Chateau Bordeaux is the home that started it all for us. After buying a lot in Dublin’s Tartan Fields development, I mentioned my plan to build a home for the 2000 BIA Parade of Homes to my friend and IT guru/architect, Dennis Blair. He gave me a serious look. The message was clear: “Tom… you need an architect yesterday!” Dennis introduced me to Lee Rumora, AIA, which jumpstarted a long-standing working relationship. Following the success of his initial Chateau Bordeaux drawing, Lee has continued to do the majority of our architectural work since.
In the case of Chateaux Bordeaux, Lee looked at our pie-shaped lot and began “bubble drawing” a blueprint. On the first floor, he drew a big circle and wrote “garage,” he added another circle with the word “kitchen,” and yet another for “first floor master.” This went on until we developed a solid idea of the floor plan layout. We carried the bubble drawing process on to the second floor, refining the drawing along the way as we squared walls and added dimensions.
A good architect draws floor plans before they draw a home’s elevations. That’s because it’s important to size windows and doors in their location. As Lee began the elevation work here, the architectural style of the home began to come into focus. I told Lee that the drawings suggested a French country house style to me. When he said that any number of different architectural styles could work for this particular build, I decided that the curb appeal of a French country house was too good to pass up.
This was my first in-depth exposure to building specific styles of architecture for residential homes. We designed the interior of Chateau Bordeaux to match its French country house style exterior.
To foster a sense of the timeless, we began referring to our home builds by style instead of era: French Country house, Colonial revival home, Mediterranean home, etc. This way, our clients get to step into something truly timeless, instead of feeling locked into a certain decade such as the 80’s or 90’s. Over the years, the style of every build in our portfolio has been that client’s selection. Because we believe that’s how it ought to be when you invest in a premium custom home.
Many times, the lot you have helps determine the floor plan of your home. Chateau Bordeaux was built on a pie-shaped lot with a narrow width at the front that opens wider at the back. It required us to use a courtyard entry garage. The first bay of this three-bay garage was designed at a 45° angle from the main house, with two additional bays extending on a 90° angle. Much like the lot, the 45° bay was narrow at the front and opened wider at the back, offering much more space overall for this bay. Check out the photo gallery for visuals of the layout.
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