GETTING CLOSER

Permit Progress

After submitting the first round of permit revisions last week, I received a second review letter from the building plans examiner this past Monday with another round of revision requests. The good news is that all the other departments have approved the plans and the list of items needing updates is quite small. I have since updated the drawings to pick-up these revisions and drafted a new response letter that will be submitted back to the building department by the end of the week. Fingers crossed, the permit will be issued next week and construction can start within a few days of that.

KNOWING ZONING

A Key to Successful Infill Development

The first step in any successful development project is ensuring you can legally build what you are planning to build. Granted, there are measures available such as variance request where the laws and zoning regulations can be amended to build a non-conforming project, but that is often a long, tedious and expensive proposition with no guarantee of success. For that reason, my preference is to develop within the guidelines of the Zoning Code. So what does the Cincinnati zoning code regulate as it pertains to new infill projects located within the city limits? The full answer can be found in the code itself (here), but the following is a breakdown of the those regulations I view as being most important, which I have directed several friends and colleagues too in the past that have expressed interest in pursuing similar types of development opportunities.

Zoning Use Classification: The first step prior to digging into the zoning code itself is locating the parcel on a zoning map such as CAGIS to determine the existing zoning. Below is a CAGIS overlay of Oakley, which show that the the Zoning for the Oakley Home 2.0 property is the SF-4 Single Family District.

Land Use Regulations: Once it is clear what the zoning type is, you can see what uses are permitted to be developed on a site, whether that is through a change of use, renovation, addition, or new build. The permitted uses for developments in the SF-4 district where the Oakley Home 2.0 project is located include single family dwellings (which is what is being built) and attached single family dwellings. Uses such as a bed and breakfast or child day care home are also permitted, but those are subject to a conditional use variance and complying with specific limitations spelled out in the code.

Development Regulations: The last major checkpoint I look at with regards to zoning once I have determined what the zoning type and land use regulations are, are the development regulations that include property setback requirements, building height and area restrictions, and parking requirements, all of which can have a major impact on the size and scope of a proposed development. The Oakley Home 2.0 project, for example, is on a lot that is only 33'-4" wide to begin with, but with side yard setbacks needing to total 12' the actual width of the structure is limited to 21'-4" wide. Furthermore, the requirement for 2 off street parking spaces, means that in addition to the single-car garage, the driveway in front of the house must have enough space to meet the requirements for an off street parking spot. These development regulations will have a significant impact on the scale, scope, expenses and revenues associated with a project, so the sooner this due diligence can be done in developing a pro forma for the property, the better.

PLAYWORK

Ideas from IDEO and the Stanford d.School

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a guest lecture at UC and post-lecture discussion with Brendan Boyle, who is founder of IDEO's Toy Lab and professor at Stanford's d.school, the institution credited with popularizing the methodology of Design Thinking, a topic I have discussed in past Home 2.0 Blog posts. What Brendan adds to the equation of design thinking is the import role that play has in the process and how it fosters more creative solutions. The idea of playwork as a driver for better product design through role play and constructive play, among other play behaviors was something that struck a chord with me as it relates to the Home 2.0 project and process that goes into it. Examples of this I incorporate into the process include role playing how different members of a family, neighbors and guests might utilize the house, and prototyping different home designs with sketches and models. The blog component of the Home 2.0 project also gives me additional opportunity to play around with creating graphics and video content. Below are my notes from the talk and here is a video link to one of Brendan Boyle's talk that speaks to spirit of the presentation, which was a lot of fun.

HOME 2.0 AWAKENINGS

Starting the Day Off Right

Ever since I was a young boy I have been keenly aware of the positive impact access to daylight has on our overall well being as humans. So much so, that I requested to downsize my bedroom at the childhood home I grew up in so I could relocate to a room that had a southern exposure and bigger windows. This is something that has stuck with me to this day and why I make a point to provide as much natural light to bedrooms and other areas of the Home 2.0 projects as possible. Combine this with operable windows that let in the soothing morning breezes, and it makes for a fantastic environment to wake up to. Below are a couple images from the master bedrooms of the Oakley Home 2.0 and Pleasant Ridge house that do a nice job conveying the feeling of what it is like awaken in these special spaces.

EMBOSSER READY

Prepping for Permit Resubmission

The last couple weeks have been somewhat frustrating waiting on the revised plot plan and reprints of the drawing sets to get back into the building department for final approval, but it sounds like everything is now in place for resubmission to happen the beginning of next week. The last order of business is now signing and embossing the cover sheets of the updated drawings, which required the purchase of the custom embosser with my Architect seal pictured below. Needless to say, I am looking forward to getting a chance to use it and getting one step closer to permit approval and construction starting.

BUSINESS ACCOUNTING

There's A Google Sheet For That

One of the things that I tell my architect friends that are interested in becoming an architect-developer is that you must enjoy spreadsheets just as much as you enjoy designing because you will ultimately spend as much, if not more time in Excel (or in my case, Google Sheets) as you will in AutoCAD or Revit. This has become especially true as I've begun to systematize the Home 2.0 project as a business venture in anticipation of future projects. Below is a sampling of some of the different spreadsheets I have developed for the Oakley Home 2.0 @ 3874 Isabella development that I refer to often and include Oakley Home 2 LLC Financial Statements, Cost Event Logs, Contact Lists, Revision Logs and the Pro Forma.

START DATE PENDING

Plot Plan Revision Hang-up

The original plan was for construction on the Oakley Home 2.0 to get underway last week, but as anyone in the building industry knows, things rarely go as originally planned. The current hang-up is waiting for the surveyor to revise the plot plan to match what is shown on the site grading plan in order to satisfy a plan examiner comment as required for permit. I certainly take ownership of this delay for changing the plans to accommodate a walk-out basement and show a deeper setback after the original plot plan was complete, but believe both of those moves will lead to a better building project in the end. That said, I'm hopeful to get the revised plot plan back sometime next week to submit back to the city along with the other plan revisions and to have permit in hand within a few days of that. More updates to come on this as they develop.

NAVIGATING THE CODE

The Many Forms of Creative Problem Solving

If I had to describe what the role of an architect is in 3 words it would be 'Creative Problem Solver.' This occurs on a variety of scales across multiple disciplines throughout the duration of the design and construction process and the following is just one example of how I put creative problem solving into action on something as simple as a code comment I received from the plans examiner reviewing the Oakley Home 2.0 drawings. The comment reads as follows:

Section 308.4: Specify safety glazing in all locations required, including the window adjacent to the Master Bedroom door, and at the foot of the stairs to the second floor.

The obvious response to this comment would be replying 'Safety glazing to be provided at the window adjacent to the Master Bedroom door, and at the foot of the stairs to the second floor' and leaving it at that, but creative problem solving is about questioning whether the straightforward solution is necessarily the best solution. In this case, I asked myself whether there was a way to avoid the potential added cost of safety glazing on the windows altogether. 

After diving into the code section referenced and comparing it with the proposed plan configuration I submitted for review, I soon discovered a simple flip of a door swing and shifting of a window (to what is actually a more desirable location) eliminated the need for safety glazing in these windows as I had hoped. The following is my actual response along with drawings illustrating the plan change: 

Revised location and swing of door to master bedroom such that safety glazing is not required per 308.4.2 Exception 3. Revised location of window at the foot of the stairs to the second floor such that safety glazing is no longer required. Added note at bottom of door schedule on sheet A601 referencing the requirement for safety glazing at glass door panels in swinging and sliding doors.

VIRTUAL WALKTHROUGHS 2.0

What I'm Working Towards

One of the tools we have been pushing hard where I work at SHP Leading Design is developing experiential virtual walkthroughs of our buildings that go above and beyond the standard Revit exports (which I have been using in the past on my Oakley and Pleasant Ridge home projects). Below is an example of this new and improved virtual experience for a couple new buildings I am working on for Chillicothe City Schools.

While a revamped virtual walkthrough is taking a backseat to getting the Oakley Home 2.0 permitted and ready for groundbreaking, I hope to have a similar quality video produced at some point later this Spring, which I will be sure to share on this blog and other platforms.

MAKE ME MOVE

KEEPING OPTIONS OPEN

A core principal of my real estate development business is that I only develop projects I am willing and able to live in myself. The reason for working in this way is that it not only results in a better quality product that meets the demanding standards I have for myself as the owner-architect, but provides me and my business with multiple exit options for what to do with the property once it is completed. For this reason, I have decided to effectively put both the Pleasant Ridge and Oakley Home 2.0 projects on the market to see what that brings in terms of offers. That said, my intent is to only sell one of the homes so act quickly if interested.