attached with a "breezeway") and set back behind the house. Thoughtful siting like this that places the car in a secondary location, allows the house to be primary. It creates a traditional pedestrian friendly layout, which is appropriate for our walkable village. (refer to "Site Plan" Post from the fall)

I know many suburban homes have the garage attached to the home for convenience, but this can be a dangerous and smelly room and once attached, insulating and air sealing the habitable space of the house becomes more difficult to do correctly. On the aesthetic side of the argument, this room for cars is required to be so large, that it completely changes the massing of the house and often puts the primary focus of the building and site design on the car, instead of the people.

At the New House Next Door, the garage is designed for two cars - really it will house one car and a lawn tractor and stuff- and it is just a few steps from the back porch. It is built on what is called a floating slab, which means that the concrete footings do not reach down into the ground to the frost line, like the footings for the house do. The 6" thick reinforced slab has haunched or thickened edges that help anchor it down. The square building has walls with windows and doors and a gable roof built of wood trusses so that the 22' span doesn't require any interior columns. The exterior will have clapboard siding like the house, but the interior of the walls will have no finish, saving a bit of money and allowing my father-in-law to hang all sorts of tools and items easily inside. (Side Note: Attached garages need to be finished inside with fire-rated sheet-rock and a self-closing fire-door, to meet code, and cannot have open storage space above)

The builders have been building the garage as they've been building the New House Next Door. I will post photos of it from start to finish when it is all done, because I think it will be neat to see a small, simple building be built "right before your eyes" all in one post.

Architect term of the Day: Context

Street View of New House

Enough talk and pictures of dirt and re-bar. Today I thought we could discuss some planning and design ideas.

Context is the architect's word for looking at the area surrounding the building site and then designing a new building that fits in with its neighborhood. This can mean matching regional styles or materials. It  can mean aligning horizontal banding of an old university brick building or highrise with lines of a new design. It can mean creating the new to be similar in scale and massing to what is around it. Admittedly, "fitting in" can mean different things to different people. Some may argue that referencing existing context stifles creativity or focuses one to build in an out-moded style, but I do not believe that is the case.

neighboring house

Here in Tivoli, the building code incorporated a "Pattern Book" to guide designers so that new construction would blend with the context of our village. Two stories. Gable (or narrow end) facing the street. Full front porch set back a similar distance from street/sidewalk as the adjacent buildings. Clapboard siding. Detached garage. Basically a traditional village house. You can view the document here: Zoning/TivoliPatternBook.pdf

As a resident of this small village, I appreciate the Pattern Book. It helps protect us from "ugly" development in a world where all houses are not designed by architects or sited by planners. The house I designed will fit in well on the street and in the village such that next year a passer-by might not know which house is new. Similarly when I design an addition to a house, it's usually one of my goals that once complete, a visitor won't be able to tell where the new part is because it blends so well with the existing house. Granted, blending in is not everyone's style - but it was right for this site, project, and client.

On another site nearby, but just outside the village, a radically different house is under construction. It is secluded at the end of a long, winding driveway where context and pattern books do not apply. This creative family is building a home out of stacked shipping containers. I had a chance to see it recently after the containers were placed and some openings were cut for windows and doors.

Different architects give varying amount of importance to context. Different sites demand varying amounts of contextual respect. I agree with the team who created the Pattern Book, that here in our one square mile village, looking around at context is important. It helps our village have a cohesiveness of place that is valuable and visible.

shipping container house under construction

Small House in a Small Village

I designed this house specifically for my husband's parents to move into so they could have a new, smaller, easier to maintain home next to their son. They will be leaving the very large 1820's rural farmhouse where they've lived almost their entire 50+ years of married life. They bought it in the 1960's, raised their children there, hosted decades of family meals in the 24' long dining room, and even celebrated one daughter's wedding in the park-like yard. Whenever I feel fretful about my in-laws living next door and what that might mean for my family's autonomy, I remind myself how daunting this move must be for them.


Their new home will be much more modest in size, requiring them to pare down their belongings and saved items. It will also be comfortable, not drafty, inexpensive to heat, and it will boast two beautiful, efficient, and safe bathrooms. The rooms will be sunny and bright. The walls will be smooth and un-cracked. The floors will be level and even. (My Mother-in-law will at long last have the ability to get one of those "robot" vacuums she's dreamed about, but which was never a possibility in their old house with big, stepped thresholds between rooms) Toward the west they will have glorious views of the Catskill Mountains. From the front porch they will be able to watch their grandchild's school bus, as well as all the other members of the community walk or bike by - because this house is not in the suburbs, it is in a village.

The fact that the house is small and easy to maintain and has grab bars and and a curb-less shower are all design decisions that were made to accommodate aging in place. But more important than any of these universal design principles or having family next door if they need help, is that it is located in a small walkable village - not suburbia. Having lived in a walkable neighborhood for years, this above all else, is what I believe has the most value and will be what makes it a great place to move to in one's 70s. I hope they think so too.

The Site Plan

The building site is a mostly flat and open 3 acre village lot with mountain views to the west (back). The house is sited to fit in within the pattern of the existing neighborhood. This means the narrow side of the building is parallel to the street and set back to match the adjacent houses and the garage is detached from the home. Location and placement are very important first steps in creating a new house that can comfortably blend into an established village neighborhood.