Tag: Log Cabin House Plans

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The Utilitarian Aesthetic

As Louis Sullivan – the late American architect – put it, “Form follows function.” And though aesthetic is an integral part of good design, it’s difficult to argue that it’s the most important part of architecture. After all, a building serves a utilitarian purpose: Its roof keeps you out of the rain. Its walls keep you warm. Its windows and spaces provide comfort. Sullivan derived this concept from Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect who noted that an edifice should embody three qualities: Firmitas, utilitas, and venustas – which is to say, a building should be solid, beautiful, and useful. Sullivan’s expansion on this concept states that form follows function as a law. He notes that this law is as true in nature as it ought to be in design: “Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight, or the open apple-blossom, the toiling work-horse, the blithe swan, the branching oak, the winding stream at its base, the drifting clouds, over all the coursing sun, form ever follows function, and this is the law.” Now, Sullivan’s quote might imply that an architect ought to place more weight in the “usefulness” and “solidity” of an object, over its beauty. One might say that a designed object must be utilitarian before it is beautiful. In this school of thinking, an architect should consider the function of a building before assessing its aesthetic.

Now, this idealism flies in the face of aestheticians, such as John Ruskin and William Morris, two prominent Arts and Crafts era designers. Arts and Crafts thinkers embrace the beauty and dedication inherent in producing art. Kenneth Clark – a British historian, author, museum director, and broadcaster – identified some of the Arts and Crafts ideals which his forerunner John Ruskin originally described:

  1. “Art is not a matter of taste, but involves the whole man. Whether in making or perceiving a work of art, we bring to bear on it feeling, intellect, morals, knowledge, memory, and every other human capacity, all focused in a flash on a single point. Aesthetic man is a concept as false and dehumanising as economic man.
  2. Even the most superior mind and the most powerful imagination must found itself on facts, which must be recognised for what they are. The imagination will often reshape them in a way which the prosaic mind cannot understand; but this recreation will be based on facts, not on formulas or illusions.
  3. These facts must be perceived by the senses, or felt; not learnt.
  4. The greatest artists and schools of art have believed it their duty to impart vital truths, not only about the facts of vision, but about religion and the conduct of life.
  5. Beauty of form is revealed in organisms which have developed perfectly according to their laws of growth, and so give, in his own words, ‘the appearance of felicitous fulfilment of function.’
  6. This fulfilment of function depends on all parts of an organism cohering and co-operating. This was what he called the ‘Law of Help,’ one of Ruskin’s fundamental beliefs, extending from nature and art to society.
  7. Good art is done with enjoyment. The artist must feel that, within certain reasonable limits, he is free, that he is wanted by society, and that the ideas he is asked to express are true and important.
  8. Great art is the expression of epochs where people are united by a common faith and a common purpose, accept their laws, believe in their leaders, and take a serious view of human destiny.”

Clark speaks about “good art,” “great art,” as well as both form and function. So, while dogmatically utilitarian architects place more weight in “utilitas” (or usefulness) and aesthetic idealists like Clark and Ruskin embrace the value of “art” or aesthetic, neither party can separate themselves from that which they present as the opposing end of the spectrum. In effect, you cannot have Sullivan’s form without Ruskin’s aesthetic, and vice versa. After all, the quality of any object, designed or natural, can be assessed for its utilitas as well as its aesthetic. This begs the question: Must these two ideals compete? And is there really a spectrum that divides utilitas and aesthetic?

Let’s assess two buildings in terms of utilitas and aesthetic.

The Pompidou Centre

The Pompidou Centre, or Centre Georges Pompidou, is a Parisian building that is the very definition of postmodernism and high-tech design. The architects, Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano, and Gianfranco Franchini, transformed utilitas into aesthetic. Like most modern buildings, the Pompidou Centre is comprised of hundreds of technological facets that comprise its infrastructure. There’s no shortage of pipes, electrical implements, structural beams, and the like. However, these components aren’t hidden in wall cavities behind a thin layer of sheetrock. In the Pompidou Centre, these components – the utilitarian components of the building – are entirely exposed. So in effect, form truly follows function. There are no unnecessary frills. There is no ornamentation.

Yet, the infrastructure becomes the ornamentation itself. The eye is drawn to criss-crossing exposed beams. Green and blue pipes front columns of red metal panels. An external stairway is just that: a stairway. Somehow, however, these exposed utilitarian structures accumulate to form a beautiful aesthetic. In this way, the Pompidou Centre compresses the utilitas-aesthetic spectrum; function is beauty, there is no inbetween.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio

Now, let’s transition from a post-modern tech-monument to the humble home of one of the most famous architects in the world: Frank Lloyd Wright. Frank Lloyd Wright is a household name that’s synonymous with good design. Frank Lloyd Wright, who was actually a student of Louis Sullivan’s, borrowed from the concepts of form following function as well as the arts and crafts aesthetic. In his Oak Park home, he strove to blur the lines between utilitas and aesthetic. Take the living room fireplace, for instance; here, Wright employs simple, subtle ornamentation around the mantle of the fireplace, meanwhile, the craft in the arched brickwork of the opening to the hearth has just as much beauty. Here, utilitas doesn’t compromise aesthetic. The children’s room of the Wright Home is similar; a simple semicircular painting reflects the arched roof of the room. The aesthetic of the painting reflects the utilitarian lines of the ceiling; utility and aesthetic complement each other. In this way, the whole is greater than the parts, and once again, the utilitas-aesthetic spectrum is compressed.

In short, good design isn’t purely utilitarian, just as it isn’t purely aesthetic. Good design is both; utilitas and aesthetic aren’t mutually exclusive.

Winterwoods Homes Design

Here at Winterwoods Homes, we strive to provide the best in both utility and aesthetic. We specialize in designing log and timber-frame homes. Winterwoods Homes designs are functional, providing comfort and accommodation. But we don’t sacrifice aesthetic, our designs are warm and natural. With every detail, we design just for you. Take a look at our existing timber frame cabin plans, or learn more about our custom designed homes.

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The Dream Deck

Here at Winterwoods Homes, we have a passion for design. You can see that passion in our large timber frame cabin plans, our small history-inspired cabin designs, and our more modern productions.

So what makes the dream deck? Well, it’s never just one thing. In our experience, it could be any and all of the following:

The View

The view may be the first thing you want to consider when designing a deck. After all, if you’re going to spend hours on end basking in the glory of the world around you, you may as well take advantage of the natural sites and splendors that surround your abode. It’s always best to work in situ (or within the site) and adapt your home design to meet your surroundings. More about that next…

 

Working In Situ

Consider the landscape upon which you are placing your home. If you have a sloping landscape, your deck can be built to cantilever over the landscape, providing you with a full view of the expanse of foliage that pours out beyond the confines of your deck. Or, if you prefer, you can build multiple levels of decking that cascade down the slope of your landscape.

Keep in mind that trees and other natural features can frame your view or block it, and plan accordingly. Take advantage of your landscape as best you can! If you have a big boulder that’d provide great seating for guests, don’t hesitate to incorporate it into your landscape design. If you have a magnificent tree that shoots up right where you’d like your deck to sit, build your deck around that tree, don’t lop it down. You can make an existing tree and integral part of beauty of your deck. Just be sure to give the tree plenty of room to grow over the years.

Gardening

If you’re a fan of foliage, you can bring the landscape into your deck with planters and pots. Incorporate a planter into your decks fencing structure or seating area to give yourself further integration with nature.

Seating

A deck just isn’t complete without plenty of space to lounge around. You can incorporate built-in seating into your deck if you’re looking for a permanent seating solution, or you can simply leave yourself plenty of room to post up a few patio chairs. Regardless of your choice, it’s important to sort out seating and dining space as you dig into your deck design.

Cooking

If you’re the ultimate outdoor chef, you’ll need the ultimate outdoor kitchen. Build in a grill, marble countertops, cabinets, a cooler… you name it. If you’re a fan of classic cooking techniques, tack a wood-fired oven to your open-air kitchen design, and don’t forget to build in space to store your hand-selected cherry and hickory woods. Don’t forget, if you’re going to be cooking outdoors, you’ll want to include outdoor dining space to cater to guests as well. Oh, and speaking of hosting, don’t forget an outdoor bar. And since you have everything else, you might as well throw in the kitchen sink. The possibilities are endless for us grillmasters, entertainers, and outdoor cooks.

Privacy

You want privacy in your outdoor oasis. After all, it’s yours, not your neighbors. Tack on a trellis and plant vines to give your patio a natural privacy fence. Or go with a slatted cedar fence to make your space bright and warm, yet cozy and intimate. Don’t forget, you can use trees and shrubs too, they’re nature’s privacy fence. You can make your deck a getaway without sacrificing sunlight or aesthetic.

Other Amenities

Are you a green thumb? Build a greenhouse. Looking for elegance and grandeur? Go gazebo. Like to lounge? Hang up a hammock. Seeking the spa experience? Add an in-ground hot tub. Game fanatic? Build in a chess table… or a backgammon board, if you prefer. Again, the boundaries are limitless, so build a deck with an inspired design!

Winterwoods Homes Design

Here at Winterwoods Homes, design is our passion. We bring that passion to each cabin design, each detail, and, of course, every deck. Take a look at our Balsam Mountain collection, or our Cabin Creek collection for some of our best deck designs, or heck, check out our whole cabin design collection. Take note, we provide custom cabin design work, and we can modify our current cabin plans to meet your unique needs, including deck designs.

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Are Log Cabins Flammable?

It’s a common question, and a major concern for log cabin builders: Are log cabins flammable? Well, yes. But not as much as you might think. A traditional log cabin design carries less of a risk of catching fire than a traditional stud and drywall home. Let’s take a look at why.

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lc-image1Log Cabin Designs

It makes sense that people assume log cabins are susceptible to fire. After all, a log cabin is a massive pile of wood… and there’s certainly one thing that you learn in boy scouts: Wood is the best natural source of flammable material in the world, and it’s excellent for preparing marshmallows. However, wood doesn’t ignite immediately; this is especially true for bigger logs. Think about how you build a fire. You start with a bit of newspaper or some shredded wood scraps. Then you add sticks or thin splinters of wood. Then, once the fire’s alight, you can add a bigger log or two. You start with material that has a huge amount of surface area, and then you work up to a log that has very little surface area. It takes effort to get a full log ignited, and that log will burn very slowly compared to the scraps, sticks, and splinters you’d used to start the fire. The same is true of the logs utilized throughout a log cabin design. You’d have to hold a flame to any log in a log cabin for quite a while to get it to ignite and stay lit. That’s why the Log Home Builders Association states that “Log homes are actually safer than stick frame construction when it comes to house fires.”

Stud & Drywall Home Designs

The same article notes that there’s an important design difference between log cabins and stud and drywall homes (or “stick frame construction” as the article denotes): Stud and drywall homes have cut timber. Split timber is more flammable than whole logs. Plus, dimensional lumber (i.e. 2 by 4s) have more surface area by volume than round logs (Remember that a sphere has less surface area than a cube of the same volume and a circle has less circumference than the perimeter of a rectangle of the same area. Since full logs have circular cross-sections and 2 by 4s have rectangular cross sections, 2 by 4s have more surface area by volume; more surface area means more room for a flame to catch and thrive.). Due to these factors, stud and drywall homes are rated more flammable than log cabin homes. As the Log Home Builders Association puts it, “Because of the low surface area to volume ratio of large logs, they’re difficult to light on fire. The 2X4s that are used to build a conventional home are much smaller and much more exposed when near a flame, making them easier to light.”

lc-image2An Additional Benefit

There’s an added benefit to the log cabin design. Log cabins can be reclaimed after some minor fires. Since it’s unlikely that a log will burn all of the way through, logs can be reclaimed by pressure washing the wood, sanding, and refinishing the surface. When a fire strikes a stud and drywall home, you’ll probably have to demolish it and start from scratch.

So if you’re on the fence about building a home with a log cabin design due to a fear of fire, consider the facts: Log cabins are safer than stud and drywall homes, and they’re more apt for reclamation should a fire occur. If you’re looking for the best home designs, you can count on Winterwoods Homes. We provide log cabin and timber frame home designs.

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The Advantages Of A Timber Frame Cabin

Timber frame cabin designing is an art that’s here to stay. While contemporary ideals surrounding architecture mean shifts in modern design, the classic timber frame cabin stands the test of time. Timber frame cabins are warm, inviting, and they appear to grow naturally out of, and in symbiosis with, the landscape. They reflect our undeniable connection to nature, as well as the unique acuity of human design. Timber frame homes are a green solution, with an unbeatable aesthetic and incredible potential for design.

The Green Solution

Wood, like any plant material, thrives on carbon dioxide that permeates our atmosphere. As wood grows, it “traps” carbon that is within the atmosphere; meanwhile, oxygen is released. This process is beneficial for our atmosphere and it reduces the impact of global warming. Building with wood ensures that more carbon is removed from the atmosphere than produced. Producing other materials – namely, manmade materials – produces more airborne carbon than it arrests. Thus, timber frame cabin design is a far more green solution. Plus, unlike utilizing wood for fire (a nearly carbon-neutral process), building structures with wood is a carbon-positive process.

The Aesthetic

Timber frame homes are simply gorgeous. Each wood member is unique, featuring grain patterns, knots, and coloration that is distinct to that wood member in and of itself. Wood timbers give a home life and character. Timbers catch the light and reflect the beauty of natural, exposed wood.

Mixed Media

Thanks to the advent of industrial fasteners, a modern timber frame cabin can be built to meet more demanding designs. While old joining techniques, like dovetails and mortise-and-tenon joints, are perfectly apt building techniques, modern machined joints liberate the traditional timber frame home design. With a few scraps of steel, we can build with new height and greater openness, and we can build more quickly. While a single dovetail joint can take hours of planning and precision engineering (especially with a warped wood member), a steel joint can be bolted into place to reinforce your timber frame without a second thought. That means an increase in the potential for timber frame cabin designs.

The Potential

Technological advances like the steel joint free architects to design bigger timber frame cabins. We can have more expansive spaces, taller structures, and these structures can be built in a fraction of the time. In addition, structures can be build with more windows. Modern timber frame cabins can be constructed with bay windows that let in loads of light. Modern timber frame cabins can embrace the best of both contemporary and classic building techniques, and that leaves us with enlightened, liberated design.

At the end of the day, timber frame cabins work well and they look great. There may be no better design than a timber frame cabin. It is strong yet warm. Cozy and comfortable. Tried and true. If you’re looking to build your own timber frame cabin, we can aid you in creating a design. Here at Winterwoods Homes, we specialize in timber frame cabin design. Have us start from scratch with a custom design, or make our plans your own.

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Building Your Home Design Around Your Priorities

Detail of exterior wall on one of our log house plansYour home is more than just a roof over your head. It provides safety and security. It is your gathering place. It is your piece of the world. It is your domain. It’s where you sleep, where you dine. It offers a patio escape from the summer sun. And it’s your hearth in winter. It should reflect your values, your character, and the landscape in which you choose to live. Your home reflects your values; so, in order to build your dream home, it may be best to prioritize your values. Here are some priorities you can put in order:

 

Rendering of a cabin designProgramming

First and foremost, it’s prudent to determine the programming, or utility, of the spaces of your home. If, for instance, you’re building a home for yourself and your family, you’ll need to set aside space for bedrooms and bathrooms for all of the residents. Our Balsam Mountain collection of log cabin plans may be a great place to start. Or if you’re building a vacation home, you may dedicate more space to a living room or a wrap-around porch. Our Crooked Creek Cabin plan or our Rocky Creek Cabin plan may be suitable to your desires.

Sample of a Winterwoods home cabin planSquare Footage

Square footage coexists closely with the programming of your home. Again, you’ll have to place some weight in deciding on the square footage of your home. If you love open, well-lit space, consider designs like our Buffalo Creek Cabin plan. If you’re looking to live the simple life, and embrace your natural surroundings as they exist, you might want a smaller floorplan; perhaps a log cabin design from our Antique Cabin collection will do.

Long view of kitchen in a cabin designKitchen

Your kitchen is your where you cook, sure, but it’s also where everyone inevitably ends up during a gathering. If you’re the kind who caters to guests often, you’ll need an expansive kitchen. Consider opting for a design that features an island like our Meadow Creek cabin design. Make your kitchen the focus of your home with granite countertops, a tiled backsplash, an eight-burner range, and a sink that’s built to fit your biggest pots and pans. Make your kitchen yours, and make it an integral part of the spirit of your home.

Modern log cabin fireplace designFireplace

The hearth of your home may be the heart of your home. Some folks love to build their home around a fireplace. As a central fixture of the home, the fireplace draws the eye, it serves as a gathering place, and it provides warmth and character. Here at Winterwood Homes, we place value in the fireplace. That’s why all of our log cabin and home plans include a fireplace (and some plans include multiple fireplaces, including interior and exterior hearths). Winterwood Homes designs have a deep connection to nature, and the fireplace embodies mankind’s relationship with the environment.

Detail of railing in our log cabin designPatio/Deck

Do you spend half of the day outdoors enjoying the comfort of your patio or deck? If so, you’ll want to give your deck priority status in your home design. You can have it made in the shade with a lanai style patio like the simple patio design of The Appleberry. Or if you want a massive deck built to cater to the whole family at the next reunion, you might opt for the outdoor living porch of our Teaberry log cabin design. This design is complete with an exterior kitchen, making it the perfect place to host an open-air party.

Detail of timber members in our log cabin designBuilding Material

Contemporary, classic, or mixed? When it comes to the building materials of your home, taste is everything. You’ll have to take it upon yourself to decide what materials best suit your preference.

If you’re looking for a classic cabin look, you’ve come to the right place. Winterwood Homes specializes in log and rustic cabin designs. Take a look at our full catalog of cabin designs to get an overview of our most popular architectural styles.

Now, we’re partial to rock and timber here at Winterwood Homes, but our designs don’t stop at log cabins. We have a variety of more modern designs that feature stucco as well as stone. Check out our Mountain West collection of home plans if your tastes turn towards more modern designs. If you’re opting for a more modern design, you can integrate modern fixtures. Think stainless steel appliances, tiling, and sleek lighting implements.

You can also mix and match your architectural themes, melding contemporary and classic into a seamless, full-character home. Combine rough hewn logs with cut stone, ironwork railing, and copper fixtures. Or opt for a cobblestone hearth, wooden lap siding, and a grand chandelier in the living room. When working with both contemporary and classic building materials, the options become endless.

These certainly aren’t all of the priorities that you’ll need to weigh to find the perfect layout for your home, but it may help to consider them when addressing architectural design. Consider the programming, the square footage, the kitchen, deck, and fireplace features of your home, and assess how much value you place in each of these categories. Listing your priorities can help you in deciding on the ideal design for your next abode.

 

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Welcome to the Winterwoods Homes Blog!

Side view of one of our log house plansWelcome to the Winterwoods Homes blog feed. Here, we’ll be keeping you up to date with the latest information and news surrounding the realms of architecture, log cabin design, nature, and more. At Winterwoods Homes, we’re ecstatic to provide our picturesque cabin and home designs, and we’re happy to share our thoughts on the aforementioned subjects. So if you like the outdoors, architecture, and the seamless integration of rustic-yet-modern log homes into the landscape, you’ve come to the right place. Follow along as we discuss topics surrounding our shared passion for premium, nature-oriented design.

For today’s blog, our inaugural article, let’s take a moment to discuss the importance of landscape as it’s integrated with architecture.

Landscape & ArchitectureUndulating wall near one of our log house plans

All too often, architects treat landscape as a tabula rasa – which is to say, a blank slate. Design begins without a second thought about the landscape surrounding the home. When architects take this path of design, they neglect a major player in design, and that oversight can be costly in more ways than one.

The Downfalls of a Tabula Rasa Design

While working with a tabula rasa may be easy (it can be simple to start with flat ground), it can have a negative impact on the design of the building, the design of the landscape, and the impact of construction on site.

Building DesignTower in our log cabin design

Designing a building on a tabula rasa can result in monotonous, cookie-cutter layouts. Sure, it’s fast to design a ranch-style home when the landscape doesn’t undulate under and around the foundation, but the design of the building may suffer. Integrating landscape into the design of a home ensures that the layout is one-of-a-kind. Out of necessity, a landscape-integrated home must have a design that adapts to the gradients and features of a landscape. You wouldn’t want to dig tons upon tons of rock out of the side of a mountain to lay foundation for a ranch-style home. And you wouldn’t want to ignore the picturesque views that you can embrace with cascading decks and large bay windows. Landscape should hold weight in laying out a home design.

Landscape Design

Alongside the beauty of the home, the beauty of the landscape will suffer with a tabula rasa design. Planning around the landscape will ensure that all beautiful elements that you’d like to preserve stay preserved. If there’s a particularly beautiful tree near the site of a home, the floorplan can be manipulated to keep that tree alive; you can even accent the beauty of a tree with responses in the architecture of the home. Homes ought to look seamlessly integrated with their surrounding landscapes, and landscapes should compliment the homes that they encapsulate.

Construction

To achieve a tabula rasa, it’s likely that construction will be expensive and damaging to the environment. If there are any undulations and swales within the site, you’ll have to hire out heavy machinery just to level the grade of your lot. It’s also likely that you’ll tear down trees and foliage, and you’ll be left with a lot of dirt, instead of boulders, trees, and even wildlife.

Perspective rendering of Phillips Lake Camp cottage home planThe Benefits of an Integrated Landscape

When you opt to integrate the landscape of your lot into the design of your home, you’re taking a simple step to improve your building design and preserve the beauty of your natural surroundings.

Improved Building Design

Incorporating the landscape into the design of your building improves the character of your home. A home established within the landscape adapts to that landscape. It communicates with that landscape. It’s a complementary relationship. Walls ebb and flow to match the forest. Patios echo surrounding boulders and the topography. A landscape-incorporated building is more welcoming and more homely than a home built atop a tabula rasa.

Preserved Beauty

Nature exudes beauty. It’s the stuff of National Geographic covers. It’s the muse of many a painting. With landscape, it is far easier to embrace the natural surroundings than to craft a manmade mimicry. Positioning and placing a home within the natural landscape preserves its beauty. It encourages residents to interact with their natural surroundings, be it cultivating a garden or enjoying a moonlit night from the outdoor patio. Integrating a building into a landscape, even a sleek, modern building, makes the project a bit more human. It brings the scale of a home back into the human realm. It makes a home a habitat.

Winterwoods’ Landscape Integrated Homes

Here at Winterwoods Homes, we value the natural landscape. In fact, that value is reflected in each of our designs, including log cabins, simple stone cottages, and large multi-unit buildings. We thoroughly incorporate natural building materials. Wood and stone form the fundamental foundations of our designs, making each unique plan a warm, welcoming environment. That’s what we value, and that’s just how we like to live life.

If you’re looking to get started with a home plan, check out our designs here; and know that we can custom design your cabin to suit your personal needs, and of course, your unique landscape.