Living in a Shoe

Box
Case study 1
LV Home

LV HOME SPECIFICATIONS
DETAILS
A small home that includes a master bedroom, master
closet, master bathroom, second bedroom, small closet,
bathroom, kitchen, living room, dining room, utility room
with laundry and water heater. This home can easily be
reconfigured to be a deluxe one bedroom one bathroom
home as well as fully handicap accessible.
SQUARE FOOTAGE
Approximately 1150 sq/ft.
OVERALL DIMENSIONS
48’-6" x 24’-6"
CEILING HEIGHT
9’-1-3/4"
DESIGN LIVE LOADS
SNOWLOAD 50 lbs / sq/ft
WINDLOAD 100 lbs / sq/ft
DEADLOAD 14 lbs / sq/ft
FOUNDATION SYSTEM
Engineered to LA county Engineering Specifications.
Continuous Concrete Stem and Footings along periphery
of building as well as center of building. Concrete piers
evenly spaced out for support of girders in the floor
framing.
STRUCTURAL SYSTEM
Engineered to LA county Engineering Specifications.
All structural wood made of Southern Yellow Pine. For
more information visit
Most hardware connections are Simpson wood to wood
connectors and Simpson wood to concrete connectors.
For more information visit http://www.strongtie.com
Floor Framing: 4 x 6 girders with 2 x 6 floor joist and
blocking. Floor diaphragm sheathed in 5/8" CDX Plywood.
Main Structure: Post (4 x 6) and Beam (Glulam 6 x 12)
construction. Prefabricated Wall Panels made of 2 x 6
studs and OSB board throughout and as infill between
post and beams. Simpson Shear Walls (SW32 x 10-RF
and SW48 x 10-RF) at open extremities. For more
details on GluLam beams used visit
http://www.trusjoist.com/PDFFiles/2060.pdf . For more
details on Simpson Shear Walls visit
http://www.strongtie.com/strongwall/product_raised_fl
oor.html#table.
Roof Framing: TJI-PRO 350 Trusses by TrusJoist with
TrusJoist blocking. Roof diaphragm sheathed in 5/8"
CDX Plywood. For more information regarding the
trusses visit
http://www.trusjoist.com/PDFFiles/2025%20Pro%20Se
ries.pdf.

ROOFING SYSTEM
Firestone EPDM Roofing System. The slope of the roof
is built-up by Firestone Rigid Insulation Boards which
are sold pre-tapered with a ¼" slope. The roof also has a
valley with a ½’ slope that diverts the water into the two
downspouts which are concealed behind the pre-
fabricated faux walls. For more information visit
www.firestonebpco.com.
EXTERIOR FINISHES
Corrugated Galvalume and Galvalume flat sheets. For
more information on Galvalume visit
http://www.galvalume.com.
WINDOWS
Residential aluminum fixed windows, sliding windows, and
sliding doors and aluminum trim.
INTERIOR FINISHES
Drywall painted white interior walls and drop ceiling,
Pergo floors throughout, Floor to Ceiling Tile in
Bathrooms, and Stainless steel Custom furnishings.
ELECTRICAL / MECHANICAL / PLUMBING
Electrical: Dimmable Recessed downlights, Built-In
Speaker/Audio/Video Equipment and Media Closet,
Burglar Alarm, Backup Generator System, and 150’
Underground Electric Line Hookup.
Mechanical: 4-ton commercial Lennox HVAC system.
Entire HVAC unit is housed outside of the LV home, the
supply and return main ducts go through the master
closet space, and all of the ducting for the entire house is
concealed behind the drop ceiling.
Plumbing: The kitchen and bathrooms are all tucked in
the back of the home, consolidating most of the plumbing
lines.
The sun's path
Home

Building Elevation & Fenestration

Passive Solar Heating

Natural Ventilation

Tracking the sun

The house plan illustrated below, is

one that takes full advantage of the
light and the spectacular views and
one that allows ease of movement
from indoors to out. The basic form
of the house is straightforward - a
two-story rectangle with cut-away
chamfered corners facing south. Sun's direction around the building

The house is carefully positioned on

the site. By setting the house with its
leading corner facing south, two full
sides of the building receive south
sun, filling the interior with light from
morning until night.

A wide porch with a balcony above

wraps the south corner, inviting an
easy flow from the living room, entry,
and bedrooms out toward the view.

The entrance provides natural

seasonal light control for the lower
floor, limiting the entry of light when
the sun is high in the sky at midday in
summer. When the sun is lower in the Ground floor First floor
sky / early morning and evening,
winter, spring, and fall / the angle
allows light to penetrate the porch
and enter the rooms beyond. As the
day or the season gets cooler, the
sunlight reaches deeper into the
house.

Upstairs, each of the three bedrooms

has windows to the east; as the sun
comes up it gradually fills the rooms
with light, waking the occupants Sitting the house diagonally to the south takes
maximum advantage of available sunlight. Every
gently. Each bedroom also has windows
room gets direct sun at some point during the
on a second wall, balancing the light in day
the room and increasing the period of
direct sunlight. By mid-afternoon, the
bedrooms are protected from heat
gain by the placement of the
bathroom and fireplace to the west.

At breakfast, the eastern sunlight

enters the kitchen and adjoining
dining room. Diners start the day with
the early warmth of morning sun
balanced by light from the kitchen
window to the south.

By noon, the warm midday sun strikes
the south face of the building, with
its chamfered corners oriented to the
view. A long wraparound porch shades
the south side on the lower floor,
giving midday protection to a kitchen
The high living room ceilings allow space for
transom windows above the glazed doors and
windows that fill walls on three sides. The
bright, open space changes mood as the sun
moves from east to west
window that fills the south-facing wall
and to the French doors that open
from the living room to the porch.

By late afternoon, the sun has moved

around to the west and enters
through the corner windows of the
living room. It is important for
afternoon and evening activities to
have a sense of the light but also to
be protected from heat gain. Here
the protection is created by dense Light can direct and enhance our movement
through space
landscaping outside the corner
windows, which blocks the sun as it
gets low in western sky.

The west-facing corner of the

stairwell landing has windows that
bounce light onto the very centre of
the house, where it falls down the
stairs and into the entry hall - a The major source of light in this guest room
by is the wide door opening to the atrium.
balance to the more direct western
Light is balanced by a high window on the
light. opposite wall.

Light from Two Side

People are comfort-loving creatures.

We turn toward the sun, seeking light
and warmth, needing it to nourish
both spirit and body. The position of
the sun in the sky, the colour of its
light, keeps us in touch with the time
of day and the season of the year.
The amount and type of cloud cover
A Simple four-square house allows light into
two sides of each corner room.
connect us to changes in the weather.

While artificial light illuminates the

dark, the impact of natural daylight
has a completely different effect on
our experience.

The intensity of sunlight is so great

that no artificial light can approach it, A house with wings assembles pieces of the
and it offers a complete colour long thin house form to create rooms with the
spectrum that is not present in most potential for light on two or three sides
standard artificial lighting. With the
light comes warmth, heating the
objects it strikes and the spaces it
fills.

When we build houses it is important

to locate and organize them in a way
that allows all important spaces to
receive abundant natural light. This
single step probably has more effect
on our perception of comfort than
A long thin house allows light to enter from
does any other aspect of home design.
opposite sides of most rooms

If light is essential, shadow is the

complement that gives it power.
Relentless light (imagine a
fluorescent-lit classroom or a
discount store) deprives a space of
the meaning that comes with variety.

Pools of bright light draw us to them

because they highlight an area within
a surrounding of shade. Shadowy
corners or edges lend an air of
mystery to a well-lit interior.
Retreating into the shade when the
sun is high allows us to enjoy a cool
space on a hot day.

And filtering sunlight & mixing light

with shadow & to admit just the right
amount allows us to select the
appropriate intensity of light for any
activity. It is the play of light and
shadow that gives shape to forms and
brings life to our surroundings.

Placing the house on the site to take

best advantage of available light
requires a study of the light and
shadow patterns created by
surrounding structures, by the
topography, and by landscape
elements.

As the house takes shape, a primary

goal is to bring light into each room
from two sides, a strategy that
reduces glare within the room and
gives each room sun exposure through
a good portion of the day. This can be
accomplished in many ways.

In a simple rectangular house, each

corner room has the potential for
windows on two sides. A long thin
house and a house shaped with long
wings afford the possibility of
windows on opposite walls.

Houses tightly fitted between

surrounding buildings can achieve light
on two sides by using an inner
courtyard and bringing in light from
above.
Shading Strategies

There are both interior and exterior shade options which can be used to protect windows not
otherwise shaded from the sun. In general it is best to block the sun before it reaches the window.
The variety of shading strategies shown below is effective at accomplishing that goal.
Exterior Window Shading Strategy

Exterior shades catch the sun and reflect some of it away from the window. Some exterior shades
are partially transparent, so some of the incident radiation passes through them to the window.
The rest is absorbed by the shade material. Heat absorbed by the exterior shade is largely carried
away from the window by radiation and air borne convection currents.

Some exterior shades are operable, meaning that they can be raised and lowered, or otherwise
altered in their coverage and degree of protection of the window. For otherwise unshaded east-
facing windows, operable shades are a real advantage, because they can be lowered in the
morning when the sun is rising, yet raised when the sun is on the other side of the building,
thereby affording unobstructed views to the east. The same is true of west-facing windows in the
afternoon.

Some exterior shades serve a secondary window protection function. They can be lowered to
fully cover the window and protect it from wind-blown debris or other consequences of adverse
weather.

Interior Window Shading Strategy

Interior shades can also be effective, in some situations. They need to be brightly reflecting
toward the outside, so that solar radiation admitted through the glass is reflected by the shade
back out through the window. Thus little of the sun's radiant heat can remain inside the building.

Draperies, Venetian blinds, vertical blinds, roll up shades, and a variety of other interior
attachments are common additions to residential windows. They are used more for aesthetics and
privacy than for solar heat gain prevention, but they can be effective heat blockers just the same.

The key to success in this function is their solar reflectance on the window-facing side. The
higher this reflectance the greater the quantity of solar radiation entering the window that can be
reflected back through that window to the outside. You can have any color and pattern you want
for the room-side of the shade, but it should be quite bright on the other side. White or near-
white is best.