Design Philosophy Series: Building a mid-century modern Atomic Ranch – Why?

This is a post that I have been mulling over for quite some time – why did I decide to build a mid-century modern Atomic Ranch house as opposed to some other design style?  What is the thought process behind my house? I think I am going to post this as a new thread/category because … Continue reading “Design Philosophy Series: Building a mid-century modern Atomic Ranch – Why?”

This is a post that I have been mulling over for quite some time – why did I decide to build a mid-century modern Atomic Ranch house as opposed to some other design style?  What is the thought process behind my house?

I think I am going to post this as a new thread/category because I doubt I can pull everything together in one sitting

Recently the Concord Museum started a special exhibit called “Middlesex County Modern” that is exploring the modern architecture in the county where I grew up and now building my house, as well as the impact on the community and design world.  Diane Williams – my project manager at Deck Acorn turned me onto the exhibition and Deck Acorn is one of the prime sponsors.  It was a small but very interesting exhibit with many models of important early mid-century modern houses, photos of the various movers and shakers around the time the Gropius House was built and the influence that MIT and Harvard played in developing new post war design ideas.  If you are around, the exhibit runs to March 20, 2016 and I would recommend it.  The museum itself is also very interesting.

The house I grew up in is one that my parent’s built on 5 acres of land in Carlisle, MA, Middlesex County during the late sixties – so right in the late/middle of the explosion of mid century modern.  It is a CORE house.  Core, along with Tech Built, Acorn, Deck and other companies I am sure, have essentially collapsed into Deck/Acorn/Next   The structure of their house is very bring the outside in with sliding glass doors in almost every room.

My parent's house in Carlisle - note the low slope roof and lots of glass
My parent’s house in Carlisle – note the low slope roof and lots of glass

This house did a lot to shape my thinking around what a house should be like.  Carlisle, while not as rural now as when I was growing up (the population has climbed from 1600 or so to a bit over 5K in a 50 square mile town) – it is still pretty open, so a house can still be built that is very externally oriented.

With this as background and thinking about the raw land I had, I came up with a prioritized list of what was important to me.

 

Bing maps, bird's eye view of my property. Orange dotted lines are an approximation of the lot lines (the lot is a "pork chop" with the required footage on Bedford Road. The old Bates dairy setup with the large barns and outbuildings abuts my property and now belongs to the Kimballs, who have a string of ice cream stands that are very successful
Bing maps, bird’s eye view of my property. Orange dotted lines are an approximation of the lot lines (the lot is a “pork chop” with the required footage on Bedford Road. The old Bates dairy setup with the large barns and outbuildings abuts my property and now belongs to the Kimballs, who have a string of ice cream stands that are very successful
My plot plan, printed out on 8.5' x 11" paper and brought to the my raw land at 1pm in the afternoon on January 26, 2014. We oriented on the property lines and calculated the sun on the horizon and the location of the sunset while standing on what was the approved location for the house (that came with the deed, pre-approved building permits)
My plot plan, printed out on 8.5′ x 11″ paper and brought to the my raw land at 1pm in the afternoon on January 26, 2014. We oriented on the property lines and calculated the sun on the horizon and the location of the sunset while standing on what was the approved location for the house (that came with the deed, pre-approved building permits)
Prioritized items that I wanted to address or include in the house design
Prioritized items that I wanted to address or include in the house design

I needed a builder – Deck / Acorn while Internationally known, is very local and houses like these (as well as my personal experience looking at their houses around town for several decades!) led me to think they could tackle my project

A house on pilings in a difficult location
A house on pilings in a difficult location
bringing the outside in, with walls of glass
bringing the outside in, with walls of glass

In the next post of this series, I will tackle how I transitioned from a wish list of check boxes and a feel for the property into design ideas and how to implement them.