Small House...

A perfect project for a quick, hand drawn presentation on yellow tracing paper. This a 17' wide x 50' deep "zero lot line" single family house in Denver, Colorado. Zero lot line meaning the building engages the property line on two sides (front/sidewalk and right/alley) and has a very compact and specific set of planning requirements The preliminary design process looked at a series of one and two bedroom alternatives before deciding on the two bedroom scheme shown here which is being developed as a rental property. In an office environment, with a project this small in fee and scope, these may be the only hand drawings you do so why not make them count? The final design decisions where made with lightly constructed hardline 3H pencil drawings and then rendered as described below. The major building materials are a common brick veneer exterior (painted white) with stained cedar wood trim, doors, windows and eaves / fascias and an architectural shingle roof. It has a carriage house relationship with an existing 1890's residence on the western (left) side of the proposed site and develops both an urban and historically contextual parti'.

The drawings are all freehand ink (except for brick line work) over 3H hardline base drawings at 1/4" scale. Because of the inherent contrast, yellow trace is an excellent media for rendering wall surfaces in elevation with white Prismacolor pencils as long as the colored pencil is applied to the reverse side of the trace. This is done to avoid rendering over line work with a white pencil which is messy and rarely fun. This is also is true for most of the remaining color pencil work and marker washes on the quick design drawings shown here. One tip that may be useful is to show the brick veneer and roofing shingles on the front of the drawing as hardline ink work which is faster, provides a more consistent and delicate poche' effect and avoids smearing the line work by applying the heavy pencil washes to the reverse side. Final pencil washes for the sky and entourage were applied to both sides of the tracing paper as needed. Lighter colored pencil and marker for landscape and ground cover were applied to the front side of the trace to avoid being washed out by the masking effect that is common to reverse side application of lighter pencil and marker colors on yellow trace. The final image sizes are roughly 11" x 14" and 11" x 17" with portrait orientation, perfect for desktop scanning and inexpensive color printing.




Proposed Rear Yard Elevation facing Northeast - Johnson Residence - Denver, Colorado - 2012

3H Pencil, Micron ink pens, Prismacolor colored pencils and Chartpak AD markers on yellow tracing paper; Colored pencils & AD markers are applied to reverse side of tracing paper to protect ink work.




Proposed First Floor Plan - Johnson Residence - Denver, Colorado - 2012

3H Pencil, Micro ink pens, "Sharpie" Black Ultra Fine Point and Red Fine Point Markers,

Chartpak AD Marker and Prismacolor colored pencil with colored pencil and markers

applied to reverse side of tracing paper to protect ink work.



Proposed Front Elevation facing Bannock Street - Johnson Residence - Denver, Colorado - 2012

3H Pencil, Micron ink pens, Prismacolor colored pencils and Chartpak AD markers on yellow tracing paper; Colored pencils & AD markers are applied to reverse side of tracing paper to protect ink work.




Proposed Second Floor Plan - Johnson Residence - Denver, Colorado - 2012

3H Pencil, Micro ink pens, "Sharpie" Black Ultra Fine Point and Red Fine Point Markers,

Chartpak AD Marker and Prismacolor colored pencil with colored pencil and markers

applied to reverse side of tracing paper to protect ink work.



Alternate Elevation facing Bannock Street - Johnson Residence - Denver, Colorado - 2012

3H pencil, Micron ink pens, Prismacolor colored pencils & Chartpak AD markers on yellow tracing paper; Markers & colored pencil are applied to back of tracing paper to protect ink work and colored pencil washes