cellini's Diaryland Diary

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Floor Plans Suck

Floor plans. Floor plans turn into a real drag on one's architectural creativity. The more you look at floor plans, the more you think of a house in terms of a floor plan. Which prevents you from coming up with all sorts of neat ideas that might otherwise surface. Not that I'm opposed to having and using floor plans. Just that as I move through the actual construction process, I'm seeing how very limiting my past view has been due to an over-reliance on floor plans.

I'm trying to think about residential architecture more in terms of spaces that would be fun, comfortable or interesting to be in. Less about floor plans. More 3D than 2D. The things that I've wanted to do spontaneously with this building I'm working on but couldn't on account of getting the square footage too high to dodge permit have gotten me thinking. That was a horrible sentence. Sorry. Anyway, I want spaces that shift levels. When I step into the living room, I want the ceiling to be a little lower or something so that the space feels distinct. I want roof layouts that create odd, cozy little rooms in the attic. Narrow, twisting staircases to get to them.

Fucking building code. I don't think that you can legally build narrow, old-fashioned staircases anymore.

This is mostly stuff that I intend to incorporate into the cottage, which will have to be a few buildings and a few years off. But my long-term plans generally do bear fruit so my thinking about this is not pointless. The cottage is going to be more of a pain in terms of paperwork than the new house is. The 'new house' will technically be an addition to the old one, though connected only in the most nominal way. Otherwise I'd legally have to put in a whole separate well and septic system for it. The cottage will be a retreat on this property and thus needs to be physically distinct. Ideally not visible from the main house. So whenever I do the cottage, I'm going to have to deal with all kinds of ridiculous shit with permits and fees and inspections and zoning requests for putting in a well and septic system if I want it to be more than 200 square feet. Which I'm thinking I do.

Fuck all of that. Seriously. Fuck that.

The whole idea that on my own land in the middle of fucking nowhere I'm supposed to say 'mother may I?' to the government every time I want to nail 2 pieces of wood together is outrageous. I'm in favor of inspections for septic systems, because a bad septic system can ruin the local water table and hurt other people. And ditto for major excavations, since run-off can also cause problems for other people. But I'm not excavating anything. I build everything on piers, which is as low-impact on the land as you can get. I move less earth to build a foundation than most people do planting a vegetable garden. This is not commerce that needs to be regulated to protect a consumer; I'm not a professional builder putting up a house for someone else. There's no labor issue since I do all of my work myself. The situation is one dude on his own land nailing his own wood into a shelter of his liking. There is no good reason for the government to stick it's snout into this or demand that I pay all sorts of fees and ask for permission.

Imagine being a painter and having to get a permit before you touch a brush to your canvas. And then being told that certain subjects are off-limits. Nope, you can't draw a staircase that narrow. Those colors you picked? Off-limits on canvases over 4 square feet. Please pay us 00 for an inspection before moving on to the left hand portion of the canvas.

13:24 - 2008-04-18

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