Forest Gallery House
Fishers, IN
Forest Gallery House is a compound-style residence located in Hamilton County, Indiana. We’re very excited to report that ground-breaking appears to be on-track for summer/fall 2020!
Our clients purchased the property in 2019, and the plan is to demolish the existing home on the site and design + build a new residence from scratch. Interestingly, the new design program includes some unique features such as a freestanding pavilion for office/sauna/gym, a two-story master closet, a 6-8 car garage, and freestanding kennel. The site has acreage and is mostly wooded – an excellent canvas. To be sure, unique program features are exciting from a design standpoint, as they usually inspire unique architectural solutions. If the program includes some features we haven’t yet encountered, we’re definitely in!
Forest Gallery House
Project Info:
Clients: Private Owners
Architecture: HAUS | Architecture For Modern Lifestyles with J. Gauker Interiors and Client
Interior Architecture/Design: HAUS with J. Gauker Interiors and Client
Builder/Construction Manager: WERK | Building Modern (Phase One), then Carrington Homes (Phase Two)
Photography/Renderings: HAUS (except where noted otherwise)
Design Process:
Initial Site Visit
On the initial site visit (see photos below), we identified some important amenities to inform the design. By all means, the views to the west and southwest are beautiful. Albeit, privacy from the adjacent neighbor to the north-northeast is important. Also, existing topography will dictate best location for the new dedicated property access drive.
We also noticed that the existing site and drives were not easily maneuvered. So on the new design, we were sure to provide a robust turnaround adjacent to house, but also at the privacy gate to accommodate delivery trucks. This roundabout in conjunction with the existing garage structure (new kennel) has become a significant driver of the design concept.
Program
Client’s initial program suggested that we raze the existing house, but possibly keep the existing garage accessory structure and use it as a kennel. So while exploring site design concepts, we gravitated toward a scheme that worked to fully integrate this structure in the whole. In fact, the most preferred scheme created a series of connected pavilions radiating around a new access drive turnaround creating an architectural array.
Currently (December 2019), we are engaging basic construction documents to use in getting contractor pricing to help check and refine project scopes of work against the budget. At the same time, we are refining the interiors, site features, and high-performance design considerations into the design for a comprehensive solution.
Utilities (some decisions to finalize)
It appears that we have a choice to tie into municipal utilities or not (based on distances + zoning guidelines). So we have been in contact with respective contacts to evaluate the pros and cons of different options. After exploration into tapping utilities, that option became too arduous, requiring passage through a neighboring property. Septic and well were the decided directions.
Update
(August 2020): As were close to completing CDs and structural engineer coordination (5 months into COVID-19 and 11 months into the design process), Owner decided to shift direction. The HAUS + WERK team (in collaboration with Owner and interior designer) had already cut a new drive, cleared selected trees, and demolished the existing house in preparation for the new construction. Construction Documents were about 90% complete. But then the Owner had a change-of-heart on how much they wanted to spend on the project, and decided to adjust-course (with COVID-19 and other events, lumber prices were beginning their erratic pricing fluctuations). Ultimately, they hired a different entity to build the project in-place of WERK, and also stopped the architectural design-work cold. The new builder entity then used the incomplete construction documents and worked with Owner and interior designer to make all final material, detail decisions, without architect involvement. Owner made it clear, “now all that matters is cost – it’s just a house”.
Since we had so much invested in the project, we continued to check-in on construction from time-to-time. We noticed in the construction that several key details and modifications were being made along-the-way, which significantly changed the character of the built-work. Please check-back, as we may decide to share construction photos TBD. The massing and siting of the project was exciting to see take-shape. But the details were modified and normalized into generic builder-mode (metals became painted fiber-cement or fiberglass shingles; roof overhangs went from minimal modern with hidden gutters to “boxed-eaves”, higher-efficiency construction techniques deleted, etc).
Reflection
Looking-back, we wondered if we had tried to push the level of design and detail higher than the client cared about or understood. When they originally came to us, they cited a few of our past projects that were higher-level. They wanted something unique on the design-side (liked compound-style designs with a warm-modern feel). Also, it was important to them that we had clear budget-scope alignment pre-construction, as their last “design”/building experience was misaligned.
We thought we nailed the front-end design process 100% (based on the initial Owner goals). But things changed that were out-of-our control. Designing and building can be a long, interesting journey. A lot of things have to go right for a project to realize its full potential. So when all the stars ARE able to align, it’s an extra-special experience that we don’t take for granted and always seek to achieve!:)