ASTRID’S TOP TIPS
elegant or formal’. We worked out what sort of feelings we wanted associated with the building.” Additionally, Astrid put together a
spreadsheet model in which every cell was a 10 x 10 cm2
footprint of the house, and mapped
out a rough layout of all the rooms. “Then we gave that as a brief to our architects and they were amazing in taking all these disparate thoughts and putting them into something that was quite stunning,” she says. While Baufritz was involved at this point, the team only interjected whenever they thought that any of the ideas in discussion presented practical challenges or concepts that might prove costly. But although so far each phase had proved
problem free, obtaining planning permission for the build itself was to be another story. In spite of the fact that there was no specific architectural aesthetic in the local area, there was a mix of Tudor, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian period styles, and complaints were coming in around the couple’s proposed contemporary design. “Then the planners couldn’t tell us what they wanted in terms of the envelope of the building – their problem was not the look of it, but that they thought it protruded slightly too far into the back garden.” Eventually, however, issues were resolved in a face-to-face meeting with the planning office, and finally they were able to proceed.
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www.sbhonline.co.uk
“I liked the concept that it’s a pre-build prefabricated house but they don’t tell you what the design has to be”
With the project back on track, it was time for some final decision making. During a pre- sampling trip to Germany over a long weekend, Astrid and her husband looked in detail at the show homes and design centre, making key structural choices alongside Baufritz’s team of designers. Ahead of the second week-long sampling trip to finalise every detail, Astrid sent in her scrapbook to streamline the process, and when they arrived they were presented with a preselection of every product needed for them to narrow down. “It helps if you have a vision,” she says. “I wanted to have a white wash oak floor, so we told them that in advance, and they showed us three different shades of white wash, and then four different grain levels. Each with a different price tag so you then decide which one
Really take time in the planning stages. Think through how you would use every room. Not just superficially, but really thinking about how if it was a normal day in a normal week, what would you be doing in each room? How would you use it? What would you want in it? I think I got to the stage where I’d mentally really ‘lived’ in the house way before we moved in!
Be very clear about the emotions you want to convey with the house, and the feelings that you want to have in it. I recommend doing a simple task like sitting with the people who you’re going to live with, and coming up with a list of words that represent what you want, and what you don’t want from the house.
nov/dec 2021
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