Inside Chappaqua, Homes Will Be F.A.R. Smaller

In case you missed it, here’s a copy of my article about the new FAR zoning code recently passed into law by the Town of New Castle. It was featured in this month’s Inside Chappaqua.

Homes Will Be F.A.R. Smaller

You may download a copy of the final code amendment here.

If you think some of the new homes in Chappaqua are big, check out these fun facts about America’s largest home, Biltmore House.

I wonder how Mr. Vanderbilt would have fared, if Architect Richard Morris Hunt was held to the same restrictions when he designed Biltmore House. With the original 125,000 acres, would it pass code? I’ll do the calcs and let you know.

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The article is reprinted with permission from Inside Chappaqua. (Thanks Grace!)

New Castle Passes FAR

According to Northern Westchester Express (formerly The Patent Trader), the Town of New Castle has passed their new Floor Area Ratio (FAR) zoning code. So, what’s the bottom line on allowable floor area for your house?

From the article:

Maximum house size in square feet under old regulations and with new floor-area ratios for lots equal to zoning district minimum in the town’s four one-family residential districts. The law adjusts home sizes for over- and under-sized lots.

1/4-acre district | old zoning = 6,250 | new zoning = 3,158

1/2-acre district | old zoning = 8,358 | new zoning = 4,792

1-acre district | old zoning = 11,080 | new zoning = 6,098

2-acre district | old zoning = 14,348 | new zoning = 7,841

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For a copy of the new local law click here.

Green Roofing

We had a continuing education seminar today at the studio – everything we ever wanted to know about metal roofing.

One of the many interesting facts we learned is that Englert roofing offers ULTRA-Cool low gloss metal roof coatings on their standard PermaColor 3500 finishes. These finishes help to reduce energy bills up to 50%. Many of the colors available also meet or exceed Energy Star requirements, which means they qualify for the Energy Star Tax Credit.

And to make it even better, Englert offers a 35 year paint warranty. According to Englert, its the best warranty in the business.

Oh, yeah…it’s also made of post-consumer aluminum. Does it get any greener?

Living Well Link of the Week: Englert

All We Can Do Is Remember

Mom forwarded this to me. A friend from work sent it to her today.

As we think about our days off, the wonderful weather, and family events, our busy lives tend to have us forget the importance of next Monday. I found this quote and would like to share this as we approach our nation’s Memorial Day.

Then-President Ronald Reagan delivered these words in 1985 at Arlington National Cemetery:

“It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired. But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives-the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us. And all we can do is remember.”

May we always remember and appreciate the incredible liberties we enjoy and the generations who served in our armed forces helping make them possible.

Green Place

From PLACEhouses.com:

Smart. Affordable. Green.

PLACE houses are top quality, architect-designed, kit houses, a type of prefab.

Just as fashion designers produce a couture and ready-to-wear line, PLACE is now offering “ready-to-wear” in private housing.

With price points 20-30% below custom; the style, quality, and fit of a custom house; and a fun, hassle-free process; PLACE houses, LLC make buying a new house as easy as buying a new car. Just pick out your model, and six months later you’ll have and efficient, stylish new home on your property.

The site does not show any completed projects, so I am not sure how long they’ve been around. The concept, however, is an interesting one. Sears Roebuck was abundantly successful selling kit homes. With the new wave of interest in modern Green Building, there is renewed interest in companies like PLACE.

Don’t miss the link to the Sears Roebuck archive above. It is worth the visit.

Glenn Murcutt

I missed it, so you may have too.

Sunday’s issue of The New York Times Magazine was dedicated to Green Architecture. Of special interest to me is an article on the 2002 Pritzker Prize Laureate, Glenn Murcutt.

From the article:

“It may be easiest to explain who Glenn Murcutt is and what he does by explaining what he isn’t and does not do. To begin with, he doesn’t build outside Australia — never has — and so many of his fiercest fans have never actually seen his work. He has no staff, no draftsmen or model-builders, not even a secretary. He works out of a neat semidetached house in a suburb northeast of Sydney, with no one to keep him company except his wife, Wendy Lewin, who collaborates with him on some projects but otherwise pursues her own architecture career at a drawing table right next to his. He has no e-mail and no cellphone, and he rarely picks up the land line in his office, preferring, instead, to be sent faxes, which he writes on and sends back.”

“What he does do is design buildings that are uncommonly responsive to the environment in which they sit, to the indigenous physiognomy of the landscape, the angle of the sun, the path of the wind, the shapes of the leaves on the trees. By mixing together Australia’s vernacular style with the clean lines of classic Modernism, he has created an architecture that’s both true to the place and unexpectedly rigorous…”

Read more about Glenn Murcutt here.

The Model D

If you are an audiophile AND you have about $150,000 laying around, you may want to join the waiting list for Steinway and Son’s newest instrument.

The Luxist blog points us to the Model D Music System, a joint venture with hi-fi industry veteran Peter Lyngdorf. In my opinion, its one of the most beautiful audio systems ever created.

More Than Just Koala Food

Looking for a “green” wood flooring?

In addition to Bamboo, we’re checking out Brazilian harvested Eucalyptus (a.k.a. koala food) for our Green Friendly clients. John is even considering it for his own house in Montauk.

From the Weyerhaeuser website:

Lyptus® hardwood products have received overwhelming praise among professionals for their workability, machining properties, density, finish ability, overall strength and exotic appeal. Available in a variety of grades of lumber, plywood and veneer it is an ideal hardwood for cabinetry, millwork, furniture and flooring.

Lyptus® Eucalyptus trees are grown on plantations certified to Brazil’s national sustainable forestry standard, CERFLOR. This standard has been mutually recognized by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), an international organization that endorses credible sustainable forestry programs.

Eucalyptus trees grow quickly and may be harvested within 14-16 years of planting. Because plantation trees are manually pruned during their growing years, logs coming into the mill are more uniform and have fewer knots than those that grow naturally. This results in a high conversion rate of logs to clear lumber. Like Weyerhaeuser mills in the United States, the Brazil mill uses virtually every portion of the log, converting it not only to lumber and by-products but using residuals as bio-energy to fuel the mill.

Lyptus® wood products offer excellent quality, remarkable beauty and environmental attributes, making them an excellent choice when selecting an eco-sensitive, exotic hardwood species.

Living Well Link of the Week: Lyptus® Wood Products

The Kitchen as a Digital Hub

Thanks to Mark Britton from Media Stratego for this one.

The Digital Kitchen Study, conducted by the CABA Internet Home Alliance Research Council, indicates that consumers consider the kitchen a lot more than just a cooking area. The kitchen is more like the nerve center of the house and activities include entertaining friends, watching TV, doing homework, paying bills, talking on the phone, planning schedules and events and leaving messages and reminders for other family members.

The ideal components of a digital kitchen were demonstrated this month at the 2007 Kitchen/Bath Industry Show. One component is a digital calendar that can be viewed on a large screen and used for adding appointments as well as adding notes, and can be accessed from both the kitchen or over the internet. Another desired option is a recipe projection system, and they prefer wireless and even voice-recognition systems for controlling these functions. A possible application is projecting the recipe onto a surface in the kitchen from a small cabinet-mounted device. Those surveyed also wanted to monitor energy consumption by area (family room, swimming pool, etc.) and by appliance (hot water heater, etc.); to monitor energy usage by circuit in order to see where they might be wasting energy.

Obviously, a home control station is on the wish list. Consumers want a home control station in their kitchen that allows them to manage their HVAC and security systems. They also requested a screen where they can view the temperature inside and outside the home, with the ability to adjust the thermostat on a touch pad. They also want security with the ability to view live video of both the front and back of their house.

A universal charging station for PDAs and cell phones as well as wireless internet access were other functions listed as desirable by the survey respondents.

For more details, click here.

Favorite Places

Everyone has their favorite places to be in this world. The Caribbean. Nantucket. The Vineyard. New England. The Hamptons. Or maybe your pleasure is in Europe. London. Paris. Milan.

My favorite places are closely tied to my best childhood memories. Captiva Island, off the Gulf coast from Fort Myers, Florida is where I would most like to spend my winters (about 30 years ago, I promised Mom a house on Captiva…I’m still working on it). Then in the summer I would head north. Way north, to the St. Lawrence River. The Thousand Islands region with its clear, clean water and majestic river views is truly paradise for me.

These are the places where I spent vacations as a young boy. Mom and Dad made sure my brothers and I enjoyed a vacation every winter and every summer. I am sure the money wasn’t always there, but somehow they pulled it off every year. The memories from those vacations are priceless.

Mom and Dad now spend their summers at their river house. They have plans to do the same with their winters in Florida as soon as Mom retires from her position with the Paramus Public School District (one more year).

Now I am lucky enough to take my kids to these same places. Shelling on Captiva beaches. Long rides on Dad’s boat. Hours and hours of swimming in the pool. We are creating memories that my boys too will cherish for the rest of their lives, and I am adding to my own memories in a whole new way. We are truly blessed!

Thanks, Mom and Dad…for the memories (then and now)!

Where are your favorite places? Tells us your best memories.