Although I certainly appreciate how far my boy has come in his artistic endeavors since the episode, earlier this summer, now known as “Offspring of Lightning and Pure Darkness,” something rather NQR about these architectural sketches remains, be it the choice of media (Post-It Notes? — come on, kid!) or the presumption of fabulous wealth certainly necessary to fulfill this lovely dream of a house, either personally or on behalf of a rather childish and bourgeois clientele if, in his mind, he has designed this home for some third party rather than for himeself. As such, I’ll share these sketches and give my ballpark for the associated costs (though I’m no home contractor myself!), not as a way to crush his dreams but more with the mind to preserve these little images, someday to show them to him when and if he does ever build a home of his own.
First, the overview (found under the work-light of his bunkbed desk, left here exactly in situ):
What rich client wouldn’t want to see the creativity here, the artiste’s obviously taking oreintal inspiration from the trivet tile from a Moroccan souq and the cartouche of the architect’s own name, made sentimentally in 4th grade art?
Next, a slightly closer view of the work-in-progress, here focusing on the kitchen — to include vintage ‘egg chairs’ along with a marble countertop, plus a supplementary sketch, ala Frank Lloyd Wright, for the patterning of tilework — yielding up in rough estimate a very preliminary construction cost of perhaps $80,000. Second floor layout seems to allude pleasantly to the shape of a coffee-mug, perhaps in the artiste’s thinking a way to ‘welcome the day’ with Folger’s in his cup.
Sketch of the kitchen, along with some very rough initial ‘thoughts’ on the layout of the second floor.
Next, the indoor pool with a ballpark construction cost-estimate of $200,000, including the slide from the master bedroom.
Indoor pool, with slide coming from bedroom closet (see bedroom diagram below).
Next the master bedroom, with slide to the indoor waterpool coming out of the closet, estimate for cost: $40,000?
Bedroom: interesting features include woodwork behind bed (in the closet?) sliding doors that lead to a ‘padio,’ window overlooking indoor pool.
Next, the connection between the two levels of the house. Looks like there is a hallway and at least one set of stairs. Hard to assign a cost to this segment of the house, but since it must be built we can arbitrarily say, maybe, $10,000? If the roof of the pool, shown here, is glassed-in or decorative, then maybe another $30,000 should be added.
Concept is unclear in this sketch, presumably will be thrashed out in more detail in the final blueprint.
An alternate, more costly version, including a curving stair, probably runs closer to $25,000.
Another (competing?) concept for the stairs between the two levels of the house, this one more expensive and showing some antebellum influences. Architect’s shorthand for “Bird’s I” amusing. . .
Next, the rather boxy but efficient layout of the complete first floor. Discounting the cost of the kitchen and the pool (which were figured above) the remainder of this probably comes to another $250,000 in construction and design costs.
Complete diagram for first level of the house: tennis/basketball court, pool, kitchen, and a rather open-concept living area testify to the owner’s enthusiasm for Sport.
Finally, and blurrily (whether it was laughter on the part of the photographer or sudden furtiveness at the sound of approaching steps outside the architect’s door, I can offer no valid excuse for taking such a poor photo) the living room. Given its rather empty and square construction, this one portion of the building project probably does not require a separate cost estimate, although I strongly suspect that a large flatscreen TV is intended to remedy the architect’s childhood bitterness at always having owned the smallest and oldest TV on the block.
The least ‘clear’ of the early sketches for this building project, a close-up on the quadrant of the lower-level designated to serve as ‘living room.’
TOTAL COST ESTIMATE FOR CONSTRUCTION: $355,000 – $500,000 depending on improvements to the lot, municiple fees, etc.
TOTAL VALUE PRESERVED FOR (FUTURE) ARCHITECTURAL CAREER: Priceless, baby.