Land Clearing Started This week...

After skirting a third hurricane (Ana) I was finally able to get the brushy area mowed, and finally connected with some great Tree clearing people who will take down the trees (junk invasive trees for all you tree lovers out there) and remove the roots to make a smooth building area so that I can accurately site the house taking best advantage of the views, airflow etc.   The action of the chainsaw caused a piece of the bark on the large tree to catch fire and I have been nursing a land fire all afternoon.

And here goes some more chopping...

FIRE!!!

Final Plans arrived for the itHouse. I happy!

I received the final plans from Linda Taalman and Laura Steele of itHouse Inc. Once I give these plans my OK, they will be forwarded to a structural engineering firm in California who will prepare the calculations for all the loads of the aluminum posts and beams etc.  Once these calcs are complete, they will be sent to Alana Scott who is my Structural Engineer on Maui who will oversee and stamp the work.   The plan set is quite extensive so I'm just showing you the floor plan here.  Let me know what you think by commenting below.  I'm curious to have your input.  Thanks - Liam

Penultimate Plan Update

I just received an extensive plan set from Linda including electrical, plumbing, and elevations.  I will be discussing the very few revisions required and then I'll share some more in depth drawings from the plans.

Architect Rendering of Kaupakulua itHouse

First Draft of the Kaupakulua itHouse has arrived.

Take a look at Linda Taalman's first draft of the layout of the First Maui itHouse.  Linda based her draft off a model that I created in Sketchup after having visited their Joshua Tree itHouse and this is basically  a flipped or mirror image of the Joshua Tree itHouse floor plan.

Aluminum Bones

I've always loved architecture where the structure becomes the finished space.  In other words, the structure is not hidden and covered up with another laminate of flooring, drywall, wood etc.  That's one of the reasons I have always loved the old single wall plantation architecture.  In these houses, the actual structure of the exterior siding is the interior wall that just gets painted and you're done.  Take a look at the itHouse's aluminum structure - one of the first things to go up after the footings and what you see here, you will see forever exposed in the house.

Photos Courtesy of Patricia Parinejad  Project by tkithouse.com

itHouse Walkthrough

I took this gopro video of Taalman and Koch's first prototype itHouse when I visited last year. Take some gravol before viewing. (Uber annoying shaky cam)

The birth of the first Maui itHouse!

With one click of the "send" button, the sperm meets egg for Maui's first itHouse.  I'm working on preliminary design mockups that will feature a see through courtyard from farm to ocean and nicely separating the bedrooms, from the public living areas. (note these drawings are Liam's artist concept and not endorsed nor created by Taalman Koch Architects)  More information on the itHouse can be found at http://www.tkithouse.com