(Brendan)
My brother has been working on the exterior design details of the home, and as part of this process he has created some photo-realistic renderings for better visualization. He has a CAD model of the home which allows him to set up the design of the home and exterior, and once that is in place he uses his fancy schmancy architectural software to create the rendering. The rendering takes the form of a single picture of the view of the model he wants, and it usually takes an hour or two for the computer to actually create the rendering (a lot of it is probably calculating light reflections and all the subtle details that fools the eye into thinking it's real or near real).
The renderings have blown Molly and I away with their reality and ability to give us a preview of how the home will really look. Each one is fascinating to look at. I'll post these renderings in a series of posts, with only one rendering per post to give each its due. Volume 1 of this series is a rendering of the back of the home, as if you were standing on the covered walkway outside. It includes actual photos of our land so that this is essentially exactly how this will look in real life. You'll want to click this to enlarge it for better detail.
We thought it was hilarious how he cropped an actual photo (from our trip to Florida a couple months ago) of Molly with Aidan and Eleanor and included it in the rendering! Here's a link to a previous post that has the real photo.
A few points of discussion. This for the first time shows exterior design color schemes which we really liked. The accent color, which is located on the columns and in all of the trim is a cream/yellow color. I think it looks great, and since it is included underneath the balcony in the covered walkway it really brightens up an area that could have been too dark.
In terms of the terrace, my brother rendered it with all brick, and it's this rendering that has convinced us that this is the way to go. We had previously thought we would attempt to simply use wood decking to make the terrace, which certainly would cost less money. But given the fact that we almost certainly will not be able to afford to do the terrace or balcony right away, and seeing how much stability, permanence, and quality the brick adds, we figure we'll just wait (and wait) until we can afford to do it right. The brick is also much lower maintenance than a wood decking material, which we all know degrades badly over time. Oh, as an aside, you'll also notice that any brick on the home will be this more subdued gray color, with cream accents in it. My brother thought this would be best with anticipated roof colors and the trim of the home.
The chapel at this point is only starting detailed design, and so you can see there are no windows in the rendering in the chapel. This will not be the final form. He also left out a few windows that should be there underneath the balcony along the side of the home (to the right in the rendering). He did actually remove large windows that were planned in the school room and these will be replaced with more standard windows to conserve cost (and they weren't really needed anyway).
I love the fact that in some ways the back of the home feels like a lake home, except without the worries of actual water for children. It's rare to have wild areas come right up to the back of the home like this. Garden areas and lawn will be more towards the South and front of the home.
One last thing. Right now he also rendered the home with a standing seam metal roof, which we would absolutely love, but probably won't be able to afford. We need to get a quote on this first. Also, he rendered the in-set gutters along the lower roof-line, and this is something I'm having second thoughts about (watching the ice in my current gutters). I think I have a different solution that I'll post about in the future.
My brother has been working on the exterior design details of the home, and as part of this process he has created some photo-realistic renderings for better visualization. He has a CAD model of the home which allows him to set up the design of the home and exterior, and once that is in place he uses his fancy schmancy architectural software to create the rendering. The rendering takes the form of a single picture of the view of the model he wants, and it usually takes an hour or two for the computer to actually create the rendering (a lot of it is probably calculating light reflections and all the subtle details that fools the eye into thinking it's real or near real).
The renderings have blown Molly and I away with their reality and ability to give us a preview of how the home will really look. Each one is fascinating to look at. I'll post these renderings in a series of posts, with only one rendering per post to give each its due. Volume 1 of this series is a rendering of the back of the home, as if you were standing on the covered walkway outside. It includes actual photos of our land so that this is essentially exactly how this will look in real life. You'll want to click this to enlarge it for better detail.
We thought it was hilarious how he cropped an actual photo (from our trip to Florida a couple months ago) of Molly with Aidan and Eleanor and included it in the rendering! Here's a link to a previous post that has the real photo.A few points of discussion. This for the first time shows exterior design color schemes which we really liked. The accent color, which is located on the columns and in all of the trim is a cream/yellow color. I think it looks great, and since it is included underneath the balcony in the covered walkway it really brightens up an area that could have been too dark.
In terms of the terrace, my brother rendered it with all brick, and it's this rendering that has convinced us that this is the way to go. We had previously thought we would attempt to simply use wood decking to make the terrace, which certainly would cost less money. But given the fact that we almost certainly will not be able to afford to do the terrace or balcony right away, and seeing how much stability, permanence, and quality the brick adds, we figure we'll just wait (and wait) until we can afford to do it right. The brick is also much lower maintenance than a wood decking material, which we all know degrades badly over time. Oh, as an aside, you'll also notice that any brick on the home will be this more subdued gray color, with cream accents in it. My brother thought this would be best with anticipated roof colors and the trim of the home.
The chapel at this point is only starting detailed design, and so you can see there are no windows in the rendering in the chapel. This will not be the final form. He also left out a few windows that should be there underneath the balcony along the side of the home (to the right in the rendering). He did actually remove large windows that were planned in the school room and these will be replaced with more standard windows to conserve cost (and they weren't really needed anyway).
I love the fact that in some ways the back of the home feels like a lake home, except without the worries of actual water for children. It's rare to have wild areas come right up to the back of the home like this. Garden areas and lawn will be more towards the South and front of the home.
One last thing. Right now he also rendered the home with a standing seam metal roof, which we would absolutely love, but probably won't be able to afford. We need to get a quote on this first. Also, he rendered the in-set gutters along the lower roof-line, and this is something I'm having second thoughts about (watching the ice in my current gutters). I think I have a different solution that I'll post about in the future.
2 comments:
I like Volume One very much, especially how the light color on the columns brightens up what could be a dark space.
The wild area coming up to the house is very appealing, but I'd be inclined to make a "cloister" type garden as a companion piece to the covered walkways.
Looking forward to future renderings!
John
Yes, the tall grasses going right up to the terrace are actually rendered and not really there right now. There's a triangle of solid land there, so if it were to look exactly like this in the future it would be because we actually planted those grasses (or other prairie grasses). In reality, Molly and I both want at least a pathway through there or otherwise there will be no way to walk around the home in the back. The cloister garden is still definitely under consideration, but there may not be room back by the terrace. We are going to have a vegetable garden on the other side of the chapel (or somewhere near) and it could be near that as well (though it would be nicer to have it near the covered walkway).
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