Saturday, March 12, 2022

Chief Architect as a Design Tool

 


Here's the massing of a garage at 15-degrees and an apartment above it. I have modeled stairs up each side of the 20x20 cube, because I'm not sure what to do.

Stairs up the western side isolate the apartment from the existing house, including BR3. They are the most private solution for an ADU above the garage. I drew them outside the 20x20 box, but they could be interior stairs, too.

It would seem that a small ADU above the garage would not need more than one fire exit. Presumably, an egress window will serve as the alternative. Stairs up the back (along the south side) make the most sense, except that they move the full-height ceiling to the edge. We might have some kind of A-frame if the door was in the middle of a wall.


Stairs up the east side interfere with the electric service entrance. The service head and meter can be moved, presumably, but the panel inside cannot, making an awkward jog in the stair necessary. I would prefer not to move either the service head or the meter, and we can get away with that, I think, if the east side is wall or roof and dormer.

In theory, the south side stairs could run the other way--start in the Breezeway and end at the west--but that cuts off access to BR3 or the garage, one or the other. If we bump out the Breezeway to the north to get garage access, we cut off the electric meter.


We wouldn't have to tilt the garage, and we could slide 6.5' west, if we removed the 44" Douglas fir blocking the existing driveway.

We shouldn't rule out completely re-wiring the house. It's just not that many runs--6 for the kitchen, 2 for the laundry, 2x3 baths, 2 lighting/outlets, maybe 18, 20 runs into the attic and the basement. If we need a new panel for the ADU and a new service head due to geometry, maybe we're most of the way there.





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