Building Around the Coast?

by | Feb 10, 2011 | Thinking of Building?, Thinking of Buying? | 6 comments

An interesting debate here between home builders in Malibu, and the Coastal Commission.

The designers and builders insist that they have taken great care in working with nature, and think the Coastal Commission should allow these types of projects, because only five houses would be built on just one of the 156 acres.

Here is the introductory video from the builders’ website, www.leavesinthewind.com:

Leaves In The Wind from Ecofusion2 on Vimeo.

The main principal is David Evans (The Edge), guitarist for the band U2, who bought the land in 2006 to build a home for his family. The California Coastal Commission staff is now recommending a denial of the project over how the project ownership was presented – because the builders submitted five separate plans, one for each house.

For those considering building a home in a CCC-regulated area, click through to the article to get a feel for the scrutiny – here’s an excerpt:

The project has been pending before the commission for several years and has been previously postponed. After the commission in 2009 expressed concerns about its effects on views, fire risk and the amount of earth that would have to be moved, Evans and his partners modified their plans, lowering building heights and backing them away from the edge in what Vanden Berg said has “resulted in nearly a complete re-design for each of the proposed houses.”

Officials for the CCC say that they might approve two or three houses on a less-visible site – why didn’t they say that in 2009? Watch yourself – it’s looks like a moving target.

Selling for Eight Years

by | Dec 28, 2010 | Builders, Sellers Waiting For Comeback, Thinking of Building? | 8 comments

From the Charlotte Observer, via Piggington:

Where do you begin a tour of a $2.45 million house?

You begin outside, near the front of a wooded, 2-acre parcel, where a stone-bedded creek carries pumped water from the front fence down to an elegant koi pond. It’s one of the first things you see when the privacy gate rolls back and lets you roll in to 4823 Camilla Drive.

“It’s beautiful,” says Eric Markel.

Welcome to his baby – a six-bedroom, seven-bathroom, 6,977-square-foot home. It is one of Charlotte’s most beautiful houses – spectacular from copper roof to basement home theater – lovingly built in a desirable South Park neighborhood in 2003, when the city’s real estate market was in full sizzle.

But 4823 Camilla hasn’t sold. The $2.45 million house is now a $1.65 million house. The koi? “Long dead,” Markel says.

Multiple Listing Service data don’t provide information on which houses have spent the most time on the market, but at almost eight years, Markel’s house has hung on the vine longer than any home Realtors across Charlotte can recall.

(more…)

Pacific City, Oregon

by | Dec 21, 2010 | Interesting Houses, Thinking of Building? | 13 comments

Poised on a timbered ridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean, this 6,000 square foot residence is organized around a two-story great room reminiscent of a grand lodge. The interior features natural Douglas fir timber construction and a massive Columbia river basalt fireplace. The exterior is cedar, left to weather naturally in the salt environment to a soft silvery grey.

West Seattle Modern

by | Dec 16, 2010 | Interesting Houses, Thinking of Building? | 13 comments

A modern house on view property with 3,800 SF of living space and a 925 SF detached garage.  Primary materials include concrete, steel, and glass.  A concrete wall up to twenty-four feet high organizes the site and the house: the garage, entry and service spaces are on the street side of the wall, while providing  privacy for the main living space which is a curtain wall-enclosed pavilion.

The wall is also the organizing element for the circulation including the stairs with cantilevered steel treads. Supported on steel frames and  triangular steel trusses, the roof  swoops over the concrete wall capping the pavilion.  Eight by sixteen foot sections of the curtain wall pivot for ventilation.  The stair has demountable guardrails which are normally in place but were removed for the photographs.

The master bedroom is in a loft space above the kitchen, while a family room, media room, children’s bedrooms and bathrooms occupy the daylight basement level.  There is additional living space above the garage accessible via stair or future elevator.

Shoddy Construction

by | Nov 29, 2010 | Builders, Thinking of Building? | 13 comments

Hat tip to Kingside for sending this along, after seeing the video on the 6-day construction of a Chinese office building – from the WSJ, dated June, 2009:

A nearly finished, newly constructed building in Shanghai toppled over, killing one worker.  As can be seen in the photo below, the 13-story apartment building collapsed with just enough room to escape what would have been a far more destructive domino effect involving other structures in the 11-building complex:

The development, known as “Lotus Riverside,” has a total of 629 units, 489 of which have already been sold. Now buyers are clamoring to get their money back, and authorities are making efforts to reassure them.  Some owners are concerned even if they are able to return the purchase and get the original price they paid for the housing market has gone up so much since the day of purchase. They are worried they will not be able to get another house for the same price.

The disaster could reveal some uncomfortable facts about lax construction practices in China, where buildings are put up in a hurry by largely unskilled migrant workers, and developers may be tempted to take shortcuts.

According to Shanghai Daily, initial investigations attribute the accident to the excavations for the construction of a garage under the collapsed building. Large quantities of earth were removed and dumped in a landfill next to a nearby creek; the weight of the earth caused the river bank to collapse, which, in turn, allowed water to seep into the ground, creating a muddy foundation for the building that toppled.

The South China Morning Post noted that the pilings used in the Lotus Riverside development, made of prestressed, precast concrete piles, are outlawed in Hong Kong because they aren’t strong enough to support the kind of ultra-high buildings that are common in Hong Kong. But in mainland China, they are often used because buildings there are typically much shorter.

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