Just starting a 13,000 sq. foot home in north Tampa, anyone interested in seeing the building process, will be able to do so by appointment only in this gated community

Was this architecturally designed?
Looks like a big box.

Can you share any of the other "green" considerations with us, Chris?

Posted By greentree on 26 Apr 2012 08:09 AM
Was this architecturally designed?
Looks like a big box.

yes it was architecturally designed, in Florida all buildings must carry an architect or engineer’s seal
It features a home theater over the garage that will have a 20’ x 16’ screen viewable from the 2nd. Floor and 3 floor loft balcony.

When are you going to post a picture of your architectural achievements in building?

Posted By ICFHybrid on 26 Apr 2012 09:44 AM
Can you share any of the other "green" considerations with us, Chris?

ICFHybrid;
Yes, the skins are made from 33% reycled steel, EPS foam core is 100% recyleable. All interior framing and joists are made with 33% recycled steel content.Home will provide cleaner IAQ

Posted By greentree on 26 Apr 2012 08:09 AM
Was this architecturally designed?
Looks like a big box.

A "big box" is about the greenest design you can pick for a building envelope.  Every corner the building has means more sqft of envelope surface area (and therefore material and greater energy loss) per unit of interior space, more wasted material in the dumpster, more infiltration, more thermal bridging, more places for moisture to cause problems, and a more complicated roof (which means more of all that stuff all over again).  SIP corners are much better in those last two than stick, but straight walls are still better than corners.

That said, I see a bunch of boxes in this design.  More than suits me, personally.  But I'm not an architect.  Do you judge the skill of an architect by the complexity of the shape?

Posted By rnortman on 26 Apr 2012 10:51 AM

Posted By greentree on 26 Apr 2012 08:09 AM
Was this architecturally designed?
Looks like a big box.

A "big box" is about the greenest design you can pick for a building envelope.  Every corner the building has means more sqft of envelope surface area (and therefore material and greater energy loss) per unit of interior space, more wasted material in the dumpster, more infiltration, more thermal bridging, more places for moisture to cause problems, and a more complicated roof (which means more of all that stuff all over again).  SIP corners are much better in those last two than stick, but straight walls are still better than corners.

That said, I see a bunch of boxes in this design.  More than suits me, personally.  But I'm not an architect.  Do you judge the skill of an architect by the complexity of the shape?

The skill of architects is better judged by their ability to sell the design.

Like art, there's what sells, and what history eventually deems great.  Frank Lloyd Wrong's stuff may have had a certain cache' (still does, in many quarters), but many of those designs really SUCK from a function point of view.

The Ray and Maria Stata Center building at M.I.T. was a great sales job, might even be interesting sculpture, but it gives some occupants motion sickness, and it's impossible for visitors to find the room they're looking for.  Is Frank Gehry a great architect? He sells the designs, but I'd put him more in the sculptor class.

Dana1; I am especially fond of Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater" and have a color rendering of it on my office wall. I think I like it so much because its "boxy"

Function is beauty.

There is nothing wrong with sensible brutalist architecture.

Thank you for sharing Chris.

Posted By rnortman on 26 Apr 2012 10:51 AM

Posted By greentree on 26 Apr 2012 08:09 AM
Was this architecturally designed?
Looks like a big box.

A "big box" is about the greenest design you can pick for a building envelope.  Every corner the building has means more sqft of envelope surface area (and therefore material and greater energy loss) per unit of interior space, more wasted material in the dumpster, more infiltration, more thermal bridging, more places for moisture to cause problems, and a more complicated roof (which means more of all that stuff all over again).  SIP corners are much better in those last two than stick, but straight walls are still better than corners.

That said, I see a bunch of boxes in this design.  More than suits me, personally.  But I'm not an architect.  Do you judge the skill of an architect by the complexity of the shape?

Of course not. It's about proportion creating pleasing lines, I mean you seriously like how terrible those two windows look above the garage, and the columns...oh those nice tall columns. A box makes a great contemporary style, not whatever they are trying to do here. It's like 3,000 square foot of decent house with 10,000 square foot barfed onto it.

Greentree; You seem to be in the minority with your opinion the home needed to be approved by the HOA architectural review committe. By the way when are you going to show us your stuff, if there is any? or are you just hot air?

Home will provide cleaner IAQ

So, what's the cooling and ventilation plant like, for example?

ICFHybrid; 7 split split heat pumps, 18.00 SEER Two-stage Climatuff compressor, Trane CleanEffects filtration

Posted By cmkavala on 26 Apr 2012 01:06 PM
Dana1; I am especially fond of Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater" and have a color rendering of it on my office wall. I think I like it so much because its "boxy"

It's a kewl looking house, but it's a hygro-thermal nightmare, lacking capillary & thermal breaks, with huge heating & moisture related problems, as well as basic mechanical issue (sagging cantilevered concrete elements, etc.) It's been patch, jacked up and reinforced multiple times, but like the leaning tower of Pisa, long term prospects are dependent upon a significant ongoing engineering & repair budget.

But it's a pretty picture to look at, as long as you don't have to live in it, eh?

Dana1; My brother toured it some years ago and said that the moisture was permeating the house causing mold & mildew

What are the size of the SIPS and what is the projected cooling load?

Posted By Dana1 on 27 Apr 2012 04:11 PM

It's a kewl looking house, but it's a hygro-thermal nightmare, lacking capillary & thermal breaks, with huge heating & moisture related problems, as well as basic mechanical issue (sagging cantilevered concrete elements, etc.) It's been patch, jacked up and reinforced multiple times, but like the leaning tower of Pisa, long term prospects are dependent upon a significant ongoing engineering & repair budget.

But it's a pretty picture to look at, as long as you don't have to live in it, eh?

FLW was ahead of his time and unfortunately insulating technology lacked behind his designs. Of course when you build a home into the side of a waterfall and have a creek running through the home, one can only expect huge moisture related problems. If the home was built in a "normal" location, it would not have the same engineering and upkeep problems. The waterfall design incorporated concrete and steel. At least they didn't use wood, as it would have long rotted and fallen away.

Frank Lloyd Wright, the world-famous architect, actually used SIP construction in some of his designs in the 1930s and 1940s. It was only when Alden B. Dow, the son of the founder of the Dow Chemical Corp. and a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, actually took the step and created the first foam core SIP panel in 1952. Then in the 1960s the first rigid foam core SIP hit production and is still basically the same SIP that we know today.

Posted By ICFHybrid on 27 Apr 2012 10:32 PM
What are the size of the SIPS and what is the projected cooling load?

6" walls and roof, 10.5 tons

6" walls and roof, 10.5 tons

Ha ha, it's so big it makes the panels look smaller than that.

7 split split heat pumps

What's that? Is that a ductless system?

What kind of thermostat and control system does it have?