Nasz Zamek

Story:

It’s a classic story. The young girl grows up in a small town, meets an out-of-town boy, falls in love, marries, has a family and they travel the world making memories together. One day, they retire to her home town and bring their memories and lineage with them to the very place where they host annual family reunions — in the home they call Nasz Zamek (Our Castle).

Location:

Bremond, Texas (Designed 2009; Built 2010)

Idea:

family and guest zones

Personalized new home!

Stats:

2,528 SF; 3BR, 2-1/2 BA, 537 SF patios, 172 SF workshop, 2-car garage, 1-story

Client’s Style:

hill country craftsman

Services:

The Sketch, The Details, The Docs, The Advisor

Lifestyle Features:

living + family to allow public-private but cojoined entertainment spaces
hobby room for knitting and loom
workshop attached to garage but independent
dining niche for heirloom china cabinet
hall niche for focal point and display
detached two-car garage
created a parking court for visitors to reduce visual impact of street parking
part-time guest suite (2 rooms)
1-story (aging in place)

Environment Solutions:

hard-surface wood and tile floors for sustainable beauty and to reduce allergens
SIPs for contiguous and efficient building envelope
breezeway between home and garage to separate living areas from utility areas and improve indoor air quality
multi-zone HVAC to provide personalized thermal comfort
separate package unit serving workshop for on-demand use
sited home to optimize diagonal views, capture seasonal breezes and preserve mature trees

Community Influence:

Home is much larger than neighboring houses, so we scaled the volumes and roof pitch to create a neighborhood-friendly facade
Complemented neighborhood materials with three colors/patterns of fiber cement siding and dry-stack ledgestone
Added frieze molding to emulate the period styling of older homes in the neighborhood
salt-finish driveway and walk to create an aged appearance
Aligned the front entrance parallel to the main public street to complement orientation of other houses
Muted earthy color palette to convey understated elegance

Images:

One Response to Nasz Zamek

architect November 6, 2009 at 12:17 pm Log in to Reply

What this client said about WishingRock Studio:

“In the beginning, we presented Eric with a shopping list of requirements and desirements for our retirement home. We did the initial interviews with Eric and worked with some of his design tools. He said he would generate three sketches; one we would probably love, one that would probably be so – so, and one that we wouldn’t really care for. The first sketch he presented met our expectations about 95%. He worked hard to help me identify builder candidates, and provided guidance for selecting the builder. Before contracting Eric, we had a concept of what his services would cost; his fees were substantially less than what we expected. Great Job Eric.”

— Dwight and Pam (Nasz Zamek)

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