Submission 1- equus

The four different buildings I have designed for my client can fall under two categories. The “box home” and the “Tate brother home” are very industrial factory like buildings. The “maple home” and the “crazy home” reflect architecture of churches and cathedrals. The idea to assimilate the designs of these types of buildings into my clients is that both are symbols of power, and often wealth. This was the main intension for my client. To show he was spending his money. He isn’t going to lie, he would like a large house but the current scale at which we are planning to build far exceeds what he needs, which is the whole point. The two factory like buildings inspiration is the Tate modern and Battersea power station both in London. But the inspiration for the church like structures didn’t really come from any one building rather memories I have from all the churches and cathedrals I have been to over my life.

The tower in each design has a large presence. All of them are crosses are an augmentation of one. The scale of three of the towers almost equals the structure they are in. The towers in the “maple” and “Tate brother” homes act as room dividers, separating the private space from public. The tower in “crazy home” looks as if it has erupted from inside the structure and as began to pull the roof with it. The most discreet tower designed is that of the “box home” where it sits between the front gate and front door.

The placement to the mirrors was simple for three of the four houses. For “maple”,”box” and “crazy” the mirror is to be hung on the side of the tower that enters the private side of the house. But for the “box home” the mirror will have to be placed above his real bed in the back room.

I have only once addressed him on the subject of partners. While I am currently the only person who knows of his second life he may in the future meet someone whom he trusts enough to share his secret with. The problem being while his lab is secret it is still above ground and visible. Questions can still be asked. A potential future development of his home designs is to build his lab underground to keep it hidden from prying eyes. As for my client he is still searching for solid proof of angels. When chasing a lead in London he had a genuine encounter with what he thinks is an angel in a cemetery. His opinion of the connection between religion and angles is become stronger with every passing day, but he remains reluctant to embrace it himself fearing it may impair his judgment and scientific approach which has been working for him so far.

Sketchup Models
1# Box House





2# Crazy House





Card Models
1# Tate Brother House




2# Maple House

Whats behind door number 1?

One of the potential buildings I have designed for my client the house in effects I one large atrium. There for making it rather difficult to hide or conceal a door that leads into his research lab. So I have designed a secret door within his kitchen wine closet. When the wine closet is opened it will look like any other wine closet, but lift the Chteau Haut Brion Pessac-Lognan 1982 up and down twice and the wall is lowered into a special slot in the floor leaving my client direct access to his home within a home.

What to do with space????

The system of the 12 unit house doesn’t entirely apply to my character. The main reason being that while he lives in a house, over half of it is just for show. The exact position on the sink or even a living chair is of no consequence to him. He live for his research and if left to his own demise barley sleeps and eats pizza while sitting on a lab table watching readouts on his computer.

Never the less I have given a rough sketch of where most of these amenities would be if he were to have need for them.

This could be a design for his church like home. It has a single main large room, high angled walls and an iconic cross as a room divider.

This could be a design for the factory like home. A single long room divided into private and public.

Squash talk

As my client and I entered the design stage of his project some rather solid ideas began to emerge. After our most recent consult 2 main thought trains have came into being. The first idea was to create a building as if it were once a church of monastery, my client got this idea during a squash game with his friend Stewart who was describing his recently purchased and renovated 17^th century French chapel. The detailed description he received inspired to think of what it would feel like to own a place like that of his friends. So he asked me to base one of my design concepts on churches.

The second idea was assisted slightly from my part. When I called him to discuss an idea he informed me that he was in London on a potential angel sighting. As it happened his timing and location was perfect for a suggestion I had. I told him to go and have a visit the Tate modern and Battersea power station. Due to the fact that I was thinking of potentially designing his residence in that style. Having a home like that would both provide ample room for his equipment and room for quests to move around in.

Both the church and factory have an air of grandeur and power to them. The vast difference is that one is of religion and the other industrialism.

first designs

While my client does not require excessive amounts of room for his guests or everyday life, in order to maintain the illusion of a young millionaire “space” is needed. Basically he needs an over sized house with rooms far too big for their own good. The other requirement is privacy. The simplest way of achieving this is to divide the house in two. One side for the public with all the amenities included so they do not have to venture into the other half of the house (the private). So to assist I will design a large house with a minimum of several over sized rooms, and an almost hidden away from sight will be a small door that leads into his second world of research and discovery. An added touch will be a large crucifix imbedded within the buildings structure, a feature to bring him some kind of comfort. While he does not entirely feel there is a connection between religion and angels he also feels one can never be too safe. Being partially catholic the decision was made to place what he felt was a good omen for an angel to see if one was ever to follow him home.

Research , where 2 live????

The house of my client needs 2 be grand and expensive looking to show his friends he enjoys using his new found wealth. Initially the idea of batman came to mind. A man who has a grand house full of history and wealth, but who uses this house to hide its secret rooms below.

But being so young I feel that my client should have specially made house to not only impress his guests but to also hold and hide his equipment he uses to track angels. I can across an interesting building called the “Klein Bottle House” by McBride Charles Ryan. It interested me because it both looks grand important, but it has an air of style that seems to soot my client. It both has few street level windows and looks almost space age mixed with a bunker, the two worlds he has been working in. It is a good source of inspiration.

My client

When one first hears the name “angel watcher” one would most likely think of either a person such as Constantine, a bitter person whose job it is to basically stalk angels. Their life style is simple and poor, walls covered with Polaroids and newspaper cut outs, dark corners and scattered holy relics. Or on the other hand one would think of a holy person, well endowed by their job they would live in a house that best mirrors the world of the angels which they are following. White walls with marble columns. Silk curtains and a massive skyward openings in the ceiling with large gold telescope poking through it, gazing into the heavens. But my client is neither and both of these.

He is a 25 year old millionaire. A computer prodigy by 20 he designs a series of revolutionary computer programs for the military to assist enemy plane tracking and energy surge locators. This quickly earns him a life time of riches which lets him retire very early in life. Ever keen to improve his programs my client constantly fiddles with the program till one night stumbles onto an anomaly in his read outs. Confused and interested he investigates. Pinpointing the location he arrives at the scene to momentarily witness an angel. Fascinated by this encounter my client devotes his life to find out as much about them as possible. Having the assets he goes about constructing a massive research lab within a mansion as a cover.

While still enjoying human contact my client mainly is in his secluded world spending most of his time searching and seeking out angels. Though he does know he must keep up appearances and venture out into the world keep his friends unaware of his second life which he dares not tell them, as for fear of being institutionalised. Much the same applies to his home. While he spends most of his time in his lab a portion of the house has been left unchanged so when guests appear the elusion can be maintained he is a normal millionaire. Junk food fuels his body for the most part; while he can be a slob for the part he knows to keep a clean work environment to remain productive. When travelling outside to seek out the angels my client dresses in designer cloths and drives expensive cars as he sees no problem in searching in style. But while money makes up his exterior he does not feel that he has a higher place in society, just that he is a normal person like everyone else. Even though his constant search for angels often takes a religious path he finds the concept of God hard to handle and remains scientific in mind, he feels there is always a scientific explanation rather spiritual one. In the end all his encounters with angels so far have been brief and from afar but he hopes to get closer to these mysterious beings and one day have a personal encounter.