Issues May Arise

We hit out first snag in the architectural plan yesterday. This is not surprising given that we are now at the critical point of pulling all the disparate parts together – the studio marrying into the existing house, marrying into the entryway connecting with the new kitchen/living area in the front of the house. Also not surprising given that the snag concerns an area that was discussed in detail as a potential problem as late as mid-August when Steve (builder), Lawrence (architect), and I met to hammer out the last details.
So when Steve called yesterday and said he had run into a problem with the stairwell headroom – the new stairwell leading up to the third floor - I wasn’t surprised. Nor was I surprised to learn that he already had a solution. Perhaps he had been thinking of his back-up plan since that meeting during which they measured inch by inch how much headroom would be available at the bottom of the stairs. He knew.
Which is why I value him so much.
The solution he suggested, though slightly inelegant, will accomplish, with limited expense and little adjustment elsewhere, the feat of creating adequate clearance for average-sized people to walk up those stairs. His approach is to build a small shed dormer extending from the rear wall of the new bump out (the connecting piece between the studio and the existing house which will house the new stairwell).
This solution will do the job, but it does change the purity of the architectural plan. It tacks on an extra bump that has no reference anywhere else in the house. It’s a builder’s solution, and as I said, a very practical one, but it’s clunky. The only saving grace is that it will be virtually unseen from most vantage points in the yard. Certainly it won’t be seen from the front entry and approach. It will be masked off by the studio and connecting dormer. It could be visible from the small patio we plan to install at the back of the studio.
In writing this I just had an epiphany. It should be built to match the rear-facing window of the studio. That particular window juts up from the roof line at a sharp angle, cutting the roof line and directing a shaft of light into the studio. This shape it seems could be repeated in that small space at the edge of the connecting dormer, thereby providing the needed headroom, and working stylistically with the architectural design of the house.
Does this epiphany constitute an emergency? You see I’m on the Bonanza bus heading back down to the Cape from Boston, and you are only supposed to use cell phones in the case of an emergency. I think I’ll chance it. Hold on.

Okay, he says maybe. What did I actually expect as an answer. Though he was standing there and could see the value of my idea. He says you really aren’t going to see it unless you are in the hot tub perhaps which is set behind the studio. And it may raise some other issues – remember everything is connected, and any change will effect innumerable other aspects of the design. We’ll take a look at the spot tomorrow when we are both on site. Until then they are building the third floor landing and are going to cut into Isaac’s room up there and install a beam to support everything, so they have their work cut out for them for the rest of the day.

Here’s a shot of what I’m taking about.