Aaron Maret | Design Build Studio

Sweetwater Farm Schematic Site Plan

aaronmaret — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:48:21 +0000

My family is exploring the purchase of a 16 acres horse farm in Swannanoa, NC, adjacent to Warren Wilson College. As a part of the exploration, I developed a conceptual site plan based on converting the use of the land from pasture to orchards, gardens and food forest or edible forest gardens.

The organizing principle revolves around establishing a ‘home zone’ around the main house and adjacent outdoor spaces, circled by a row of planted trees. Three additional zones or rings radiate out from this central space to create a framework to develop gardens, orchards, food forests and reforestation areas over time. The site plan represents thinking on the time-scale of forest, allowing for an organic unfolding of development, responding to the needs of the land and the people inhabiting it.

changes

aaronmaret — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:28:36 +0000

my workshop and studio will be seeing some big changes in the next couple of months. the building that houses my shop in downtown asheville has come under the scrutiny of the city and is not up to fire code. the upgrades necessary to achieve compliance are expensive and not in my plans to undertake. relocation of the workshop is still up in the air. i’ll be creating my new office/design studio at home in west asheville, using a salvaged shipping container as the shell. stay posted for status reports and updates.

the pocket shelter prototype (ps1) is almost finished and will also move home to west asheville once completed. i’ll be posting updated photos and details soon.

Down to the Details

aaronmaret — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:44:43 +0000

I’m finally getting to the super-exciting part of the whole project where the details get to shine! Here’s some process photos:

Salvaged Floor

aaronmaret — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:32:31 +0000

Just finished installing the salvaged pine floor! Now it’s starting to feel more and more like a space!

Fully Insulated

aaronmaret — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:28:27 +0000

The good folks at Home Energy Partners recently finalized the insulation, spraying the walls and ceiling with Icynene.

Here are some before, during, and after photos:

on salvage

aaronmaret — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:19:05 +0000

as i continue to explore designing around and building with salvaged materials, i continue to bump up against both the synergy and magic that can arise as well as the challenges and conundrums. now that the siding is installed on the two long walls of ps1, i feel pretty wowed by how beautiful and special salvaged wood, specifically, can be. but i also feel challenged by how much extra time in sourcing, processing, processing, processing, and using salvaged wood has added to the construction timeline.

it gives me insight into why so many building materials end up in the construction dumpsters… it’s not necessarily because folks don’t care about resource use and conservation. often there simply isn’t the budget to pay for the labor required to manage and process leftovers, scraps, recyclables and the like.

likewise, though the salvaged wood and other materials certainly exist to make a bigger showing in our buildings, construction projects, and the built environment; folks who hire craftspeople and workers to realize building projects have a hard time justifying the extra costs incurred in the extra labor to their clients. so, cheaper, more easily available and dimensionally reliable materials get chosen and used. the savings can be significant.

i would estimate that my choice to use solely salvaged wood for the exterior siding and trim added approximately 2-3 weeks to the project so far. of course, i’m doing all the work myself, which affords me a bit of luxury here. which is fortunate because i think the extra effort is well worth it. the results speak for themselves. the texture, beauty and uniqueness of these old growth timbers and boards, with their telltale radial saw marks, paint traces and stains add a quality to this pocket shelter’s appearance and feeling that is hard to put a price tag on.

whether or not the next pocket shelter will get the same 100% salvage treatment for it’s cladding will depend on the desires and values of whoever ends up commissioning ps2.

cold!

aaronmaret — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:48:46 +0000

perhaps it’s because not too long ago i was swimming in the pacific ocean under a hot sun in mexico… but darn it’s been cold here lately. the snow and ice bring a beautiful sparkle and freshness to the air, but also make it a little hard to work outside or in the unheated studio. today was downright frozen, even at the height of the sun’s path across the beautiful asheville sky. but the chilly weather certainly hasn’t been all bad, a certain little boy and his mama had their first sledding adventures!

and despite the weather and half-numb fingers… progress continues on the pocket shelter prototype. now working on rough plumbing and electrical, preparing for the installation of the rest of the wall and ceiling insulation.

looking like a tiny house

aaronmaret — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:28:10 +0000

i finally finished installing the salvaged barnwood siding on the two long exterior walls last week. i’m pretty pleased with the results.

cold weather, progress

aaronmaret — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:09:03 +0000

the weather has turned downright chilly over the past week or two. but progress continues, and i’ve reached a couple more milestones in the construction process. the metal roofing is complete and the space is fully dried-in.

i’m choosing to install the wood siding as a rain screen. basically, instead of mounting the siding boards directly over top of the building paper, there is an air gap between them. this allows the wood siding to breath and dry out more quickly and easily. this method provides a more durable envelope. the wood furring strips that will hold the siding off of the sheathing are installed and i’ll begin installing the siding shortly. i’m pretty excited to see how it turns out. stay tuned.

tupelo sunset shoot

aaronmaret — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:31:10 +0000

i was outside this afternoon on another amazing, though perhaps unseasonably warm day, as the sun began to set and the light began to do that thing. i ran around for i little while and made some fun photos. below are the results. enjoy!